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I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was a sophomore at LSU and it was a beautiful spring day. After class, I left my sorority house and took a walk around the lake that was right along sorority row. But I didn’t get far; I ended up sitting by a tree.
It was there that I began a personal relationship with Jesus.
After that big moment, I walked back to my sorority house and pulled out a notepad. On it, I described what had just happened in a letter to God. That moment instilled a life-long habit in me.
Now each year, I celebrate the day I surrendered my life to Jesus by writing in a special notebook that I only write in on that day. By having a book of “snapshots,” I’m able to look back over my walk with the Lord and see the ways that God’s Spirit is producing growth in me.
Journaling has become one of the ways that I best connect with God. It helps me to be more honest with God and with myself.
It helps you pay attention to God.
Journaling helps you hear from and respond to God. It gives you space to slow down and process what you are thinking about.
I enjoy journaling with different-colored pens. Sometimes I journal in one color and then write what I sense God leading me to do or saying to me in a different color. I also write in red ink when I’m mad or frustrated because it allows me to quickly look back through my journal and see how God showed Himself to me in the midst of my frustrations.
Journaling helps put feelings to words, or words to feelings.
Maybe you know you are feeling something but don’t know why. Or maybe you are thinking something, but if someone asked you how that makes you feel, you wouldn’t know how to answer. As you begin to write to God, you often discover what you are feeling and why you are feeling that emotion.
For example, after hosting an engagement party for my best friend, my thoughts were all over the place. As I began to journal, I realized that what I was feeling was sadness over the loss of my friend moving to another state. Knowing that is what I was feeling better allowed me to ask God to meet me in that sadness. Through journaling, God can help us gain perspective, give us fresh hope, and overcome the enemy’s attacks.
Journaling records your growth in becoming more like Christ.
Journaling can be a written record of the things you’re learning from God’s Word. When you look back over your journal and see the prayers you’ve prayed, you may find you have grown.
When I compare my journal entries to my current reality, I often thank God for the growth that He has produced in me. Seeing that keeps me wanting to bring things to Him and ask Him to change me because I see the major ways He has done that in my past.
Find a journal that you like. My personal favorites are journals with no lines so that I’m free to write big or draw.
Just be yourself. When you journal, there is no reason to feel fear or performance anxiety — you can be completely honest in your thoughts, questions and emotions. You don’t need to hold back from God — He already knows what’s in your heart and your mind and loves you passionately.
Feel free to draw. Drawing can help you to see emotions that are harder for you to get in touch with or communicate with words. It’s the process of journaling that is important. You may start in one direction and He shifts you to something else. Let God stir your heart as you pour it out to Him.
If you haven’t tried journaling, give it a try today. Maybe it will help you connect more deeply with God and experience His love in new ways. I certainly didn’t realize that spring day when I wrote my thoughts to God that writing to Him would be one of the best ways I connect with Him.
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