Let me start this by saying I am not on the clock app. I downloaded it during Covid back in 2020 like everyone else but quickly realized I didn’t like the potential danger of the algorithm and I hated that all the content it surfaced for me was of white girls recording themselves doing dances choreographed by black girls. I’m so over the appropriation for profit. Let’s all agree to leave that foolishness back in 2023. Mmkay? Good.
Despite my strong dislike for tik tok, there are some great suggestions that pop up and go viral every once in a while and they make there way to Instagram, which is where I find them. Or YouTube. I love the YouTubes. The prayer board was one such trend. I love that for me. So, what is a prayer board? Think vision board but for prayers. I think there are a few ways people have done them. Mostly, I have seen people attach a collection of envelops to a cork board and write their specific categories of prayer on each envelop. Then you write prayers and add them to the appropriate envelop throughout the year. As God answers those prayers, they can go into an “answered prayer” envelop. Honestly, there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. Why? Because it’s your prayer board! Just like there is not a right or wrong way to do a vision board.
As a visual girlie, I decided to mix the two concepts together to make a visual prayer board. I am a say it, see it, believe it, receive it kind of person. I see my prayers. I know what I want answered prayer to look like — not necessarily a specific thing or outcome — but I pray for good health, I know that visually for me that means I am able to move my body, work out, breathe, etc. I can visualize what that answered prayer looks like in real life. The same is true of my prayer for my sisterfriends. I know healthy relationships look like togetherness, support, laughing, celebrating, and love. There are emotional visual queues that are triggered for me when I think about the gift of my friendships. I want my prayer board to tap into that side of me because it is truly a gift for my prayer life that I can see God at work because I know what it looks like for me.
To get started with my prayer board I thought about the various prayer categories I wanted to make sure I intentionally bathed in prayer all 2024. I made this list in my head but I recommend writing it down so you can make sure you have all the important areas covered. I left off three so I will have to go back and make those at a later date. Once I had my list, I started flipping through Essence magazines to find the images that matched the vision of my prayer categories. This is where you get to tap into your vision board bag and cut out images and words of the things that resonate with you. I made sure to do this for each prayer category until I had enough to make a small collage. I then glued my images and words onto a sheet of black construction paper using a separate sheet for each category. My goal was to keep the collage on one side of the paper so I could add the envelop with my prayers and scriptures to the other side.
Once I had all of my prayer sheets done and looking the way I wanted them, I got out my Bible and started writing down the scriptures that I felt aligned to the categories. Let’s go back to the health example. For health, I wrote down Psalm 91:16 which says with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation, and also Jeremiah 33:6 which says Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. Then I wrote down a little prayer that I can pray regularly throughout the year for health and put it in the envelop. As people in my life ask for prayer on healing or health, I will add them to this envelop when I pray for them.
It is a very simple concept but also a very cool way to honor your intention to pray for yourself and the people you love. I admit to not having finished my prayer board just yet. Like I said, I have to go back and make a few more collages as I forgot some important categories. I also need to finish writing out my prayers for each of the categories. And then I need to find a cork board large enough to hold them all. If I can’t find one big one, I’ll use a few smaller ones and arrange them in a cute way on the walls by my “prayer closet” in the hallway.
If you have been thinking about ways you can make prayer more prominent in your life, consider making a prayer board for those things you pray for the most. Having a visual reminder might be just the think you need to stay focused on your prayer commitment throughout the year.
