I haven't always kept a prayer journal. I started journaling in 1991, but it was not a prayer journal. Then, more than ten years ago, I determined to write down in a simple notebook at least one prayer a day for an entire year, as a way of fostering daily prayer. There was no more to it than that. It didn't have to be more than a single sentence. Sometimes, it was just a few words. Other times, it went on for a page or more. But I stuck with it. And the habit stuck, too.
Since then, I have found the practice of journaling my prayers to be a huge blessing. I do it to discipline and focus myself. I do it in conjunction with my habit of keeping Compline, or bedtime prayers. It helps to put a period (literally) at the end of my day. It helps to prepare my mind and spirit for sleep. After I commit any pressing items or concerns to the page, I literally close the book on my day.
Journaling my prayers has also become a wonderful aid to praise. Every so often I look back on the prayers of previous months or years, and I never fail to realize how God--and prayer--carried me through discouragement and disappointment, suggested new ideas and insights, processed questions, encouraged a change, and more. If I hadn't written them down, I would never have been able to see much of what God has done for me, and the many prayers he has answered.
Those are just a few of the reasons I journal my prayers.
How about you? Do you keep a prayer journal? And if so, why?
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