One of my goals for this year is to vent less to people about my problems and journal more. Why? Inner work, for me, has become the new attractive. I’ve come to own the fact that my outward appearance, my glow…my charm is a manifestation of the grind work that’s going on inside. Journaling has become part of my inner workout regimen.

I’ve started carrying around this black and white composition notebook everywhere. I rejoice in it. I vent in it. I reflect on stupid cycles that keep being repeated in it. I ask myself deep questions, and I allow myself to go there.

One morning, I was really concerned about something. It was just a small matter, but it was bothering me like a gnat. I prayed about it, and then wrote it down along with 3 other situations I had in “prayer-already-answered” format.

This is what happened that day…

Prayer Request One – The small problem I was concerned about was answered in like two hours.

Prayer Request Two – I was out for a jog, and received an unexpected phone call about the progress of this. God was working…

Prayer Request Three – From what I could see, nothing really happened with this one.

Prayer Request Four – I had a funny dream about the situation. I wasn’t sure if it was my subconscious or a deep revelation, but I wrote it down the next morning when I woke up.

I did this for 7 days.

Here’s how my life changed…

I noticed miracles

In every season, there is always something I’m going hard in the prayer room for, and this overshadows those blessings that fall in my lap daily. After writing my prayer requests down for 7 days, and continuing to journal throughout the day, I started to see how something I prayed for on day 2 was answered on day 5. Writing my prayers down helped demonstrate to me how easy it is to be so focused on that one thing you want, that you don’t even see just how many answered prayers you’ve received.

My prayer requests got bolder

After a couple days, I was like, “wow this is working. Why limit myself? Why limit God?” I started to ask bolder prayers —not something I could do for myself or something someone else could do for me, but the impossible. When the prayers were answered, I wanted to know it was God. This is the foundation of faith!

…can’t forget the small things too

Sometimes we think we can only take our big concerns to God, because he’s not concerned about our everyday frustrations, but that isn’t true! If it’s worth worrying about, even if it’s a small issue, it’s worth praying about.

My faith increased, and I started to pray more

I will be the first to admit that with life’s let downs, my faith has not consistently been strong. Some seasons, I’ve prayed. Some seasons, I have not. Some seasons, I believed that God would answer my prayers. Some seasons…I hate to admit it but…. I prayed, and really didn’t expect much from it.

Writing my prayers down helped to increase my faith for one simple reason, I was praying more. This goes back to prayer lesson 101. The more you pray, the more you want to pray. The less you pray, the less you want to pray.

I learned to appreciate God’s sovereignty

The sovereignty of God is one of those Christian concepts I have battled with for years. I can’t for the life of me understand why he answers some prayers with a “yes,” and others with a “no.”

The 7 days helped me to appreciate God’s sovereignty. No matter how much faith I have, no matter how hard I pray, He still has the final say. I don’t understand it. I can’t say I’m in love with this. I, however, have come to trust Him, because I know from experience that it always works out.

I let go

What can I say; I’m a woman who likes to be in control. I can’t enjoy a flight, because I’m not the one flying it. Falling in love scares me. I may be a bit of a control freak. (Another post, for another day!)

The act of writing down my prayers was symbolic of me releasing them from myself, and giving it over to God. Once it was down on paper, I reminded myself that I no longer had it. It was no longer my concern.

Final Thoughts:

If you don’t have a journal, I highly recommend getting one. If your prayer life needs a little boost or you struggle with praying, commit to praying and writing down your prayers for 7 days. Expect wonderful things to happen.