Prayer Journaling - Part One: How I Came to Prayer Journaling

Prayer can be overwhelming sometimes.  Does it shock you to see a pastor's wife posting that on her blog?  It's true.  I became a Christian as a child, and I was raised in church.  All my life, I heard people referred to as "prayer warriors" or someone who "knows how to touch the heart of God."  I would often think, "Wow, I want to be that kind of person."  I always had good intentions, but somewhere along the way, I would get overwhelmed.  There are so many prayer requests, so many areas I want to cover, but somehow my prayers became a quick, "Bless my family and keep them safe."  Then it just kind of tapered off.

When I read Stormie O'Martian's The Power of a Praying Wife as a newlywed, it changed my prayer life forever.  That was really my first practical introduction to praying Scripture.  I really wanted to pray over all of those areas for my new husband, but again, it was overwhelming, and my plans trailed off.  It wasn't until I read Lisa Whelchel's Taking Care of the Me in Mommy a few years ago and starting looking around her website that it really all came together for me.  It still took a while to pull it all together, but earlier this year I completed my prayer journal.  I finally had just what I was looking for.

For me, my prayer journal has become an essential part of my daily quiet time with God.  It has deepened my walk with God so much!  I'm so excited to start this series and share my journey.  During the next few weeks, I'll share more specifically how prayer journaling has helped me, and I'll show you how I set up my prayer journal.  I'm also planning to do a link-up at least once, because of the best part of praying journaling is that each person's journal is unique.  I've already seen some amazing ones from some of my Twitter friends, and I'd love for others to share their journals!  I hope you'll enjoy sharing this journey with me.