Hi, my name is Victor Carter. I’m a husband and a father of six children. I’d like to share with you how these prayer and journaling sheets came about and the impact they’ve had on me, my family, and countless others.

My Faith Background

I was blessed to grow up in a Catholic family. My parents, who were converts from Protestantism, brought with them a deep love and knowledge of the Bible that they passed on to us, their children. Our home was filled with prayer, scripture memorization, and rich family discussions rooted in faith. This upbringing had a profound impact on me, shaping my understanding of God’s Word and instilling a love for scripture that I wanted to pass on to my own family one day.

Raising My Family In The Faith

When my wife and I started our own family, I had a strong desire to instill in our children not only a love for our beautiful Catholic faith, but also a deep personal relationship with the Lord.  When my wife and I had our first 4 children in under 6 years, I experienced first hand the overwhelm of juggling time to nurture our relationship, run a business and be a good spiritual leader to my family.  

We often struggled to make prayer a regular part of our family routine.  And when we did, it felt like we were going through the motions without really connecting on a deeper level. I wanted my children to experience faith that wasn’t just confined to Sunday Mass or formal devotions, but a vibrant relationship with God that shaped their everyday lives.

The Shift in my Family's Prayer Life

During this season of life, my wife and I began a simple morning routine of prayer and journaling. Each day, we would write down things we were grateful for and share these things with each other. This practice led to meaningful conversations and deeper prayer time together. As we continued this practice, we started incorporating more reflective journaling questions, such as:

- What are some of the hopes and dreams that we believe God has placed on our heart?

- What challenges are we facing, and how can we see the positive opportunities God is giving us through these challenges?

- What are we excited about in this season of life?

- What is on my heart that I want to renew my trust in God about?

These questions not only deepened our prayer time with the Lord, but also paved the way to meaningful conversations about the deeper things in our hearts.  As we continued these prayer practices, we both began to notice incredible changes that were truly transformational in our day-to-day lives. 

Our relationship grew stronger as a couple, and our attitude and outlook on life began to shift dramatically. Instead of being focused on the negatives, we began to focus on being grateful for the many blessings we had, both big and small.  When faced with challenges and hardships, we no longer found ourselves falling into complaints or discouragement. Instead, we started seeing them as positive opportunities to grow and support each other. Our daily attitudes and conversations became infused with more excitement, gratitude, and a positive, faith-filled outlook on life.

Becoming A Spiritual Leader in My Family

During this time, I felt a renewed conviction to become the spiritual leader I wanted to be for my family.  We began practicing gratitude together as a family and memorizing scripture verses and passages that inspired and uplifted us.

My desire to help my children develop a deep relationship with the Lord and know scripture in a way that had been instilled in me was beginning to take shape.

In my desire to prepare my children to live out God’s purpose and plan for their lives, I compiled a collection of scripture verses and passages that I wanted to imprint on their hearts and minds - verses that would shape their outlook on life and guide their decisions both now and in the future. I then organized these scriptures into a simplified “Liturgy of the Hours” style of prayer that we could pray together as a family.

The results were profound and began bearing great fruit in our family’s day-to-day life. Our focus on gratitude brought about a noticeable shift in our family’s attitudes and conversations.  Our children were more joyful and began to naturally express gratitude for little things in our lives, and were less inclined to complain or dwell on the negative.

I could already see our children beginning to absorb and live out the scripture verses we prayed as a family. When difficulties arose, it was often our children who would remind us, “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). Our older children, on their own initiative, began setting aside some of their money to give to the Church and to the poor, inspired by verses we prayed on generosity, such as “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

When my wife experienced a miscarriage, one of our younger children came to her and gently said, “You know how God is like a shepherd caring for sheep. I think He’s taking care of Paul [the baby we lost] for us like that.” - words inspired by Psalm 23, which we had memorized and regularly prayed as a family. Moments like these showed me just how deeply God’s Word was being imprinted on their hearts and how it was already shaping their outlook and responses to the various circumstances of life.

Creating The Prayer & Journaling Sheets (a fruit of our journey)

Over time, we developed prayer and journaling sheets for each day of the week. Each sheet features a unique theme, designed to address the varied thoughts, emotions, and challenges we often encounter throughout life. We wanted these prayer sheets to be practical reminders to view the realities of life through God’s perspective and to inspire us to be intentional in living as Christians in all the different aspects of our everyday lives.

Sharing the Prayer Sheets

As I began sharing the prayer sheets with family and friends, I received wonderful feedback on how much they loved them and how helpful they were finding them.  Those family and friends began sharing them with others and that is what inspired the creation of this website - to make these prayer sheets accessible to anyone who might find them helpful in deepening their faith and strengthening their relationship with God.

These prayer sheets are not meant to replace the rich tradition of Catholic prayer, but are simply meant to complement it.  The focus of these prayer sheets is to nourish one’s heart and mind on many of the more practical and inspiring passages of scripture that more closely relate to the realities of our everyday lives. 

While these prayer and journaling sheets may not be for everyone, I put this material out there because I know some will find it helpful and a great means for nurturing family prayer and growing in one’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

I hope you’ll give these prayer and journaling sheets a try and adjust it to fit your family and your needs.

God bless!

Victor Carter

P.S.  If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please feel free to reach out to me here.