developing your Journaling Habits
What are the ABCs of Journaling?
Everyone has a unique voice. And God speaks to each of us in a voice that is unique to us. How we hear him is largely related to how we listen and what grabs our attention without effort. As I prayed about the ABCs, Adventure, Beauty, and Courage, I realized these are my loves of journaling; they are my themes. God has revealed to me that these simple yet powerful words represent how I listen to him, respond to him, and seek him. As my friend Tim and I made the video, God led me from A to B to C. I didn’t know what the words were until I was in the location you see in the video. This is experiential journaling! It’s getting out there, listening and asking, and recording.
It hit me that I needed to share these so that you can find your themes. What grabs your attention will give you clues into your ABCs, or XYZs, or 123s. Remember, God will reveal these; look but don’t strive for them.
Adventure, Beauty, and Courage undergird my journal entries and represent God’s loving intimacy throughout! Truths about my character and what moves or inspires me are revealed. Really, it’s how God interacts with me. It’s how I live and move and have my being: “He determined the times set for us and the exact places where we should live. God did this so that we would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find them, though he is not far off from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:26-28)
Consider developing your journaling habit in ways that are unique to you and how you enjoy being. If you’ve never considered this before, it’s time. Prayerfully ask for God’s presence and ask him to reveal ways that you listen or receive. Write out what you love in your journal.
Then write what you enjoy doing. Write a list of your favorite places to be when you feel most relaxed. When is our favorite time of day? Get it out and write anything else that comes up and wants your attention. This is the Holy Spirit engaging with you. This is how you begin getting to know how God speaks to you. Ask him questions as you pour out these insights from within. For me, I love exploring and discovering, so in these activities, God’s presence is near. I am able to hear because I’m undistracted and authentic.
Here are my ABCs.
Adventure
is eye-opening, heart-gripping, and mind-altering. The experience of entering a new place physically, spiritually, and emotionally will change you. It is how you experience Paul’s word: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) Adventure is the testing and approving of your existence with God; his will for you being made manifest.
What does this have to do with journaling? Everything! Writing out what bugs you, what inspires you, what attracts you, what bores you, and what confounds you as you invite God onto the page of your journal will reveal the Alpha and Omega God who created you. He will be near, and he will lead you through. So, write it out, you’ll begin to see the adventure that is uniquely yours come into view.
Beauty
inspires us to hope and to believe that life is fundamentally good. Accepting God’s creativity in your life affirms your own unique beauty. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) Knowing this as you journal helps you accept your identity as divine. Opening your heart, you express both the corruptible beauty within and the fragility of the beautiful vessel that you are. God’s Spirit affirms you.
Courage
is the hallmark of overcomers. This is a place to stand and be strong. As a believer, Christ is our victor, our leader. Through the Bible and in our journaling, he reveals the truth and calls us forth to live in that truth. Enemies of Christ and of your salvation seek to silence and destroy your openness of love, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Courage is your essential inner characteristic to forge ahead, grow in love, and conquer your foes, be they physical, spiritual, or emotional. Perhaps my ABCs represent my character. The more I consider them, the more I think they are characteristics I possess—and enjoy! This helps me understand why I journal and gives me insights into how God uses me. Allow God to show you your character throughout the day, and journal what you discover. This is fundamental to developing your journaling habit.
You’re not alone
Spiritual journaling is not a solo adventure. The Holy Spirit is with you. “God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1) As you journal your life’s circumstances, the cry of your heart, or your mind’s imaginings, allow yourself the joy of surrender to God’s presence.
This is how God made me, I guess that’s how my life is going to play out, is not surrendering to God’s presence. He wills for you to be used for his purposes. He sent Jesus to die to give you life, and the Holy Spirit to give you supernatural abilities. Allowing God to lead is trusting and obeying God to take you where he’s prepared in advance for you to go: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Journaling helps you to see this place of God’s workmanship in your heart. Sometimes you’ll see his hand in your life when you pray and receive insights that inspire you to believe more deeply and richly. Sometimes his presence is made real when you help a friend or a stranger with a need that you alone have been chosen to meet. You may feel lonely, and the place he leads is difficult or undesirable. But surrendering to his plans opens the door of your heart to be strengthened, not bitter. And in surrendering the circumstance to him, it allows him to orchestrate the outcome. One of the key elements of surrendering and welcoming God is trusting and obeying.
There’s a great old hymn, Trust and Obey. The chorus is: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way/To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Try writing out what God is gently putting on your heart. He won’t overwhelm you, though you may lack the fortitude to believe. He will give you the strength, and that’s the miraculous and eternal weight of obediently entering your adventure. As Christ said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2Corinthians 12:9)
Step by step, journal entry by journal entry, prayer by prayer, your spirit will learn to submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading
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