Ep 28: Unleashing the Transformative Power of Prayer Journaling with Amy Brooks

I'm a wife , mom and a Joyfield Catholic , and I am the Catholic Sobriety coach , and I am so glad you're here . Welcome back , everyone . My guest today is Amy Brooks . Amy is the author of two books the Be Yourself Journal for Girls and the Be Yourself Journal for Boys . She is also the founder of Catholics Online .

Amy taught junior , high and high school students for 14 years . Prayer journaling and praying with others are two of the ways that Amy navigated some really tough times in her young adult life . So now she encourages other to embrace these practices that provide comfort and joy amidst life's business and sometimes stressful stages .

So I invited Amy on the podcast today to talk to us about prayer journaling . Now I've been journaling since forever .

Probably I might have gotten my first journal when I was like in third or fourth grade , and it wasn't a journal , it was like a dear diary with a lock on it and I would write down all the things and who my crushes were and all of that , and I would lock it carefully so that my little brother couldn't get it and go blabbing to everyone , but somehow he

was able to , like jimmy , rig his way in there , but anyway . But as I got into my 20s , journaling also like Amy became a way for me just to make sense of things , like going out around me and make sense of the world .

But then it soon evolved into prayer journaling and I found myself talking to God through my writing or praying with my pen , and I also discovered that that is the way I receive God's words .

For me a lot of times is through journaling and he also helps me communicate with others and works through me through writing , and I'm not the best , most amazing writer , but you know , when you're in that zone and God is working with you and through you , you just are able to , like , do things that you look back on and you're like , did I really write that ?

I can't , I can't believe it . So I'm so happy to have Amy here and I'm looking forward to our conversation today . So welcome Amy .

But to get started , I would love it if you would just tell my listeners a little bit more about yourself and then share what prayer journaling means for you personally and how it's impacted your life as a whole .

So I had that and then years went by and I didn't really journal at all . But what happened was in my 20s I started dating a guy who in his teenage years he started seeing a counselor because he attempted suicide and the counselor advised him to write things down .

And at the time I was teaching seventh and eighth grade and the first class of the day was religion and as a teacher in a Catholic school , the beginning of the day is collect these papers , take attendance , all this paperwork , while these 30 kids are sitting in front of you .

So this idea dawned on me to just have them have a prayer journal , a notebook as a grade and I would say write the our father , I would put that on the board .

So while I was taking attendance and collecting papers and all that administrative work , they were doing something and each marking period would come and I say , just bring it up page through real quick , because I tried to give them some privacy with it and I would give them 100 and they would have like an easy grade for that portion of their academic grade .

So I did that and then said boyfriend broke my heart and I found myself living in an apartment by myself .

After all , my roommates got engaged and I had to find my own place and I started pulling out a notebook and writing letters to God and saying Dear Jesus , because , you know , I just felt so alone and that made me feel like I was God had to hear my prayer because I was writing it down like just writing letters to him .

And what I realized through that was I ask God for a lot and I don't thank him that much . And it became clear when I started writing like how about you say hello , how about you say thank you , you know ? So it really improved my awareness and gave me an outlet that you know is actually therapeutic .

You know , writing things out For me I love prayer journaling because it slows me down and you know we read , be still and we live in such a fast paced world , so when we write our prayers we take more time to pray .

And also , having that notebook and that pen in my hand really gives you a feeling of nostalgia and , from what I've read , is nostalgia makes you feel joyful . It isn't like an upper , so , but I really . I used it when I was really sad , but then it also became a creative outlet for me .

You know it's an excuse to color , to write a quote , to use stickers and I grew up same age , I don't know In the 80s we had sticker collections . I love stickers .

Just I guess it's a predisposition I have that I've learned more in my adulthood that I do enjoy writing , so , yeah , so there's a lot of reasons and I think slowing down and becoming more aware of your relationship with Jesus through just writing letters and it really did help and it really is enjoyable . So now I share that with others .

I've also developed a habit of not just having my prayer journal , but I have what's called a commonplace journal , because I'll like hear quotes , or read something , or see something or you know whatever , or think of something , and I'll just write it down in a book just to capture it , because , okay , I'm almost 50 .

So it's in my head and then it's gone like as fast as anything . So if I write it down , then I capture it and then if I look back I'm like , oh , god wanted me to know this or he wanted me to save this for this reason .

