What’s your prayer trigger?

Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

This is Week One in our 40 Day Challenge and we are focusing on Being Alert.   If you want to be watchful and alert for prayer,  the first step is simply remembering to pray. I like to find practical ways to weave prayer into my days.

 Prayer triggers, or visual reminders to pray, are a great way to remain watchful and alert. 

During our years of infertility, I adopted bunnies as my symbol of hope that God could do a miracle. Though I held tightly to God’s Word, discouragement would sometimes loom heavy.  I began to notice that bunnies would often appear at the precise moment my hopes were ready to be dashed. In a light-hearted, though powerful way, these bunny sightings encouraged my dream to have a child.  Even my big 6’7” husband grew attached to the “bunny trigger.”

Friends learned our little secret, and sometimes gave bunnies as gifts during our many years of waiting. More bunnies of celebration came after our babies were born—cards, figurines, prints, an oil painting, even a handsome antique English stone sculpture. Our three kids once decided to count the bunnies—subtle and not so subtle—sprinkled throughout our home. I think they lost count at 100.

The Bible is full of examples of visual reminders. Think of the stones of remembrance the patriarchs erected to remind themselves of God’s victories of answered prayer. The New Testament word for sign can mean signal, symbol, or “finger-mark.”   God seems to constantly leave fingerprints, or reminders for His people to watch and pray and trust Him.

My friend Lisa took the prayer trigger idea to a new level.  At the time, Lisa was leading the small group Bible study to which I belonged.  Lisa loves teamwork and she’s passionate to find practical ways to help women grow in their faith. She encouraged each woman in our group to select her own prayer trigger.

For instance, Lisa’s trigger is “anything leopard.”  If I go shopping, I’m sure to run across leopard print, so Lisa gets prayed for often. Diana loves teapots, Sally picked redbirds, Tonya’s triggers are red cars, Jacqui’s are orchids, Marcela, our “audio learner,” selected singing birds. You get the point.

On any given day,  I’ll come across various prayer triggers for people and places I love.  So my days are punctuated with frequent reminders to pray for family and friends. There seems to be no limit—there is always room in my memory bank for just one more trigger.

What’s your prayer trigger?