Pray Without Ceasing

When I decided I wanted to get a second tattoo, I knew I wanted a Bible verse on my wrist. I had my list of verses narrowed down to a couple and ultimately decided on 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - "Pray without ceasing". The same verse just happens to be our church's verse of the year for 2013 as well.

Having a newborn baby who is waking for middle of the night feedings has certainly given me more opportunities to pray. When he wakes up at night I haven't been taking my phone into the nursery. I'm not stalking friends on Facebook, catching up on emails, or pinning awesome ideas I'll never get around to doing. Instead I am using his nighttime feedings as a chance to pray (as long as I'm not falling asleep while feeding him).

I pray for things associated with the current feeding:

• for him to eat well
• no hiccups or spit up
• a quick and easy diaper change with no pooping afterward
• for him to fall back to sleep easily after eating

I also pray for him for the future:

• for him to open his heart to Jesus at a young age
• for his future wife and her family
• for his relationship with Brennan

I have found that choosing to focus on prayer in the middle of the night is much more relaxing and peaceful that being on my phone. Plus, I don't get over-stimulated to where I can't fall back to sleep after he's back in bed and Momma needs her sleep. 

These pictures aren't from the middle of the night, but a few nights ago Bryce was sleeping in my arms after Brennan was in bed and he was doing the funniest things with his arms. It was like he was trying to block out the light or something. Sleeping babies are so cute!