Welcome back to Fierce Calling, where we dive deep into God’s word and testimonies of His faithfulness. I’m your host, Doris Swift, and today we’re honored to have Rachel Wojo with us again. Rachel is an inspirational author, speaker, and the host of the Untangling Prayer Podcast. In this episode, we’ll hear how Rachel’s profound journey of personal loss inspired her latest book, Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments.

We’ll delve into the power of prayer during crises, and how prayer can provide peace through life’s challenges. Rachel shares her experience developing a prayer practice that’s been critical in her toughest times, from managing life’s daily challenges to coping with immense grief.

Together, we’ll highlight the importance of proactive prayer, its role in spiritual warfare, and how simple prayers can be deeply powerful. Rachel’s story is one of resilience, hope, and the unwavering presence of God, offering encouragement and guidance for anyone facing their own dark moments. Listen in as we discuss how Rachel’s personal journey can inspire you to rediscover the power of prayer and rely on God’s promises without striving for ‘prayer perfectionism.’

Connect with Rachel!

Rachel Wojo is an inspirational author, public speaker, and podcaster known for her popular blog, rachelwojo.com. Through her biblical approach and personal life experiences, Rachel empowers women to discover strength and hope in everyday situations. Despite enduring the loss of her mother, adult special needs daughter, and father, Rachel remains resilient. She has authored the uplifting book, One More Step: Finding Strength When You Feel Like Giving Up, and her new work, Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments. Rachel is crazy in love with her husband, Matt, and cherishes her motherhood with six children on earth and two in heaven.

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What Threatens to Steal Your Joy?

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Transcript
Surrender the Joy Stealers Bible Study Intro …

Doris [00:01:45]:
What is threatening to steal your joy? What is it that feels so heavy right now that you could barely stand? God has a plan, and his plan is to surrender it. Surrender it to him. It might be a prodigal. It might be a relationship, a marriage, something with your job. So many things. We have so many amazing blessings, but there are so many things in our life that threaten to steal our joy. I’m Doris Swift, author of the award winning 6 week Bible study, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You. And it helps women rediscover the overflowing, ever present Jesus joy within that fills, empowers, and ripens the fruit that God produces in our lives.

Doris [00:02:36]:
Using personal and biblical stories, I share how you can identify your joy stealers, surrender them to God, reawaken the joy within, and share the joy with others. You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It’s available on all the online retailers. It’s time to take your joy back. Welcome back to the show.

Time Stamps

00:00 Praise God for your encouraging storytelling.
07:08 “God sees you, hears you, knows your needs.”
09:35 Developed prayer relationship amid life’s challenges, Bible verses.
15:12 Borrow others’ prayers to help communicate feelings.
16:24 Holy Spirit intercedes when words fail us.
22:25 Prepare for crisis with prayer to cope.
25:50 Experiencing God’s presence deeply during difficult times.
27:55 Daughter Taylor’s life taught family profound lessons.
30:28 Faith provides hope and strength during life’s challenges.
34:15 Communication with God essential for using armor.
38:57 Make prayer your first response, not last.
41:06 Bible characters hit rock bottom, then prayed.
44:40 Clearing minds and hearts through prayer podcast.
49:23 Free discussion guide available at desperateprayers.com.
50:14 Share episode and book to bless others.

Now On with the Show …

D Welcome back to the show. Today, I am really excited to welcome back my friend, Rachel Wojo.

Doris [00:03:10]:
She was on the show about, I wanna say, about a year ago. She was episode 169 at the time, and she is back. She’s an inspirational author, speaker, and podcaster. And through her biblical approach and personal life experiences, Rachel empowers women to discover strength and hope in everyday situations. And she is a precious wife to Matt, and she has 6 wonderful children on earth and 2 in heaven. And on our previous episode, I’ll put that in the show notes so that you can listen to the original episode, we talked a little bit about her story, and we’re gonna continue that on, and I’m looking forward to our conversation. Welcome to the show, Rachel.

Rachel Wojo [00:03:53]:
Doris, thank you so much for having me, and thank you for being a faithful warrior to just share the messages that God has given you and to minister to people through podcasting. You have just been a blessing in so many ways, and I appreciate your faithfulness. I hope that your audience knows just how beautiful and wonderful it is that you serve the Lord in this way. I think they do.

Doris [00:04:24]:
Aw. Praise God. That is such a blessing, and it’s just so precious. And I just I feel the same way about you, and I love that you use the words that you have been given in your experiences that you have gone through as difficult and hard as they may have been in the different seasons in your life, and how God is using your voice to speak encouragement into the lives of others. And I think that is so amazing. And the last time we were together, as I said, we touched, on your story and how mainly I believe it was the the first book that you wrote. And so we’re now gonna talk about this new book coming out, which we touched a little bit on the book last time we spoke. It was at the very end you I think you had just finished the manuscript.

