Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. —2 Timothy 2:7 N I V
I counted my journals today. There are fifty-four. Some are travel journals from different trips and excursions through the years, but most are daily journals in which I’ve recorded activities, thoughts, ponderings, and concerns. By writing them, I’ve wanted to leave a trace that I’ve crossed life’s threshold and hopefully made a difference in someone else’s life.
There are numerous times I’ve reread those journals and thought about the moment this or that was written. I’ve pondered stories of my past. I’ve cried over pictures of those I loved who are no longer with me here on earth. I’ve laughed over antics by which my friends made me happy. I’ve read scriptures that meant something very meaningful to me at a particular time. I’ve remembered how I felt in an embarrassing moment or time of deep sadness. I’ve spent hours reflecting in those pages—tracing the route that a particular memory first took through my senses—and I’m richer for it.
I could talk all day about the benefits of keeping a journal, but that may not work for you. Primarily, I’m suggesting you think back, remember, be still and thoughtful about where you’ve come from, what you’ve come through, and why it’s important.
—Luci Swindoll
Excerpted from A Grand New Day © 2008 by Thomas Nelson. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Do you journal? Why or why not?
Comments
In someways journeling has saved my life it’s somedays the only communication I get and I know God is ALWAYS there…..
I do indeed journal. I find it therapeutic, and often use it as a way to pray. I keep them, and after I am gone, I hope my children will read them.
YES and AMEN!
I jornal for both myself and my daughters. I record the prayers i pray over them each day. When they go off to college i plan to give it to them.
Journaling allows me moments to unload and then reflect. I journal to remember those sweet moments with my babies and to write down prayers. I am ALWAYS amazed at God’s answer to prayer and reflecting garners a look into His immutability. His promises stand and journaling gives me a glimpse into His orchestration of my life. So perfect – even in those moments I think He is not paying attention.
” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord…” Jer 29:11
I don’t know how many journals I have – they are spread between my little camp in NY and my house in AZ, and now I have one here on my Mac that I have been keeping for several months. When I go back to look at what I wrote when my first husband died, as I was grieving for him, when I found out he had cheated on me, and at various other times when God has shown me His Face as I struggled through the tough times, I am reminded again of His faithfulness.
I don’t do it as often as I should, but some of my best journaling is when I write my Psalms just like David’s. I can go back to my journals and read my prayers over the years and see the different times in my life that I wrote my heart out to the Lord. I understand why David and the other psalmists wrote.
I stopped journaling when I found someone had used out of context excerpts from it to try to hurt my family. I felt betrayed and violated to have my words twisted and my intentions disrespected. After that I decided that since most of my journaling was an outpouring of my heart to God, there was no need to keep a written record. No one will understand my heart like my Father and he certainly doesn’t need me to explain who I am.
I am so incredibly sorry to hear that your private thoughts were used in such a reprehensible fashion. What an ugly, evil thing that was. I pray that the person who betrayed you has been plucked from your life and has remorse for his or her actions.
Yes, I journal regularly. I have a systemmatic system I use since taking a class on prayer by Becky Tirrabasi..My journal is broken down in sections: Admit; Praise; Requests; Fire (My husband and I are going thru a difficult time, and that is where I post my feelings and frustrations); Requests for Friends..Healing Section, Church, Military, Salvations.I love going back and seeing How God answered them. And when I get frustrated and angry and write them in my journal, it seems that the Holy Spirit heals me and I’m able to forgive that incident or person and move on…
I do journal as it has helped me on my healing journey. There are times I’ll go back in my journals when I’m having a hard time believing I’m getting better, and can see just how far God has brought me. My journals change in the way I write and how often I write, but they have been a huge help to me. There was a time when I was really sick that I stopped journalling and now I wish I had journaled through that time, as it would have been nice to see that journey and how I handled some of those times of deep depression. It has been a road map for me to remember how far God has brought me, and how He has really been there for me, and sustained my life.
no i don’t journal, i have a hard time writing down my thoughts everyday. i should do it, but i don’t
I don’t journal either…. I did when my marriage fell apart and it was very helpful. I kept my journal on my computer at work and someone at work was reading it! So as much as I would like to journal again for me and for my daughter… I just have a hard time writting down my thoughts
My struggles with journaling is one I do not like writing nor do I have time to write. Putting my words down on paper from my mind and heart I find very challenging. I would love to journal just do not know how to get over this hurdle. Maybe there is a website that I could use for journaling….I do enjoy typing since I am on a computer daily. Thanks for letting me share…blessings
Victories only come when we’ve been in a battle. Journaling has allowed me the the joy of remembering His faithfulness during the difficult days of battle. When I fail to sense His presence or am growing weak, I am reminded of His love and find strength and encouragement.
