The right tool matters
Recently, I was cutting my shrubs, and—gardeners, you may want to avert your eyes—normally, this process involves the nearest pair of beat-up kitchen scissors. I know what you’re thinking. What do you do with the ones too thick to cut with kitchen scissors? I normally gnaw on them with the scissors like a child trying to cut through a rug, or I break them in half with my hands. Same thing as pruning, right?
Well, the other day I asked my neighbor (my mom! 😜) to borrow some shears. I was tired of my afternoon routine of hacking a few branches at a time during porch conversations. To my utter delight, the shears made the job so easy! Better than that, it made it fun. I couldn’t wait to find another branch to cut.
I remember thinking this about kitchen knives and even included it in this list.
I didn’t realize just how much I could ENJOY prepping food with a nice set of kitchen knives that were gifted to Tyler. Like, I genuinely love getting to chop my fruits and veggies with our new knives.
The tools we use make all the difference.
Could I cut my yard with kitchen scissors? Sure. It got me this far.1
Could I prep food with the cheapest set of knives we could register for from Bed, Bath & Beyond2? Of course! We’ve been doing it for 15 years!
Could I pray without a journal or with a blank notebook? Generations have been doing it forever.
BUT, good tools for me have helped me not just get the job done, but to do it with:
JOY and LESS STRIVING (or hacking away) to make it happen.
All this reminded me of the prayer journals, and I wondered if this is how our past customers felt during their first prayer session with their new journal, which almost glided instead of felt like hobbling through, thinking I didn’t know it could be this good!
Like, surely you’ve experienced prayer before, but with a tool that cuts through the noise better than, say, a pair of scissors cutting through a branch or a 15-year-old knife cutting through carrots. Ah! That is exciting to think!
You all know I no longer own Val Marie Paper, but that doesn’t change how convinced I am that our prayer life is so much more important than enhancing our food prep sessions or healthier shrubs.
If you’ve never experienced the joy and less striving that can come with a VMP prompted prayer journal, now is the perfect time to test it out! Just experiment! It’s totally worth the potential that can come from finding the right tool to help you focus in prayer.
Here’s what I’d recommend:
Signature Prayer Journal - It’s a 6-month journal, so start it in July. See how you like it. If it goes well, you’ll be ready to pre-order the 2026 (!!) Prayer Journal at a discounted cost with CONFIDENCE, it will work for you.
Prayer Focus Map - I am obsessed with this. I’ll forget to use it for a little while, then pull it out and use it to pray through some of the bigger and more consistent prayers in my life, and it feels like I’m stocking my prayer arsenal.
I’d love to hear about the tool that has radically changed your experience with something!
If you’ve seen my yard, this isn’t exactly a brag.
Because it still seemed crazy expensive!
The Rhythms journal is my fave! I’ve been using it for four years. It keeps me grounded month by month, especially if there’s a month I’m not committed or didn’t complete it; I feel like I can always start fresh the next month. My favorite section is “Answered Prayers,” which reminds me to remember the Lord’s faithfulness, even in hard seasons.