To celebrate all of the blessings God has in store for your family this year, consider setting up an Answered Prayers Jar starting January 1. Over the course of the year, collect all the prayers God answers with a “yes and Amen.” On New Year’s Eve next year, gather your family around, pour out your heaping pile of answered prayers, and reflect on God’s kindness and faithfulness in every aspect of your family’s life.

Find a zip-up gallon bag, paper lunch bag, mason jar, or leftover box from Christmas morning. Write “Our Family’s Answered Prayers 2026” on the side of your container. Sit the container out on your kitchen counter with a stack of sticky notes and a pen.

When you or your children pray and God answers “yes,” write the answered prayer and the date on a note, and drop the note in the container. If your children are old enough, allow them the chance to write down their answered prayers and drop them in.

Answered prayers might be the healing of a friend, unexpected financing for a car repair, a pay raise, or the sun rising. Include them all! Add to your container throughout the year and celebrate God’s work in your household next New Year’s Eve.

As an alternative, start your Answered Prayers Jar at the beginning of a school year or in the year following a hard loss for the family.

For sentimental parents like me, use strips of patterned paper and laminate them at the end of the year to keep as bookmarks for your Bible.

Using an Answered Prayers Jar over the last year changed our perspective on prayer in unexpected ways.

1. We started praying more specifically. When we give him the opportunity to show that he is a personal God who works in the details, he shows it. (Matthew 10:30). Our relationship with God and our trust in him grew as a result.
2. God answers yes to an overwhelming number of prayers. Many weeks we simply couldn’t write all of the answered prayers down at once. He answered prayers for us, our friends, our community groups, and our neighbors. (Psalm 6:9; Psalm 37:4).
3. We learned that we often interpreted silence as a “no” from God when his response was a delayed “yes” to our prayers. Our eagerness to add an answered prayer to our Jar gave us a reason to focus long term on the outcomes of each of our prayers. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
4. Our kids saw the power of intentional prayer. Many times our children watched and waited in our kitchen as we added another answered prayer to the Jar. In these moments, our kids saw God working in response to our prayers. They also saw that prayer is an intentional activity. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
5. We prayed when we would not have otherwise. If we did not add any answered prayers to the Jar for a span of time, it prompted us to pray more frequently. When we did, God quickly revealed a handful of prayers he had answered and how we had missed them.

A healthy prayer life does not require an Answered Prayer Jar, but if this idea sticks with you and your family, consider trying this exercise as a no-cost, low-maintenance, and totally optional family activity. Let’s do this together!