Untangling Prayer with Rachel Wojo

Have you handed your worries over to God, felt lighter for a few days, and then realized you were carrying them all again?
This week, Rachel sits down with longtime friend and Bible study author Mary Boswell to talk about the exhausting cycle so many of us live in: theologically, we know Jesus offers rest, but practically, we keep putting on our "big girl pants" and shouldering everything ourselves.
Mary opens up about the season that broke that pattern for her — caregiving for her mom through pancreatic cancer, parenting through a child's hard season, supporting her husband through a doctoral program, and then COVID. She shares the early morning when Matthew 11:28-30 stopped being a familiar passage and became an actual invitation, and how learning to release her burdens (over and over) has built strength she didn't know she needed.
You'll discover:
Why many Christian women believe God offers rest but rarely receive it
The quiet way we take our burdens back without realizing it
What real rest actually looks like in a season that won't slow down
Mary's "something's not right-a-meter" — how to notice when you've picked it back up
Why prayer that's honest and ugly is sometimes the prayer that lights the load
The muscle that grows every time you hand it over again
If you've ever wondered why surrender feels like a one-time prayer that never quite sticks, this conversation is for you.
Resources Mentioned
Come to Me: An Invitation from Jesus to Find Rest for Your Soul by Mary Boswell
Connect with Mary: Website: thecalmofhispresence.com
Connect with Rachel
Website: rachelwojo.com
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Are you living in the gap between the motherhood you pictured and the motherhood you actually have? If Mother's Day stirred up grief you didn't know was still there — or if something has been quietly hardening around the edges of your heart — this episode is for you.
In this post–Mother's Day episode, Rachel sits with the question almost no one says out loud: How do I pray when bitterness keeps creeping into my motherhood? Anchored in the story of Naomi in Ruth chapter 1 — the woman who came home and told her whole town to call her by a different name, Mara, because the Almighty had made her life bitter — this episode gives moms permission to name what they're actually feeling and reminds them that the bitter chapter is not the last chapter.
Rachel shares the season in her own life when bitterness was closer to her than it had ever been: losing her mom at 62 when she was 27, and grieving the grandmother her mom would have been to her kids. She talks about how reading the Psalms — not one specific psalm, just the whole book of them, day after day — became her lifeline through a season she didn't know how to pray through.
You'll discover:
The difference between grief and bitterness, and why naming it matters
What Naomi's honest "call me Mara" prayer teaches us about coming to God with the actual word for what we're feeling
Why the Psalms hold both honesty and faith on the same page, and how that becomes a lifeline
How God works in the gap between the motherhood we pictured and the motherhood we have
If you're in a bitter chapter today, this episode is a gentle reminder that God is doing something underneath the surface — even when you can't see it. The bitter chapter is not the last chapter.
RESOURCES
31 Prayers for a Mom's Heart prayer cards — rachelwojo.com/shop
The Hope Circle women's community — rachelwojo.com/the-hope-circle
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Have you ever stopped praying boldly because you've been disappointed by God's answer before?
In this episode, we're sitting with one of the hardest questions a praying woman carries: how do you ask God for another miracle, when last time you asked, the answer wasn't the one you wanted?
Anchoring in Psalm 78, where Asaph reminds Israel that God divided the sea and made the water stand up like a wall, Rachel shares about why disappointment makes us forget who God really is and what it looks like to pray boldly again.
Especially fitting for the week before Mother's Day, when so many of us are carrying motherhood that didn't look the way we expected.
You'll discover:
Why disappointment shrinks our prayers without us realizing it
What Psalm 78:13 actually teaches us about asking for the impossible
The difference between praying in faith and praying in self-protection
Why remembering what God has done is a form of spiritual warfare
A personal answered prayer story tied to the release of Rachel's new book
This week, may you find the courage to pray boldly again, even from your hardest losses.
Resources Mentioned: NEW AND AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER: Praying through Life's Battles
Connect with Rachel: Hope Circle Membership Community
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Watching your child struggle and not knowing what they need? You're not alone. Whether your kid is two or twenty-two, there are seasons where you can tell something is off but you can't fix it, can't name it, and don't know how to pray about it.
In this episode, Rachel explores how to pray for your kids when you don't know what to ask for, anchored in Psalm 139 and 1 John 5. She shares a personal story about her daughter Tris going through her keep boxes ahead of her fall wedding, and what those old school notes revealed about a slow, faithful answer to years of prayer.
You'll discover:
Why not knowing what your child needs doesn't disqualify you from praying for them
What Psalm 139:13–16 says about how well God already knows your child
The 1 John 5:14–15 prayer you can pray when you have no other words
How God answers prayers we didn't even know how to pray correctly
Rachel's honest reflection on praying through Tris's seasons and watching God form the answer over twenty-two years
If you're praying for a kid you can't read, a season you can't decode, or a need you can't name, this episode is for you. God hears you. He's already at work on an answer you can't yet see.
Resources Mentioned: 31 Prayers for a Mom's Heart — rachelwojo.com/shop
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

f Mother's Day feels heavy this year because your arms ache for a child in heaven, this episode is for you. I'm sitting down with my friend Jennie Lusko, author of The Fight to Flourish and mama to a daughter in heaven, for one of the most honest conversations I've had on this podcast about what prayer really looks like when grief takes your words away.
Jennie shares what she prayed in those first moments of loss, the seasons when God felt silent, why she and I both had to switch Bible translations just to read Scripture again, and the picture of a seed planted in dark soil that changed how she understood the fog of grief. She also shares a word for the mom who's still in it, still surviving, still waiting for the fog to lift.
At the end, Jennie prays specifically for moms walking into Mother's Day with a heavy heart.
If you've ever prayed from that place of desperation, when you had no words left, my book Desperate Prayers: Embracing the Power of Prayer in Life's Darkest Moments was written for you. Find it at desperateprayers.com or wherever books are sold.
Resources mentioned:
Desperate Prayers by Rachel Wojo: desperateprayers.com
The Fight to Flourish by Jennie Lusko
31 Prayers for a Mom's Heart prayer cards: rachelwojo.com/shop
Daily Light devotional by Anne Graham Lotz
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
Have an answered prayer story to share? Leave a voicemail on any page at rachelwojo.com or email [email protected].
God sees you. He hears you. He knows your needs.
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.