6 Ways to Connect to God Through Writing
There are several different ways you can feel closer to God and heal through writing. Listen as I share them and see which one you feel you can incorporate better into your own life.
6 Different Ways to Write & Connect with God
Journaling
You can journal about hopes, dreams, expectations, sorrows and gratitudes
The health benefits to journaling
Being Grateful
I’ve been journaling 3-5 things I am thankful for on an almost daily basis for a couple of years. It is a powerful practice.
Harvard Health did a study where they showed people who journaled about gratitude came to realize that the source of blessings lay in part outside of themselves (with God) and helps them connect with something larger than they are.
Helps you notice the hand of God in your life
Studies show you’re happier when you write about things you are thankful for daily.
Write to Heal
Write a letter to God about grief, sorrow, hard things in your life
Read it out loud to God and then just sit there & feel His answer.
Write a letter to you from God.
Write Down a Prayer
Sometimes I get distracted while praying and so it helps if I can write down bullet points of things I want to talk to God about
I also have a list of people I need to pray for
Remember King David’s Psalms in the Old Testament are powerful written prayers and use those examples to write your own prayer to God.
Write Affirmations
I share 6 Bible Based Affirmations you can write or say daily to help you connect more powerfully with God
You can get the download of these here (or you can write your own)
Speech to Text
If you don’t feel you are very good at writing, you can use one of the cool speak to text features so you can still get the powerful benefits of connecting to God through (speaking/writing)
#tamarakanderson #storiesofhopeinhardtimes #podcast #hope #God #hardtimes #journaling #gratitude #writing #prayer #BibleBased #Affirmations
Transcription
You can find the transcription of today's episode here:
Tamara Anderson 0:04
Did you know that there's at least six different ways you can connect to God through writing? Stay tuned and we're going to talk about each and every one of these.
Tamara Anderson 0:16
Welcome to Stories of Hope in Hard Times, the show that explores how people endure and even thrive in difficult times. All with God's help. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. Join me on a journey to find inspiring stories of hope and wisdom learned in life's hardest moments.
Tamara Anderson 0:40
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Tamara's Takeaways on the Stories of Hope in Hard Times podcast. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. And thank you for joining me today, I'm so excited to be talking to you about connecting with God. And on today's Tamaraws Takeaway episode, we are talking about connecting to God through writing, where we have an infographic you can get on the today's show notes online that talks about each of these things. So you can check that out and print it off to remind you of the many different ways we can connect to God.
Tamara Anderson 1:14
But I want to talk to you about writing for each and every one of us. It doesn't have to be anything big. And one of the ways that we can do this, for example, is by journaling. Journaling our hopes, our fears, our concerns our joys. And as we do that, I think it helps us process what we're experiencing in life.
Tamara Anderson 1:37
So there is a power to opening up and journaling. And studies have been done that show that there are benefits to doing it, people saw a decrease in symptoms of like depression, anxiety, hostility. And so just opening up on paper, helps you process your feelings, process your emotions. And I would say, especially as you're connecting to God, it helps you begin to write and process and heal. If you're not sure what to journal about, you can write about your social life, you can talk about work, or money, you can talk about your uncertainty in life or some other feelings and how you cope with it.
Tamara Anderson 2:23
But studies have proven that the most effective journaling helps you move your emotions, to thoughts over time, and kind of allows you to look at everything, make observations about how you're growing, how you're changing, helps you set goals for the future. Sometimes you can talk about losses, hopes, dreams, expectations, how things have changed. And you'll start to notice as you journal that, that your perspective changes or that that things seemed to work out better than you thought they would.
Tamara Anderson 2:59
And so writing in a journal is a powerful and positive way to process things and also to connect to God, because He is helping you in that process of, of working through emotions. So journaling is step number one.
Tamara Anderson 3:17
Step number two is gratitude. And you can write gratitude, I've been writing my gratitudes in my journal, at least three to five a night for whole, gosh, a couple of years now. And I'm not diligent about doing it every night. But at least every other night, I write down things that I was thankful for in the day, and it helps me kind of look back on the day, even if I'm tired or frustrated. It helps me look back on the day with a sense of, you know what, God got me through this. And I'm thankful for even little things. If it's been an awful day, I can find little things to be thankful for. Harvard Health, recently put out an article that talked about the power of gratitude, and how it helps us kind of connect to a higher power.
