Mindful Prayers for Students

The scripture that I want to read to you today is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: It just reminds us that there is a time in our life and a season for everything. Sometimes we feel really overwhelmed because we're trying to do everything out of its season. Everything happens in due time and we need to find ways to make room on our plate.

I want to talk about the power of our words. The power of speaking love and kindness over ourselves. Your words have meaning and have great impact on how appreciate and affirm ourselves. Proverbs 19:8 says, To acquire wisdom is to love oneself. People who cherish understanding will prosper.

I have been talking with a lot of first-generation students and my Barrier Breakers group about the pressures we sometimes feel as the firsts in our families. Feeling like we have to succeed because our whole family is praying for us and expecting from us. Our whole church is praying for us and expecting for us and maybe our whole neighborhood, our whole town. Sometimes we feel like we have to succeed because if we don't then so many other people in our life won't be taken care of.

It can feel like the burden or the responsibility is really high. Or rather, feeling that the success of others or the longevity, the sustainability of others in your family, in your neighborhood and your community depends on you, can be a blessing too.

I'm going to be talking to you about hope in uncertain times. Uncertainty can cause feelings of confusion, anxiety, dread, and disappointment. I want to remind us that our hope and our faith and our trust is built on Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:23 says, Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful.

I'm going to be talking to you about having faith. Faith is so tricky because I feel like sometimes it can feel like we're on a faith rollercoaster. The scripture that I wanted to share with you is Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.

On this Good Friday (2021), I am reminded of how good God's grace is. That Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his grace to us. Sometimes, we can be so hard -- and almost mean -- to ourselves. But God called us into his fold even while we were still sinners. So I want to remind you to give yourself the same grace that God has already freely given to you.

The first thing that I want to speak on is motivation. I know I always feel like I have so much on my to-do list and sometimes it can be hard to motivate myself, to push through that very next task to get it done.

I know for many of you, if you're studying for your LSAT, having just the motivation to see that through can be difficult. So I want to just give you a moment to encourage you to push through with your LSAT and also to give you some essay writing tips before we go into prayer.

Today, I'm going to be talking to you about strength and praying for strength. Today's scripture is Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I think that so many of us are dealing with so much right now with the pandemic. So I really want to take this time to just pray for strength, pray for physical strength and healing, but also pray for emotional strength and perseverance and motivation because it can be really hard to feel like you constantly going and constantly fighting.

Today I'm going to be talking to you about patience. There's so much going on probably in your own life that I feel like sometimes we don't slow down and we don't stop and we don't check in with ourselves and check in with our breath and check-in with how we're feeling and what our body needs. For me, I feel like sometimes it's easier to have patience for other people than it is that patience for yourself. Today's prayer will be a guide to having more grace and compassion for yourself and patience for God's blessings.

If you're feeling really burned out from studying, if you're feeling like, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Take a break. And I know that I'm the one that always says to try to dedicate a certain number of hours to the LSAT every day. But if you burn out, you're not going to be good for anyone. You're not going to be good to yourself. You're not going to write great essays. You're not going to be sharp when it comes down to test time.