Author Archives: Shelley Johnson

John Camp, my maternal grandpa, was one of those rare people who loved life a lot and loved people even more. After 96 great years of life, he finally breathed his last here on earth, but he leaves behind a legacy of love, laughter, and light. Grandpa started life an orphan, yet never once inContinue reading “Love, Laughter, and Light”

What we believe about God and His nature has a profound effect on the way we pray. If we believe He’s an angry God, looking for us to do something wrong so He can strike us down, then our prayers will reflect a distrust and even a fear of Him. If we believe He isContinue reading “The Way We Pray — Part Two”

Did you know that your learning style and personality type can impact they way you pray? As we discover more about ourselves, we’ll find ways to pray that really open us up to the person and power of God. Remembering What Prayer Is In the months since I’ve read and listened to J.D. Walt’s DailyContinue reading “The Way We Pray — Part One”

It’s so tempting to dismiss prayer as unnecessary because we think it’s silly to tell God what He already knows. And if that’s all prayer is, it’d be silly indeed. It would also seem senseless to pray if we thought God didn’t hear us or wasn’t moved by our prayers. In fact, it would seemContinue reading “Why Pray? Part Three”

If we’re honest with ourselves, at some point we’ve each wondered if our prayers matter. And we either just keep praying because, well, that’s what we do. Or we stop the conversation with God completely. Or we dig-in and start investigating this mysterious spiritual practice. That’s what we’re doing in this series. We’re investigating —Continue reading “Why Pray? Part Two”

Have you ever asked yourself, why pray, because you’re pretty sure God already knows everything anyway. Why tell Him again? Have you ever asked yourself, why pray, because your prayers don’t get answered the way you want them to? You are not alone! Over the last few weeks we’ve been laying a great foundation forContinue reading “Why Pray? Part One”

We’re on this journey toward a deeper, more power prayer life. A great first step toward getting there is to define prayer. If we have a faulty or incomplete understanding of what prayer is, we’ll never move forward or grow more like Christ. We started this conversation on Sisters in Study last time with “WhatContinue reading “What Is Prayer? Part Two”

Last time we met here at Sisters in Study, we began a journey — that of delving deeper into our understanding of prayer with the desire of deepening our prayer lives. Nearly all of what I share today comes from what I’m learning in J.D. Walt’s The Daily Text series on prayer (see Seedbed.com). J.D.Continue reading “What Is Prayer? Part One”

If you’re at all like me, you pray. You talk to God. You voice your worries to Him. You ask for His help. You hope He’ll hear you and do something. And you celebrate when He does! Over the years my prayer life has ebbed and flowed. It has had seasons of deep, fervent engagementContinue reading “New Shoes, New Prayer Life”

Before you get excited and hope that I’m doing a spring gardening blog post, just stop and realize that the last two times I’ve tried to grow squash, I’ve been defeated the mighty army of squash beetles. Nope. This is not a post about gardening. But it is about life between two gardens. Can’t waitContinue reading “Between Two Gardens”