You Might Grow Quietly; But It Shows Out, Eventually.

In the new year of 2026, a sister from my congregation reached out to me asking if I knew anything of, and would be willing to present on the topic of prayer journaling.

Her and another sister were arranging an event for the women’s group at our local church and she seemed to be in pickle about a certain portion of their program. In the middle of it, her and the other sister simultaneously thought I might be able to contribute something significant.

Little known to them, I have had many seasons in and out of disciplined journaling, and the current season of my life was one of particular storms and I was pretty frequent at my desk, in my journal, hashing out my prayers, and practicing listening.

This opportunity was a blessed thing to compile and share. It is always such a neat thing to see how God will use our quiet hours for the edification of others.


Please enjoy.

-Maxina

I present to you, sisters, a testimony of practicing prayer through the art of writing. It has been my great pleasure to see my faith grow, and I hope to pass along the experience so you, too, may enjoy the gladness of His presence in prayer and recall.

When you decide to become
accountable in your time with Jesus,
your faith will grow deep
and sprout up strong.

-Maxina Sunshine
  1. This is about seeking connection, not achieving perfection. Find a method encourages you to seek His presence.
  • Follow the example of Jesus, seeking solitude for prayer.
  • Encourage one another
  • Create an intentional practice to look back on.
  • Prepare and keep your prayer space uncluttered and sacred to remind yourself to prepare and keep your heart just the same.
  1. Make a choice to set aside time and space for you to spend focused time in prayer with God.
  • Set up your prayer space with tangible things to help you focus.
  1. Somewhere to play soft music
    1. Set up incense (50mins) or candle to remind you of the sweet smell of your prayers to God – He loves this time with you
    1. Display reminders of why you’re in this space
  • Designate and stick to a regular time to spend in this space with your journal and/or other encouragements of prayer.
  • Schedule Journaling


A Method for the Martha.

You’re an ambition woman and you get things done for the Lord. Here’s a chance to spend time at the feet of Jesus, listening in while thinking on your goals and tasks for the week.

Submit your ambitions to the Lord with this method when you sit down and give your scheduling time over to prayer. Every goal, every meeting, every task, every long drive, every daily habit.

  • Pray for wisdom and discernment towards your goals
  • Give thanks for your previous week.


Gratitude for the previous week over all the ways that you recognize God showed up.

  • Pray about your upcoming week.


Start out asking the Lord to look over and bless your week and bring you the opportunities to move you forward on the path he set before you.

  • Pray that running early and running behind give you a chance to run alongside Him.


MATERIALS

  • Planner
  • Pencil/Pen
  • Highlighters


METHOD

  1. WORSHIP, BIBLE STUDY, PRAYER TIME…FIRST MEETINGS!!
  • Put these critical appointments in their time zones
  • Highlight them your favorite color to remind you this is God’s favorite time with you, too.
  • Add the names of your 2-6 people on the days you plan to dedicate to praying over them.
  • Next is the appointment you look most forward to or asking the most prayer over.
  • Fill in all other appointments and events, rest times, and family time. Pray over each appointment, each hour of the upcoming week.


Note: This can be integrated in a monthly calendar or a weekly one. This is especially helpful for calendar-keepers who do not have many appointments, but still want to pray over their time with his method.


GET CREATIVE:

What kind of Calendar prayer-keeping do you think you will use?


Digital systems

  • Calendar prayers using reminders and notes
  • Bible apps with prayer feature
  • Prayer apps
  • Creative journaling


A Method for the Mary.


You’re contemplative and want a chance to be in a quiet zone when you listen to our Lord. This journaling method gives you a chance to record those precious conversations with Christ.


Submit your quiet time to the Lord when you give your creativity and contemplation a place to rest onto pages you get to look back on again and again.


This is done in a sketchbook or other open-style notebook. Sometimes, you will pray on a topic, sometimes you will pour over the heart of a siter. Sometimes you just might let your prayers flow as they come, or just write a scripture close to your heart.

MATERIALS

  • Sketch Book or Lined Pages
  • Pencil/Pen
  • Highlighters, markers, coloring pens (get creative)


METHOD

  1. While asking God to prepare your heart and time, draw your layout, Scripture contemplation, title header, or an illustration you will be centering your prayers on.
  • Freely write what comes to your heart, or you may opt to copy a scripture to contemplate.
  • If you want to fast about a prayer, keep one blank page after it for every day you fast and pray during mealtime.


Prayer-on-a-Page Inspiration list:

  • Leadership of Home and Church
  • Your relationship with Jesus
  • Your family members
  • Your sisters
  • Your 2-6 people
  • A scripture contemplation
  • Your path and the people who will come across it

A Method to Connect.
Letters-to-Send Prayers

This method is for connecting the Marys and the Marthas.           

You don’t mind being creative and you want to pray for your sisters and others. This way of prayer-writing gives you a chance to connect with the loved ones on your heart in an inspiring and focused way.
This is done with coloring pages.  You might already have coloring books at home or perhaps you get a few off the internet now and then. With this method, you can get creative in how you pray using color, and shapes.

Hint: You can coordinate a prayer with a specific color or shape, or try using paint if you like materials other than color pages!

MATERIALS

  • Coloring Pages
  • Crayons, Markers, Color pencils, – Your favorite medium
  • Pen/Pencil


METHOD

  1. Find a coloring page with a scripture that relates to the person on your heart, or brings a person to your heart when you see it.
  • Color the page. Get creative (use purple for purpose, green for growing, red for their heart, etc)
  • When you are done, turn the page over and write a letter of prayer to the person you colored the page for. Let them know you spent time praying over their spirit, life, heart, family and everything you could think of within the time of you coloring the page.


Accountability to Prayer


Showing up to prayer is paramount for believers. When you decide to become accountable to your time with Jesus, your faith will grow deep, and sprout up strong.

Make yourself accountable to prayer time by designating your time and space and giving it priority the way we do eating, working, sleeping and all other manner of caring for ourselves and others.

Q: How can we encourage prayer in your life and the life of others?

A:  PRAYER PARTNERSHIP

  •    Find a sister who will check in with you to keep you accountable
  •    Check in once a week
  •    Designate the 2-3 questions you ask each other and follow up on to keep your prayers a priority.
  •   Practice praying together over the phone and in person. Gain confidence in your verbal prayers with your sister.


Accountability is not an easy thing to commit to, but it’s always worth it.

With Love.

Maxina Sunshine

Hello friends! I am a Florida native with a wild spirit, and a love for Jesus, people, beauty and poetry! I hope you enjoy my blogs and other work. My hope is for these words evoke thought and inspire you to grow good things in your life. Along with being a family woman, a freelancer, and a poet, my mission in life is to know and love Jesus and encourage others to do the same.