Doris [00:05:19]:
And the the book is amazing. It is entitled desperate prayers, embracing the power of prayer in life’s darkest moments. And I think that this book is so needed, especially at such a time as this. And so, Rachel, I would love if you would share, some of of your story, however, you’re led to to share and how you’re taking action where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect.

Rachel Wojo [00:05:48]:
Sure. So I think it’s an interesting question to say. It’s my second you know, what is it behind this book that made you want to write this book? Because, you know, Doris, there are so many books out in the world, and God gives us these opportunities with an open door to share the messages that he has placed on our hearts. And so I just figured out after my daughter Taylor passed away January 2, 2019, it took quite a while before I was really ready to write a full manuscript, and I didn’t pitch any books or any proposals for a while. But once I believed that the Lord had me ready for this opportunity, I began to, work with my agents and get this book proposal together. And I think the heart behind it is just that there are a lot of people in very dark spaces right now in the world, so many different circumstances and situations. Even now that the book is releasing, we look at the economic status of America. We look at the political situations in America, and it can feel like all is lost.

Rachel Wojo [00:07:08]:
It can feel like where is God because it doesn’t seem like we can see how he is working. And so with that, I thought to myself, okay. In the deepest darkest times that I’ve had, which has been many losing a child to terminal illness, watching her suffer and die, losing my mom to leukemia many years ago, losing my dad while I was writing the book, unexpectedly, to to cancer that had been a long term battle, but we did not know that his battle was ending as quickly as it did. And so in the deepest darkest moments, I asked myself what do I want people to know? And I want people to know that God sees you, He hears you, and He knows your needs. And so that was the heart behind choosing to write this book Desperate Prayers. I wanted to encourage others that prayer does not have to be complicated, and we can drop that prayer perfectionism that we think we need the right environment, the right words, the right attitude, we can drop all of that and just go to God. And I’m so thankful that we can because I’m a hot mess. I hope that you, but I’m a hot mess.

Doris [00:08:38]:
Yes. I can relate to that for sure. But I love the the idea, the thought in the heart behind the book because you wanted to make prayer something that wasn’t overwhelming on those days where someone might be feeling overwhelmed. I know you talk a lot about how sometimes it’s hard to even get out of bed. Mhmm. And how Yeah. These things in your mind like, they just wreak havoc. And sometimes people can’t even fall asleep at night because at night when things get quiet is when our thoughts start really screaming.

Doris [00:09:19]:
So how would you encourage someone? Because oftentimes we feel like prayer is something like we wake up, have quiet time, we say prayers throughout the day. What do prayers at night look like for you, or how would you encourage someone?

Rachel Wojo [00:09:35]:
Yeah. When I I developed a prayer relationship with the Lord over the course of many, many years, and I never want people to think, oh, she’s a prayer expert because I don’t know that any of us are prayer experts, but I am a prayer advocate. I really do believe that prayer is pivotal to everything that we do. And so at nighttime, I think the way my roots started in that area of developing a prayer life was I, I, for many years, my husband left for work and he worked night shift. And I had 5 children at home at the time, one with special needs, all very young, and my husband would leave for work. And I would think I would lay down in bed and think, what if something happens? How will I get my kids out? What if there’s a fire? How can I manage a special needs child and a baby and all these toddlers and preschoolers? And how, you know, my mind would just start churning like you just said. And so, in those moments, I had to choose to latch on to the promises of God and give them back to him. So I began those years ago by printing out Bible verse cards from my own blog and those were Bible verses to help you sleep at night.

Rachel Wojo [00:11:00]:
And I would take those cards and I would put them under my pillow. At first, I would have them in the nightstand, and I would pull them out and read them before bed and tuck them back in the nightstand drawer. And then I was like, you know what? I’m waking up throughout the night. This is not good. I have to remember what I just read. And so I took those Bible verse cards, and I would tuck them under my pillow. And then some people might think I’m crazy, but eventually, I got to where I was sleeping with my Bible under my pillow. And I was like, Lord, I’m gonna sleep on your word.

Rachel Wojo [00:11:33]:
I’m going to rest on your promises. And for me, that was just a tactic to use against the devil. It was like in your face, get away from me. I’m resting on God’s promises. So, the way that that shifted into prayer was that once I recognized God’s word for what it was and once I believed those promises, then I would shift to praying them back to God. And I would say, God, help me. Your word promises this, this, and this. You know, your word promises that you are helping trouble.

