Dear DoAheads, it is my deepest pleasure to introduce you to today’s guest, author Julie K. Gillies.  I first met this humble lady at a breakfast table 2 years ago. We were attending a She Speaks conference and I needed a chair. The empty one next to Julie called out, no doubt God’s gift to me!

Our conversation was short but for whatever reason I never forgot her. I followed her blog and any updates on her book. Today she shares a powerful post that ties in with her book, Prayers for a Woman’s Soul.  This gem is in my quiet time basket and I love it.

Julie has graciously offered to give away a free copy of her book! (private DoAhead Dance on the chair). Leave a comment. Share who or what you are most likely to pray for or about. Check back next week and I’ll announce the winner!

I know you’ll appreciate Julie’s transparency and message of hope. Enjoy sweet DoAheads!

Go Ahead, Pamper Your Soul! by Julie Gillies

I didn’t start praying for myself because I was holy or wise. I started because I was desperate.

My marriage often felt like an emotional torture chamber. Negative and critical thoughts consistently bombarded my mind. And my emotions felt as shattered as a water goblet dropped on a cement driveway.

The hardest part was I felt stuck. It seemed like nothing was ever going to change, and I felt myself longing to give up on the inside. And that is when I sensed God nudging me to start praying for myself—regularly. Daily. I sensed that if I didn’t heed that holy nudge, I wasn’t going to make it.

So I began to pray for myself.

Initially the only uninterrupted time I could find to pray for myself was in the shower, so I prayed while I scrubbed, emerging to face each day with clean skin and an equipped heart.

That was the beginning of my soul-transforming prayer journey.

The truth is there are a lot of women facing incredibly hard circumstances right now. There are women enduring miserable marriages, women whose hearts still reverberate with pain from the past, and women who are in stressful situations that make them want to give up. Maybe you’re one of them.

Or maybe you simply have a sagging plate and a really long prayer list. Perhaps life is good for you, but both your to-do list and your prayer list are as long as your arm.

Or maybe, like most women I know, you’re a nurturer and a caretaker, a front-burner prayer woman who prays for whatever is boiling over at the moment—and there is always something boiling over—but you neglect to pray for yourself.

It’s counter-intuitive, praying for ourselves. I mean, we’re hard wired to help others—and that’s good. But God never intended for us to help others to our own detriment. He never intended for us to pray for our spouses, our kids, sick pets, our friends,  and world events but not to take time to pray for ourselves.

Prayers For a Woman’s Soul is a holy invitation for busy, overwhelmed women with long prayer lists to take time to pray…for themselves.

It’s a 52-week devotional that gives you one week to pray about a specific topic—like your emotions, your mind, or the guilt you’re hauling around. These short devotions contain personal stories, powerful biblical teaching, and specific prayer. And bonus: there are 365 topic-relevant, personalized scripture verses. One for every day of the year. So you can infuse your heart with God’s word while you pray.

Amazing things happen when we pray. I started praying out of sheer desperation, and God moved. He not only transformed my mind and healed my emotions, He transformed my marriage. I truly believe in the message of Prayers For a Woman’s Soul: that praying—for ourselves—is absolutely essential. Without it, we will languish. Equipped through prayer, we can soar through our days. As we take time to pray for ourselves, we partner with God and can watch in amazement as He moves and brings hope, healing, and transformation to our lives.

Prayer’s for a Woman’s Soul

Julie Gillies is the author of Prayers for a Woman’s Soul (Harvest House Publishers/January 2013). Healed from a traumatic childhood and awed that God saved her seriously troubled marriage, her message helps women pray with boldness, confidence, and the certainty that God hears. Julie is the Critique Groups Director for Proverbs 31 Ministries, and serves on the editorial team of P31 Woman magazine. She’s the joyful wife of Keith, mom of two soldiers and one civilian, and grammy of four. She loves hanging out with the entire gang at home, especially on days when her house is clean. Connect with Julie at: www.JulieGillies.com

Remember DoAheads, leave a comment and then check back next week. I’ll announce the winner! (If your interested in the book and you don’t want to wait until next week to see if you’ve won I put a link under Julies picture. It will take you straight to Amazon!)

Your DoAhead Friend,