God's Toolbox: The Transformative Power of Journaling, Community and Prayer | Ep 13

This episode unfolds the transformative journey of journaling and prayer, as we share how these spiritual practices have not only reshaped our lives but also deepened our faith. Hosts Tiffany Windsor and Mary Koning bring forth the poignant reflections of a skeptical journaler and the profound impact of chronicling our innermost thoughts. Mary's story, intertwined with the wisdom from the Circle Maker's prayer journal, promises to ignite a spark within you to seek clarity and connection with the divine through the simple, yet powerful act of writing.

Our daily prayer sets the tone for the day, weaving the strength of community into our  being. The conversation takes you into the heart of this practice, highlighting the immeasurable value of a supportive network where truth can be spoken and healing can begin. We confront the shadows of fear and celebrate the leaps of faith that lead us toward the futures God envisions for us. As you become more involved in the In His Hands community, our hope is that you will feel a part of something greater—a fellowship fostering courage, recovery, and the shared wisdom that emerges when we dare to voice our truths and bear witness to each other's growth. Join us, not just as listeners, but as fellow travelers on this path of upliftment and enlightenment.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Journaling and Prayer
• 7:41 The Power of Community and Prayer
• 15:32 Prayer of Thanks and Sharing Wisdom

Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to In His Hands podcast from women for women. We're here to help you find peace in knowing you are in God's hands. Our goal is sharing the Word of God in simple conversations. We're here to help you thrive every day. And now, here are your hosts.

Tiffany Windsor: 0:18

Good morning. I'm Tiffany Windsor and I'm Mary Koenig, and we are so delighted that you are joining us today. Mary, do you want to start off in prayer?

Mary Koning: 0:29

I would love to. The verse today is Galatians 1-5. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. So, dear ones, I just pray a hedge of protection around you as we enter this space together. The Lord wants us free from the cage of our mind thinking small, feeling small, isolating, because we don't want people to see our ugly bits. But everybody has ugly bits and we help each other grow and learn beyond them. So I invite you to ask Christ to set you free, because that is what he came to do to save us and set us free. And yes, it was mighty name, Amen.

Tiffany Windsor: 1:11

Thank you so much for that. We've had the opportunity to speak and reflect this morning before we've gone on air here, and there's a lot of reflection for Mary and myself about where we started with In His Hands Community, where we are today, what we've spoken about, the topics that we've spoken very deeply and clearly about as we spoke this morning. What keeps coming to me is talking more today about God's Toolbox. We had a great episode on journaling. When I went back to listen to it, I felt like there was so much more that we could add, and so a journal is just one of the items in our toolbox.

Mary Koning: 1:57

I just want to circle back to journaling because I feel like that's maybe God's direction manual. So the Bible is the instructions and then we learn who we are and what he wants us to do as we journal. So they go hand in hand. In Exodus 17, 14, the Lord says to Moses write this on a scroll as something to be remembered. Isaiah 30, verse 8, go now and write it on a tablet. Revelation 111, jesus commands John to write what you see on a scroll. So we're writing what we're seeing in our life and I followed Rachel Hollis for many years, right after she wrote girl wash your face, and I forget the second one.

Mary Koning: 2:35

But she has a journal action plan. She's a big fan of journaling and writing things down and she had five things get up early, exercise, drink all the water and a few other things. And I just did those daily because that was my lifeline in my journal, to check those things off that I did them at a time where I couldn't necessarily get myself up and out on my own. The other thing she had us do as a group was our 10 dreams and to work towards those dreams, and I was casting around in the dark like a person bumping into the walls on my way to the bathroom at night, but it really helped me dream again.

Mary Koning: 3:16

So tool in a toolbox number one journaling and don't stop If it doesn't feel good or it feels icky, or to write that thing down you don't necessarily want anybody to see. Sally Field had a funny thing. She had journals and journals and journals, boxes and bins of journals and she's like nobody cares. Nobody cares about my journals and so don't, don't worry about that, nobody's going to see it. Nobody, nobody really cares about you and God.