Rachel Wojo [00:12:10]:
That when I call out to you, you will answer me. That I can call to you great, mighty things you will do because you we don’t even understand what you want to do. And all of those verses, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are higher than my ways from Isaiah 55. And all of those verses would just I would pray them back to the Lord and he would affirm them in my spirit and it would give me rest. And so for that person who is struggling, I can just tell you it may sound far fetched, but it worked for me. That process worked for me. And that’s just one of the things that, yeah, I wanted to share, through this this book.

Doris [00:12:55]:
Yeah. Wow. That is that’s like a treasure. You know, you have your Bible with you so close at night and the very word of God, the very living and breathing sword of the spirit is right there with you, and Yes. It alleviated any fears that you would have had because those are very valid fears. Right. Most of us don’t I mean, some of us don’t have those type of fears because we don’t have to think about having that many children to try to, you know, help if there was an emergency of some sort or something. But, you know, God was right there with you.

Doris [00:13:34]:
And I love that you often talk about prayers being borrowed and that you have helped others through allowing them then to read your prayers and borrow and then be able to take that as a help for them to springboard into their own prayers that are personal to God. So could you talk a little bit about that again? I think that’s great.

Rachel Wojo [00:14:03]:
You know, I grew up not reading prayers. That was not common in the denomination that I was in, and so I didn’t really understand, just how much borrowing someone else’s prayers, whether it’s, a liturgy or something that’s not formalized necessarily, but it’s just a simple, here are some words that I pray, you know, borrow my words. And I think when we’re in really challenging times, for me, that was facing the death, the sorrow, and and death of losing a child was probably the most challenging time that I had where I felt like I didn’t have any words. My mind would just swirl, and then sometimes there were times where it wasn’t even swirling. It was foggy. I would describe it as foggy where I just couldn’t even think. I couldn’t even string 2 cohesive thoughts together. And so it just felt like I was walking in a fog from grief and sorrow and trauma.

Rachel Wojo [00:15:12]:
And for the person out there listening who is enduring those things right now, I just want to encourage you that when you don’t have the words to pray, that idea of borrowing the prayers of someone else, it can just help you because it moves those thoughts out of your mind into a cohesive sentence. And it may not be your sentence, but after praying it for some time the reality is you can begin to claim that as your own. And those those words kind of bridge the gap between that fogginess and how to communicate with God. So I do, really encourage that. I I also just feel like, Doris, that probably someone is listening and they’re saying, I can’t even get words to come out of my mouth or read them off the page. And so I just want to encourage you. One of the most in-depth chapters of Desperate Prayers is chapter 9, where I talk about needing God to fill me. And the simple three word prayer that I prayed was God fill me.

Rachel Wojo [00:16:24]:
And, his promise from the book of Romans explains to us that when we don’t have the words to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and puts those words before the throne of God and actually the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, and God the Father have their own language that we can’t even comprehend. We can’t even fathom the communication that happens between the 2 of them, but Romans promises us in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit is groaning on our behalf. He’s communicating with God the Father and when we don’t know what we even need or we can’t even come to grip with what has happened our circumstances or situation that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and gives us the grace and the mercy and comfort flowing down from God the Father. So, I just want to encourage someone with that word that even if you can’t get those words out that the Holy Spirit is interceding for you.

Doris [00:17:29]:
Beautiful. That is so beautiful and a a wonderful reminder of what the biblical truth is that we can stand on and know that it’s real and it’s true and that we can surrender and trust God in all circumstances, even when our emotions don’t tell us those things, even when our feelings don’t say that. We can trust what is actually true. And and I do love how you talk about the 3 word prayers, the the small prayers. Like, you had shared, I believe, on the show last time how when you wake up in the morning, you you would just say, God help me. Like, those were your 3 words. So when you say these 3 word prayers, they they’re precious, aren’t they, to the They are.

Rachel Wojo [00:18:16]:
They are. Yeah. They are precious, and I feel like we have such complicated lives. Right? Most of us are inundated. We’re busy. We’re overwhelmed. We have too much on our plates and we have trouble discerning what to add, what to take away, how to live. And so by simplifying our prayer lives, by just saying, God help me, it’s a very simple three word prayer, but it contains so much power, not because of who we are, but because of who God is.

Rachel Wojo [00:18:48]:
And so, by by saying the word God, we’re addressing him as our sovereign creator, as the universe, the one who holds everything in his hands, and we’re saying, God, we give ourselves to you. You know, just by saying the word God, you’re recognizing that his sovereignty and his rule over the world, and then help is just a simple word to recognize how small we are and how much we need him. And then me is personalized to say, I’m the one. I’m the one who needs you. It’s not Susie. It’s not Joe. Me. Sign me up for prayer.

