The
topic of yesterday's Sunday School lesson was spiritual journaling.
Frankly, I was disappointed. I strongly believe in journaling as a
spiritual exercise. I have written prayers for years. But
yesterday's speaker didn't leave the small audience with much to hold on to and
less to take away. Since the meeting I have been thinking of what I would
have included if I had been given the opportunity to teach the class.
Journaling
is simply a way of recording your journey with God. It helps you to pay more
attention to God and is a way of way of learning to hear and respond to Him.By
keeping a record you can see what God’s been doing, how far you’ve come and
where you’re going.
Keeping
a journal will help you to see how God is working in your life.
Your
journal is more than a place to record daily events
It’s
a place for inner growth and personal discovery. It acts as a mirror, is a safe
place to explore things with God and is a place to generate and record ideas.
As such, it becomes a good friend and sounding board.
Benefits
of Journaling
Keeping a journal will enlarge your vision and increase your expectancy.
It helps you to keep you in good spiritual shape and stay true to your values.
Your journal acts as a safe place to process what God is doing in your life and the lives of those around you.
Journaling leads to personal growth and discovery through writing and reflection.
It helps you to see where you’re going with God and to understand your spiritual journey.
Your journal will provide a record that shows you how far you’ve journeyed, what God has been doing in your life and how much you’ve grown.
Your journal can be anything you want it to be
It could be a catalogue of your thoughts and prayers and God’s answers. A collection of wisdom and insight gleaned from God’s word and others. A record of encounters with other Christians God puts across your path … whatever serves you.
A Guide To Journaling
Start by praying. Ask the Holy Spirit, your Counsellor and Teacher, to lead you as you journal.
Write what's on your heart. Talk to God; be honest with Him and with yourself. Share your joys, victories, desires, frustrations, uncertainties and heartaches with Him. Write down your goals, prayers, dreams, memories and special events. Record Biblical and spiritual insights and revelations. Write out your praises to God.
Listen and document. Record what God puts on your heart and what He’s saying through your dreams and through others.
Date every entry. This helps you to see your progress and makes it easier to find things.
Highlight scriptures that God gives you and words that He speaks to your heart, so you can easily find them in your journal when you want to re-read them. Sometimes God speaks the same thing in different ways as He tries to get your attention and impress on you the importance of what He’s saying. A journal helps you to spot that.
A journal helps us to make sense of our life. It helps us to stop and notice what’s happening and what’s being said, understand it and respond. A journal helps us to become aware of the many signs of God’s presence.
There's no right or wrong way to journal.
I
recommend that you don’t immediately evaluate what comes. Don’t censor your thoughts,
simply write, allowing your thoughts to flow uninterrupted.
It’s a good idea to do a summary every few months. I’m always encouraged when I do this and amazed at what God has been saying and the many things that I've forgotten.
Today’s
Quote: Bad moments, like good ones, tend to
be grouped together. ~~Edna O’Brien
Today’s Meditation: I can turn my day around. I can change the flavor of today’s experience. I can lift my spirits and know all is well.
Today’s Saint: Matteo Ricci Jesuit Missionary to China (1552-1610) “Those who adore heaven instead of the Lord of heaven are like a man who, desiring to pay the emperor homage, prostrates himself before the imperial palace at Peking and venerates its beauty.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteo_Ricci
