31 Days to Journaling w/God

Welcome

I am so excited that you have decided to join us for the challenge! Many of you guys that know me personally that I absolutely love this challenge because, well of course, it deals with starting and maintaining a "prayer journal' for between you and the Lord. 

I had one a few years ago and it has totally blessed my life! Back in 2012 the Lord impressed on my heart to use an old spiral notebook I had left over to start recording my prayers to Him! Whatever I was thinking at the moment, the tears I cried, the frustrations that I felt, the joys I experienced, the confusion and fears I battled with, the truths He whispered in my heart, and more! I recorded everything! Was I perfect in keeping this journal updated EVERY SINGLE DAY, as much as I would love to say I had, I would be lying! lol But I tried, and there's grace for that!

Benefits

The benefits for starting a prayer journal are endless! They can vary from person to person. Some of the benefits it has served me from over the years were the following:

• I recieved clarity
• Hearing my Father's voice
• Freedom
• Seeing growth process
• accountability
• Intimacy/Closeness with God
• and so much much more!

Tips for Journaling with God

Below are just a few tips I learned from my own experience! Many of these tips will be further explained throughout random postings on FB if you follow the hashtags posted below the challenge information!
 If you have any tips you would love to share, please comment below! I would LOVE to read them!

• Personal Preference- Know what works best for you! -- I prefer pens over pencils! Pens tend to write more smoothly, and so I am able to keep up with the paste quicker with my thoughts, emotions, and what I believe the Lord to be speaking to me directly.

• Be Real/ Honest- Be real in your journal! Don't think about who will read it, or see or know your business! Be real with yourself. Be real with God. What is going on in your heart? How do you feel? God can break that bondage, but the moment you hold back, you open up to the spirit of fear!

• Be Open- Be opened to the Lord. Let Him use you in your writing! Be open to hearing His voice! Yes, you can hear Him for yourself! If You belong to Jesus, you have the privilege and honor to hear Him speak to you! And guess what?! Not only does He desire that you speak to Him, but He desires for you to hear Him! (John 10:27)

• Perfectionism is NOT ALLOWED- Don't worry about having the most beautiful handwriting, or the perfect grammar! Just go with the flow! KEEP WRITING! Don't give your brain enough time to stop and think about mistakes! You can catch them AFTER you're done!

• Attacks Will Come- Be prepared for attacks from the enemy! He will throw distractions such as TV, fatigue, thoughts, and more! Be prepared!

• Just for You and God- Don't write with someone reading in mind. Don't write thinking your kids or grand kids in the future will read this. Why? Because, you will limit the authenticity of this special one on one time with the Lord.

• No Pressure- Take the pressure off of self! Have fun! Be creative! Make mistakes! Life happens! Experience Him in your mess ups!

• Choosing Your Journal- Choose a journal that you will draw you to KEEP writing! Or just use what you have! (My first journal was a green left over spiral notebook from college!)

• Set a Time and Place- Set a consistent time and place for you and the Lord to interact and exchange. Or, carry your journal everywhere with you! Write during your lunch breaks, in the park, at church. Maybe you're in tears and you wanna vent, but the Lord is saying to write it down in prayer! or expressing your heart! (Extra tip. if you write in random pieces of paper, stick them inside your prayer journal! Keep them all in ONE place!)

• No special formula- There is no special formula to journaling with your Father in Heaven! Follow His lead! Express your heart on the pages! If you're artsy, paint a picture, use colors! If you're someone who enjoys writing lists, write out a list! The options are limitless!

• No comparisons- Don't compare your journey to the next person's. That's just it. THIS IS YOUR JOURNEY! Not their's! Have fun! And enjoy the journey! You're journey in this challenge will not look like theirs, and that's ok! Infact, thats what you want. A unique journey hand-picked by God!

• MISTAKES ARE OK!- When writing what you believe God is speaking to you, write the date and the time and the way it was spoken. Write the result! Did it confirm? If not, that's OK! Because you are LEARNING to hear your Father's voice! It's ok if you get something wrong, at least now you know it is wrong! 

• Hearing Him- As you are writing, and if you feel Him speak, WRITE IT DOWN! Don't take time to pause and THINK if what He said was true! 9out of 10x He did speak! But the moment you begin to pause and wonder if He actually spoke something, you allow fear and doubt to enter! Just write down what you believe He spoke as stated in the Tip above (Mistakes are OK)! Give yourself grace and move through that! 

• Use Journal Prompts- Those days you are stuck and not sure what to write? Use a Journal Prompt to help get the juices flowing!
•  (I have a few samples listed below!)

These and MANY more tips will be further explained throughout this challenge! Find the postings via FB or the Blogging world by the following hashtags!

#JournalwithGod31Days or #31DaysJournalWithGod

About the Challenge

• Date: August 1-31 (or any month)
• Requirements:
• Each entry must be Dated
• (if you skip a day, write that into the next day's entry. Either you can write atleast one sentence stating that you forgot the previous day/s entry/ies or, you can include the previous day with the current day. Just make sure to state which is the current and which is the day you missed.) 
• Have to write at least 2-3 sentences
• Perfectionism is NOT allowed!
• Just let it flow. Don't cut yourself short!
• Have fun!
• Use the following hash tags to share/invite friends with you on the journey! 
• (Also, throughout the challenge, I will be using these hashtags to write out even more of my background experiences, maybe some excerpts of my own prayer journaling, more depth of the tips, how to fight the attacks and distractions that come, and more. So be sure to keep note of these hashtags!)
• #JournalwithGod31Days or #31DaysJournalWithGod
• Contact: 
• inbox if on FB (@yogurljenny)
• email thedaughter31@gmail.com/ theworshipexperiencekc@gmail.com

Journal Prompts

OK, so maybe you're stuck in what to journal about, or maybe you're not quite the writing person, but you're wanting to get in on this whole journal with God thing. Listen, I've been there before. I've been stuck, made excuses, etc. Maybe the desire was there, but the motivation or creativity surely did not. One thing that helps me the most is pray and be honest with the Lord, and ask for His hand to help. Another thing that has helped many other people (I told you you're not alone lol) are journal prompts. So, for this challenge, I created a few journal prompts below that you can choose from when your feeling lack of motivation, stuck, and etc. Maybe it'll inspire you to create many of your own.

• Write a Prayer
• Write a Letter to God
• Write your thoughts from the day
• Is there a verse that keeps following you or popping up to your head? Read it. Meditate on it. And write your heart's response to that scripture. If you don't understand it, or not sure how to apply it to your life, tell Him that in writing! Be open and ready to recieve the Revelation He gives you!
• What happened during your day?
• What blessing took place in your day?
• Any prayer requests answered? WRITE THOSE DOWN! Praise Him for them!
• What is your heart feeling at this moment.
• Imagine Jesus sitting right in front of you smiling and waiting for your letter, so He can respond. What would you ask Him? What would you write to Him?
• Pray like you would normally: worship, sing, seek, read and then write!
• Finish a thought:

                                "Lord, today I struggled with....."

                                "I desire change in the following areas:......"
                                 "Lord I fear that........."
                                 "Father, Thank You so much for.........."
                                 "Please help me to................."

                                "Lord, I pray that You will help me to see Your hand in........"

ARE YOU IN?

Will you join us for the Challenge?! Comment below! Let us know any questions or tips you may have! 

Didn't see this post on time, but would LOVE to join in on the challenge?! Comment below with the day you will be starting your 31Day Journal Challenge! (Yes, I said YOUR, because I want you to make this as personal as you can!!) 

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Love ya lots,

Jenny!

(yogurljenny)