I do not journal because I am a very private person and who knows whose hands they would wnd up in
I want to journal and have started to at various points in my life. The tyranny of the urgent seems to take over and time flies by so quickly…and I find that I haven’t journaled. I am now 63, and due to a lot of complicated reasons which I won’t go into here (mostly from being blamed for divorcing their dad), my children really don’t know anything about who I am, what I’ve been through; mostly though, I want to journal so that I can see where I’ve come from, and who I am today as a result of my life experiences. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I’m not sure how to put my resolve into action.
I definitely journal. It is my way of talking to God and Working through things with God. It is my reminder of what He has said to me and reminds me of who I am and Whose I am. The daughter of the living God. Amen
I have kept journals since high school. Those had poetry I wrote and were full of commentary. As I got older and traveled, journals recorded thoughts, feeling, names, and reflections. When I began to have my life unravel when I realized my ex had drug issues, the journal became a sanity link and my eventual path to God. I had belief before, but then Faith blossomed as a result of my reaching out my hand to God. Journaling keeps me honest with myself. I write directly to God as I reflect, question and vent.
I don’t journal…I try, but I never stick with it. The only time I’ve EVER journaled (and I could do it only thinkin in my head that I was writing letters) was when my hubby died almost eight years ago. Every night for THREE YEARS, I wrote him a letter about how much I missed him, what out four kids had been up to, about our new grandkids, just everyday stuff that he was missing by not being with us. I just had this need to keep him informed on everything, and then after three years, I didn’t have to do it anymore. I haven’t journaled since then and ti will be eight years in September.
Most of my journaling began in hospital waiting rooms or at late husbands bedside. Then again as I felt imprisoned in a loveless/bizarre second marriage. I can now see the tapestry of faith God was creating in my life as I learned to call upon Him before taking another stupid step. How incredible faithful and gracious He is!
I never have journeled consistently. For several years I wrote about our travels on scraps of paper and on calendars, but nothing in a book for longer than a couple of days or maybe the first couple of weeks in January. I often wish I had, but then I guess not enough to get me going and keep me at it.
I have off and on journaled for years and years. It is a great way to look back and see a history of myself and family.
I feel it is an invasion of privacy and since a very small child I have been private and to myself. I could not imagine someone reading my most inner thoughts, after I am gone or if sick and someone enters my home, I have private time with the Lord, but I cannot write down my inner feelings and thoughts.
I can’t say if this is right or wrong, it is just me…
I journal because it helps me remember not only activities, events, people I was with, how and when I contacted God, and records my feelings at the time.
Since I am older, journaling also provides an easily accessible chronicle of what I’ve done or forgot to do.
I have journaled for many years, in all kinds of notebooks. During 23 years of marriage when every day seemed like three and every year seemed like three years and during my last 25 years as happily divorced. I have journaled my prayers, praises, insights from God and His Word. I have journaled my struggles and victories over strongholds and insights on His Grace that covers all. I have chronicled family events and relationships, both heartstopping as well as joyous. I have journaled “red-letter” days, in red, for incredible insights telling about the Hand of God intervening in our lives. Most recently I have walked through Genesis every morning, journaling fresh insights that the Holy Spirit reveals to me and relates to my life. I will be sharing these insights on Joseph’s life in a Sunday morning Bible study at my church.
I’m nearly seventy and I can’t imagine NOT journaling! I have told my kids where my journals are and if Jesus carries me home through death of this body instead of instant live transformation, I hope that my journals will be read and shared for the Glory of His Name.
