A few years ago, I started gratitude journaling during a stressful season of my life. Over time, logging things I was grateful for, writing a quick prayer, and jotting down a prayer list morphed into long-form prayer journaling, where I pour my heart out to God in a lined notebook. While I still think gratitude journaling can be beneficial, I’ve found that taking the time to write out my prayers in greater detail has strengthened my prayer life since I made the switch. Here’s why.

There’s No Set Limit on How Long Prayers Can Be, So I End up Praying More

Back when I was gratitude journaling, the prayer portion of my journal entries would include one to three sentences on the main request that was on my heart that day. Those journal entries were more focused on listing things I was grateful for rather than in-depth prayer. Because of this, I came to find the prayer portion of the entries too limiting and over time I switched to a lined notebook where I’d write out my prayers to God as if I were writing in a diary.

With lined notebooks, there are no limits to how long or short written prayers can be. This offers the freedom needed to totally pour out my heart to God. The current notebook I’m using is on the larger side, so I normally write one full page. Earlier this year when I was struggling spiritually, my prayers often spanned two pages. I know that there are no limits on how much we can pray in our heads or out loud, but my current preference has been to write my prayers down. Having this almost limitless space to bring requests before God has helped me open up to Him about every aspect of my life rather than compartmentalizing certain areas.

It Allows Me to Look Back and See How God Has Answered Prayers

My pastor also prayer journals, and after he mentioned that he leaves a “Date Answered:” space on each page where he can go back and note when God has answered prayers, I adopted the practice myself. Reading over past prayers, realizing God has answered them, and reflecting on the ways in which He answered them allows me to see His faithfulness and sovereignty in action and has helped me trust Him more. There are past prayers I can play connect-the-dots with and see how God was working through certain situations to produce a better outcome than I could have ever imagined on my own. I can also see how He protected me from things that would have only hurt me if my prayers had been answered in the way I wanted rather than according to His perfect plan.

It Allows Me to Look Back and See How I’ve Grown Spiritually

Earlier this year, for months, it seemed like every time I prayed for something to happen, the opposite outcome would occur. It got to the point where I was scared to pray for anything or anyone because I was terrified of enduring more struggle or heartache. Now that I’m on the other side, while I still don’t understand why God allowed me to go through that painful season, I can look back at my prayers from that time and recognize how He has matured me spiritually since then. Over the course of the past few months, my prayers have morphed from angry tirades on how life is not fair to focusing more on thanking God and praying for others. While I still pray for myself and for certain things to happen, I’ve noticed a shift; now, instead of getting easily discouraged when God takes His time in answering my prayers or requests aren’t answered in the ways I hoped, I remind myself that God is the Author and I don’t know the whole story. Flipping back through older prayer journal entries offers proof of that, showing me how God was moving even when I didn’t realize it at the time.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Do you keep a prayer journal? If so, how has it strengthened your prayer life?

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