Journaling for Joy

I touched the soft, leathery cover of the little book.

My hands lingered there, the unique scent of new paper and fresh ink inside its pages.

Another journal.

It had been so long; it felt like so long.

So long since I jotted down my thoughts every morning and penned the prayers folded in my heart upon paper.

Journaling has been a part of me for so long and my absence from it made my heart grow fonder towards it.

I realized that my last journal entry took place somewhere around the time that Debbie was born--almost two years ago now--and I missed it, longed for it, really.

But things get busy and time and cares take over and there is duty and the pleasure of writing in a journal took a backseat in my priorities.

I've filled a lot of journals in my day . . . around 40, I think, the last time I've counted.

I've always found it easier to express my thoughts through writing, to hash out my emotions, to voice my silent prayers.

The pages of those journals have held my deepest desires and cares, the perplexities of my mind and the crying of my heart out to God.

They are dear books to me, every one, and I am grateful now that I invested the time into transcribing my thoughts down upon those pages.

Lately, I realized that maybe journaling should be a priority -- at least for me, in my walk with the Lord.

Something that I began to do, since I really started "heavily" journaling, was to incorporate it into my "Quiet Time" with the Lord in the morning.

Instead of just dashing my thoughts on the paper or merely relaying events, I wrote my journal as a prayer.

It became prayerful journaling-- a part of petition and intercession with the Lord each morning.

It became one of the greatest helps to me in my walk with Him.

I would recount events that took place, situations, fears, pleas for guidance and direction and lay these before the Lord in my journal.

Later, I would be able to look back and see the mercy of the Lord tracing through all of these things--and praise Him again and again and again.

I would try to begin the each journal entry with a Bible verse or passage that I had read during my Quiet Time, or sometimes a quote that had touched me in my devotional readings--George Mueller, D.L. Moody, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, whoever I was reading at the time--

I cannot overly emphasize what a blessing this prayerful journaling has been in my life--and it didn't always have to be a long, drawn out journal entry--sometimes just a short, heartfelt prayer towards the Lord, asking Him for His wisdom and guidance for the day, praising Him for who He is, rejoicing in all that He has done for me.

So recently, I took it up again.

I'm not able to journal as regularly as I used to, but I find that if I take the little fragments of time that the Lord gives, I can write a few brief sentences here and there.

My babies take most of my time, but there are little bits and pieces in-between, and it's worth it to me to pull myself out of bed a little earlier than the time when they wake up to spend those quiet moments in prayer and in reading my Bible -- sometimes I'm just too tired -- when I've been up most of the night and I need that extra rest -- but many times, if I really want to -- I can, and it always refreshes me and makes me more ready to face the long day.

Now, I've added journaling back into those quiet moments.

And I hope that in the future, the Lord willing, when I am gone, that my children and grandchildren will read them and "recount to each other the wonderful acts of the Lord."

This hope brings me joy.

So I take up my pen.





You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, Yes They Are All Ours, Missional Call, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Messy Marriage, My Teacher's Name is Mama, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Count My Blessings, Beauty Observed, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, Oakhill Homestead