There was a Sunday last spring when I sat in church and realised I had not heard a single word of the sermon. Not one. My body was in the pew. My mind was three rooms ahead, halfway down a worry list. And I sat there feeling that familiar quiet shame... I must be bad at this. Bad at listening. Bad at being still. Bad at hearing God.

I wonder if you know that feeling, friend. The Bible feels flat. The prayer feels performative. Your hands are folded but your heart is humming.

When trying harder makes it worse

For so many of the Christian women I speak with, anxiety is not loud. It is not a panic attack or a crisis. It is the background hum that never quite turns off. The 3am thinking. The shopping list that lives in your head while you are trying to pray. The aching desire to feel close to the Lord and the bewildered question of why He feels so far away.

You have read the books. You have memorised the verses. You have shown up faithfully week after week. And still... you cannot get quiet enough on the inside to actually receive what God wants to give you.

This is not a faith failure, friend. I am going to say that twice. This is not a faith failure.

In my years as a Speech and Language Therapist, I noticed something that took me a long time to bring back into my own prayer life. The body has to settle before the soul can listen. We are not pure spirit. We are women with nervous systems, and those nervous systems have not stopped running since we got out of bed.

Calming anxiety with Scripture is not about trying harder to feel peaceful. It is about creating the conditions inside your body where the peace of God can actually land.

Paul understood the order

Listen to how Paul writes it in Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, in the New Living Translation.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Read that again, slowly. Notice the order.

Paul does not say feel peaceful, and then pray. He says... pray. Tell Him. Thank Him. And then the peace comes.

The order matters more than we realise. Because most of us are trying to manufacture calm before we come to God. We sit down to pray and immediately try to shush our own minds. We open our Bibles and feel guilty when our thoughts drift. We are doing it backwards, and then we are blaming ourselves for the result.

What if your job is just to come? With the noisy mind, the racing heart, the half-finished shopping list... just come.

That is where a pen becomes a prayer.

Why a sketchbook helps you hear God

Several years ago I started doodling in the back of my sermon notes. Little leaves. Little circles. A bit of soft shading along the edge of the page. The first Sunday I did it I expected the pastor's voice to fade into the background. Instead, his words came clearer than they had in months.

I have since learned why. The science is gentle and beautiful, and it confirms what the Lord already wired into our bodies.

When you let your hand move slowly on a page, three things happen at once.

Your wandering mind gets politely occupied. Researchers have found that doodling during a listening task increases recall by 29 percent (Andrade, 2009). The doodle uses just enough of your attention to stop you daydreaming, but not so much that it interferes with listening. The shopping list quietens. The sermon stays.

Your stress hormones drop. A Drexel University study showed that just 45 minutes of art-making produces a measurable drop in salivary cortisol, the hormone that keeps your body in alarm mode. And here is the part I love. Skill level did not matter. The participants who had never made art before benefited just as much as the artists.

Your nervous system receives a safety signal. The slow, rhythmic, left-to-right motion of a pen is what therapists call bilateral stimulation. It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and relaxation side, and quietly tells your body... you are safe now. You can listen.

This is what I call Christian art journaling. It is not arts and crafts. It is a Spirit-led way of inviting your body to come and sit with your soul in the presence of God.

A small practice you can try this Sunday

You do not need a single thing you do not already have. Any pen. Any scrap of paper. The back of your church bulletin will do.

This Sunday, sit down in your seat, open whatever you can find, and as soon as the message starts... let your hand move. Little leaves. Little circles. Light shading. Do not try to make a picture. Do not try to make it pretty. Just let the pen drift.

Pay attention to two things. How much of the sermon do you actually receive. And how much softer your body feels by the end.

This is the entry point to what I teach inside Doodle with God. It is a small, unhurried guide that gives you simple sacred prompts to sit with the Lord and let your nervous system soften while your spirit listens.

What I have seen happen in women

A woman wrote to me last month who had not been able to pray properly since her mother died. The grief was too loud and the words would not come. She started doodling in the back of her Bible during the Sunday service. Three weeks later she sent me a photo of a page covered in soft little flowers, and underneath she had written one word. Mum.

She told me she had finally cried. Finally prayed. Finally felt the Lord meet her right there in her body.

The hand opens the heart. And the heart opens to God.

Your gentle next step

If this post has stirred something in you... if you are tired of trying harder, and ready for a prayer method that actually meets you where you are... Doodle with God might be the small, unhurried doorway you have been looking for.

It is 7 dollars. It is gentle. And it might just be the practice that helps you finally hear Him.

→ Start here: https://creativesoulspace.com/quiet

Take a breath, friend. Pick up your pen.

He is already waiting.

[Save your free place here → creativesoulspace.com/griefpages]

And if you'd like a gentle daily creative practice to bring you back to yourself... Doodle with God is waiting for you. No skill needed, no special supplies — just you, a pen, and five quiet minutes with God.

P.S. Those who sign up to the workshop and attend live will get the accompanying workbook

A Space to Bring Your Whole Self

If your soul is quietly telling you that it needs more than another quiet time routine… that it needs space, rest, and a completely different kind of encounter with God…

I want to tell you about something I'm creating for a small group of women this September.

From the 25th to the 28th of September 2026, I'm hosting a luxury creative retreat on the Isle of Wight — three nights at a beautiful farm in Ryde, fully catered, with no agenda except to slow down and hear God again.

We'll spend our days art journaling, sketching, and exploring. We'll visit Osborne House — Queen Victoria's summer home on the island. She was herself a keen artist, and there's something quietly extraordinary about standing in the rooms where she created, as women who are finding their own creative voice.

My partner Adam will lead worship. My son Toby, a fine art photography student, will capture the retreat. Our chef Katrina Collins will feed us extraordinarily well.

It is intentionally small. Intentionally unhurried. Intentionally a space where your prayers don't need to be words.

If your heart lifted a little reading that — pay attention to that lift.

🔗 Find out more about the Isle of Wight Retreat here: creativesoulspace.com/retreat2026

And if you're not quite ready for a retreat but want to begin doodling with God today, start here: creativesoulspace.com/quiet — it's just $7 and it's the gentlest possible first step.

Come and find me at https://christianartjournaling.com/creative2026 ~ there's a whole community of women here who are finding their way back to God, one mark at a time.