Tiffany Windsor: 3:41

You've really inspired me with all of your explanations about journaling, because when we first started and I said, oh, I don't journal and I laugh when I go back and listen to that episode because I felt like I was being very strong and saying that just wasn't for me. And you have certainly changed my life with regard to journaling and my understanding more of the importance of it, because to me it was more like journals may be something that you leave to your children, or I just had the wrong idea about them, of how they're used. And I love it when you come back to me and you say, a year ago today, this is the space I was in and I've never thought about my life that way, I've never looked that way to go. Where was I a year ago? It takes me a bit of time to go back and remember and figure that out, and then I love reflecting on the growth, and so you've really inspired me to have a deeper understanding of how the tool of journaling, how it, can really help you.

Mary Koning: 4:46

What is so cool about that is you were a reluctant journaler and had to walk through that because the Lord is making a movement here. We know that you might feel reluctant and that's okay. It's okay. There's some really pure gold on the other side of journaling. Wise women use these tools and here we are, in this phase in our life, who we've lived a lot of life and we've made a lot of mistakes, and we just hope that these pearls of wisdom can be jewelry for you, that you know we've walked through these things and it's not we're telling you to do one more thing. We're actually wanting you to know yourself better and to know how much your maker loves you and wants to speak with you, and journaling is just one of those ways that is very effective and powerful.

Tiffany Windsor: 5:40

The other aspect of journaling that has really grown for me is understanding how to bring God into my journaling, because just writing words in a journal of course many, many years ago, when the artist's way first came out, that was the thing to do. And you sit down and you write, and you write, and you write until you get everything out for that particular day. Sometimes it can take a while for you to start writing and you just go with the flow. To me, bringing in the prayerfulness into my journaling, I had just finished up the Circle Maker, which was the 40-day prayer journal, and again it made so much more sense to me and had so much more purpose in my life when I was being asked to tie it in every single day to my prayerfulness. So that was a big shift for me also.

Mary Koning: 6:34

You can tell we're big fans of journaling. That's a major tool in your toolbox. You'll understand yourself more and reflect on circumstances and conversations that could have gone better or went really well and find the keys to success in there. It has been life-changing for me. Another tool is to pray, and we had mentioned before about a group of girlfriends saying let's just start praying for each other 7.30 in the morning. I saw results of those prayers the next day and my prayers are heard and answered lately more often when I'm praying for others. So my prayers are. You know, sometimes I feel like they're falling on deaf ears, but I think what I'm learning through this is that inviting my prayer warriors into my space by asking for specific prayer and praying for others moves the mountains that were not meant to do it alone, and so prayer is that communication and that community on a spiritual level.

Tiffany Windsor: 7:36

And I thank you so much for inviting me into that circle of prayer. At 7.30 every morning I have my phone set with a reoccurring 7.30 AM alarm. What I try and do is get ready for work before 7.30 comes and so that I can be quiet and pray for this beautiful group of women and just put my prayers out to the Lord and anyone else that I want to be sure to include in my prayers every single day. I haven't missed a day and I can't imagine missing a day. It's now become a part of my routine and I feel so blessed.

Mary Koning: 8:19

And that is where the power lies. So lots of times when we feel powerless or alone, it's right there and, sweet pea, we're praying for you too. You're part of those beautiful women that you just mentioned. I love that Fabulous.

Tiffany Windsor: 8:34

The other thing that we feel is so important in our toolbox is community. We just talked about perhaps feeling alone and feeling alone in our prayers, and so we believe so much in community and it has certainly unfolded beautifully for us, mary, because of how our friendship has grown. We've only known each other for a few years and we would meet in the driveway and we'd strike up conversation and each time it would just get deeper and deeper and you were able to share with me more what was going on in your life. And this community, starting with just two people and building into what I imagine will be massive amounts of women who are seeking community I'm certainly realizing the importance of it because I have struck off on my own for 40 years and believed that I was a really strong woman in doing that, and I'm totally changing my vision on that because I'm realizing how important community is.

Mary Koning: 9:41

And it's this community that we've built, the community of two and the Lord says we're two or more are gathered there. He is among us is changing the trajectory of my life and what was my job and what I'm doing? Knowing there was that was not a long term future. This has altered that. So, buckle up, buttercup, because your community, your tribe, your people, they will be the trail blazers. And another important part of that is saying yes. How do you say yes? What are you saying yes to? Well, it's in the pages of the journal and it's the prayer time and it's the toolbox for the big, beautiful future God has for you, that he wants to show you. That's there for you. We have talked about fear in the past and fear would keep me from stepping into that big, beautiful future.