And I love that so much and it really does help us connect with God , because so often I hear women say I don't know how to hear God's voice , I don't know when he's speaking to me .

And for for me , like what you pointed out , amy , is that it's a very tangible way to look back and say , okay , this is God speaking to me and you know when it's not right , when it's like contrary , or when it's condemning or shaming or any of that , but when you hear God's voice through your writing or reread it , it's just , it just fills you with , like

peace and confidence and clarity . I feel like so , something that I know some of my clients talk about , because I'm always recommending , like , can you journal this ? Will you , you know , write it down ? And some of them are like , nah , and that's not for me , I'm not a writer .

So many people get stuck and then they feel disconnected , like during prayer journaling . So what advice could you offer somebody to overcome these obstacles , so that they can build a habit of journaling ?

Or I remember , like my first prayer journal , I found a Saint Philomena Novena card , so I copied the back of it and then I glued the pretty picture of her on one page and the other page had her , the prayer that was written on the card .

I just simply copied it and with a Novena Novena is something Catholics pray that's nine days in a row , most of the time , and you pray for one certain intention . What I found myself doing was I would pray a Novena and by the third or fourth day I was changing my intention .

So you know that , in a way , I think , was God saying like I don't really think I have this man in your life for marriage . You know kind of thing if I was praying about something that personal .

But also I thought , well , let me write down my intention , be more , you know , I guess , intentional with it , and then just every day , look at this and stay consistent . So it allowed me to really be more consistent in prayer .

And again , just picking up a prayer card and copying it is a way to slow yourself down and , you know , be with God , just spending that time . And they're not always your words , they're somebody else's words , so sometimes it can just be a quote . I find you know , I don't know , I'm still navigating . What is God saying to me ? I often say you have to be .

You know I'm dense God , you have to be giving any very specific yeah , so , but anytime , I've been pretty sure of her . God's voice is a very simple sentence . He doesn't speak in paragraphs . He says I will provide , trust me . Like very short , firm sentences .

So , but the problem is but the problem is I buy these journals and then , you know , I get started writing in them and then I'm like no , I don't want to use it for that . And then it's like goes out the window or I'm like so intimidated to start writing that I like fudge it up .

And then it's like , uh , so when I read that to get a prayer card of a saint or of Jesus or you know , of Mary and put that in there , and that's what I did , I did exactly what you said .

I I got that prayer card , I wrote the prayer that was on the back of the prayer card on and then I was like , okay , it's not this blank abyss of , like you know , it kind of took some of that um , nervousness about getting started away . So I definitely love that tip for sure .

I just glue it on the first page and there you go , because , see , people seem to have anxiety about what do I do with that first page , and that solves that problem .

always remember what journal it was in , I don't always . I just kind of remember like , oh , yeah , I wrote about that and I prayed about that . But I was going through , I was looking for something and I found this prayer journal and in it was an entry from like six years ago and and I talked about how I had heard something on .

I was listening to Catholic answers and I heard a doctor on there . He was talking about , like um , catholics and recovery and sobriety and all that kind of things , and I was like , oh , that's , you know , it kind of got my my mind working , but I didn't really do anything about it . I just kind of was thinking about it .

And then later that day I was watching EWTN and I was watching the journey home and on it Scott Weeman , who is the founder of Catholic and recovery , was on it and he was talking about this apostolate that he started and all of this , and so I started journaling about it and I was like you know , I saw this on or I heard this on Catholic answers , and I

was watching this and I was like God , I just feel like you're calling me to do something with this . Like I feel like you're calling me to share my um recovery story and the fact that I'm Catholic with other Catholics , and I'm like I don't know how you're going to do that , but I'm open , but you're going to have to guide me .

Like all this stuff , right , and I put it away and I didn't really think much about it . I mean , I've always had this sense since then that God is calling me to something , but I didn't know what it was and I tried things and that didn't work .

I tried something else that didn't work , but it wasn't , until I finally realized like no , god is actually asking you to work with Catholic women who are looking to get sober for any reason and those who are in recovery . There's nobody really out there , no women especially out there , talking a lot about that and doing what I need you to do .

And so that's when it was like , okay , you know , sometimes God has to beat me over the head with a knife or for me to like , be like , oh , that's what you're saying . But then , when I looked back at that journal , I'm like I prayed about this . He gave me exactly what I asked for and , and like , left those holy breadcrumbs .

I like to call them for me to follow , to start doing what I'm doing now . No-transcript . Do you have an experience like that with prayer journaling where it did help you hear God's voice and receive guidance from Him ?

It wasn't published for 17 years later is when I was published , because I was a teacher . I wasn't writing a book . There was no , but I just had this idea . And then , after I became a mom and I started blogging and I met certain people , a light bulb went off and I said , wow , I had this idea and I found it .

The fact that I still had that prayer journal , I think is a miracle . Yeah , I was 17 years old , so that and you know I was going through a lot of struggles with loneliness and I had gotten this book . You're going to laugh , you're going to have an argument . With that . It might be very hard to judge me . All you want .

It's like how to make someone fall in love with you . And then the first chapter was like you should write out who you want to be your spouse , and it gave very specific details . You know things that I would have never thought of , like right , how he votes , right , how tall , so he is , right , his age . I wrote and I had these on like papers .

I don't know if I pulled it out of a book or just wrote it , but I wrote about three children and I have three children . So , yeah , I went looking for that recently . I was like I know I wrote and I found it . I think I had . The gender is a little mixed up , but still the personalities I described are there and it's really cool , it's pretty neat .

So I just always think St Teresa of Avalos as you pay God a compliment when you ask big things from him , and I think your journal is a very safe place to dream big and pray big and allow yourself that imagination and that dreaming and give it to God . It's a very like you said , a tangible way to give your heart to God , definitely .

I did the same thing with my husband as well , like before , I was like writing all of it , these very specific things , thinking there's no way , there's anybody anywhere like this and I mean I guess God had him for me . But yeah , you can just kind of just do it and not feel like super attached to it because you're just dreaming with God .

And then when it does , when something does fall within his will , and you realize that it was your heart's desire , a desire that God placed on your heart . You know , it's just like it just fills you with so much gratitude and I think he just uses that as a way to just show his glory to us even more Like I love you . You are my daughter .

I want to give you what you desire , if it's within my will , because I pray for a lot of things that I am so glad God did not like give me , but those things that he has for us , it's just so , so beautiful to look back and see that .

That's why I love journaling , because even if you don't think that you're a great writer or anything , you're just talking to God . You're just having a conversation . It shouldn't be like . Some of my journals are horrible handwriting . Some of them I tried a little harder . Some of them are the spelling .

Sometimes I write just so fast because I don't know how to spell it where I'm not . You know , there's no spell check , but nobody cares . God doesn't care . So it doesn't have to be perfect , it's just you talking to the Lord .

They're replacing a diary with an Instagram or TikTok post . And he said one is living and one is performing . So , as adults living in the same culture , we're scrolling , we're posting .

You know , we have to understand that it's important to have something that isn't a performance , that isn't for others , that is private and allows us to think and work things out , and I think that's really important to bring up today , because we live in the performance culture .

By putting that out there and with having this private prayer journal or you know journals that we have , it's not we don't have to put on airs , we don't have to be anybody who we're not . We're just us with God , sharing our you know our joys , our sorrows , our gratitude , our needs , all of that .

So that's such a good point , amy , especially for young people , and that's why it's so great that you have these beautiful journals that you've created for young people , so that they have this outlet to go ahead and create and not feel like they have to put it out for anybody . It's just for them and it's just for God .

So I went to my mom and often sad and confused and bummed , and I just said I don't understand why they're not my friends or they don't like me , and she said just be yourself . And walked away . Pretty much that's my memory of it . I was the oldest of five .

She probably had a baby on her hip and I just remember thinking I don't know what that means and I don't know who that is . So basically , and the girls , one was written first . I just wrote kind of the advice that I wish I had gotten .

But also at that time we had something that we called slam box in seventh grade and it was just like a binder of theme paper and the first page had your name and it was like one to 24 and everybody will pick a number , and then next page you break your birthday and then eventually you were writing your favorite actor , your favorite movie , your favorite song ,

favorite color , and we thought that was so much fun , so I combined that with the advice I needed . So it's just looking at . It starts out , the girls journal . Starts out talking about creation and how God created the whole world for us to enjoy and he created us to serve and love him . And I said you know why don't we just stop that ?

He created the whole world for us to enjoy before we're worried about how we're serving God , think about that one thing the whole world is for us to enjoy . You know , some people might like to zip line , other people like to lay on the beach . So there's like a game . Would you rather ? And I asked would you rather goes target or pick flowers ?

