Faith Unmuted With Esther Graham
This is the place where Christian women get the opportunity to press the button and say what they want, how they want and exactly how they feel.
The one place where, together, we can collectively walk through our truths, live unapologetically and stop hiding.
Esther Graham has being in ministry all her life and has felt silenced from all the labels and responsibilities that come from being a pastor's daughter to the unexpected role of being a pastor's wife. This journey has not been easy nor has it been just. Esther no longer wants to hid nor lower her voice.
On this podcast, Esther shares what happens when you use your voice and shares the stories of overcoming the stereotypes and living unapologetically.
Faith Unmuted With Esther Graham
40 Days of Focus: How Drawing Prayer Circles Changes Everything
Have you ever prayed so hard for something that you refused to stop until you saw breakthrough? That's the essence of "drawing the circle"—a powerful practice I've embraced that's revolutionizing my prayer life and creating lasting change across generations.
Drawing from Mark Batterson's book "The Circle Maker," I share how persistent prayer has transformed my family since 2017, particularly with my eldest son. This isn't casual prayer—it's about circling what matters most and refusing to leave that circle until transformation comes. Like Honi who drew a circle during a drought and wouldn't move until rain fell, we too can experience breakthrough when we commit to persistent prayer.
The 40-day prayer challenge isn't for the faint-hearted. It demands consistency, focus, and resistance against daily distractions that pull us away from sacred time with God. I've discovered that during this challenge, God prompts deep inner reflection about relationships, boundaries, business decisions, and legacy-building. The beautiful paradox becomes clear: "I pray like it depends on God, but I move like it depends on me."
What are you circling in prayer? Your children? Your business? Community transformation? In a world quick to silence divergent voices, drawing the circle means standing firmly in your convictions while remaining aligned with God's heart. It's about creating a legacy that transcends financial inheritance—passing down faith, understanding, and purpose that empowers future generations to speak for those without a voice.
Start your own 40-day prayer challenge. Meet God daily, journal His responses, and watch as persistent prayer transforms not just your circumstances but your very being.
You are listening to Faith Unmuted. The place where Christian women get the opportunity to press the button and say what they want, how they want and exactly how they feel. The one place where, together, we can collectively walk through our truths, live unapologetically and stop hiding.
Speaker 2:So several years ago I read a book by Mark Batterson called the Circle Maker, and the Circle Maker told a story, an ancient story, about Honey the Honi. I can't remember exactly what the last part was, but Honi was a person who wanted God to just move, I believe, where he was, there needed to be rain, and so he drew a circle and he stayed in that circle until it started to rain. In other words, he kept at it, circle, until it started to rain. In other words, he kept at it. He would pray and pray, and pray until it actually began to rain, because I guess there was a famine in the land and it just needed rain. Kind of like just what happened in Los Angeles several weeks ago, to where people were sending messages out hey, let's pray, let's pray, let's pray for rain because so many homes were burning. So this book several years ago was really about that. Then there was a companion to the book called Draw the Circle, again by Mark Batterson was so good, and Draw the Circle was really about going on a 40-day prayer challenge.
Speaker 2:When I first read that several, several years ago, I began doing the 40-day prayer challenge because I found that it was just so empowering for me, and I just began to draw the circle around several things that I was praying about Last year. As I began to reflect, I thought I don't think I went on my 40-day prayer challenge. I couldn't remember, which I thought was really odd for me. I actually thought did I just get so busy that I did not do my 40-day prayer challenge? Like I know, I pray every day. I have a strong foundation and I believe my foundation is prayer, but I did not actually remember going on the 40-day prayer challenge and so I thought this year I must do that, I must go on the 40 day prayer challenge. Let me tell you what that 40 day prayer challenge does for me, at least in the past. Right, and it's doing. Honestly, right now, I personally believe that there's no generation that prayer stops with. In other words, prayer goes on for generations and generations and there's no stopping point. Once you pray about something, it will continue, it will continue, it will continue right. And so I say that because I think about what I've been taught with my parents, who have always prayed for me and they're no longer here, but I still feel the effects of their prayer as I began to look at doing the prayer challenge this year, I opened my very tattered book. I mean, when I tell you it's tattered, you could see I've written in it, I've had thoughts about it, I've given comments on it, but there was one particular part to where I saw 2017 and I thought, wow, I began this in 2017 or before.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I circled in prayer is really about my son. I drew draw the circle, my eldest son. I just kept drawing the circle. I just kept drawing the circle. I just kept drawing the circle. I just kept drawing the circle. And I think about what that meant for me as I began to look at that. Since 2017, I've been drawing the circle for my son over and over again and when I look at today, I see such a massive difference in his life. Why? Because I kept drawing the circle.
Speaker 2:What does drawing the circle actually mean for me Is that you keep pushing, you keep moving, you keep asking, you keep praying and even in the challenge, when you feel really discouraged, as if you feel as if God isn't really hearing you, that's when you keep circling. That's when you keep circling. That's when you keep circling. That's when you keep circling meaning going over and over and over again. It's really made a big change in my life, even as I begin the 40-day prayer challenge now.
Speaker 2:Why is it called a challenge? Because sometimes it's very challenging to every day wake up at a certain time and to spend that time in prayer. It's not about the quantity of time, but it is about the quality of time, and so I've been waking up every morning and I sit quietly and I meditate and I redraw the circle and I think about how this is really changing and affecting my life. And while I'm on this right now, there are some days where it has been very challenging, because then you're tempted to pick up your phone or to answer that question, or to look on Facebook to scroll Very tempting instead of sitting quietly and just listening and hearing what God is saying to you.
