A couple of years ago Bible Journaling became popular, looking at my journals I discovered that I was already doing a form of Bible Journaling. I then came across a book by Sybil McBeth an American author called Praying in Colour and this set me on an adventure with my prayer life.
I don’t know about you, but I find it very difficult to sit still, and even more difficult to concentrate for any length of time. When I pray, I need something to focus on, otherwise my mind wanders and I think of all the things I have to do, and not focus on the prayers I should be saying.
Sybil McBeth states the following in her book: One morning I retreated to the back porch of my house, determined to catch up on nine months of a somewhat neglected spiritual life. I lugged a basket of coloured pencils and markers to the centre of the porch’s glass top table. I have never been able to draw, but I love colour and shape and movement. Doodling allows me to combine those loves on paper. So, I opened a pad of paper and began to draw. I doodled a random shape with a black pen, without even realising it, I wrote a name in the centre of the shape, the name belonged to one of the people on my prayer list, I stayed with the same shape and the name, adding detail and colour to the drawing. Each dot, each line and each colour became another moment of time spent with the person in the centre.
When the time seemed right, I moved to a different place on the page and drew another shape with another name in the middle. I embellished the new shape, I drew new shapes and names until friends and family formed a colourful community of designs on the page. To my surprise, I had not just doodled I had prayed. The entire prayer time was silent and wordless. I had thought ‘of’ each person as I drew, and when I had finished there was visual record of my prayers.
As I read this, the idea of praying in colour appealed to me and I began to experiment
On Friday 16 June I had the privilege of leading a Praying in Colour Workshop at a Come Closer Event in Milton Keynes. This was something I had never done before but was encouraged by a friend Deborah Gregg. The session lasted for approximately an hour. During this time I had opportunity to introduce Praying in Colour, I then lead a time of prayer using this method. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was mind blowing, all the ladies participated, and we prayed for people they know who had concerns. At the end of the session many ladies wanted to share their experience of praying in this way, comments included, helpful, able to concentrate, blessed, challenged and many more.
As I drove back from Milton Keynes, I could not thank God enough for the way His Spirit had moved in our midst, and the way He equipped me to lead this workshop.
If anyone is interested in a workshop, I would be more than happy to organise one at Waltham Abbey, as a taster,or at another Church within a 50 mile radius of Waltham Abbey. Please contact me on sharon.king@salvationarmy.org.
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