Journaling

Journaling is therapeutic; it’s a good spiritual and emotional self-measuring tool, its accountability.

I can journal what I did during the day or the weekend. I can journal what I got out of my Bible reading. I can journal my walk with the Lord. I can journal what is stressful in my life and ways to manage the stress.

I feel like I am getting my emotions out and on paper. I find it a stress relief. Sometimes I just keep writing. Those thoughts that keep coming back or negative thoughts that haunt me. I write them all out. I just keep writing until I am done. It can be emotionally exhausting. It is cleansing. It is refreshing. It takes work. It can be like a work out.

I do not dig deep every time. I do write just about every day. I have been journaling for years and did not realize how good it was for me until recently when I looked back on the last year and a half. Oh, how God was there, carrying His little girl through this mine field of a year. Going through it, I must admit it I didn’t feel like God was there, though I knew He was because I believed me Bible and not my feelings. I saw Him on those pages. Day after day, guiding, leading and comforting.

There are so many good reasons to journal. If you have never kept a journal before, you can start anytime. There are some journals that are so pretty or you could just use a notebook, whatever fits how you want to journal.  Here are some tips about journaling that I have learned:

1.      When I get a gem from my Bible reading, I will write that in my journal. I want to remember the special things that God is giving me personally from my time alone with Him. The Bible is a timeless book that applies to me today. I want to keep track of verses or stories that stand out to me and then apply them to my life.

2.      If you are going through a hard time, it is a good idea to write in a journal. Getting your feelings out on paper is good for your mind. Putting down on paper all the hardships that you are going through may be difficult, but again very therapeutic for you.

3.      It may also help you to be thankful for what God is doing in your life. You do not have to be going through a hard time to journal. By journaling you can see how good God is in your life and be able to thank Him for those things. Try starting with three things a day that you are thankful for and you will see there will be days that there will be many more things to be thankful for.

4.      A journal is a good place to keep prayer requests. Remembering people’s prayer requests is a sign that you care. How many of us hear a prayer request and then do not write it down. This means we do not remember to pray. Our brothers and sisters in Christ need our prayers. Pray for others. Writing their requests down in a spot that you go to often will be a tremendous help to praying for others. If your church has a prayer page then use it like a book mark in your journal so you can remember to pray for your church family.

Don’t make your journal complicated, just one book for everything. I keep my journal next to my Bible on the table by my bed because that works for me.

Do what will work for you; just journal.