Journals

I'm within a few pages of filling up another journal.  I always come to the end of another notebook with a little sadness.  Those pages contain my most intimate thoughts and prayers.  They're full of joys, celebrations, questions (lots of questions!), crying out to God, listening to God, letting go of some anger or frustration; but most of all they're full of new discoveries of God's loving care.  He reminds me in so many ways of his nearness - his presence in my life.  

Just today as I was journaling my reflections on a devotional I had read, I was reminded of this verse from Philippians 4: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6-7 ESV)  It's such a familiar passage that I almost didn't look it up in my Bible.  But I got that little prompting and turned to the passage and, as so often happens when reading the Bible, there was a verse that leaped out at me that I'd never paid much attention to.  Right there, just before the one I was so familiar with:  The Lord is at hand.  The Lord is at hand ---- therefore, we don't need to be anxious about anything!  What more needs to be said?  If I had simply read my devotional, thought about it for a few minutes and moved on to other things, I might have missed the blessing. Sitting down with my journal and writing down my thoughts led me down an unexpected but delightful path.

That's why I love to journal.  I can look back through those pages and see, time and again, that the Lord is and has been very much at hand.  No matter what.  I see where prayers were answered, issues resolved in God's perfect timing and perfect ways, worries dealt with, anxieties and fears calmed, just the right words spoken to my heart to comfort, correct, encourage, or bless.  Re-reading those old entries reminds me of God's faithfulness even when I might have been missing his answers and provisions at the time.

It took quite a while for me to discover how to fit this discipline of journaling into my life.  There were lots of stumbles and false starts but eventually I discovered my way. I so treasure the time spent with my pen in hand and notebook open to the next blank page.  The most amazing thing is that, once I start writing, I'm almost always surprised by where I end up.  The Lord leads me to so many new discoveries or realizations - such a blessing!

So, on to a brand new notebook.  Only God knows where I'll end up at the last page of this new one.  It reminds me of the title of a Dr. Seuss' book, "Oh the Places You'll Go!"