Speaker 2:It's challenging going through the prayer challenge to where I'm saying God, this is what is happening in the world right now and what are we going to do about it? What's my role? Drawing the circle is causing me to do some inward cleansing, because it's my inner world that I control. I find that it's very necessary for me at this moment and this change at this stage in my life where life seems to be just a bit challenging, as I'm sure it is for many of you, but what I keep doing is going back to drawing that circle, knowing that I can pray like it depends on God, but I move like it depends on me. You get what I'm saying. Like I pray like it, like I'm expecting you, god, to move, I'm expecting some things to happen, I'm expecting some things to be just shaken up, and that's why I'm on this 40 day prayer challenge.
Speaker 2:Every day I'm going at it, I'm saying, god, this is what I'm circling. I'm circling my children, I'm circling my business. I'm circling my relationships. What are those relationships I keep, I need to keep? What are those relationships I need to remove? What are those healthy boundaries I need to set? What's going on in my business right now? What's the next step I need to take? That's what drawing the circle is.
Speaker 2:Drawing the circle means I may not understand everything, as I don't. I may not even see everything, but I'm going to keep pushing, I'm going to keep praying, because that's my foundation, that's what I do, and I'm going to sit and watch how things change, first of all from the inside and then affecting change on the outside. On the outside. Drawing the circle means that it's taking that deep dive, that deep, deep dive into you and really identifying this is what I stand for and then saying God, what's the next step? That's what drawing the circle is. It's where you just keep believing, no matter what it looks like. You keep speaking, even though people may try to shut you down or shut you out. That's what's going on in the world today. You know, if you don't believe like someone else, if you don't think like someone else, they're ready to cancel you, they're ready to shut you out.
Speaker 2:Drawing the circle means that that will no longer happen, because I'm going to keep pushing, I'm going to keep trusting, I'm going to keep believing, I'm going to stay in alignment with God and what he wants me to do, what he wants me to say, where he wants me to go, how he wants me to affect change in a world that's doing a lot of changing, but the change does not look like if it's good. It doesn't look like if it's headed in the right direction for everyone, not just for a certain group of people, but for everyone. Drawn the circle means that, no matter what it takes, no matter what happens, I'm going to keep looking up like looking up, and as I look up, I'm going to wait for the rain to fall down on me and to saturate me. Drawn the circle means that I won't step outside of that circle until I see the change take place. So the question I have for you is what are you drawing the circle? Are you drawing a circle? And if so, what's the circle? What are you circling? There's a story in the Bible where it talks about the children of Israel, and they kept going around the same mountain over and over and over again for 40 years, right Until it's like something went off and said wait a minute, we could get off of this mountain. So what you don't want to do when I speak of drawing the circle, you don't want to go around the circle, going around in a mountain, the same thing over and over and over again. You know expecting different results, but you're doing the same thing. That's not what drawing the circle is. Drawing the circle means I'm drawing the circle.
Speaker 2:I'm praying about things because I'm expecting change to happen. What's the change that you want to happen in your life? What do you want? The change that I want to happen in my life, that's what I'm praying about. I want to see change in my community. I want to see changes in my business. I want to see change in the people I'm in relationship with. I want to see change, some things, happening with my children. I want to see change in the people I'm in relationship with. I want to see change, some things happening, with my children. I want change to happen with my grand loves, not just today, but forever.
Speaker 2:I want my legacy to be something that's powerful. I don't want to just leave my children money which that's important but I want them to leave, as my parents left me, a legacy of faith, a legacy of understanding, a legacy of acceptance, a legacy of showing love love and not hate. I want them to be able to draw the circle, and I want them to be able to draw the circle and I want them to be able to look back and say, hey, my mother or my grandmother, you know, my grandparents drew a circle around me, a circle that was foundational, a circle that kept me strong and so I could stand in what I believe I could stand and be a voice to the dying, be a voice to the hopeless. That's what I can do, I believe that's what I'm called to do, and I believe that anybody that's connected to me in my children, my grandchildren, as I like to call them, my grand loves and for generations to come, that's what they're called to do. So it starts with me. I'm drawing the circle. I'm going to keep speaking. I'm going to keep praying. I'm drawing the circle. I'm going to keep speaking. I'm going to keep praying, I'm going to keep pushing, I'm going to keep believing. I'm going to go further, I'm going to go deeper, I'm going to reach further and I'm going to dream bigger. I'm drawing the circle. I want to encourage you, wherever you are in your life, to draw the circle about the things that you want to see happen in your life, in your community, in your family, in your business, whatever it is that you're passionate about.
Speaker 2:Begin this year, go on that 40-day prayer challenge. Meet God at a certain time every morning or every night, and have a conversation with him. And after you have that conversation with him, then sit and just listen to what he has to say back to you and get your journal and write it down. And every day, write down what he's saying, what he's speaking, what you're circling, and at the end of the 40-day prayer challenge. Go back and look to see what has been answered. Go back and look to see where you started and where you are, how you ended and, trust me, you will see a difference. And then, from that point, continue drawing the circle. Don't end at the end of the 40 days, but just keep going. Just keep meeting him, just keep talking, but go through the 40 days. First, trust me, you will see a difference in your life. You will see a difference. Draw the Circle. Grab the book by Mark Batterson.
Speaker 1:Wasn't that episode amazing Living unapologetically. Faith unmuted has allowed us once again to ask ourselves the kind of questions that will help us get to the next level and live this life unapologetically. Your next step head on over to wwwestagramcom and let me know what your favorite episode is, ask a question or share this with a friend. I can't wait to be with you next week as we dive deeper into redefining what it means to be a Christian woman and redefining what it means to live in our truth.