Rachel Wojo [00:19:28]:
And so by by just using God help me and meaning it from our hearts, it’s like the, the man who was seeking healing for his daughter said to Jesus, I believe, but help my unbelief. I I know I need you, but I’ve got this sector that I’m I need more of you, and so that’s what God helped me does. And each chapter in desperate prayers goes through a 3 word prayer. Each subtitle is a 3 word prayer. God help me. God hold me. God heal me. God reassure me.

Rachel Wojo [00:20:06]:
And so it’s a very personal journey. I am just really praying that the Lord uses these prayers in the lives of people who are struggling right now.

Doris [00:20:16]:
Yeah. Yes. And just the three word prayers, it’s just like I get so emotional over just talking about prayer and connecting personally with God, and that their their promises I mean, the Lord is our helper, so why wouldn’t we ask him to help us? You know? Yeah. And he knows our needs, but he wants he wants to hear it from our lips. He you know, even when we can’t say long prayers, you know, I grew up in, a faith as well, that had prayers that you just, like, memorized. They were, like, memorized kind of prayers. And, of course, I would always love the Lord’s prayer because, you know, Jesus taught us how to pray and also a model of structuring prayers. But I love to in your desperate prayer book, you have prayers at the end of the chapters and they’re very simple, short.

Doris [00:21:17]:
They’re not, like, 3 pages long. They’re very simple and short. And, and I’ve, you know, I’ve definitely prayed them. And you just the words are biblically sound their truth, so it it is applicable to anyone who is praying these prayers. And it’s all based on God’s God’s word. And also at the end where you have the prayer principles, and I thought those were really great because it’s kind of like a recap. They’re, you know, they’re great. And I there were a few that stood out.

Doris [00:21:55]:
I mean, a lot of them. All of them. We can’t cover them all today. But some that stood out to me that I wanted to kinda bring up and I thought, wow. And I and I think this okay. The so this is in chapter 4. And one of them is pain is often the prompt to prioritize prayer. So what what was your heart when you put that as one of the prayer principles?

Rachel Wojo [00:22:25]:
Well, there’s a saying that you’ve either you’ve either just come out of a crisis, you’re in the middle of a crisis, or there’s a crisis ahead. Right? All of us have experienced that in life. And so I wanted people to be able to pick up this book and recognize that maybe you’re not in a crisis moment right now, but if you can start to build your prayer life now, when you get to that crisis, you will feel more at ease with the crisis. You will have more peace, more calm because the tool of prayer communication with your heavenly father is one that you go to. It’s a go to, it’s a natural reflex. It’s that, really that muscle memory that is automatic for you to pray to the Lord. And, so for those people who have the pain right now, and you’re saying, I just can’t even go to God in prayer because the pain hurts too much. It’s just too hard.

Rachel Wojo [00:23:34]:
Pain is a prompt for us to recognize I need to prioritize prayer. I really need the Lord, and I want him to show up. And I want him to show me how he is working, not just show up because I might believe that he’s present and working, but I can’t see it. I don’t see that background. I can’t see what he’s doing. And I was thinking about this this week, and and that is that, God’s presence when we experience God’s presence, then it gives us those moments of pain relief that we’re looking for. And so, I had a friend I can’t remember, Doris, if I shared this story the last time that I was with you, but the story is coming right to my mind again. And so I’m going to share it.

Rachel Wojo [00:24:25]:
I feel like maybe the Lord has this for someone. I was speaking at a retreat, and a woman came up after me, afterwards to me. And she said, Rachel, last summer, I was experiencing the worst pain in my life. I had throat cancer. The chemo had just rod out my throat. It was open wound bleeding, scabs. I couldn’t eat. I could barely drink and swallow, and my throat was just on fire.

Rachel Wojo [00:24:59]:
And I was lying in the bed trying to recover from this chemo, and the Lord said to me, start praying for for others. And she said, I thought it was the strangest thing that this was what the spirit was telling me to pray for others, but I was in so much pain. I thought, well, I might as well try it. And so she began to intercede for others. She started praying for the people in her neighborhood and then her family and then her community and her church, and she just started naming all of these people and saying, God, I don’t know what their situations are. Maybe I do, and prayed for as many. And, she said within 30 minutes, she was no longer in pain. And, she paused, and she realized I’m not in pain anymore.

