Friday, October 21, 2011

Cliché Prayer Life

"Do not pray for easy lives, 
Pray to be stronger.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers,
Pray for powers equal to your task."
--Phillips Brooks


Prayer has been on my mind a lot lately. Up until about 2-3 months ago I found myself praying the "You know whats on my heart God" prayer-so cliché no? Yes, God does know what is on my heart...but how cold and impersonal is that type of prayer! Not only do I feel like its impersonal...but in a way its like saying "God I don't really have time to talk to you, but I know I should, so I'll just say You know...that thing I'm dealing with...HELP!"

When I was in high school, my bible teacher had all of us keep a prayer journal. It was a class requirement!!!! At the time I thought it was completely bogus...really...you're going to grade me on prayer!?! But now, looking back, I cannot thank him enough! Granted, the majority of my prayers were about my current boyfriend, or drama at school-really petty stuff. But at the same time it taught me to express my thoughts, feelings, and emotions to God instead of just assuming He knew it!

After realizing and being convicted about how vague and impersonal my prayer life had become, I decided something had to change. At first I started just really telling God everything...and somewhere in the process I was reminded of my old prayer journals. When I moved out of my parents they boxed up all my stuff for me and brought it down to me when we moved in to our house. Well I figured my old prayer journals would be in the boxes...but I can't find it!! Makes me sad because I would like to go back and read about different life events and different prayer styles that I had throughout high school.

All of the above is to say I have started journalling my prayers again! And let me tell you I LOVE IT!!! I totally look forward to it! Sometimes they are just short simple prayers...and other times (like the other night) they are 2 pages worth!!! A big reason why I started blogging again was to be able to express myself and get things off my mind through writing it out. Well, lets face it...sometimes there are just things that cannot be publicized but you feel the need to vent, express, and flat out ramble about!! Journalling and telling God about it has been a HUGE release for me. I totally encourage you to take up Prayer Journalling...it has made a huge difference in my walk with Him and I look forward to re-reading it someday to see how God worked in and through my life.

Luvs!


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