Journaling personal prayers and thoughts during prayer and meditation is a proven stress reducer. Expressing thoughts and feelings in writing is recognized as an effective stress management technique in the secular world – doing it while conversing with our Heavenly Father makes it even better!
To begin doing this, place a notebook and pen near your favorite place to pray. Begin recording prayers (things you say to God). It doesn’t have to be word for word. Record things God says to you. These may come as streaming or recurring thoughts, or they may come through Scripture. Record requests you make and, later, how those requests are answered. Write down songs to God. Record what the Holy Spirit teaches you through the Scriptures. Record how God is working in your life and the lives of your family members. A prayer journal helps you remember God’s words to you, given directly through prayer and through the Bible as you meditate on it.
Examples in Scripture
Examples of writing our prayers and answers to prayers are abundant in Scripture – in the Psalms, Habakkuk, other books of the prophets, and the Book of Revelation. This kind of journaling brought about many of the books included in the Bible.
After the New Testament times, early church fathers continued the practice of writing during prayer and meditation on the Bible. Ancient patterns of sacred reading and contemplative praying are ways to pray through scripture. We will discuss these methods in more detail in the next chapter on meditation.
As a helpful resource, I have lots of articles on healthy ingredients and recipes that you can implement into your daily life.
If you’d like to dig deeper into my journey of discovering God’s plan for health and wellness, check out my book, Made For Paradise: God’s Original Plan for Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Rest.
