Happy Wednesday! I had a very different post planned for today, but then I saw that Hannah Brencher has her blog open for guest posts! I realized out of the few drafts I have, that one world work best, so I submitted it. Luckily, I had written another post that has to do with prayer just last week.So, about a week ago, I put up a post on my Instagram asking people if they journal. I went into how I prayer journal every day and how much I love it. It's become one of my most favorite ways to communicate with God and has deepened my relationship with Him so much. I'm not the most eloquent with my spoken words... I stumble over my words a lot and lose my train of thought. Writing has always felt safer and more comfortable. I've come to realize that I process best through writing. So, praying out loud has always made me sort of uncomfortable and I never know what to say. It just doesn't come natural to me at all. Praying in my head I can do, but I also lose my train of thought a lot and end up rambling. I know God doesn't mind that, and I know that for-in-the-moment prayers, whispered prayers or in-your-head prayers is needed. But when I want to intentionally sit down and make that time to pray either about something specific or just in general, my go to is prayer journaling.
Anyways, a follower of mine said how she had been trying to start prayer journaling but didn't know where to start or what to do and as we went back and forth a little on how to prayer journal, I realized there isn't a how to guide. There isn't a to do list. There is no right way to prayer journal. Prayer journaling is a form of creative expression. It's a way to creatively connect with God that feels comfortable and natural to me. There is no this is the right way and only way to communicate and prayer journal to God.
I know one girl who mixes regular journaling and prayer journaling. She said she'd sometimes start out her journal entry with a personal "dear diary" sort of journaling and as it goes on she'd slip and out of prayer with God. I've heard from several pastors how a good way to pray is to use the structure of the Lord's prayer and to personalize it for that specific day and for you specifically. I've heard people prayer journal through bullet points. Bullet out prayer requests that you don't want to forget and then pray over them. I’ve heard of people who write letters to God.
All of those are valid and wonderful ways to prayer journal and to communicate with God and I believe He meets us in any and all of those forms of communication with Him.
At first, I wasn't sure if prayer journal was "acceptable." I wasn't sure if I could still have as organic a conversation and communion with him through writing out my prayers as others did when they spoke them. But I was wrong. There are so many times where I would be writing out a prayer - heck I would even type out prayers on Google doc! - and He would meet me right there. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but there's been times where I've felt like I'm in an actual conversation with Him. I'll be saying something, asking about something or just praying over something and then I'd write the answer to that question or a response to that prayer that I know came straight from Him as if He'd put those words in my head and my heart and they had spilled out of my hands and onto the page. Prayer journaling can and is just as organic as speaking prayers out loud. God meets us there, and He will meet you where you are and how you decide to talk to Him.
All that to say, there is no right or wrong way to prayer journal. Do what feels most natural for you and what makes you feel close to God as you talk with Him.
With that said, though, I will say I've experimented with all different forms of prayer journaling. Sometimes on purpose and other times, I recalled the way someone else has prayer journaled and it just fit my need for that day. I've gone between regular journaling and praying as I journaled for specific things when they came up. I've personalized the Lord's prayer quite a few times. I've bulleted out prayers and then prayed over them in my head. But what comes most naturally to me is the format of a letter. I start with Dear God or Dear Lord or Dear Father and I always end with In Jesus' Name. I have a format for how I start my prayers and how I end them but the in between is freely written, natural and on the spot. Whatever comes to mind is what I pray and write about.
Sometimes I'll stop writing and ask God what I need to pray about that day, to put specific things on my heart to pray about and over. It all just depends on the day. But more or less, my prayers end up being sort of letters just telling Him what's on my heart, where I'm at, processing things with Him. There are quite a few times in older journals where I just completely unloaded. I would just spill all my bitterness and anger and all the feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly onto the page to God.
Don't be afraid to try new ways to talk with God. Prayer journal pray out loud, type them out on a Google doc. I thought that would be a super impersonal and unnatural way to talk to God, through typing stuff out but when I hurt my hand last year, it was Christmas Eve actually, my hand cramped and got so tired really quickly so I couldn't really write in my prayer journal. That's when I heard Hannah Brencher talking about how she'll open up a Google doc and just write stuff, she'd even write prayers out on there. I was like wait... you can type out prayers? Is that a thing? Does God even count that, does He even listen when I'm typing out prayers on a Google doc?
I was out of options, though, because my hand could not put up with all that writing, so I opened one up and guess what? He does count that. He's always listening and always willing to meet us where we're at and always open to communicate with us in whatever way He can.
So what I'm saying is, if you've always wanted to prayer journal but didn't know how or the right way to, if you look on Instagram and see all the pretty artwork inside people's prayer journals and thought... is being artistic and making my words pretty a requirement? It's not. There is no right way to prayer journal, and you don't have to make your pages or words pretty and artistic. God doesn't care if you come to Him all pretty and dressed up or wearing sweats with mascara running down your face. He doesn't care if your words are sloppy and your letters sort of run together and look like a different language (much like mine haha) or if they're written in the most perfect, prettiest cursive imaginable.
Just start. Grab a notebook. It can be frilly and beautiful. It can have Bible verses on every page or an inspirational quote on the cover. Or it can be plain, simple composition notebook. Again, God's not going to judge you for what notebook you use. Just grab one. Grab a pen, invite God into that space and start writing and I promise, He'll meet you there.
Do you prayer journal or just journal in general? What has it been like for you?
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