Tamara Anderson 4:02
Let me read this to you. "Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives whether tangible or intangible, with gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness, lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, being grateful also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals, whether to other people, nature or to a higher power."
Tamara Anderson 4:37
And so we see the gratitude and recognizing that goodness and blessings flow to us from God is a great way to connect with him and to show appreciation to him. And you can either do that through prayer, which we've talked about already, but especially through writing.
Tamara Anderson 4:59
And There was a recent study done, where they had three different groups. And they had one group write down every day, things that they were thankful for. They had another group write down everyday things that went wrong during their day. And they had another group write down things that were just going, just life, just write down what happened to you. So after 10 weeks of doing this study, the people they found that the people who wrote about gratitude, were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. And they also exercised more and fewer visits to doctors than those who focused on the hard things that were going on in their lives.
Tamara Anderson 5:43
And so it's, it's been proven that as we write with gratitude, that we are happier, and we are connecting with God and giving him things, and we're just happier. So gratitude is number two.
Tamara Anderson 5:58
Number three is writing can help us heal, especially when we write letters to God or write ourselves letters from God. Several years I go, I interviewed my good friends, Shanna Johnson, and I will link her in this podcast episodes, you can go back and listen to her episode, if you'd like. But she talked about how after having seven miscarriages and then she had another almost full term, baby passed away before she gave birth, that she was quite bitter. And one of her therapists had her write a letter to God, just giving Him all of it, how she felt about every single one of them. And she said that for this assignment, she spent a lot of time writing and writing and writing this letter to God, about how she felt about everything. And, and she would get too emotional and have to step away and then come back to the letter and write some more. And and then keep going.
Tamara Anderson 7:01
And finally when she went back to her appointment with her therapist, the therapist said, now read this. And she was like, I can't read this, God's gonna strike me down if I read this. He said, read it. And so she trusted her therapist. And she read, she read the whole letter out to God. And as she read this letter to God, she cried, and she cried, and she just kept reading. And then when she was done, the room was very, very quiet. And she and her therapist just sat there in the stillness.
Tamara Anderson 7:34
And finally her counselor said, What do you feel right now? And she closed her eyes. And she thought about it. And she felt like God was reaching out and just putting her like a warm blanket around her. And that this warmth penetrated into her heart. And she felt like God loved her that and that he was reaffirming to her that you're not alone. I love you. I haven't forgotten about you. I know you've been through some hard things. But just this overwhelming a feeling of love. And this is what she said in that podcast, she said, "That was the day everything changed for me. It was that feeling of love and knowing that no matter what I felt, no matter what I went through, no matter how broken I was, Heavenly Father still loved me and He would never give up on me. And he would never let go of me, no matter if I pushed him away, because I was so mad." Isn't that beautiful?
Tamara Anderson 8:32
So writing or journaling or writing letters to God, whether they are dumping a whole bunch of grief or not, can be healing, writing can be healing. And so I just wanted to say that as you take time to experiment, perhaps with writing in a journal or writing a letter to God reading it to him, and you will feel a stronger connection to Him. I've also had people come on the podcast and share experiences about then, after they've written their heart out, writing a letter back to themselves from God, and having that be a powerful experience. So that can be a powerful experience. If you feel like you need a stronger connection to God writing to him about some of the hard things and maybe why you feel you're not connecting as strongly with him. And then either reading it to Him and feeling his answer or writing a letter back to yourself from him from this merciful God back to you.
Tamara Anderson 9:36
We're gonna take a quick break, but when we get back, we'll have more lessons, tips and things you can apply to your life. Stay tuned. In my friends, it's Tamara K Anderson and I need your help. I am gearing up for a wonderful Christmas season this year. And I need your stories to be part of it. I'm launching a new part on my podcast that I'm going to start doing every holiday season called Holiday Stories of Hope. And so I would love to hear your stories that you and your family have had happen to you during the holidays that have inspired hope, in Christ hope and your family stories that perhaps you've passed down for generations. Or perhaps it's something that's happened to you personally. So if you have a story you would love to share. If you wouldn't mind coming on a zoom call with me and recording it, we can do it in 5, 10, 15 minutes. And then I will be sharing that this November and December with my audience so that we can all be inspired by your story of hope. If you're interested, go to my website, TamaraKanderson.com. And go to contact me and reach out to me that way, and we'll get something set up. Alright, guys, thanks for being such great supporters. And I look forward to sharing more of your stories of hope.
