Day Of Prayer

Today we had a day of prayer. It began with praise songs to God in the auditorium, followed by an inspiring sermon on prayer. Personally, I've known that prayer is important, but it never went beyond that. Daily (and honestly, not even daily sometimes) my prayers have been hey God please help ME with this, or God please help ME with that. Oh God I need something, or wow Jesus I need to grow in this area. And so on. Sure, I appreciate God and give thanks for the amazing things that He has blessed me with. But more often than not, the prayers have been centered around me! Uggg, how disgusting. Here I am praying the to God of the universe, and I'm talking about what I need. The pastor that spoke this morning challenged us to pray a whole week and not ask for anything from God; simply praise Him for who He is, and what He's done. Wow! Both Josh and I were definitely challenged. I'll let you know how it goes. For you that are reading this I challenge you to do the same thing, and let me know how it goes.
As a wife and a mom I am constantly busy. I get so caught up in the things that need to get done, distracted by the laundry and dishes that pile up, the dinner that I need to cook, the diapers that need changing, the kids that need to be cared for (and the guilt for not spending time with them), and now the homework that needs tending to; you moms know exactly what I'm talking about. Auuughh, just looking at that endless list I feel exhausted! This morning though, I was convicted when he talked about being distracted by the thousands of unimportant things, and the excuses you make for not praying or spending time in Gods word, which, when everything else is stripped away, are essentially the fundamentals of the ministry. I have to fight for that time with God. It won't come easily, as you can see by the long list of daily distractions, but it is fundamental to everything in this life.
Another thing that, yes convicted me again, was the time spent in prayer is so minimal...does this sound familiar? "Oh God thank you so much for everything, you are so amazing! Lord thank you for providing us with that couch that we'd been praying for. Shoot, I have to paint my toenails again, they're already wearing out. I pray that you would just help my kids to get over this cold Lord, it's hard taking care of them when they're really cranky God. I need to call my mom and ask her something, but what was it? I pray that you would just give me the strength to have patience with them though cause they drive me crazy sometimes."
I get distracted so easily, and not only that my prayers only last 5 minutes. How am I suppossed to spend time with God in 5 minutes? it doesn't happen. When we pray we shouldn't rush God, but give Him time to speak to us. We should simply listen, and actually tune the world out (sometimes there are so many things to distract us that we can't hear what He is saying). Also, when we go to God in prayer, we should go expectant that God will here us, otherwise we shouldn't be praying at all.
I always thought I went before God openly and honestly, but I think I fall short of this as well. Through my prayers I haven't been getting to know God on a deep and personal level. They been rushed and shallow. I've hardly gone before God literally on my face before Him. Please pray for me guys, that I will open up before our loving, caring, magnificent God who listens and cares about all of us!