All people have stories. Each Christian person has a story to tell in Christ Jesus. Each of us has a special story that is like no other, filled with small moments, deep feelings, heights and depths. It is into and with those stories that God speaks in a journal. Keeping a spiritual journal is a prayer form in which we open ourselves to greater closeness with God and a deeper understanding of our lives and their purpose.

Remember that at its heart, prayer is about relationship with God. We pray not to manipulate God but to encounter God. We pray not to change reality but to face the truth and be transformed by it. We pray not to conjure up God's presence but in response to God's presence. We pray not to appease God but to deepen our mutual love story.

Prayer, if it is to be a meaningful, transformational aspect of life, community and the world, must spring from a vibrant inner relationship with God. That vibrant inner relationship is something we can experience not just through the acceptance of doctrines and belief. It is a relationship that we can experience as a living encounter.

• God still speaks today.
• God still leads today.
• God still offers insight today.
• God still provides light to our darkness, love to our woundedness, community to our loneliness.
• God will do that personally and tenderly to the extent that we permit it and to the extent that we make the personal aspect of our relationship a priority.

God longs for deep, honest, loving time with each one of us. All that is required for us to benefit from the richness of that relationship is for us to open ourselves to it and put forth the same kind of effort that we do in all of our other relationships: time, attention, a little energy, a little consistency.

Writing in a spiritual journal is one of the most effective ways of growing in intimacy with God that I have ever found.A journal takes as many different forms as there are personalities. Generally speaking a journal will include the following items.

• Recording of experiences, insights or feelings
• A response to scripture
• Letters to and from God
• Dialogues for dealing with deep feelings
• Dreams and reflections on their meaning
• Reflections on life journey

Sometimes journal entries are verbal and sometimes they are visual. Sometimes we will find it helpful to write in a journal every day. Other times our entries will be more spread out. (There are a number of reasons for this. One may be lack of discipline, but another can be that we simply don't want to, or can't for the moment, bear to live with quite the intensity in personal and spiritual life that journal writing engenders.)

Journal writing is not for everybody. But many of us need to be encouraged in small ways to learn the benefits of journal writing. Journal writing is a way to unleash thoughts and feelings that might otherwise be illusive or with which we may be uncomfortable.

Journal writing often includes surprises. Most people find that from time to time they write things down that they had not consciously thought about. That is the Spirit's work inside of us.

It is important when joumaling, to begin by listening. Maybe you need to listen to your own body, to your feelings, to a passage of Scripture, to the needs of others and the global community. But in order to listen we have to take time to become quiet.

Ann Kulp, in her book Spirit Windows says that it takes the body about ten minutes to be fully at rest. Therefore she suggests that a prayer and journal session take a minimum of 20 minutes, but probably 30 minutes. She suggests that a journal writing session begin with a listening prayer…that is a prayer of entering into God's rest so that God can speak to us.

A way to begin with listening prayer follows. Don't worry about distracting thoughts or drifting minds. Just relax and let the prayer move you along.

• Close your eyes and be conscious of your breathing. Now intentionally slow your breathing, deep clean breaths, mindful of your place in the whole created order. Mindful that it is into you that God breathes the breath of life.
• As you inhale, picture yourself being filled with God's love, forgiveness and mercy. As you exhale picture all the problems and concerns of your life drifting away.
• Slowly repeat to yourself Psiam 62:1 ‘For God alone my soul waits in silence.’
• Tell Jesus of your desire for deeper communion with him and your desire to be filled with the Light that gives life.
• Offer to God all the thoughts, concerns, and barriers that keep you from wanting to listen. Name your fears and worries one by one, but don't dwell on them. Ask for whatever forgiveness you think you need; then listen--accept the grace and mercy of God.

After a time of quiet and rest in prayer, write about your experience in your journal. If you would like to relate your experience to a passage of scripture either let your mind float to a passage that seems related and read it slowly, or you might choose a passage from the list of comfort verses or today's scripture verse from our home page.

After your time of prayer and writing, take a moment to thank God for the treasure of prayer and for this day in which you can live in close communion with Christ.