Join Pastor Ginger Isum in conversation with Renie Morris, certified spiritual director and lay leader for the Tennessee Valley District of the Holston Annual Conference, as they explore what it means to "keep it real" in prayer.

In this episode of Wheeler...Beyond Sunday, we continue our series on prayer by addressing the pressure many of us feel to pray "the right way". Ginger and Renie discuss how our unique personalities, life stages, and circumstances should shape our prayer practices—not conform to someone else's spiritual rhythms.

In this conversation, you'll discover:

• Why "pray as you can, not as you can't" is transformative advice

• How everyday activities like baking bread, knitting, folding laundry, and walking can become sacred prayer time

• The difference between spiritual direction and therapy, and how a spiritual director can help you discern God's movement in your life

• Practical ways to develop prayer rhythms that fit your real life—not an idealized version

• Why it's okay to address God in ways that feel authentic to you

• How labyrinths, breath prayers, and centering prayer can help when words fail

Whether you've struggled with journaling, felt guilty about your prayer life, or wondered if there's more to prayer than Sunday morning, this honest conversation offers permission to meet God exactly as you are.

Welcome back to Wheeler Beyond Sunday! In this week’s episode, Pastor Ginger is joined by her "BFF" and special guest, Pastor Patrice Wells from Liberty Hill United Methodist, for an honest and refreshing conversation about prayer.

As Wheeler begins a new five-week series on "Prayer Pressure Problems," Ginger and Patrice pull back the curtain on the struggles even clergy face when it comes to connecting with God. They dismantle the myth that prayer requires a "special voice" or eloquent words, instead defining it through a beautiful and simple lens: Keeping company with God.

From the "crop duster" prayers of daily life to the profound "dark night of the soul," this episode explores why we often put too much pressure on ourselves and how to find our way back to a natural, sacred dialogue with the Divine.

Highlights include:

• The "Prayer Voice" Myth: Why we don't need to pray like the "saints of old" to be heard.

• The Power of Silence: Learning from Ginger’s New Mexico desert experience and the beauty of just being in the same "room" as God.

• Prayer as Transformation: Moving past the "effectiveness trap" to see how prayer changes us rather than just our circumstances.

• The Theology of Breath: A powerful look at how every breath we take is literally an utterance of the Divine name.

• Navigating the Wilderness: Honest reflections on praying through grief, loss, and the times when words simply won't come.

Whether you feel like your prayer life has hit a wall, you're struggling with the "busyness" of life, or you just need to be reminded that God is as close to you as your own breath, this episode offers a warm and grace-filled space to breathe and begin again.

Join the conversation as we learn to take the pressure off and simply enjoy the companionship of the Father!

Scripture Reference: Luke 5:16 (and Jesus’s various withdrawals to prayer throughout the Gospel of Luke)

Wheeler Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we continue the conversation from Sunday morning, diving deeper into the sermon and exploring what it means to live out our faith throughout the week.

Welcome back to Wheeler Beyond Sunday! In this week's episode, Amanda, James, Jill, and Derek dive deep into Ginger's powerful sermon on breakthrough prayer, based on Luke 3:21-22 and 4:1-13.

As we step into the new year, the team explores what it truly means to pray for God's guidance and surrender our will to His. They discuss the challenge of living into our prayers versus simply saying them, wrestle with the age-old struggle of giving up control, and unpack the profound mystery of Jesus being fully human and fully divine.

From personal prayer practices in the car and shower to Wesley's Covenant Prayer, the conversation gets real about why it's so hard to let go and let God. The team also examines Jesus's baptism and wilderness temptation, discovering fresh insights into His humanity and what it means that God, through Jesus, has experienced everything we experience.

Highlights include:

• Why "your will be done" is harder than it sounds
• The power of breakthrough prayer in both personal and church life
• Wrestling with Jesus's humanity in the wilderness
• Wheeler's new church-wide breakthrough prayer initiative
• The importance of dreaming big dreams without limits

Whether you're struggling to surrender control, looking for a fresh start in your prayer life, or wondering what it means to be part of a "set apart" community, this episode offers honest conversation and practical encouragement.

Join the conversation and share your own breakthrough prayer experiences with us!

Scripture Reference: Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13

Wheeler Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we continue the conversation from Sunday morning, diving deeper into the sermon and exploring what it means to live out our faith throughout the week.