Rachel Wojo [00:25:50]:
And it was so miraculous for her that she came up to me afterwards to explain this, and so what I believe happens is that God brings healing. Maybe you will continue to feel the pain, but you will experience God’s presence like you’ve never experienced it before. And that’s what I would say about walking through my daughter’s death. I experienced the presence of God like I never have before and I never want to forget it. You know at the beginning of our lives when we have newborn babies and at the end of our lives, I think those are very precious holy privilege moments where we get to recognize the Spirit of God. It is like a scent of heaven in a way, and I believe that that moment when Taylor passed away God was holding her and He was holding me at the same time and only He is big enough to do that and can still do that today. So, when you prioritize prayer as a result of pain, the presence of God has the opportunity to envelope you. His peace comes upon you, and I’ve experienced that.

Rachel Wojo [00:27:14]:
So that’s why I am encouraging that run to prayer when the pain is on you.

Doris [00:27:21]:
Yeah. That’s beautiful. I don’t think you did share that story.

Rachel Wojo [00:27:25]:
Good.

Doris [00:27:25]:
Yeah. That is so precious, and it wouldn’t hurt to hear it more than once anyway.

Rachel Wojo [00:27:30]:
Yeah.

Doris [00:27:31]:
But what a a precious thing that the woman felt compelled to share with you.

Rachel Wojo [00:27:36]:
Yeah.

Doris [00:27:36]:
And Yeah. That yeah. Thinking about it and that it was a healing balm to her. It was like a heavenly healing balm Yeah. To her physical body, but to her soul. And, also, as a blessing to the ones she was praying for.

Rachel Wojo [00:27:53]:
I’m You know? Yeah.

Doris [00:27:55]:
So Yeah. So great. And and I do, remember, because I I was able to read, you know, an advanced copy of the manuscript, and I just as you were talking about it, remembered reading how you shared the story different story and snippets of what your experience was having your precious daughter, Taylor. And she, yeah, she was special needs. She had this terminal illness, but she was perfect in every way, and such a beautiful child that taught you and your family so many things. And we discussed a lot of that in the last episode that we did together. And how in this book you did say that, where you said that the moment of birth and then when it the time comes when it you know, we’re gonna transition to our heavenly home. It’s like such a precious time where you draw really so close and feel God so near and how he was holding both you and her at the same time.

Doris [00:28:54]:
That’s gonna encourage someone right now who has either recently lost a loved one, is going through that. Because really with what Taylor had, as you explained what her condition was, it was degenerative. So it was over time that you continue to see the decline, but your your prayer life really blossomed during that time, didn’t it, Rachel?

Rachel Wojo [00:29:23]:
I sure did. You know, I say that to Doris that that Taylor kept me tethered to Jesus. And one of my fears after she left this world and graduated to heaven, one of my biggest fears was that I would forget how much I needed the Lord. And thankfully, the journey that I had with her taught me that I can’t live without him. I cannot live without the Lord and I cannot live without continual communication with Him. I still make mistakes. I still, you know, falter. My prayer life’s not perfect, but I know how much I need him.

Rachel Wojo [00:30:05]:
And desperation is what fuels our dependence on God. Once I arrived at understanding how much I needed God and how dependent I was on him, I always want to live that way. I don’t want to ever live without being dependent on him. That’s exactly where he wants me and exact is exactly where I want to be.

Doris [00:30:28]:
Yeah. And what an encouragement to the world right now because the world is filled with those who are lost and don’t know the Lord and are struggling. And I I cannot imagine going through life’s challenges, difficulties, and all of the the troubles of this world without having God in our lives Yeah. As center, you know, as first in our lives. And the witness because as we talked also, I think, on the last show, I wanna say, we talked about how, you know, that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. And what people have and you won’t even may might not even know this side of heaven, how many lives were impacted, and how many people saw as your story unfolded, what the grace of God in their life could do. And, you know, it’s like, how in the world can you even survive something so hard as losing a child, and just the peace that they probably witnessed in your life? Not that there wasn’t turmoil or grief, but it was not the kind of turmoil that the world experiences without the presence of God. So he was with you and just the evidence of it right there, and the joy, really, that can simultaneously exist Yes.

Doris [00:32:03]:
With with grief and with sorrow. And so, I’m sure you’ve had a lot of people who have reached out to you with that encouragement. Right, Rachel? Have you experienced that?

Rachel Wojo [00:32:15]:
Oh, yes. I have. I often receive emails from readers, from podcast listeners, from, anyone who who comes across our family story. I receive emails and and messages from them saying just what you said. And I appreciate that you’re drawing attention to that because it’s never my goal to receive any of the glory. It’s always my goal to give God the glory. I’m telling you, Doris, I would not be here if it wasn’t for that grace in my own flesh. I want to disappear.