Tiffany Windsor: 10:36

What are three or five ideas that we can give to our lovely sisters? The biggest challenge is taking that first step, having the faith to take that first step. Certainly when you turn to prayer, to me that would be step number one. When you call out in prayer, you have to first know that you need help. Right, you have to admit that, and sometimes just the act of getting down on your knees and turning it over to the Lord and admit that you need help, I think has to be one of the first steps.

Mary Koning: 11:11

I love step one Recognize there's a problem, and I just think that's huge because you can fix something that's broken. But if we're going to keep using the broken thing, say it's fine, it's fine, then God can't work with us there, because there's a vast canyon of denial between you and him and I find that I use denial so often like this is fine. If I admit it, my world will fall apart and every single time my world has not fallen apart. It has not fallen apart by being honest with myself, and it's important to remember that in Malachi 1, verse 2, god says he has always loved you, he has always loved me and he's just waiting for us to be healed and whole. We're part of it, since we're involved, we're a part of it and we have to say yes to Him. So it's step one or one step. It's a baby step.

Tiffany Windsor: 12:08

You do need to find a safe place to speak up, because if you keep holding these words and these feelings and whatever, it is disappointment, hurt, fear, if you do not have someone to speak up to, about just getting the flow of the words going, because there's one thing to pray quietly by yourself, but there's something in the strength of being able to speak the words, because then at that point, I believe, you start opening up the floodgates to the dam to be able to admit that you need community, you need help, you need the Lord. That's something that just came to me, just a visual.

Mary Koning: 12:52

That is a huge piece of the puzzle. I was in a recovery group for years I want to say almost five years and did not talk about me and my situation. I was happy to talk about you. I'd always be like, oh, you need to listen to my voice, you need to, or here's what you should do, or I'd have some piece of advice. And it was just in the last three months of the class that I started to say I so I am probably a late bloomer and a so I'm going to make a comment about your voice right now.

Tiffany Windsor: 13:32

This is when you know you're digging really deep, because that will happen where you will lose your voice because there's part of this fear that comes up and you are pushing through it. You are clearing your voice, you're making your voice strong and if you watch other people, you can catch this so many times where we'll start to lose our voice when we are digging really deep to speak our words of truth. So I thank you for doing this.

Mary Koning: 14:02

That has been worth everything because I feel like I was silenced in my marriage, silenced in my church, silenced by weaponizing scripture against me, and I'm working through all that with the help of Jesus. So all that to say. That recovery group was a group of safe women going through the same ugly things and coming through on the other side better and beautiful.

Tiffany Windsor: 14:34

So I think in this moment, what we're trying to say is there is hope, because when you're stuck in that moment and you feel so alone and you feel like there's no one to talk to, there is hope. There is hope on the other side of that fear.

Mary Koning: 14:49

So I love our toolbox tools so far. Take one step Just figure out what that is. Find a church and go visit. Take a friend with you. Step two is find safe people. Find recovery group. I'm a big fan of counseling, but talk therapy doesn't do the whole job.

Mary Koning: 15:05

It's a circle of things, that a combination of things. There it goes again, a combination of things that you need to find that work for you. Prayer, join our prayer group at seven thirty and talk. Talk through the fear in the past, because there's power in your voice and God put you here to speak the words that he's giving you.

Tiffany Windsor: 15:32

I am going to wrap up today with a prayer of thanks for you, mary, because I have been seeking women who are brave enough to speak up and so to sit here next to you and listen to you, speak your truth, listen to your body trying to say no, I can't do that, but you are learning to trust in the messages that are coming to you and, dear Lord, we thank you for bringing these messages to Mary and helping her to speak so that she can help other women, our dear sisters, who need to hear her strong voice. I've been telling Mary for weeks speak up, speak up into this microphone, and I can hear the Lord saying the same thing. Mary, thank you for trusting and, lord, thank you for bringing me into this small community of two that is growing, and we cannot wait to continue to share our wise woman ideas with you, share our community with you, share our prayers with you and wrap it all up with pearls of wisdom. We thank you, lord.

Announcer: 16:48

Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. For more information, go to inhishandscommunitycom. Sign up for our newsletter and social media. We love your feedback. Please leave reviews, comments and subscribe to this podcast to help us get the word out about In His Hands In His Hands. Thank you and dear friends, have a blessed day.