Eva Straughn

Prayer Walk Reflection

1. How has this experience Challenged my perspective on prayer

As an Abilene native in someone who grew up around and in ACU culture, I’ve seen the prayer
labyrinth many times and I have walked it a few times, but never since I’ve been in college. This
experience challenged my perspective in prayer because it took a lot of discipline for me to
really focus on the walk. I now have so many things going on in my mind, whether that be
school or work or just fun things that I want to do. These distractions can be harmful to my
prayer life because it does not allow me to fully focus on the Lord when I’m trying to spend time
with him. I like this experience and it change my perspective on prayer because it gave me an
activity to do while I pray, which allowed my brain to really focus on what I was doing and why. I
was able to fully reflect and listen and try to hear God‘s voice.

2. What challenges do I face in regards to developing my own prayer life & how this
experience helped me

As stated above, one of the main challenges I have in my prayer life is not being able to fully
focus on the Lord when I am praying. I’ll either just say words to say them, or I will be so
distracted I will not be able to hear what he needs me to do. I think this experience showed me
that performing an activity while I pray can help me keep my brain on track and keep me open
to hearing God’s word. I also face a challenge of being vulnerable with the Lord. I don’t know
why, because he already knows me so well and can hear all of my thoughts but for some reason
I still struggle to admit my faults and pray about real challenges I have, like being humble and
correcting sin in my life.

3. What parts of the prayer labyrinth experience could I incorporate into my daily routine

Even though it is not a prayer labyrinth, I think I’m going to take up prayer journaling. Whether
that is doodling or writing down my prayers or even just writing about my day in reflection with
the Lord, all of these tasks will help me to have a physical thing to incorporate into my prayer
routine, just like the labyrinth. I also want to start praying as I go on walks because I really
enjoyed being able to walk while I pray. The movement for some reason really makes me feel in
touch with the Lord, whether that’s because I’m seeing nature, or because I’m moving my body
which He has blessed me with.

4. What is my greatest take away from the experience

My greatest take away from the experiences that I struggle to do a good job listening. I struggle
to be vulnerable with the Lord, and I can tend to use distractions to excuse that behavior, but the
prayer labyrinth is not a place to put up walls, literally. It is a place to be vulnerable and listen to
the Lord. I am going to start to incorporate that into my prior life and really try to spend more
time with the Lord intentionally.