Rachel Wojo [00:32:50]:
You know? When you have lost a child, you just think the worst of your own self as a parent. Like, you have failed, like, you miss your child, and you just so many questions you can’t wrap your head around the whys, the what ifs, the buts, and all of that circles. Without the Lord, I would not have a breathing stand. I claim the verse in Acts, in him we live and move and have our being. And that is me. I cannot live. I cannot move. I cannot have my own being without the Lord.

Rachel Wojo [00:33:27]:
I just I’m not dependent on him. And so my my encouragement is in those desperate moments for others to embrace being dependent on God.

Doris [00:33:39]:
Yes. Yes. And also, you you talk about this in the book, and it’s just so true that we have an enemy. We have an enemy Yes. That we we face warfare, spiritual warfare.

Rachel Wojo [00:33:52]:
Yes. And

Doris [00:33:53]:
you talk about that in the book. And so if you wanna touch on that a little bit, because I think that sometimes we forget that there is an enemy, and he probably wants us to forget that he exists so that, you know, we can feel like we’re being tormented and that things are being caught in God. This is what God’s saying, and it’s not God’s truth. It’s just lies that we Yes. We hear.

Rachel Wojo [00:34:15]:
Yeah. And and most of us are familiar with the armor of God in Ephesians 6 where it it lists all of those, parts of of the body armor that we need, the helmet of salvation, and we get down to the sword of the spirit. And most, I don’t know, messages or lessons that I’ve heard about the armor of Christ and how we need to put on the full armor of God, most of the messages I’ve heard kind of stop and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and they ended there. But the very next verse says, I’m praying and praying so we can have the full body armor on, but if we don’t have a relationship with the the heavenly captain in our headquarters, if we don’t have that communication, then we can put on the body armor all day long, but we’re gonna be just fighting those darts. We’ve got to have a communication with our Heavenly Father so that we know how to use that armor and that we, we have the truth to not only the the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, not only that word of God to fire back at Satan when he’s attacking at us, but to have that open communication for God’s spiritual intervention to shut the enemy down. Just recognizing that when we pray Jesus, the enemy flees. He flees. And so, those tools are so important especially in understanding that when painful circumstances enter our lives, whether it’s cancer, disease, divorce, you name it, all those disease, you know, those big d words of, desperation, discouragement, they they keep going.

Rachel Wojo [00:36:10]:
And all of those words, when they come into our lives, when we learn to pray, when we invite Jesus into those spaces, then we can open ourselves to what he has to offer and how he will comfort, how he will guide, how he will show himself to us. But without being willing to snuggle up into the arms of our heavenly father, without being willing to lay ourselves at his feet and let him know how much we need him in prayer, then it’s difficult to experience that peace. It’s difficult to experience that mercy and that grace.

Doris [00:36:52]:
Yeah. And thank you for sharing that reminder that right after the armor is prayer. Yes. It comes with it’s like, you have the armor and because sometimes, you know, you get something, you order something, and it doesn’t come with instructions, and you’re like, I don’t know how to work this. I don’t know how to use this. I don’t know what the proper way is. And so, God says prayer is the powerful thing that goes along with the armor. And so, I love that you brought that out and there was there was another, principle that I wanted to mention, which you say, where is that? I love it.

Doris [00:37:33]:
Let’s see. I I think I wanna say it was chapter 2. And what does it say here? When when desperation calls, answer in prayer. Mhmm. That is kind of what you’ve been sharing about, you know. And sometimes we think of prayers like the last resort. Right? But that’s not exactly what you mean when it’s like, now I’m desperate. Now I’m gonna pray.

Doris [00:38:00]:
That’s not how we should take that. Right, Rachel?

Rachel Wojo [00:38:04]:
Well and and I want people not to what the devil does is he tries to shame and guilt us when we haven’t had a strong prayer life. He tries to shame and guilt us into thinking, well, I haven’t been talking to God, so it’s too late now sort of thing, and that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Like, God wants to hear your about your bad day. He wants to hear about your bad day. When we have our children and our family, just because they had a bad day doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk to them. It actually means I want to talk to them all the more as their parent, And so that’s how our heavenly father looks at that. We don’t wanna shame and guilt ourselves into not praying. But to your point, I really do believe that it it’s like you want prayer to be your first pick, not your final straw.

Doris [00:38:56]:
Oh, I love that.

