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12 Quick ‘n’ Easy Ways to Connect with a Prayer / Accountability Partner

12 Quick ‘n’ Easy Ways to Connect with a Prayer / Accountability Partner

by | Apr 3, 2019 | Blog

Many have found that having a prayer/accountability partner is a huge help on their Thin Within journey. And it only makes scriptural sense: .

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Of course, we want the “third party” in that triple-braided cord to be the Lord Himself. As we all know, if He’s not in this with us, undergirding us, transforming us, drawing us to Himself, motivating us (with His motivations, not ours), and empowering us, then we may as well not even embark on this journey.

The Ecclesiastes author was speaking in general principles, but we can be more specific now that we have Jesus who has opened the way to the Father! So, before connecting with a prayer/accountability partner, we need to take care of that – as in get our hearts connected and our lives submitted to Him.

A prayer/accountability partner helps us stay connected to the Lord and encourages us to keep remembering that our help comes from Him, nudging (or maybe downright pushing) us toward Him!

And there are many ways we can do this! There are no rules; you can do it any way you like! 

I prefer to do this thinking in terms of not receiving anything back; just in how to bless them. But see the very end of this article for a thought on that!

Here are a dozen quick, easy, and simple ideas to help you connect with your prayer/accountability partner. I share lots of pictures, each of which speaks 1,000 words! – making this a 22,000-plus-word article with very little actual reading!

 

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1)  Share a Scripture that blessed you.

Here are three options:

  • Type it out on your phone or computer.
  • Go to a Bible app and copy and paste it from there.
  • Take a picture of the highlighted verse in your Bible…

 

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2) Share a victory.

Big, little ~ doesn’t matter! And maybe add why it was so significant ~ or so challenging ~ for you.

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3) Share an accountability form you completed.

This is one of Emily’s, used with her permission. (These forms are at the back of the Thin Within Rebuilding the Temple workbook.)

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4) Share an overhead slide that spoke to you.

These can be from a sermon at church or a workshop or conference you attended.

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5) Share a devotional that ministered to you.

This one’s in one of my favorite devotional books, Jesus Calling.

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6) Share a plaque or wall hanging you saw at a store that spoke to you.

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7) Share a link to a blog article…

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…or share a podcast that you know will encourage and bless your prayer/accountability partner…

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8) Share a truth card you made or found. 

I made all of these…  (Even though you and I are not prayer partners, I hope they encourage you today anyway!)  


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

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(Bonus points if you use a photo they took and sent you ~ which this is! Debbie sent me this picture of the snowy scenery on her trip home!)

 

Here’s an article called Truth Cards 101 for more on how to make your own! It’s actually FUN! And there are LOTS of ways to do them and many sources for ideas – all of which I share in this blog article!

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9) Ask:  “How can I pray for you today?” 

Another way to word this is: “Do you have any challenging situations coming up that you’d like to have me pray for you about?” I like that because I may not think of any prayer needs, per say, but, when asked if I have any challenges coming up, of course I do!

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10) Share a challenging situation that you have coming up today.

I know I said this is all about blessing them, but most people enjoy knowing they are helping and blessing someone else. “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

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11) Share a truth you wrote in your journal.

It might seem simple and unprofound to you, but it could encourage and inspire your prayer partner – like Emily’s blessed me…

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12) Share an audio recording of yourself talking.

…about any of the above things…  a scripture, an excerpt out of a book you’re reading, a truth card that impacted you, a prayer need or a situation you have coming up, etc. 

Most people don’t like hearing their own voice, but remember that you’re not doing this for you; you’re doing it for your prayer partner! 

You will need to find the audio recording – or maybe it’s called voice memo – feature on your phone. If you don’t know where it is, ask a friend who has a phone like yours if they can help you find it.

(This is just a picture of the prompt to access the one Emily sent me. I have not figured out how to get her recording into this article. If anyone knows, please let me know! Emily gave me permission to share hers!)

