The Joy of Journaling, part 2

Good morning! Fall has arrived on the calendar, and in my part of the country, it sure is feeling like it! I am welcoming the cooler temperatures and anticipating the changing of the leaves, the hot-dog roasts over bonfires, and using lots of pumpkin and apples in my cooking and baking! Although the fun in that has been rather deflated by my needing to be gluten-free. However,  I am enjoying a pumpkin-spice latte (homemade) as I write this!

I took a little detour last time in posting about the blessing of our Missions conference, and now it is time to get back to my previous post and the subject of journaling as a valuable part of your time with God. If you have not read that post, please go back and do that, as in it I give the Biblical basis and the motivations for keeping a spiritual journal. Today I want to continue that theme and give you some practical help and ideas to help you get started. As I mentioned before, the object of journaling is to not only get into God's Word, but to get God's Word into you. There is a big difference! You need to keep it simple! You can go out and buy a pretty journal if that helps to motivate you (Hobby Lobby usually has some with scripture on the front, priced very inexpensively), or you can just use a plain old spiral notebook.

Begin by praying for God to open your eyes and heart. As you read your Bible and you come across a verse or passage that speaks to you, write the date in your journal and then write out that particular verse or passage in your journal. Copying God's Word really helps you to remember and think about it. (Remember copying in elementary school? There was a reason for that!)

Next comes the application part. Write just a sentence or two summarizing in your own words what the verse or passage is saying, then write a couple sentences how it applies to your life. Basically you are answering three questions: What does this say? (copying the verse) What does it mean? (interpreting the verse) What do I need to do? (applying the verse). In considering what the verse means, look for things such as what it tells you about God, or about people. Ask yourself if there are any commands or promises given, or any examples that you can follow or avoid. Then when it comes to the "What do I need to do?" part, think about how this personally relates to your life and to the situations you are in right now. Writing down what the Holy Spirit reveals to you makes it more concrete and makes you more accountable.

Then expand your journaling with writing about the milestones in your life (Exodus 17:14, Deut. 17:18-20, and Joshua 4:2-7): decisions you make, battles and trials you are going through, special occasions (times with family, holidays, vacations, births of children or grandchildren), answers to prayer, and special blessings God gives you. This will give you a permanent, written reminder of what God has taught you and how He has helped you and serves as tremendous encouragement in the future. In addition, when you are feeling discouraged or depressed, make it a point to write in your journal all the things you are thankful for that day. You will be amazed at how this changes your perspective! You can write down such simple things as getting all the laundry done, a hot cup of coffee, a needed item on sale! It will make you have a more grateful heart and look for the little blessings in your life!

One final thought: Don't get discouraged - it takes a little time - and don't miss the point! Don't get so caught up in the mechanics of journaling and trying to be perfect at it that you miss the whole point of learning and applying what God has for you.

Until next time,
Kathi

God's gifts

Well, hello. Sorry about the long pause between blog posts. It's been a busy couple of weeks! Last week I was able to get away for a few days and spend 2 days with a very dear friend whose mother recently passed away. We had some much-needed "girl time" doing lots of talking, shopping, eating out, more talking, and just catching up. Then I spent a wonderful day with our daughter and beautiful granddaughters (her husband was working). We had great fun picking apples and playing! After that, it was time for me to head home and jump on the ever-moving ministry train. I arrived home on a Friday night, and the next day was our annual church picnic (for which it rained, but we still had a great time!) and the beginning of our missions conference. We were hosting a family of missionaries for the next 4 days and I had much to do!

Grilling in the rain at our church picnic

Which brings me to today's topic: God's gifts to us. I should probably write about gifts at a more appropriate time, say, at Christmas...but when God is speaking to you about something I have learned not to ignore it! As I was walking this morning and meditating on the blessings of this past week, I was thinking about God's incredible goodness. There are many gifts God bestows upon us. The ultimate gift, of course, is salvation. He sent His only beloved Son to this earth to suffer and die a cruel death on the cross to pay for our sin. There are so many other gifts that God gives us: peace that passes all understanding, joy in spite of circumstances, His grace that is always abundant, wisdom and direction when we seek it....just to name a few.

But sometimes God's gifts are unexpected. Sometimes they come wrapped in a different package (see, this really would relate well to Christmas...) but they are a gift from God, just the same. This week God's gift to me came in the form of friendship and encouragement. As I mentioned, we were supposed to host a family of 4 missionaries. At the last minute, they decided to leave their 2 children at home in the care of their young-adult children so the children could continue with their schooling, so just Walter and Carol Loescher came to our missions conference and to stay in our home. They have been missionaries to Cameroon for 16 years. Carol is a doctor, and the stories they can tell...Anyway, I digress. God knew this week that we needed each other.