I have always WANTED to journal, but have never been successful. This past week, while going through family keepsakes, my sisters & I found our grandmother’s diaries. She was an adamant diary keeper…finding them from the 1930s until her death in the late 1980s. They were 5-year diaries, so had very small areas to write in, but she squeezed two lines of print into one when needed. We looked up the days we were born and she said the sweetest things about us. We read her thoughts and pain when grandpa died. And, at the end, she shared her confused frustration with our mother when she had to place her in the rest home. I can’t wait to find the time to sit and read all her hundreds & hundreds of entries. She was a great servant of her Lord and I know it will show through her writings. Will grandma be the motivation to finally get me to journal? I can only hope…and pray!
WOW! That would be what I would hope for in leaving behind the chronicles of my journey.
I journal sometimes, but more often than not I journal on my blog hoping that people will see God pick me up when I fail, or God in my successes. It is helpful to look back on old blogs to see where I’ve come from and how I’ve changed with Christ in my life.
I used to journal during the “big times” of life, trials, mission trips, etc. Now I mostly journal for my two boys, who are 4 and 1 year old. Even though it has only been a few years, when I read back over my 4 year old’s journal I realize just how much I have already forgotten! I’m so grateful that I wrote down the little details of life with him.. with both of them! My most memorable moment with my 4 year old is when he decided that he “loves Jesus and asked Him to be in his heart”. That made journaling all the more sweeter…
I find journaling a physical way of connecting “hands on” with Holy Spirit, and I, as well revisit my journal multiple times as a reminder how He is growing me closer to where He wants me! It is very fulfilling for me, and confirmation of His presence in His words is invaluable!!
I journal now and then. . seems time is so rare. . that it takes away from my time reading the Bible and/or my devotions but I do realize sometimes I feel closer to the Lord as I journal my thoughts . . since I am way past my prime years I keep thinking I should have the time now . . so will keep trying
I do journal, for 17 years now. It has been life giving as God embraces my writings in healing and purposeful ways. He meets me wherever I’m at in whatever and however I’m prompted to write. God has drawn me closer, grown me faith forward, and shown me amazing things through journaling. Some of which I don’t realize unless I am taken into reading earlier entries. Jeremiah 33:3
I have been writing “Dear God” letters for sometime now. I use it not only to pray and share my thoughts with the Lord but to also hear his thoughts back to me. I love looking back on it and seeing my growth and gain encouragement for what the Lord has shared with me
I love my journal. Although I do not write in it as much as I would like, it transports to another place; one in which I can laugh, cry, and remember. It is one small way for my husband and my children to have a piece of my thoughts when I am gone. It is my sanity. As I read your article Luci, I could hear your voice. Am so ready for a WOF weekend! Hugs!
I do journal and like another person said hope my children read it some time so they can understand how God was so good even if they didn’t see it at the time. Also I hope Luci understands that she has touched each of our lives when we’ve attended and heard her speak. Thank you for your life lessons, Luci.
Yes I journal helps me sort things out and communicate with the Lord.
Yes, I journal! For many of the same reasons others have mentioned. When I became a grandmother I started a journal for each grandchild. I hope this will one day help them remember or come to understand how their “before memory” lives influenced who they have become.
I had to give up the expectation that I would journal daily. Even if you can’t pull that off, whatever you do get down on paper will be worth it.
I have kept a journal since I was 10 years old. I am now 64. (We called them diaries in those days!) My journal has always been my faithful friend to which I can pore my heart. As my faith walk has strengthened I find that my journals reflect a more open heart, a deeper love for my husband, a daily confession of sins (it helps keep me accountable), and celebrating the simple joys of our creation. I would be lost without my daily journal habit. It’s core to me. I don’t have children, so perhaps my nieces or nephews will want these after I am gone, but journaling serves a key place in my emotional and spiritual development and perhaps that’s God’s purpose. Luci, we so love you. Thanks for sharing your life so transparently with us. Marilyn
I started journaling when I began counseling to deal with a childhood trauma. I journal routinely. Scriptures, prayers, thoughts…I like to review my entries as well. As Tenth Avenue North sings…”This is where the healing begins”
I always start to journal but find that I don’t get very far. I feel like every day has to have a profound entry or it isn’t worth writing down. I feel kinda stupid writing my daily activities over and over again.
