I found out what a valuable tool this can be when one day I was home caring for my little ones (and experiencing a little PMS!). I was feeling completely overwhelmed with my responsibilities as a mother. Not only did I need to feed, clothe, bathe, protect, and nurture my children, but I was also responsible for their spiritual training. I questioned my ability to do all that was required of me, and I felt incompetent and inexperienced.

Then I remembered I didn’t have to do it alone. I was blessed with a godly husband and extended family who supported me. More than that, I had a heavenly Father who would watch over my kids day and night. God could be with my children when I wasn’t there. He would be with them when I had to leave them with a babysitter or at the neighbor’s house. And he would be with them on their first day of school when I said good-bye at the classroom door and sobbed all the way home.

After I processed all these thoughts, I sat down at my desk and wrote a prayer for God to be with my children. It was a way of releasing my children from my hands and placing them into his. Since I prefer to express myself in verse, this is what I wrote:

A Mother’s Prayer

My gracious heavenly Father,
Please hear me as I pray.
I come to you on bended knee
And ask of you today,
To give me wisdom, strength, and love
To raise my children for you,
That they might love and honor you
In everything they do.
I ask that you’ll watch over them
Throughout their childhood years.
Protect them as they run and play,
And calm their childish fears.
And when they reach their teenage years
I pray that they’ll be strong,
To stand up to temptation
And turn away from wrong.
I pray that they would read your Word
And talk with you each day,
So they will know your perfect will
And follow in your way.
I ask that you would be their guide
As they begin to date.
Help them choose, dear Lord, I pray,
A loving, godly mate.
And when they’re blessed with little ones
I pray that they may too
Have the wisdom, strength, and love
To raise their children for you.⁵

On one simple page, I poured out my heart to God. The matter was between him and me, and I kept it private for fifteen years. Some things are like that, and a prayer journal helped me ponder God’s power and increase my faith.

There’s an additional benefit: writing your prayers in a journal is a good way to keep balance in your prayer life. It’s easy to run to God when you have a desperate need—and God certainly wants you to come to him at those times. But as our Father, God also enjoys our praise and thanksgiving just as any mother enjoys glad chatter or thoughtful conversations with her children.