Life as a LEO Wife

Designing Devotion Edition

My husband begged me to make a sign to put on the door of whatever room I am in praying, a do not disturb prayer in progress sign if you will. This idea is all thanks to him. He kept coming to talk to me in our room or my office/craft room, and I’d be praying, he’d be interrupting. He’d say, “I did it again, didn’t I?” Yep.

I did shy away from the idea of it in the beginning. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:6 ESV, “But when you pray, go into and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I am careful also to not pray in empty words said to make myself look good. I gave it thought, prayed about it, and decided that my family, my children need to hear and know that I pray often, wanting to be an example for them. So I thought a prayer in progress sign was a good idea. You can hang it on your door when you’re praying, or add it to your War Room space.

To make your prayer in progress sign, you need:

• 5×7 flat canvas from Dollar Tree
• acrylic paint in your color choice- I used English Navy from Apple Barrel. Dollar Tree has also started carrying acrylic paints.
• paint brush
• stencils, Cricut, or sticker lettering (Dollar Tree now has stencils and stickers. Yay!)
• vinyl- I used pink glitter and teal.
• transfer paper or clear contact paper from Dollar Tree.
• scissors
• one or two different 2.5″ ribbons for a bow

Create your design in Design Space, or paint the wording using stencils.

First paint your entire canvas with your base color and set it aside to dry.

Open Design Space to a new project. I have the Cricut Access subscription, and let me tell you it is so worth it. I spent the first year of having the machine, making all of my own designs, downloading others free SVGs. That is a way to go, but I’m so glad I now use the subscription!

I chose a chunky cross design to be in the background. Using the font Cindy Loo, I added text saying, “Praying without ceasing.” It’s a wonderful command from the Lord, delivered by Paul to Christians. Cindy Loo is an adorable font with two layers. I used teal vinyl for the front layer and the same pink glitter for the bottom layer. Now the design is complete.

You probably know how to work your Cricut by now, so I won’t bore you with the exact details of the final steps. If you do need a longer tutorial, check out my post on making a large farmhouse sign.

Add the vinyl to the canvas.

If your canvas is dry, it’s time to place your design. Using transfer paper add the cross to the canvas. Place a ruler at the bottom of the canvas so you can see the mid-point. Line up the middle of your cross and the 3.5″ mark and use a credit card to smooth the vinyl onto the canvas.

Next add your wording. Again, line up the middle of the design with the middle of the canvas. Using the credit card, smooth the design onto the canvas.

Now you can add the top layer of the wording. Carefully line up the two fonts so that they are perfectly aligned. The transfer paper will make that pretty easy. When on, you should only see the pink font through the decorative cut-outs in the teal vinyl.

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Make a bow.

I used two different ribbons to add a bow to my prayer in progress sign. I used a sheer teal 1.5″ wired ribbon to make something to hang it from. Cut 6″ of it, and then cut that in half. Tie the very tips of the sides together at the top. Glue the two free ends to the back of the canvas.

Using a pink 1.5″ wired ribbon I made a four-loop bow. Pinch your ribbon off, and make two loops, one on the left and one on the right, then pinch it off again in the middle. Twist the ribbon to ensure that the front side is showing. Repeat the process of making the loops, just make them a little bigger than the top loops. Place a dot of hot glue on the back center of the bow, and press the center of it to the knot you tied with your first ribbon. You’ll notice below that I folded the teal ribbon to a small sliver, covered the center of the pink bow with it, then hot glued it to the back of the bow.

You have finished your prayer in progress sign!

All that’s left to do is proudly display your sign. I first tried to hang the sign from a door knob. It is possible, but you have to try to hold the sign out while closing the door quickly. I did not want to do that every time I hang it, so I added a small hook to the outside of the door.

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Devotion

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I hope you make your own prayer in progress sign to let your loved ones know do not disturb because you’re talking to your Father. During this week’s devotion we will be talking about prayer. Prayer in one of the most important things to do, and important for your relationship with the Lord.

I’ve been praying since I was a child, but it’s in our years as an adult that we mature in the Lord and learn prayer is not just asking for blessings for ourselves or others. We come to God as a Father that we can have the deepest of conversations with. Because it’s a two-way street. God is also speaking to you, you just have to listen as you deepen your relationship with Him.

I’ve always known that we should want what is God’s Will. That’s easy to say, but not so easy to want or do. We get bogged down in the secular world or just in the busyness of life. I know I would begin to fear that what if God’s Will is something I don’t want any part of? What if His Will is to take a family member to be with Him? What if His Will is that things become horrible for me for a while in order for me to become the woman He wants me to be?

Those thoughts were paralyzing at times. You think, wait, I know that He says tribulation worketh patience, and I just can’t handle one more tribulation. As I’ve gotten older and my relationship with Jesus deepens, I’ve realized what was right before me all the time; that His Will is what I was made for. It is the only way to be truly happy this side of Glory. His Will is what I was created for, so it’s the only way to reach my potential, what He put me on this earth for. How could I have missed that?!

“…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 5:20 ESV says,

So now, I pray to know God better, to recognize His voice, and that He will pour out His wisdom and discernment on me. We know from scripture that we should pray without ceasing (1 Thessaloninans 5:17). I am striving to do that in order to be closer to Him.

I’ve found that most important part of prayer is thanking Him. Ephesians 5:20 ESV says, “…giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Every thing we are and have is from Him. The Coca-Cola I’m always sipping on? It exists because He created it’s inventor and still allows it to exist today. I also have it because we paid for it. We were able to do that through jobs that He created and gave us talent for. Even the bad things we now will eventually be for our good as He promised.

In closing I’ll say this, prayer is vital to our well being, to our saneness(well definitely for my saneness, ha). I pray for His Will to be done, to thank Him for all that I have and am, and I praise Him endlessly because of Who He is!

I hope you have enjoyed our weekly Designing Devotion. I would love to see your prayer in progress sign and hear your thoughts on it. Share it with your friends and family who may like to make their own. If you like this post, stick around and check out the other posts in the carousel below. Make sure to follow us on social media using the buttons below. Enter your email address to get a notification when a new post is uploaded.