If you aren’t a regular reader here or if you are and just didn’t notice, most of the blog titles are one to three words. At first this intentionality was because the blogging software creates the web address using the title, the longer the title, the longer the link. However, as God continued to provide content about what it means to Flourish at Life, He also began to use specific words and phrases. (For more about this idea, feel free to read What’s Your Word? and Words Matter). What God is revealing through this writing process is that a word or phrase will come to mind, I’ll make a note in a journal or in my notes somewhere, and then it sometimes appears in other places. When this occurs, it is important for me to acknowledge the word or phrase and Write It Down.

As much as I loathe what social media has become and how frustrated I get with the ads and suggestions and just bail for extended lengths of time, I am encouraged when a sister in Christ, like Sarah, posts a concept that God was revealing to her. One like Prayers Don’t Expire that touches my heart and hits deeply in a way that I am fully Attentive to what God is choosing to stir in my heart because Sarah was faithful to mention what God was showing her. Her post, along with what I shared in Expiration Dates, really had me pondering this phrase as I carefully considered if any of my prayers had indeed expired.

Sarah shared, “I was getting ready for work. Simple reflection. Saw a visible reminder of something I’ve been praying for quite some time. The Lord interrupted my thoughts and said to me, ‘Your prayers don’t expire.’ Someone else probably needs to be reminded that your prayers don’t have an expiration date. If it came from your heart, it’s in His hands. Isaiah 60:22—‘When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen.’”

So, for a few weeks now, I’ve been pondering her insight of Prayers Don’t Expire. But do they? Has my desire to be a wife and mom reached its Expiration Date? Biologically, yes, perhaps it has. My body’s ability to birth children has indeed expired. But has my prayer? I can honestly say, “I don’t know!” You see, I believe God operates on Kairos and not Chronos Time. He is not limited by my human concept of time.

In addition to my limited humanity, I also very gratefully recognize that not all of our children are biologically related. For example, over a 31-year career, let’s say that an average of 200 students sat in my courses over an academic year. That’s 6,200 Emerging Adults that have been placed in my care. Some of them came and went on with their lives, others lingered for a while, others remained a significant part of my life. But I hope that each one of them understood how deeply I cared about them and pray that they flourish at life.

Two other examples of how God has blessed me with children without the pain of labor or financial responsibility. How many kids over the years have served as my entertainment at church while serving in children’s ministry? Most of these children will have no memory of me, but the pleasure and laughter they provided over the years has been a blessing. If you enter my home, you will see numerous 12×12 Creative Memories scrapbooks stacked upon my shelves. Seven of them have the distinct title of “Julie’s Little Ones,” while all my books likely contain children throughout, because kids are just fun to photograph. As long as they are not acting foolishly, I will claim each of Julie’s Little Ones as my own. If they do something crazy, I’ll just walk away. We don’t share a last name, and I have no legal obligation to them. Just kidding, we don’t always have a choice in who we love!

Sarah and I have not yet had a conversation about the concept that Prayers Don’t Expire, but I imagine it’s coming. For she has made me consider if perhaps there are some prayers that I stopped offering to my Lord and Savior because it felt like they had expired. Our Prayers Don’t Expire until we do. Think on that—until you take your last breath here on this earth, our Lord might still be asking you to trust His timing for blessings in your life.

I love Shared Stories, so if you have a prayer that didn’t expire that you would graciously be willing to share, please consider doing just that. I would be grateful!

Reference:

Begley, S. (2026, June 3). Social media post.