One of my favorite ways to journal is writing letters to God.
I learned this from Kelly King Anderson’s book, 10 Ways to Make Decisions with God. I thought I would give it a try.
So after meditating, praying and studying my scriptures, I grabbed two colored pens and sat down and wrote a letter to God using my purple pen (because it is my favorite color) and then after I signed my name, I paused and listened, waiting with blue pen in hand.
Then I heard words and started writing them with my blue pen. I tried not to overthink if it was me or God. It was good information and it felt good, so I decided to believe I had gotten a letter.
Writing letters to God is a wonderful blend of meditating, praying and journaling.
I am the type of person who likes to do things quickly. It is hard for me to slow myself down. When I pray, I use my prayer cheat sheet and sometimes I just speed through things.
When I journal normally, I just scribble out what happened during my day, rarely pausing to reflect.
I just move fast.
But when I write a letter to God and then pause to receive a response,
I have to slow down!!
This is why it feels like a combo of the 3 – meditating – being still and present, praying – because I am communicating with God, journaling – because I am writing things down (which also helps slow me down)
I don’t share most of my letters, they are personal.
Interestingly I started using this technique two days before Devon was kidnapped! So I have a notebook filled with these letters to and from God from November 2014-March 2015.
These proved invaluable while I was writing The Mexico Miracle. It helped me to remember so many details.
I also felt that it was ok to share a few select letters. Here is one.
Peace amidst chaos
I am trying to write in my journal and Bryson is making a lot of noise and playing so loudly around me. I am getting frustrated, what should I do about it?
My dear sweet daughter,
This does take more focus – but practicing with Bryson working and making noise in front of you is good. There will come times that you need to focus and connect directly to me amidst earthly chaos. You cannot let what is going on around you prevent you from connecting with Me. Peace is helpful and should be sought after but finding peace amidst and among chaos is an invaluable skill. Work on that, allow it to grow. Develop that skill, it will serve you well. Not just during letters from Me, but prayer, meditation, and scripture study.
Letter to God Instructions
- Find a quiet spot with a good chunk of time.
- Get in a receptive state. You may find it helpful to meditate, pray and put on some uplifting music without words before you start writing.
- Write a letter to God. It is like writing out a prayer. You may not always get a response and that is OK. Have fun with it.
- Sign your name to your letter.
- Write Dear _your name___ and then pause and listen.
- Remember you might not get a letter back and that is OK.
- Sometimes you will hear words flowing into your mind.
- Write down what you hear. Sometimes the words come quickly and sometimes slowly.
- Remember when you get a letter it is for you. You might want to hold it close to your heart and only share with those you feel impressed to. (It was an interesting journey to get to a point where I felt it was OK for me to share some of my letters in this book.)