Make Your Own Prayer Cards
Lent is a great time to be in conversation with God, and what better way to start than through daily prayer. But sometimes it’s difficult to find the words to say. That’s where prayer cards come in!
There are some great resources online for printable cards that come with pre-written prayers on each one. But if you make your own, then not only will the praying help draw you closer to God, the act of making the cards will as well.
All you need is paper! We’ve made a template for you with four cards on each page, but you can also just cut whatever paper you have into fourths and decorate it yourself as part of the project. Consider using card stock if you have it; your cards will last a bit longer that way. And you can make as many cards as you’d like; 40 is a nice number in keeping with the season, but there is truly no such thing as “too few” or “too many.”
Spend some time, maybe each day, maybe a few times a week, writing a prayer on each card. This part can be scaffolded to meet the needs of whoever is making the cards! Adults and older kids might be fully independent, able to compose the prayers with no prompting. Younger kids might benefit from a chat about the different forms of prayer: what words can we use when we talk to God? What kinds of things might we pray for? They can also work from sentence starters like:
I love you because…
Forgive me for…
Please help (insert name)…
Please help me…
Thank you for...
You can pre-write the sentence starters onto the cards and even scribe for them if they’re not ready to write their own yet. Don’t worry about things like messy handwriting, cross-outs, or even misspelled words. What matters is the conversation you start with God as soon as you pick up the pencil to fill out your card, a conversation that hopefully will deepen over the Lenten season and continue through the rest of the year. So cut up some paper and get started!
We’d love to see your family’s deck of prayer cards – share pictures with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
