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I am hoping that I have impressed upon you the power of journaling.
I did not journal at all before I came on the Race, but I had a desire to blog. I had a desire to share with people all the things I never knew about being a Christian. I wanted to share all the things that I wish someone would have told me a lot sooner. I had that desire starting back in 2013, but I never pursued it.
I convinced myself out of it because I wasn’t sure I could get people to read it. I had many things I wanted to share, but would people actually want to read it? And in some ways, getting readers wasn’t the most important part for me. In a lot of ways the blog was just motivation for me to write down and reflect on my journey called “life” and the life changing things I was learning along the way. But I never started…
Last year when I was accepted to the Race and learned that I would have a chance to try out blogging I was ecstatic! I would have a chance try out something I was already interested in and I would have this trip as a continuing topic to discuss. As I write this now I can see that God placed that desire in my heart and had a plan for it.
Why is all of this important within the topic of journaling?
I have used this blog as my online journal in many ways. Back in the day I think people called it a diary. It was a place where you became intimate with yourself. You wrote down all your deepest secrets and reflected on your day. The evolution of a diary to a journal was the inclusion of other things one may want to keep and collect. In addition to those intimate moments you may also want to reflect on your day, how much you have grown since this date last year, you may want to preserve a beautiful flower from walk you’ve had.
The most beautiful thing about a journal is to mark and a have a record of the growth in one’s life.
For our American culture the idea of journaling is a double bladed sword. On one hand, we want to continually be progressing, being better than we were the day before, but on the other hand we are too lazy or too busy to put in the time reflect and record the information that would show us that progress.
Blogging has been motivation for me to start journaling. Yes, I started to blog with the intention to share with others, but it has grown into so much more. So much can and will happen every year. I know I don’t remember all the little things that I said I wanted to never forget, all the times I’ve been blessed, or the details of fun. And because I didn’t write them down they are lost never to be found in my long term memory ever again. I wonder how many lessons the Lord has had to reteach me because I’ve forgotten the Truth He has taught me.
My evolution of blogging to journaling was my journey to being motivated and then appreciating this discipline. Some days I look back at past posts or older journal entries and I’m amazed and what God has changed in me and how quickly He has changed me.
Through journaling God has become so much more real to me and present in my life.
So many say “how do you know God is real?” I know He is real because through journaling I have learned to look out for Him throughout my day. I have learned to understand His humor and feel His comfort. I have learned to hear His voice and write down what He says before the devil comes to snatch it away from me.
God is with us. God is with you. His Holy Spirit is living inside you, doing life with you. As you pray the Holy Spirit is answering you and guiding you through out your day. Don’t miss it! Pay attention. Reflect on it. Appreciate it. Write it down and continue to be blessed by it.
