Praying to God is one of the most intimate parts of a Christian's relationship with Him. It is a direct communication with our Father, made possible through Jesus Christ and the cross.

Despite this gift, so often I forget to go to Him in prayer. I say I will do it to end the day, only to fall asleep midway. I vow to start everyday conversing with God, yet my mind is still yawning for the first hour that I am awake.

When I do pray, so often I fall into tangents that guide me away from the original point at hand. My mind wanders, and before long I am ten thousand miles away from God.

How can I go about refocusing prayers on God? How can I be more intentional about making time to pray?

Recently, I found a handy little notebook laying around. I wanted to find a way to fill it, and so naturally, I turned to Google. I stumbled upon the idea of a prayer journal and after a few clicks, I was hooked on the idea.

Why keep a prayer journal?

First, writing down your prayers allows you to stay more focused. Including another sense into the mix allows you to be more conscious of what you are thinking and writing. This is perfect for people like me that tend to go down rabbit holes.

Second, it is physical evidence of your prayers. This is great to look back on. It allows you to see what you were going through in the past, as well as see how God answered your prayers (whether it's the way you wanted or something even better).

Third, you can keep a list of others to pray for. Recently, I've been trying to really pray for my loved ones more, as well as national and world events. Having a physical list is a great reminder, and I've even seen people who recommend rotating one or two people per day so it's not super overwhelming and you can thoroughly pray for those few people.

No matter what method works best for you, I encourage you all to take advantage of the awesome gift we have as Christians and pray to God. He is the one true comforter.