Would you rather , and all these different things you can do in God's creation , to enjoy God's creation ? And just so they can notice , my answer may not be someone else's answer . I am unique , so it starts out like that , but I also have some saints in . There was just some advice that I mean honestly I can still use today .

St Catherine , drexel Drexel said peacefully , do it each moment what needs to be done . St Teresa of Calcutta said never worry about numbers . Help one person at a time . Start with the person closest to you . You're just real solid advice that you can use , especially when you're trying to figure out oh , what am I going to be when I grow up ?

Am I going to cure cancer ? Am I going to be this great doctor ? No , just help one person at a time . Start with the person closest to you .

And yeah , so I have St Catherine of Siena in there , I have St Maria Gretti in there just incredible role models and advice that someone maybe who's aged 12 or 13 , is really looking for but doesn't know how to word the question . So after that came out , everyone's like where's the police journal ?

So I talked to a friend of mine , mark , who teaches theology , and he said girls write lists , boys make plans . So I I took his advice and I had a lot of help from the published , the original publisher , jerry . When Lee D'Ast , who's written about 25 books himself and it again , is discovering who you are and who is God calling you to be ?

He's calling you to be a peacemaker , a fisher of men . And what does that mean and how can you be humble and why should you be humble ? And I used other resources . You know the manual for spiritual warfare is an adult book . I took a quote out of that and again try to make it relevant to a 12 year old boy , but also helpful .

So , yeah , some prayer journaling is private , but the way this is set up , especially if you want to kind of jumpstart their use of it , the best way to do that with a seventh grade year old girls to get their friends in on it , you know , because everything is social .

So the very first , I've done at least one session with a lot of groups of girls where we just the back cover is blank on purpose so that they can design their back cover .

So that's something I've done with them as a group and I recently wrote the whole club so I really could have five to seven sessions where there's activities in here that they can do , where they talk about their favorite movies , app , I don't know what else like my 80s person's gonna come out TV show do they have a TV show ?

You know , music , band , boy , band and it gives them an opportunity to pray for those celebrities that they like . And I even recently started buying magazines because we used to have magazines , you know . We used to put posters on the wall and I don't know how much they have that anymore .

But I found a Taylor Swift magazine , you know , and I'm collecting them so that when I do go places I'll be like here cut out somebody you admire and you can glue it in there and say a little prayer for them . So , yeah , a lot of crafty things are in the girls . The boys , I've noticed actually boys actually do like the colors .

So there are two coloring pages in it . But somebody pointed out there's a wreck , this journal series . So I put like a wreck this page activity book where they can get honey and put it on their mud , find a mustard seed , glue a nail on there . You know all things that are relevant .

So things like that , yeah , different activities that I think would be appealing to that age group . I think most people that bought it at first might have been homeschoolers or just bought it for in-home use , and girls have told me they have two copies , so it is something that they don't really need to jumpstart some girls .

But I've also been suggesting to do this in groups and I brought it to a confirmation retreat last year too .

But this kind of jump starts them because as they work through your journal , then when they do pick up a blank journal , then they have ideas of things that they do wanna put in there or that they do want to , you know , make a beautiful .

You know they find a scripture quote and they just wanna make it all beautiful and bubbly and colorful in their journal and yeah , I think it's so great . So journaling , prayer journaling for adults , prayer journaling for kids , you know I just can't recommend it highly enough .

And , mark , you know , probably when I was going through a rough time I used it more often , but that's okay .

I'm just inspired to , like you need to write this thought down that you keep having over and over and over again . You need to get it out .

And yeah , I just think it's such a beautiful way to connect with God and talk to God , and a lot of times , as I'm a cradle Catholic I don't know if you are , but we're so used to praying , you know , like the rope prayers or whatever that you know the Hail Mary , the our Father , and so it can be for me .

It can be very difficult to just off the cuff sometimes come up with a prayer , but I feel like prayer journaling has helped me with that , because I'm realizing you're just having a conversation with God , you're just putting out your petitions , your gratitude , your you know , and all of that .

I am the Catholic Sobriety Coach , and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer , visit my website , thecatholicsobrietycoachcom . Follow me on Instagram at theCatholicSobrietyCoach . I look forward to speaking to you next time , and remember I am here for you , I am praying for you , you are not alone .

I'm and I will beside you .