Yes I journal! I never used to and didn’t understand people who did. People always gave me journals as gifts and I only keep them because it seemed like the nice thing to do and they were pretty. Then I tried to do it one day and then it soon fell by the waist side. Years later while in the mist of having a bad day I stumbled upon a old journal. In it I read all of the wonderful things I had forgotten that God had done for me. Every since I am a regular journaler! When I am having a funky day I look back and remind myself that I am blessed and to stop whining!!!
Documenting my life in journals began in a dark place, and I’m pleased to report continues in the brightest of places. In the lite of Jesus Christ. As he cast my sins as far as the east from the west, I too, while taking personal inventory through re-reading my documents allowed me to do in reality what Christ had done for me. It was ugly painful, and disturbing. But now they are busting with joy, healing and health. I can’t describe how helpful it is to prge the darkness from your mind. It is only surpassed by filling it with Christs love and mercy.
I love to journal! It is a record of my life, and my families, of special events. The neatest entries are the ones that show the Lord’s hands in our lives. Through the good and the bad, the fun and frustrating times…He is always there. However, I stopped journaling last November when my mom, and last living parent, went home to be with the Lord at the young age of 66. I know the next entry will be her passing and that has been hard to deal with but I sense the time will be soon when I will be able to make that entry. Even though she is not here, she is with God. And since she is with Him and He is in me, she and I are never apart. How awesome is our God!!
I started a prayer journal after reading a Becky Tirabasi book, (Let Prayer Change your Life, I think.) I do Praise, Admit, Requests, thanksgiving and listen sections for myself. I’ve told my husband he can read them, but he doesn’t want to now. The most disheartening thing I find rereading them is how many issues I’m still dealing with after years. Then I get to the parts where God spoke to me and I’m encouraged. The words are still good for me today. My husband encouraged me to put my entries from reading the Bible on a blog. I’m only getting started putting them online, but that is where I see most of what God is teaching me. Regular reading of the ward usually brings just what I need to learn to work my way through what is happening in my life.
Luci, I loved your book. Liveing Life Differently. You I’m sure are my “soul” sister. I have journaled since high school…I now am 67 wonderful years old. I too have kept all my journal’s. They were my best friends through life. And I must say I probably will burn them before I die. My journal’s are my life and joy…never an occasion goes by when I don’t write down the treasures they game me. Our God is sooo good.
Chris Sternzon
I used to journal starting back in 5th grade and off and on through college a bit. I however do not feel it is safe to put in writing your innermost thoughts and private issues about your life, your kids .Through the years I have had parents, friends, cousins and step kids read my journal and misconstrue or share it’s contents, or judge me.
I journal occasionally, but I have the fear that I can’t really put down everything I feel because there is always the chance that someone else will read it and be hurt or think awful things about me. So when I journal, I always write with the thought that someone else will be reading it someday, so I better be careful with what I say.
I journal and at the beginning of each new year I grab an old journal and read through to remember where I have been with God and the different things He has walked me through…. Great reminder of His love and faithfulness
I have been journaling since I was 12 years old. I am now nearing the time when I must apply for Medicare. Whenever I get discouraged, I read old journals and am able to see how God has been by my side all these years. He has never let me down and reading those journals reminds me that he never will!
I journal. It is one of my mainstays that helps me deal with good and bad events in my life. It was what got me through a divorce. It is just a great reliever of things heavy on my heart as well as a great way to remember special events and people. I love to go back and read of the progresses I have made through tough times, and to remember wonderful memories of good times. In fact I am almost in need of another journal. It’s been a while since I have read one. Think it’s time for a trip down memeory lane.
I began journalling when I was a pre-teen, and still have the journal I started in 1988 in multiple sections in a bix plastic bin, but the older I have gotten, the less I write in it regularly, mostly due to either lack of time, inspiration, or motivation. I have kept prayer and reading journals for spells, and currently still do travel and concert journals and sermon journals. I’ve slowly started migrating myself into blogging, which can also be a form of journalling. Of the past year or so, my Facebook has also been a form of journalling for me from time to time. I used to hope my journal could be read by my children, but now that it is looking like children are not part of God’s plan for my life, I hope that my journals can be of encouragement to someone else. If nothing else, my journals have not only documented my life as it happens so I might not forget, it has been my needed outlet when, in the depths of depression, I didn’t feel “worthy” of “wasting” anyone’s time with my problems, and has helped me countless times to go back, read, and trigger reflection.