Thanks to a certain Netflix show and some conversations with friends, I’ve been going through the things that I own, deciding what things to let go of and what to keep. My home editing has gone slowly because I stop to look at every single thing. 

During this time, I’ve come across not one, but two, partially filled prayer journals dating from the beginning of my time in college. Chances are that you’ve probably heard of prayer journals before. There are a million different ways to use them. Mine are pretty simple. I write the date, write several sentences to get my thoughts out of my head, and then spend time praying based on those sentences or whatever else comes up as a result. Normally, when I run across journals, I just stack them with the rest of my journals. This time, I actually read through them, and I was surprised to learn two important lessons from these journals. 

Lesson One

Any discipline or method that we use is a tool to grow our relationship with God, and we have to put that purpose over glorifying the tool itself. 

I am not an expert on prayer journals. My prayers are not eloquent. My journal is messy. Those things are fine because the purpose of keeping a prayer journal is to bring me closer to Christ. The purpose is more important than the form. 

You should also know that my use of a prayer journal over the years has been in spurts. It would be satisfying to say that I consistently wrote every day or even every week, but that wouldn’t be true. Sometimes I use it daily. Other times months pass between entries. The practice of writing in a prayer journal is a tool, but it is not the sole tool that I rely on to connect with God. My relationship with God doesn’t stop just because I’m not writing. 

If I spend time concerned over writing perfectly or feeling guilty when I don’t write, then I would have missed out on all the positive effects that keeping a prayer journal has had on my faith journey. Taking the time to write out my prayers is a good way for me to spend time with God, but the physical journal itself is just one part of how I explore my faith. 

Lesson Two

God is absolutely capable of handling our problems and worries. 

Flipping back through the journals, I’m surprised to read the concerns that I prayed about over and over. My journals are not filtered, so they give me a clear idea of just how upset I was at times. Several sections are difficult to read because my feelings come flooding back. Honestly, I forgot about a lot of those feelings because the causes are gone. In most cases, the problem either resolved or turned out not to be important. These were things that I obsessively worried about, but God had it already worked out. He did not need to spend so many hours concerned about areas I had no control over. 

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Matthew 6:30

Yes, there have been difficult times and some days the answers to my prayers were not the answers that hoped for. But reading back through my prayers makes it evident how much God has provided for me.

Even if I never use a prayer journal again, seeing some of my problems removed has made a significant impact on my trust in God. Too often I move on to the next area in life that I’m worried about without stopping to realize that if God has already provided for me in the past, He will do so again in the future. 

What disciplines or methods do you use to grow your relationship with God? What do you feel like you have learned from them?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth is an educator at heart. So far this has taken the form of a camp counselor, a museum assistant, and currently a middle school teacher. She loves to watch people grow and learn. You can read more of her writing at her blog Chronicles of a Southern Belle.