Rachel Wojo [00:38:57]:
You want prayer to, you know, you don’t wanna say, oh, I’ve I’ve heard people say, well, praying is all we can do, you know, and it was like the attitude behind that was, well, this is just the last final opportunity. And what my hope is that people learn through embracing this power that we have when we come to the desperation, when we come to the end of ourselves, then we have God and he’s all we need. He is all we need, and so when we have a prayer relationship with him, we can then say, I want this to be my first pick. I want this always to be what I remember to do, And then what happens in that in that motion is that we build that that prayer memory muscle, and we start to pray. And then God starts to reveal to us the things that he is doing in our lives and how he’s working in a situation. And not only does that peace and that mercy and that grace come over us, but then fresh insight, fresh understanding, inspiration, creativity all of those things that we need in order to move through that. So, one of the hardest things I had to tell myself, and and I think you understand this, Doris, is I did not die when my daughter died. And, I think I shared that before and so my heart behind sharing this message is God has a plan for you, too.

Rachel Wojo [00:40:34]:
I want to hold your hand and help you journey in your prayer life with him to get to that point to where you’re living your best life. You’re living your best life for him, and I I I hope that you felt that at the end of the book, Doris.

Doris [00:40:50]:
Yes. Yeah. So beautiful. And and I do love that you said, that it should be your prayer should be your first pick, not your final straw. And how you were talking about, well, all we can do is pray as if nothing else has worked, maybe we should pray. You know? But what we Well

Rachel Wojo [00:41:06]:
and and I’m not opposed to that, but if we proactively pray, like, if we recognize oh, wait a minute. You know, we go I I go through in this book 15 Bible characters who were jacked up. I mean, they were messed up in goofy, horrible, difficult, challenging situations. You’ve got Hannah who was going through infertility, and her story is like a TV reality show. You know. And then you’ve got Hagar who is forced to be a single mom, take her child out into the wilderness to what she thinks is is death. And then you have David who many ups and downs, but one that I mentioned is losing his child because of his own sin. All of these desperado characters had this bottom, you know, rock bottom experience where it was like, I have no way to look but up.

Rachel Wojo [00:42:05]:
And so just reminding those of you who are listening, if you’re in one of those situations right now, whether it’s infertility or, being a single mother or whether it’s having lost a child, those situations feel like all you can do is look up because there’s no no other way. And my heart is to say, yes. That’s what you need to do. Look up because God is longing for a deeper relationship with you.

Doris [00:42:37]:
Amen. That is amazing. You know, in the book, you share so many great stories, but I love how you brought in all these biblical characters and talked about their struggles and what happened in their life, and then also interwoven in with your stories in amazing ways that God just brought these gifts. And I don’t know. You have to get the book. If you’re listening today, you need to get the book because there’s a a really cool story about something that Rachel found in her backyard that someone left for her. And it’s like, wow, very powerful. And so be sure to grab that.

Doris [00:43:17]:
We don’t have to give that away, but it’s, it’s a precious precious story and how God is so faithful to provide all of our needs. And we don’t go through life without struggles, financial, physical Yeah. The pain of loss. And I you know, I’m so sorry for your loss, and I’m I’m just thankful that you have the encouragement and voice to help others when they’re going through such difficult seasons in their lives, because we’re gonna have them. Like you said earlier, that that saying of, you know, if we’re not in a crisis right now, we’re either coming out of 1 or we’re facing 1 in the future, and that is so true. And if it isn’t us, we know someone. There’s someone we love. Someone that God puts in our path.

Doris [00:44:00]:
That what a wonderful thing is that we can be prayed up before things happen and just have that preparation time. And like you say, it’s like a muscle, because our muscles have the memory. When we exercise our muscles, they remember. And, you know, when we when we get away from exercising for a while Yeah. Our muscles just bleh. So we wanna strengthen that muscle, that prayer muscle, and your ministry helps others to do that. So it’s so it’s so great. And I would love if you would share a little bit about your podcast and also how people can connect with you and find the book.

Rachel Wojo [00:44:40]:
Sure. So I am a podcaster at the untangling prayer podcast. It’s a space where people can come and clear their head and calm their hearts in the chaos of life. I do 3 segments, per episode, and one of the pieces is just hot questions in heart spaces where people send in questions and say this is what I’m facing. This is my challenge, whether it’s in their prayer life or some other hard space. I do my best to answer that question from a biblical standpoint, and then we cover, one solid prayer principle in just 5 minutes about what God has taught me from his word in regards to prayer principles. And then the last portion is always an answered prayer story where we get to share the the answered prayers that others have had. And I found, Doris, that answered prayers are one of the biggest encouragers that we can have in our lives to know that God is answering prayer and that He still works and He’s still alive and active in the 21st century.

