Simply Journal

The past three weeks of CGA have been crazy.  We have all moved into the same house, we are relearning how to be in community with each other, getting to know one another, working in the office and having class every afternoon.  One of our classes each week is about discipleship led by two amazing women in the community.  They are walking us through some different exercises to really get to know ourselves and our identity.  Our project for this class is to simply journal.
 

We have two different journals, the first one we are to write 3 pages long hand every morning.  The trick with this is there is no filter.  A lot of the time we journal as a way to process but we write with a filter as if someone down the road is going to find and read our book..  We worry about what our handwriting looks like, and what the person will think when they find and read it. Our 2^nd journal is a container for our life.  We each have a glue stick and just collect random things.  We can glue, paint, draw anything to get our mind going, and record what is happening in this season of life.
The lord is totally using these journals to get down to the root of some of the garbage I’ve been carrying around all these years.  I had no idea this whole time I’ve been journaling with a filter. No idea that my doodles were really art and visions that the lord has given me.  Images that speak to my heart and allow me to hear his voice more clearly. 
 

Now don’t get me wrong I have loved this project however some days I loathe it.  Some days I’m over talking about myself, and just want to avoid my garbage and move onto someone else’s problems where I feel more safe.  There is a definite daily tension there where I have to choose to buy in. But then I look back through this creative journal and remember why I’m here, to find my identity.  I remember how faithful and good the God I serve is. I remember that I’m not alone and that these pages are filled with both Him and me.  My challenge to you is to start a journal like this.  Start just writing in the mornings before the business of your day begins. Start collecting and keeping record of the season of life he has you in.  Ask yourself if the more that you are wanting of him is worth taking the risk, being brave and doing it with no filter?