Crafting a Blessing/Prayer Journal

Proverbs 10:22 

The blessing of the Lord, 

it maketh rich, 

and He addeth no sorrow with it. 

This week I was thinking about the goodness of the Lord and how He is so faithful to answer our prayers.  And not just the big ones, but the small ones too, that may never leave your lips, but are carried deep within your heart where no one can hear.  Sometimes these prayers are so small as to feel they are unworthy to be expressed aloud... and yet, He hears and knows those prayers too!  

Psalms 5:3  

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, 

O Lord, in the morning 

will I direct my prayer unto thee, 

and will look up.

He knows our heart's desire, sometimes more even than we do ourselves! Last week I silently breathed a prayer for a friend to share my soup with... and I have been amazed all week at how the Lord arranged that meeting, with quite the adventure to go along with it!  (Story here if you haven't read it).  

Colossians 4:2

Continue in prayer

and watch in the same 

with thanksgiving. 

Prayer and thanksgiving go hand in hand... and as I thought about this, I knew that I needed to begin to document my own prayers, blessings, sorrows, triumphs in one place, a place where I can go back to, if need be, months down the road, and see how the Lord has provided the answer to my prayers.  

Yesterday I found the time, and the creative mindset to do just that!  Some of you who have been faithful readers here, know that I have not done much creating since we've moved because my creating space changed, and I've never been able to find the creative juices to flow productively in that space.  

But yesterday, all that changed. I was on a mission, and with the Lord's help, it happened.  I completely pulled everything out of all the nooks and crannies, and began to rearrange.  I cannot create in disorder. I have to start in an organized space... but once I start, the order ends.  When I'm done, it looks like a tornado hit... but at least in the beginning, everything must be in its place.  

First I began by laying out the paper, tools, glue that I needed... here is how it went... 

And since I was on a roll, I decided to make two journals.  I have a dear friend who has been shut in for several weeks, and not able to get out due to illness.  I made this journal for her, and took it over to her yesterday.  I thought it might help for her to document the journey with her illness, and to be able to look back too, and see what the Lord was doing through this difficult time for her.

The process went quickly, once I got started. I used Aleene's craft glue to glue the cardstock to the journal.  This particular cardstock is from Stampin Up! and I do not believe they sell it any longer. However, it is called Coreinations because it has a lovely inner "core" that makes sanding it a joy.  The light sanding adds an aged vintage effect, and I was so pleased with how it looked almost like an old leather bound journal!  

After gluing on the cardstock, cutting around the edges of the journal, and sanding the paper down, I then cut out some soft velvet-feeling paper in a beautiful pattern and applied it to the front, and added some ribbon and a tag.  It doesn't take much, just whatever you have to adorn your journal!  I paid $0.79 for these journals back when school supplies were on sale (always the best time to stock up on these things) and saved myself quite a sum of money, considering a lovely journal like this in the store could be upwards of $10-20, and I used supplies that I already have on hand. 

You could also cover the journal with fabric too... so many options for a journal like this.  I enjoy writing in a beautiful journal, it always sparks my desire to write in a journal when it is a delight to hold it in my hands.  

This journal will be used for short little blurbs each day, or whenever I can find the time to write, and in it I will be writing my daily blessings, needs, and little thoughts.  I don't intend for this to be a journal where I write lengthy things, but just little smidgets of notes when I have the time.  But most of all, I want it to be a place where, in the future, I can come back and be amazed at how the Lord has answered the small prayers and provided His blessings in the daily routine and humdrum busy-ness of life.  

Psalms 65:2  

O thou that hearest prayer, 

unto thee shall all flesh come. 

Psalms 66:19 

But verily God hath heard me, 

he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.  

May the blessings of the Lord be with you today, and His spirit poured out in your life in a great measure! :) 

Sharing with: 

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