Author Archives: Shelley Johnson

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”

Holy Land — Day Eleven Hebron Our last day in the Holy Land, and we head to a town south of Bethlehem, called Hebron. The way it’s been described to me, Hebron was once a thriving city, a city of commerce and trade. This is where the famed Hebron glass was made and sold. IContinue reading “Holy Land Day Eleven”

Holy Land — Day Ten Our trip is quickly coming to a close. But first – another work day. We packed so much into our previous day, it’s hard to believe it all had started at the three school. Today…our groups rotated, so I headed with my group to Bethlehem Bible College. A pastor atContinue reading “Holy Land Day Ten”

Holy Land – Day Nine Wondering what this day would look like, knowing our guide and driver were gone, we stepped out of the hotel after breakfast to find someone dear to us waiting to divide us into three groups, put us on three little buses, and send us to three different schools in theContinue reading “Holy Land Day Nine”

Holy Land — Day Eight Today we boarded the bus for a trip to the south. We drove east out of Bethlehem and wound our way through the Judean Wilderness, which lies beyond the Mount of Olives. Since my first trip to the Mount of Olives in 2014, I wanted to see what that “wilderness”Continue reading “Holy Land Day Eight”