Journals are an important part of our history that is being lost. People don’t keep piles of emails, they don’t normally print them out, there are no offline journals being written with the intent to keep a record of our lives. Now we have blogs but they are edited for content. An offline journal is more personal and we are more able to stay honest with ourselves. What is it about journaling and why do we need it?
In speaking with my daughter this weekend we were discussing the two small groups that were coming up soon. She and I both will be leading separate small groups. She encouraged her girls to keep a journal. I said I wanted to encourage my ladies to journal, just a suggestion only!
Why should we journal? It helps us express our heart and passion to God. Journaling brings attachment and relationship to detachment and rebellion. It lets us experience and document answered prayers. And it builds our faith and our trust in God. It helps establish the habit of prayer.
Why should we journal?
My mom wrote a piece on Letters and spoke of the journals left by her mother and grandmother. These are pieces of family history that are precious and missing in today’s society.
Maybe we should promote journaling on actual paper to help these younger generations understand the joy of reading about past accomplishments, trials, and successes, even failures. These journals would be a way to be private with God and yet express our deepest fears or doubts and share our deepest feelings.
What is it about journaling?
David wrote his deepest fears. He wrote all his doubts. David wrote down his accusations and sorrows. He expressed anger and desperation. As a man, he felt things we have all felt, but he found a way to look at God in all his feelings and see that God is hope, the refuge, the stronghold, and the hiding place for us.
Psalm 42:5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God – soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.
