Today is September 25th, and I began a new prayer journal.

It’s a thick hardcover with gold-rimmed flowers on the front. Writing the first page felt like signing a contract because I’ll probably be dedicated to this one for two years, thanks to its size and small lines. Were there any themes I wanted? Special purposes or ways to use it? A fancy way to write the date? Now was the time to begin a new tradition! 

Then I realized exactly a year minus one day is when I started my previous prayer journal. (I’m a little sentimental, if you couldn’t tell.) I thumbed through its pages and knew — as long as I kept using my new journal the way I had used my old one, I wouldn’t regret anything.

It doesn’t have beautiful handwriting and some of the notes are a little haphazard and random at times (there’s even a few pages with math problems on it). But skimming through the prayers made my heart overwhelmed with God’s mercy.

10.10.17 – “Nothing about God is small. Everything about Him is infinite! And it’s His good pleasure to give His LITTLE flock the kingdom.”

10.22.17 – “Comfort those hurting hearts with Your power and presence. Let our church minister with grace and truth. Draw the Body ever closer to You and to each other. Revive restless hearts. Strengthen souls. Fill, fulfill, and purify. Cause us to help each other throw off every entanglement! Help us edify, sharpen, and love one another…Shine Your truth in every dark corner, and may we experience the triumphs of Your grace.”

01.11.18 – “Let me claim Your promises and Your places, trusting in Your might. I’m not blessed and promised that I’ll have many descendants like Jacob, but I want to be excited and zealous for the promises You DO give me. You are the superior satisfaction and unbroken well. Let me lift up pillars for Your GLORIOUS Name.”

03.02.18 – “I entrust my soul to You. My whole being waits for You.”

10.08.18 – “Place my hope in the Lord and be my confidence. Let me be like a tree planted along the riverbank. With roots that reach deep into the water. May I not be afraid of heat or drought. May I stay green, always producing fruit (Jer 17:5,5-7).”

God heard and answered all of those prayers I prayed last year — many on some of the hardest days of my life! He was faithful through every single trial. Though I am a part of a little flock, often with little faith and little hope, He is infinite. “He has done all things well.” (Mark 7:37)

I can truly say that He accomplished everything that concerned me (Psalm 57:2).