 

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You can do as many of the above ideas as you want – or even just one – on any given day! Again, no rules. Just jump in and do something. And “any and all the above” give you a place to start. 

Don’t get hung up or slowed down on doing it perfectly! Or on how much or how little you’re doing. Or on how consistently you’re connecting. Just DO it! And have FUN!!!

One last bit of encouragement…  Even if you have a prayer partner who’s not able to bless you back as much as you would like, you’ll still be blessed because….

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Accountability Ideas and Resources

by | Jun 12, 2013 | Accountability, Blog

Image Source: iStockPhoto

Image Source: iStockPhoto

Many of you are taking the plunge with accountability partnership! I know it is a bold brave step! I applaud you! Thank you for stepping up and believing God for the NEW thing that he is doing!

Today, I want to provide some resources for you and your partner.

Here are some previous posts on Accountability here at the blog.

  • How to pick an accountability partner. This post goes through some considerations you might want to ponder as you select a partner. If you already have a partner, this post isn’t likely to be terribly helpful. 🙂
  • This post shares a glimpse into how accountability can work for you as I share how it worked for me with my partner.
  • A post and form that I tried with my accountability partner a number of years ago. Click here to go to this post.

You and your accountability partner will want to discuss what works best for you each. What works best for one of you might not for the other, but you could still be successful partners together. For instance, there are some tools at the Thin Within website that some of you can use and benefit from. Some of these, might cause the rest of us to go right back into “dieting mode.” I have experienced both extremes during my own journey, but I share these tools with you now in case they can be supportive to some of you:

  • Food_Log – While different from the usual “diet” food log, it can, nevertheless, trigger dieting behavior, so only consider using this after praying and sensing God’s leadership. Then, perhaps, try it only for a week (or less) and evaluate with the support of your AP (accountability partner).
  • Hunger_Graph – This link shows two pages. The first is a sample page of how the graph looks when filled out. The second page is the blank one. Again, only use this if you think God is leading you to try it. It can be a temporary tool that can help us focus, but it can also challenge some of us with dieting triggers!
  • Observation and Correction– Each time you practice the Key to Conscious Eating, you make a special mark on the screen indicating as much. 🙂 At the end of the day, if you don’t see many marks next to that key, then you know it is likely to be a key you want to work on. Some people use #1 and #8 as their primary boundary (0 and 5 eating) with #s 2-7 being secondary boundaries. It can be best to focus on only one or two of the secondary boundaries at a time.

No matter what you have decided about accountability, you probably want to be structured with your partner to talk about these things each week:

1. What successes have we experienced in our Thin Within journeys? (There should be something here each week. If there isn’t, please email me for input. It could be your partnership isn’t functioning quite the way it is intended and a little input can help.)

2. What successes have we experienced in our accountability partnership? (Hopefully, you are seeing some of these within the first week. These things might include “Our schedules are compatible,” “We both like to text a lot and that is working for us,” “My partner likes to text and that works for me, but she can also talk on the phone every 3 days which is my preference.”)

3. What challenges or hurdles have we experienced in our Thin Within journeys?

4. What observations and corrections have we made?

5. Each of you will want to ask your partner: How can I best serve you in our partnership in the week ahead? If a partner needs more support, if a partner needs less, talk about these things and see if you can reach a happy medium.

Evaluate these things with a simple “Is this working for me?” approach:

  • Number of check-ins – does one of you feel like it isn’t frequent enough? Too frequent?
  • Nature of check-ins – does it feel like the emails are too long? Too short? No response?
  • “Venue” for check in – is the texting, phone calling, emailing approach work for you? Or do you need

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

– Galatians 6:2

Do you have an AP yet? If not, don’t wait any longer! Jump on board. Let’s have an updated response here on this post. If you still need an Accountability Partner, say so HERE on this post, ok? Then, please type out your email address like this: heidi bylsma at gmail dot com (no spaces) or harleys heidi at comcast dot net (no spaces). Then, if you see someone who intrigues you, go ahead and send them an email. No need to wait for me!