Charis Rooks - The 30 Day Life After Divorce Prayer Challenge for Women

BK Royston Publishing

P. O. Box 4321

Jeffersonville, IN 47131

502-802-5385

http://bkroystonpublishing.com

Copyright 2016

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Cover Design: Bill Lacy Graphics

Layout: BK Royston Publishing LLC

ISBN-13: 9780985943998

ISBN-10: 0-9859439-9-8

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Printed in the United States of America

To my Heavenly Father I thank you father for allowing my recovery from two divorces and for turning my past hurt into my purpose and healing. Father I want to thank you again for your son, my personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prayer was one of my biggest challenges when I encountered my divorce. In my most painful moments I was so hurt and angry I could not see the benefit of prayer. Honestly the last thing I wanted to do was pray to GOD. I personally felt that God allowed this to happen to me and GOD must really not love me or like me much at all. I suffered from two divorces and God knew how hard the first one was for me but I felt God allowed it to happen again. I remember those days where I would ask God why are you so angry with me? Why would you be this awesome good God for everyone else but me? I know I have sinned but there are those out there who have done worse than me and they do not suffer like this. So after a few months of refusing to pray a friend suggested that I started to try it. So I did it not out of desperation but more to prove the theory to my friend that prayer didnt work and it wouldnt change a thing. Prayer didnt fit into my realist mentality but I had to be able to argue that it didnt work for me to win others to my way of thinking. I needed them to see through my eyes and not their clouded ideal of what prayer could do. However, once I did start to pray my life changed tremendously in every area, to the point where I now refuse to go through my day not speaking to God through prayer. If you know me you know that Im a polar extremist either I do it 100% or I dont do it at all what can I say.

While travelling on my journey of recovery I came across many women while facilitating divorce care groups who have the same look I did back in the beginning when I would ask how is your prayer life? So I wanted to create something for women like me in mind to help in initiating their prayer life after divorce. I wanted something to reach women no matter what stage of life after divorce that they are in. So if you are a believer, non-believer, or you have no idea what in the heck is going on with you right now this book is for you.

This 30 day challenge is created so that at any point in time you can take 30 days and commit to praying. Each day has a mini story, scripture and prayer challenge. I would like to suggest that you start your prayer challenge reading with a thank you prayer each day. Your beginning prayer is a thank you to God for your life. I know I just made some of you take a double take at the last sentence so let me explain why I put this in the book for you. My reason for adding a thank you is because you are still here and you have a purpose. You may not know your purpose at this moment and that is okay. It may seem so far away from your current reality, however you must have trust and have faith in God and you will see that thanking God will grow that sense of trust that you may currently lack. Also this conditions you to start praying in a thankful mindset to God. Many times we take all our problems to God which is absolutely ok but lets take everything to God in prayer the good times, in between, and the bad. The 30 day life after divorce prayer challenge will condition you to begin praying a prayer of thankfulness for all areas of your life.

Secondly, keep in mind to please do not let the technicality of prayer keep you from this challenge like it did for me when I first started praying. God knows I was trying so hard to pray like everyone one else that sounded good and I missed the authenticity and many times the purpose of my prayer. The uniqueness in this prayer challenge is the fact that each individual will have a prayer and it will be different. There is no uniform or systematic requirement for you to pray with this challenge so do not get hung up on that. When you are hurt and broken the enemy will try to break your communication from God in every way possible. Yes one of those techniques the enemy uses is technicality. If you can be distracted then the frustration can set in and then you lose the desire to pray completely. For myself I had to also fight past this so its okay if you get frustrated, move past it and talk to God. I began my journey of prayer just talking to God as if we were sitting together on a park bench. I cried, yelled, screamed, smiled, and even had a blank stare. However no matter what I prayed. Over the years Im glad this was the foundation of my relationship with God because now I feel comfortable praying to God. My goal is to encourage you starting today to do the same. This is your personal relationship with God and no one else so your prayer should be yours and only yours.

After you have read each day please see the prayer challenge on the following page. I suggest you take the challenge one day at a time. This will allow you to just focus on one area that day instead of feeling overwhelmed with several challenges in one day. Dont forget the enemy will try to creep in and make you feel overwhelmed at times even when you are doing something that is for yourself. Please feel free to repeat days and even to restart when your 30 days have been completed. The beauty in this is our prayers will change with the seasons of our lives, so I encourage you to continue to pray daily. Think of this as your course syllabus for class. Im outlining the course objective but you must apply it yourself.

My Prayer is that you are able to see through this challenge that God put you here for a reason, he created you, he molded you, and he has and always will love you, do not ever forget that. Though it may seem that you are getting an unfair end of the stick, or youre overwhelmed with brokenness this too shall pass. Lean on God and know that God will never leave you nor forsake you. Let God see you through this. Charis

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Today begin with your thank you prayer for being alive and having a life purpose that is dedicated to Gods use.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

For some there are moments that may occur in your life where you say to yourself Im here after divorce now what? There are so many suggestions and ideas from family and friends it can make you feel over whelmed. When I think of these suggestions I think of clothing in a clothing store. In todays society there are several clothing options, however I have yet to see a woman go into clothing store and buy items for herself that do not fit. Thats just not practical, for example, the average woman would not buy herself a pair of pants out of the newborn section. No, instead she will shop for her own particular style and size that is specific to her needs and liking. So why do we take every piece of advice after divorce and try to apply it to our lives? Some may argue and may say I did it out of desperation. I would then ask you out of desperation would you run to the newborn section of a clothing store to buy business attire for an interview? Sounds unrealistic and borderline crazy, however, this is exactly what you are doing in your life by trying every suggestion. Yes we have loved ones and families who have our best interest in mind however, their advice is what they want to see for us at times. This isnt a bad thing. In fact, in some cases they love us enough to want to help. However, what is dangerous is the fact that their advice is what THEY want to see for our lives and this may not be what GOD wants for our lives. The best way to handle multiple suggestions from those who love you would be to select and pray regarding the suggestion that applies to your particular need at that point in time. In other words, suggestions of dating the day after your divorce would not be as much of a wise priority suggestion as would a family member discussing with you ways to save your money and invest as a single woman. Remember to thank your family and friends for their love and concern for you and then pray over the suggestions. If your spirit says move on it then you do just that. You move to the next phase which is applying that suggestion to your particular situation. If you are not feeling well about a suggestion and you find yourself debating or polling others then I bet its safe to say that this is not a suggestion that should take priority right now in your situation. Im not saying you will never need it, Im saying just for now it should be revisited when you feel more comfortable with the suggestion and application of it in your life.