Colored markers, drawing paper, my Bible and my TEA CUPP…what am I up to today? Doodle TEA!

Today I share with you a book that has blessed my prayer time.  Recently I read  “Praying in Color” by Sybil MacBeth.  Just as My TEA CUPP Prayers offer you a new flavor of prayer, MacBeth gives us a refreshing splash of color as she shares her prayer method with the world.  And I love it!

MacBeth, a math teacher by profession, has taken the  God-given gifts of color for spending time each day in prayer with Jesus.  Using artful language, such as “the stadium-seating of  the 48 crayons in the Crayola box,” Macbeth draws me into her prayer world.  She challenges us, saying it is okay to be childlike and to spend “almost every day coloring pictures with Jesus.”

Just as I set aside time and space for My Tea Cupp Prayers, MacBeth prepares a spot for her “Praying in Color.” She collects her drawing paper and markers and invites the Holy Spirit to join her. I thought I would try out MacBeth’s prayer method along with My TEA CUPP Prayers one day, and found it to be an inspiring change of pace.

I had already journaled my THANKS verse and prayers, so I started doodling with the EXALT section.  My EXALT verse that day was…

To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:25 (NIV)

So in my prayer journal, in a sunburst doodle, I wrote God’s attributes  from this verse (glory, majesty, power, etc.) as rays coming out from a center of EXALT.  I pondered His glory as I colored in the sunburst, praying for God to be glorified that day.

For my ADMIT section,  my verse was…

“Where is your faith?” He asked His disciples. Luke 8:25 (NIV)

The perfect verse for me, since I’m so strong on prayer, but continue to worry.  I drew a cross and “nailed” my sins to it with blob words like “doubts,” “worries,” “losing heart,” etc.  I asked Jesus to wash it all away and make me new and full of His Holy Spirit.

My CALL section began with the verse…

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.  Ephesians 5:1-2 (NKJV)

I drew my five-finger plate, and each thing God calls me to do on a finger. In the palm I drew a big heart, asking God to help me do each activity with love.  Such a visual display of my prayers, were images I could carry with me throughout the day.

Skipping ahead to my PETITION prayers…doodling gives me so many new ways to journal my prayers of intercession for others.  My PETITION verse that day was…

“Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:9 (NIV)

I drew a big cross for Jesus, and wrote the names of all my family around it, that no one could separate us.  The next day I had even more fun praying and doodling, writing my family members inside hearts, with their prayer needs around the hearts.  For those in need of jobs and homes, I drew a house and wrote all their names inside.  For those in need of healing and comfort, I drew a big hand labeled “God” and wrote all their names in the palm of His hand.  And when the prayer requests came by email that day from our church,  instead of being overwhelmed by the half-dozen emails, I doodled-prayed their names.

I thank the Lord for Sybil Macbeth and her “Praying in Color” book.  I hope you will check it out yourself and be blessed as she draws you into her doodle prayers. Get your markers ready when you join Jesus for  your next TEA CUPP time!

http://www.prayingincolor.com/praying.html/