Today is #livefreeThursday. Women from all over the world are connecting to talk about “a love letter.”

I shared a story on Encouragement Today nearly three years ago. It was about an unexpected love letter I received from my dad. It helped me see inside the heart of a man who didn’t know how to share his feelings. Today’s post is a throwback post related to that love letter and how we can write our own love letter to God. ~ Suz


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The love letter from my dad was rare and precious. I still have the tattered pieces of that letter with me today.

I have other love letters, not as tattered.

Years ago I sat with a group of teens and issued a challenge, one I wanted to take with them: to begin a very personal journey spiritually with God.

I handed out a black notebook and markers and said, “This is our opportunity to share everything we’ve ever wanted to share with God. . . but to also hear from Him.”

For the next few weeks I asked them to place that notebook beside them as they prayed and studied the Bible. To meet with God for a few minutes, with no time limit, just to carve out a small portion of their day.

“Just like you would with a friend,” I encouraged. “You might stop by for five minutes and it turns to thirty, or you pop in for five and it is five. But don’t focus on the time. Focus on the relationship. Just be You. And let God be God.”

I know that this impacted the teens, but it began to change me as well.

Each day, instead of talking to God verbally, I talked to Him through writing. I told Him about my day. I shared my excitement. My hurts.

Sometimes I shared my grocery list.

Because at the back of the notebook, that’s where I wrote down distracting thoughts. If something popped up, like “you need to pay bills,” or “why is that sock lying under the couch,” it had a place. If it needed action, I attended to it later.

That way, it wasn’t in my brain anymore. I could go back to me and God.

Each week we brought our journals to class. The teens shared thoughts with each other. Prayers that were answered —  or when a devotion or scripture leaped from the page. Together we hashed through the harder portions and they felt free to ask the harder questions. We looked at scripture in context. We dug deeper.

When that class ended, my prayer journal continued.

It became my love letter to God. 

Somehow my fingers loosened my heart as I sat with a Bible, a pen, and with Him.

 

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When my dad wrote that letter all those years ago, it became a treasure. It wasn’t the eloquence of his words, but that he took the time to be real with me.

One day someone might look at my journals and they won’t find them impressive. They’ll see a mishmash of prayer, prayer and study, and an occasional grocery list.

But it’s my love letter to God, the one that shows God the real me. The one where I speak to Him and He — like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants — speaks back.

What about you?

Do you long to write your own love letters to God?

Why don’t you begin today?

If you don’t have a prayer journal, it doesn’t have to be fancy. A simple notebook, a pen, and your Bible. That’s all that you need.

Underline scripture that speaks to you. Write down your questions. Pen your prayers. And yes, write down your grocery list if you need.

Then come back here every week. This is a safe place for you to share your thoughts or questions.

I’d love to hear what you’re discovering as you write your love letters to God.

Suzie