Carol shared with me that since they have only been home from Cameroon for a short time that her life has been (understandably) very hectic, with moving, getting the family settled, beginning school, and working on their travel schedule and ministry DVD and display board. She said she has had absolutely no time to read, study, write, or do anything quiet, and this week was God's special and unexpected gift to her. God provided our home, which is laid out in such a way that our guests could have the entire upper floor to themselves, and the free time to be able to spend quality time doing the necessary "quiet" things that she had been unable to do. I was so honored to be used of God to be a gift to her, to minister to them and the needs they had!

But that wasn't all! We not only had guests from Cameroon, but from Brazil, Canada, and the Armed Forces. They were a diverse group, with a wide gamut of talents and backgrounds. In the process of spending much time together, God knit our hearts with them this week, and I learned so many lessons from each of them. I learned to hold my possessions and treasures very loosely, as they can easily be taken from you. I learned to persevere in times of discouragement. I learned that God can use all kinds of backgrounds, people and talents to make a difference for Him. And that we depend way too much on being comfortable and convenient. It took me back to the days following our trip to Cambodia 4 years ago and some of the lessons I have forgotten.

These friendships and these lessons from this week are God's special gift to me. He knows what I need, and when I need it, and then He graciously provides the people and the means to teach me.

Warmly, with a grateful heart,
Kathi

The Joy of Journaling

Happy Friday to everyone. I hope you have had a good week! I haven't been blogging as often as I would like. This has been an unusual week for me. Monday I enjoyed the Labor Day holiday with my husband. We spent half the day at a local park, where we rented a small boat and explored the lake for several hours until we got too hot, and then we came home and put our smoker to good use, smoking a whole chicken for a delicious supper. That relaxing day was followed by my endoscopy on Tuesday, which meant I was out of commission for the day. Thus Wednesday and Thursdays were "catch up" days - one day busy with tasks at home and the other out doing necessary shopping and errands. My husband usually takes Fridays as his day off, because he can't relax until he knows everything is finished and ready for Sunday, but since he took Monday and half of Tuesday off, he is working today. So I am taking advantage of the quiet free time to do some writing and studying.

I promised last post that I would tell you more about something that is very important to me - keeping a journal as part of my time with the Lord. I first was introduced to the joy of journaling by Mrs. Bobbie Yearick, who was my pastor's wife while my husband was in school studying for the ministry. Mrs. Yearick left an imprint on my life in so many ways, and teaching me to journal was just one of them. She spoke of her journal as her "Ebenezer book." An "Ebenezer book" is a journal which includes blessings, lessons, and remembrances of God's goodness and His answers to prayer. In direct answer to the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man, Samuel, God wrought a great victory for Israel against the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7:9-12. Unwilling that this victory be forgotten by either himself or his people, Samuel set up a stone - the "Ebenezer stone" - in commemoration. From that time on, when the children of Israel passed by they would see the stone and be reminded of the Lord's grace and mercy to them.

A passage that has much meaning for me when it comes to journaling is Exodus 17:14-16. Again this account takes place after a time of blessing from God. The Lord gives Moses a special and personal message - he tells Moses to "write about this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua" so that they might have a permanent record of what God had done.

There are at least 4 motivations for keeping a spiritual journal:
1. Our own forgetfulness. We are so quick to forget what God has taught us and done for us! How many times do we get discouraged over the present circumstances, and forget all the things God has done for us and the prayers He has answered in the past? I now have nearly 20 years' worth of written blessings, lessons, and answers to prayer. Most of the time when I read back over them I find things I had completely forgotten about!

2. The certainties of difficulties in the future. We are blessed not only from recalling, but we gain encouragement for the future. We do not know what lies ahead, but when we have something in writing that we can go back to in times of trial, it encourages us and gives us strength. We are reminded that God has been with us and helped us before, and He will do it again!

3. It memorializes the meeting between us and God. Journaling is simply putting your heart on paper. It is a way of not just getting into God's Word, but getting God's Word into us. Writing crystalizes your thinking, and records your personal insight into what God says and does.

4. It is a legacy for future generations. Don't miss the part of the passage in Exodus where God tells Moses to rehearse what is written in the book to Joshua. "Rehearse" means to practice, over and over again. The Psalmists remind us frequently of the importance of passing along the things of God to future generations. Psalm 78:4 -"Showing to the generations to come the goodness of the Lord."  Psalm 45:17 - "I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations..." As mothers and grandmothers, God wants us to use what God has taught us to teach our children and grandchildren.

Another benefit that I might add is that I have a wealth of material! If I am looking for an application from a special verse, a favorite verse, quote,  answer to prayer, or an event, I can almost always find it in one of my journals.

So by now maybe you have read this and are saying, "OK, I would like to try this. But what do I do? How do I get started?" Since this post is getting rather long, I will address the "how-to" in another post in the near future.

From my heart to yours,
Kathi