Journaling has been a part of my life since I learned to write. Even before I considered myself a writer, I would scribble down about my day. Over the years, it’s morphed into faith-based Journaling. Sometimes I have structure, and sometimes it’s just a flow of thought, but usually, there are three benefits I get out of faith journaling.

1. Prayer

At some point, when I’m journaling, I will turn my writing specifically into a conversation with God. Not only does this help me focus and keep the conversation going. It ensures I’m not getting stuck in a cycle of lingering on a prayer that has been addressed as needed or forgetting what I’ve even prayed for. Without this, I usually feel like I wind up sitting there thinking about what I’m going to pray about rather than actually praying.

2. See God’s Faithfulness

After you get in the habit of journaling, you can start to look back through your journals and see how God has been working in your life. You might be able to see answered prayers or even reasons for why certain things did or didn’t happen. This has been a big trust builder for me when it comes to bigger things in my life, and when I can trust God with big things, I can trust God with small things too.

3. See How God is Moving

Similar to looking back, this is more about the present day to day. As you write what you’re thankful for or how you see God showing up in your life, it makes it easier to see those things when you’re going through it, rather than waiting for hindsight. The more we practice looking for the goodness of God, the easier it becomes to find it.

So How Do You Start?

Decide what media is best for your faith journal:

While a paper journal and pen would be the traditional method, it’s not the rule. Modern technology has given us a multitude of mediums to choose from; it doesn’t have to be in a traditional paper journal. You could type it in doc, email yourself daily, do audio or video if that’s more comfortable for you, keep things private, or journal using social media. The goal is to pick something that will make it easy for you to not only keep up with but look back at every now and then because the goal of journaling is to create a trail of how God is moving in your life. When we do this, we can look back and see God’s goodness in our life, which assures us that if he’s been faithful in our past, he is faithful in our future.

Plan out what your journaling time will look like:

When you first start journaling, structure is key to success. But as you improve time with God, you’ll more naturally fall into a method and rhythm of what needs focus. Planning also ensures you don’t spend every time talking about the same thing. Rather, planning will help you branch out into other areas where God might be trying to get your attention. When looking for a structure, you can center it around studying the Bible, your prayer life, or both. You can look at a couple of examples of journal structure below.

Pick a time:

The best way to start is just to pick a time each day and write what you can. Partnering it with your Bible or prayer time is an easy addition. Rather than feeling like you have a certain amount of time you have to write, decide on a number of sentences if journaling feels overwhelming. Whatever number of sentences feels obtainable for you, add one more sentence to it and start there until journaling becomes a more natural habit.

Still not sure?

If you’re still not sure what to do, start with some prompts or a journal that’s already designed. One of the reasons I started my shop is to give people different options than what already is out there for journaling and devotions. You can also sign up for the newsletter and get access to some free journaling resources.

Stay Weird,