Rachel Wojo [00:45:49]:
Some of us, I think, don’t believe in big answers to prayer. And so, I I pray that my book and my podcast is an encouragement for people to really understand that God is still in the prayer answering business, and he he’s never broken a promise, and he never will. And then you can reach me at rachelwojo.com. Or, of course, I would love for you to check out desperate prayers.com. It is releasing today, desperate prayers, embracing the power of prayer in life’s darkest moments, and you can get it wherever books are sold. There is one other resource stores. I feel like there’s so many people who maybe economically you can’t afford to buy a book right now. I would like for you to know that there is a free guide on my website, rachelwojo.comforward/can’t hyphen pray, and that free guide is when you can’t pray prayer guide.

Rachel Wojo [00:46:46]:
It’s a beautiful little ebook that gives people the opportunity if you’re in a hard space, if you’re in a difficult place, and maybe even today you feel like I don’t have the financial wherewithal to buy a book right now, then I would love to give you this free resource, the when you can’t pray prayer guide, and we’ll be sure to leave that link in the show notes.

Doris [00:47:07]:
Yes. Yes. We will. That’s a precious precious gift for someone, and someone who is listening right now is gonna grab that. And and I love how you’re talking about prayers and that sometimes we don’t pray big enough. And there’s a plaque right behind me that says, be bold in your prayers, because we can we can be bold in our prayers. And, you know, there’s oftentimes people will say, well, but you didn’t get the answer to your prayer. But we have to realize, you know, God’s ways as you say are higher, and you talk about that in the book too.

Doris [00:47:40]:
And, you know, that we can’t understand the full concept or scope of what he is actually doing in the big picture story. And this is really not our home. We’re just passing through.

Rachel Wojo [00:47:53]:
Yes. Hallelujah.

Doris [00:47:55]:
Thank the lord. Yes.

Rachel Wojo [00:47:56]:
Praise the Lord for that.

Doris [00:47:57]:
Woo hoo. Praise. That’s a big praise. And, so we just have to encourage other people because sometimes people that are skeptic or, you know, they’re they’re having a time where they they either don’t believe that there even is God, or that they’ve been praying for something and it’s just not come to pass, but that we can trust that God hears our prayers, and he answers them in a way that will be good. We’ll bring him glory, but also be good for for all, of his children. So yeah. So I thank you so much for that. And be sure to check out Rachel’s site.

Doris [00:48:36]:
Grab her free resources. And, yes, we’re celebrating today that her book comes out. And it’s Desperate Prayers, Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life’s Darkest Moments. And this is such a precious resource for you to grab, but also to grab as gifts for other people. Just have some copies on hand and be able to give that to someone when you know that they are going through a very difficult season in their life. And it’s a beautiful, beautiful book, and I know that you will love it and glean from it, and it will encourage you greatly. And so I’m so glad I had you back on the show, Rachel. I know last year, I said I hope to have you back on when the book comes out, and here we are.

Rachel Wojo [00:49:23]:
Yeah. Thank you so much, Doris. I appreciate your ministry, and, you know, what you just said reminded me, you said grab a few copies. I do have the opportunity also available that if someone wants a discussion guide so that you can have a book club or a Bible study group, there is a discussion guide that is available for free on my website at desperate prayers.com. If you scroll to the bottom, you can get that free discussion guide. If you purchase 5 copies or more and you provide proof of that, then I will also come to your Zoom meeting, show up virtually somehow for your group and chat with you guys for 15 minutes so that I can encourage your hearts. So, that all of that information is at the bottom of desperate prayers.com.

Doris [00:50:14]:
Fantastic. And, yep, the links will be in the show notes for all of the things that we mentioned, and I hope that you’ll take advantage of that. And there are so many women who are listening right now that are either part of a group or know a woman at their church who gathers women. Yeah. And so if you could share about this, share this episode, share about the book, we would so greatly appreciate it because it’s going to really bless so many people, and it would make a great book to do in your in your group, in if you have a book club or something like that, and to encourage others. And to encourage younger women because we’re called to disciple. And it may not we might disciple an older women. You know, it just depends on but if, you know, we’re called to disciple and this book is an amazing resource for that.

Doris [00:51:00]:
So thank you again for being on the show, Rachel. It’s been such a blessing having you back on.

Rachel Wojo [00:51:06]:
My privilege for sure, Doris. Again, I appreciate your ministry and everything you’re doing. Thank you so much for the blessing of having me.

Doris [00:51:14]:
Aw. Thank you so much too. And God bless you and your ministry and all that you’re doing to partner with god to encourage others and help them to see that he is for them, he loves them, and he sees them right where they are. So friends, thank you for listening today, and Rachel, we will talk soon.

Thank you for listening today!

I hope you’ll join me next time when I talk with another woman who is taking action where her passion, compassion, and conviction intersect.

Until then, friend, have a blessed week and I’ll talk to you soon …

Doris