Weekend Prayer-Writing Warrior

For the past week, I have been blogging a great deal on certain practices that keep me grounded in my faith—especially listening to Christian and “religious” music, reading uplifting spiritual books, and the like.  Today I would like to discuss another prayer practice that has helped me a great deal in my faith journey—journal writing.

 

This weekend, as I took out my favorite pen and journal, I felt a bit like a word-warrior, going to battle against the dark forces that combat all of our souls at one time or another.  These foes can take the form of addictions, illness, job stress, or anything else that can bring a person’s spirits down.

 

When I write in my journal, I try to delve deeper into topics that are on my mind or particularly bothering me and try to bring it around to something positive.  For instance, this weekend I was feeling down about particular things that I had lost in my life so I started to write about that.

 

But I didn’t stop there!  I went on to try to find the positives and so I ended by writing about gratitude for people I have in my life right now and how blessed I am for them.

 

I slashed through any negative thoughts as I wrote down in cheery, bright pink ink about how grateful I am.

 

In my journal, I always try (the emphasis is on try) to bring my words back to God through reflection.  I especially try to find quotes or remember things that I have read that are on the same theme as what I am writing about.  This weekend, I couldn’t recall any particular quotes or lines from songs on gratitude as I was writing, so I wrote a short prayer thanking God for the people in my life.

 

I find that this practice brings me closer to God because it is easier for me to pray with words on paper.

 

Do you keep a journal?  What kind of things do you write about?