Tamara Anderson 11:04
Idea number four is to write down a prayer. And this can help us connect to God in a different way. Sometimes I don't know about you. But when I'm praying, sometimes my mind wanders. And so if I write down things, or even like make a bullet list of people that I want to pray for things that I need help with, maybe things that are distracting me or things that I'm confused about, it helps me stay focused on things that I want to be praying for, and need God's help with. And so writing down both people to pray, pray for, and things that I need help with, remind me to pray for those things. And that's a powerful way that I can connect to God.
Tamara Anderson 11:44
If you're uncomfortable about writing our prayers, I want you to pause and think about the Psalm section of the Bible is that is David writing out his prayers, and they are beautiful and powerful and reaffirming. And take a moment and read through that and see if you can come up with your own little prayer that you can write toward to God, maybe it's a psalm, maybe it's the Psalm of Tamara, or put your name in there, and talk about how you feel about God. It would be a great remembrance to you, then you can read that or look at it throughout your life, share it with your children, share it with those who are close to you. But writing prayers out is a powerful way in that I can connect to God.
Tamara Anderson 12:29
Another step that I wanted to share today, Tip five is to write affirmations. Or you could even say affirmations, if you don't want to write them daily, I have a beautiful printout that I've made that you can write down. And there are six Bible based affirmations that help you remember who you are, and affirm that. Here they are: I am a child of God, and God loves me. Beautiful, powerful one. Number two, I have faith in God and trust Him to guide my path. Number three, I am strong in the Lord and can do all things with His help. Number four, when I am troubled or afraid, God gives me peace. Number five, I am full of love for God, for myself and for my neighbors. And number six, God prospers me in all areas of my life.
Tamara Anderson 13:25
Six Bible based affirmations that you can write down daily, or you can write one of them a day, maybe at the top of a journal page or something like that. It just affirms your worth and who you are and that God is with you. And you can get this downloadable sheet so that you can either write them or say them, or your remind yourself of them on a daily basis to help you connect more strongly with God and who you truly are as God's child.
Tamara Anderson 13:54
And some of you may be saying at this point that you're like, Tamara, yeah, but I don't write very well. You can still use this as a creative outlet and a creative way to connect with God simply by maybe you dictate. There's so many apps on our phones nowadays that you can dictate and then transcribe it. And that's a powerful way. They have a speech to text thing where you can dictate it and it will write it out. So if you don't feel comfortable with your typing or handwriting skills, you can talk it out. So that's a powerful way.
Tamara Anderson 14:28
So just going back over those tips, one journaling two gratitude, three, writing letters to God to heal. Number four, writing down prayers. Number five, writing down affirmations. Number six, record and transcribe your thoughts and feelings if you don't feel as comfortable writing things out.
Tamara Anderson 14:50
By writing we can increase our connection with God. And so today I'd love to I invite you to write something you're thankful for at three things, three to five things that you're thankful for Tonight, or tomorrow night, or the next day, or maybe even do it the rest of the week and see if that helps increase your happiness, and your connection to God. Thank you so much for joining me today we have several more things on our seven ways to connect with God. And I'm going to be sharing with you over the next few Tamaraws Takeaways. So stay tuned for those. Thanks for joining me today and hope on.
Tamara Anderson 15:28
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, subscribe so you can get your weekly dose of powerful stories of hope. I know there are many of you out there who are going through a hard time, and I hope you found useful things that you can apply to your own life in today's podcast. If you'd like to access the show notes of today's show, please visit my website stories of hope podcast.com. There you will find a summary of today's show, the transcript and one of my favorite takeaways. You know, if someone kept coming to mind during today's episode, perhaps that means that you should share this episode with them. Maybe there was a story shared or quote or a scripture verse that they really really need to hear. So go ahead and share this podcast. May God bless you, especially if you're struggling with hope to carry on and have the strength to keep going. When things get tough. Remember to walk with Christ and He will help you bear the burden. And above all else, Remember God loves you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai