When I first started following Jesus I began learning what it looked like to communicate with Jesus. I learned that he actually wants to talk to me and guide me in life.
The more I followed after Jesus I began praying prayers and writing them down after someone encouraged me to get a journal. Writing down my prayers and thoughts about God have shaped my walk and given me a picture of how God works.
My journals
When I first started recording things in my journal it was so cool to have a place to write down my thoughts about God. I would write down how grace-filled God is, how Jesus saved me and gave me life. I began writing down questions of what am I supposed to do in life to follow Jesus?
Then the more I followed after him I got more real. I learned that Jesus wants to be there right in the middle of everything. No matter how dark, scary or personal. Jesus wants to be involved in it all.
My journals have seen moments of faith-filled prayers where I was on mountain tops of faith, they’ve seen moments where I was questioning God and his ways, they’ve seen doubt, they’ve seen moments of bravery where I did the very thing God was nudging me to do. Most importantly, those pages have seen tears. They’ve seen me at my weakest when I didn’t know what God was going to do. They’ve seen me struggle to write something down that described how I was feeling.
Here are the journals I’ve filled so far:
What’s awesome is this – because I’ve recorded my prayers, my thoughts and what God has done in my life I can flip through those pages and I see how God has moved in my life. I see how he’s clearly led me and provided for me.
There’s a new song out by Hillsong United that I’ve enjoyed listening to because it sums up the picture that all these journal entries paint. The lryics say:
So I’ll wait
Long as heaven takes
One day I’ll see
The joy You make of this
‘Cause ain’t nothing gonna stop
Your faithfulness
How you never let a single tear go wasted
So I’ll wait
Long as heaven takes
– Delightful (Hillsong UNITED)
Do you have a prayer journal? I encourage you to get one and start writing down your own thoughts and prayers. You will be in awe once you do it for a while and can look back through the pages and see how God has been working in your life.
God is writing a story and it’s a beautiful one. Will you take the time to capture it by writing it down?
Bryant Westbrook 