My novel, “Until Our Dying Day,” is still in the editing process and may not ever be published until my dying day, but one of the female protagonists uses the woods as her prayer closet. When things become overwhelming for her, she ventures out the back door and into the forest to talk with God. As time progresses, her husband has a stroke and requires her constant care, so she moves her prayer sanctuary to a closet in an upstairs bedroom. We may all need a quiet place just to be with God for a while – a place where we can express our frustration, our fears, our sadness, our depression, our anger to the only One who understands what we are going through. Putting yourself alone with the Creator of the universe can give you such a sense of peace, knowing that He is truly listening to you in that moment.

I don’t have a woods to run to . I do have a large closet which could be converted into a prayer room, but right now it’s full of clutter – much like I am. Even though my husband and I are the only ones who inhabit our house, there are times when I want to scream a prayer or let God know I’m angry. I need a woods, a closet, a space dedicated to those moments – outside the earshot of anyone else. Of course our prayers can be said within any room or any place, but the fact that we have access to God at the drop of a hat is really astounding to me. I tend to talk to Him a lot throughout the day. The tiny conversations we have are usually one sided and concern my needs. We’re invited by God Himself to reach out to Him and He will hear our prayers. We shouldn’t feel as though we’re taking advantage or giving up by going to Him. He loves hearing from us, no matter where we are.

The beauty of a prayer closet is that you are in a quiet place, thinking only about your talk with Him. You don’t have anyone else to answer to. Your focus is tuned into His Words back to you and His Word spoken to you through the Bible.

When Jesus came to earth in the flesh of a man, we had God physically with us for a time. He is coming back again and we can look forward to meeting Him face to face. He faced the temptations thrown at Him in the wilderness and used scripture to support Himself. We have those words today, to get us through – to overcome the devil and all his wickedness. When we pray, it should be a time dedicated to God alone, whether it’s with fellow Christians in church, or in that quiet place we’ve designated for that purpose.