rise & shine.

I am the perfect mix between a morning person and a night owl.  

It all depends on the day as to whether or not you can find me wide-awake at 2:00 a.m. with thoughts of being productive or sleeping soundly at 9:30 p.m., ready for an early morning.

But regardless of whether or not I go to sleep in early evening or don't fall asleep until midnight, I can almost never sleep past 6:00 a.m. when I'm at home.  

On summer mornings, Matthew gets up and around and off to work by 5:45.  

I sometimes lie there for a few minutes, trying to nod back off, but usually I wake up and turn the Keurig on right away.

After I brew my coffee (and doctor it up with a little milk & sugar when I'm not on the Whole30), I usually head outside.

At the old house, I would usually sit on the back porch and watch the cows.

At the farmhouse, I sit on the deck and watch the sun peek over the crops behind the house.

When my first cup of coffee is gone, I go inside and start to battle in prayer.

I have found that on the mornings where I am able to get up and spend some quiet time by myself, our days just go smoother.

I am able to spend some time in the peaceful morning reflecting on the day before and preparing for the day to come.

On the deck, I run through our schedule for the day.  

I make my mental "to do" list and think about events we have on the calendar.

When I come inside, I get right down to business in the office with my faith planner.

I went to a faith planner workshop with The Reset Girl (Cori Spieker) last November, shortly after the I finished the book Fervent by Priscilla Shirer.

If you haven't read Fervent, I would highly recommend that you grab a copy on Amazon as soon as you can.  

​Seriously.  It is l i f e - c h a n g i n g.

I read the book and began to think about my prayer life in a completely different way.  

Our prayers are a tool to battle the strategies of the enemy.

So I try hard to start every morning with my battle prayers.

I have many battle prayers that I repeat every morning.  

Love my morning #faithplanner time. Thanks so much to @theresetgirl for the class we enjoyed in Harrisonville, Missouri and the inspiration I continually receive from you! Battling this morning for our good friends in their adoption journey and using #jesuscalling by Sarah Young, along with John 16. Take heart, He has overcome! #overcomer #peacepassesunderstanding #quiettime #biblejournaling

A post shared by Hannah Newkirk (@farmhouse654) on Jan 15, 2017 at 7:13am PST

I am trying to be very strategic and intentional in my prayer life and one thing that helps me to stick to this plan is to write out my prayers and read them out loud every morning.

I have a battle prayer for friends in their foster & adoption journey,
for friends struggling in their marriage,
for each of my girls and their faith and witness to others,
for my mom's health,
for someone we know who is dealing with addiction,
and so many more...

God is good.

He cares about these things.

It has been amazing to watch some of our battle prayers really make a difference in the lives of others.

To see prayers answered.
Hearts healed.
Miracles happening.

​After my battle prayer time, I have some other "War Room" prayers that I read through daily.

These include four elements:
P - Praise
R - Repent
A - Ask
Y - Yielding

After I read through my "War Room" prayers for the day, I try to spend some time growing in God's Word.

I do this in lots of different ways...
maybe a Bible study I'm working through,
a YouTube minister speaking,
going over my sermon notes from the previous Sunday,
a RightNowMedia video,
or just opening up the Bible and reading whatever God lays on my heart.

I take notes in my faith planner and add some thoughts on post-it notes that I might want to illustrate in my Bible when the girls and I get out our Bible Journaling supplies (I'll save THAT discussion for another post!).

I found this "Rise & shine" sign over a year ago and was planning to hang it in the war room that I had started to form in the closet of our old house.  

Instead of getting hung up, it sat there on the floor, staring at me every morning when I got ready.

I knew I wanted to give it an important home in the new house and I think right behind my desk in the office is perfect.

The phrase "Rise & Shine" just speaks to me.

When I "rise" and take those first few minutes of my morning and spend them focusing on who I am in Christ, I really do "shine" through the day.

As a wife.
As a mom.
As a teacher.
As a Christian.

​My challenge to you is to try it this week and see if rising a little bit earlier than everyone else has the same effect on you.

Happy Monday, friends.

​Go out there this week and shine.  ☀️

I added the links above this to the faith planner I have, the movie The War Room, the book Fervent, and the "My Faith" inserts from the Reset Girl's shop.