As Spring rolls in and the Summer months are just around the corner, I’m finding myself waking earlier and earlier each day. I don’t know about you, but I love those quiet mornings of stillness. The birds are beginning to sing, the sun is peeking through and I find that it’s the perfect time for me to spend with God.
I start my mornings by reading the Bible, taking some notes about the passage I’ve read and what God is speaking to me about through it, and then pouring my heart on to a blank page of a journal. I’ve always been one to journal, and once I met with Jesus for the first time, my journaling and spiritual walk went to a new level.
When I first took pen to paper, I remember how scared I was of being completely vulnerable with the blank page that stared right back at me.
Knowing that one day, anyone could pick this up and see right into my soul. However, as I matured through the years, I’ve learned that there is something so special about that blank page. It’s intriguing, full of dreams and hopes, prayers and desires, and prophetic words and soft whispers from God’s heart directly to mine.
That blank page is full of endless possibilities.
Just like turning to a fresh blank page in a journal, God’s mercies are new every morning. And every morning, we have the opportunity to partner with God and become all He has called us to be.
Journaling has become a special thing in my life. It’s my space to be completely vulnerable, real and truthful with myself and with God. It’s a place where I can feel all the feels and share all the mess and know that God will step right in and direct and guide me in ways to walk through it all. His shoulders are big enough to carry everything I throw His way, and they’re big enough to carry everything you throw His way too.
How great is our God that we get to serve?
One of the questions I’m often asked is “how do I start to journal” and “what things do you journal about.”
Personally, I journal about all kinds of things. Such as:
- My thoughts and feelings
- Things about God, myself and others
- Situations and circumstances I’m facing
- Things about the world we live in
- My passions, prayers, desires, goals and words I’ve felt God give me
- Things I’m grateful for
- And so much more 🙂
As I mentioned earlier, when I first started to journal I found it hard to be vulnerable with myself. More often than not, this can be a barrier as to why people don’t journal. On top of this, it can be a daunting task trying to decide what to journal and learning to be consistent with it every day.
Can I encourage you by saying, with consistency comes growth.
If you’re someone who wants to start journaling but you don’t know where to start, I’ve created this free resource just for you.
In it, I have 101 journaling prompts for spiritual growth. Click here to download it now.
If you’re still on the fence about journaling, well I’m going to do my absolute best to convince you by sharing 3 simple steps to journaling.
1. Start with a prayer of gratitude and thankfulness
When we start our day with thankfulness, it’s life-giving and we are setting ourselves up for joy. We’re taking our eyes off the circumstances and worries from yesterday, and setting the scene for God to walk in and do the unexpected.
It’s so simple, but you will be surprised just how impactful writing down three things you are grateful for at the start of your day is.
2. Reflect on your thoughts, feelings, things that God is stirring within you.
Reflection can be scary and intimidating. However, learning to look back on your experiences, behaviours and self in general will lead you to, not only being able to recognise if your feelings are valid but you’ll also be able to see if there’s any patterns or coping mechanisms you frequently use.
When we write things down, we can discern if what we’re thinking and feeling is real and validate, or if it’s just a lie that we are believing and we can fill that place with God’s truth. Either way, once you become aware of these things through your reflection, you have opened the door for God to come in and to speak truth and heal any area of your heart that is needing it.
3. Encourage yourself with prayer
Seems pretty simple, right? Well that’s because it is.
Once you know how you’re feeling, what lies you might be believing or where you might need some healing, you can cover and encourage yourself with prayer.
Ask God to help you walk through the situation, to reveal things about the circumstance to you, or how you need to address an issue. Cover yourself with the kindness of compassion of Jesus and know that He is there every step of the way.
Some days you might find that feelings and emotions take a few days/weeks to shift, other times they may shift right away. Other times you may find that things from the past have resurfaced in new and different ways, so take your time and allow God to really seep into these areas of your life that you are laying before Him.
You’ll never know what will come out as your pen hits the paper, and that is the hidden beauty of journaling.
So what happens if you love journaling, but struggle to find the motivation to stay consistent.
Well friend, I’ve got you!
Once you start journaling, I pray that see and feel the beautiful effects from it on yourself, your relationship with God, your mood and your outlook on life.
Here’s some quick little ways I’ve kept myself motivated to journal in the hard seasons:
- Add it to your ‘first things first’ list. Make it a non-negotiable, along with your devotional and prayer time.
- Buy yourself a special journal. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but something that makes you want to write in it. I love cotton paper and soft leather covers, so that’s what I’ll look out for when buying a journal.
- Make physical space. Find a space that will be your go to place to spend uninterrupted time with God and your thoughts. Use this place only for your quiet time, that way, when you go and sit in that place, it’s easy to find the motivation to open your journal and write.
- Make spiritual space. As you make room physically to journal, it’s so important to make spiritual space too. So what do I mean by that? Well make sure you open your heart up and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
- Combine your journaling time with an already established habit. As I mentioned, I write in my journal at the end of my devotional time. However, not everyone can spend time like this. So maybe you can find the time before bed, make yourself a tea, grab a cosy blanket and write in your journal. It makes it easier to journal when you do it with an already existing habit as it just becomes second nature to you.
Journaling has helped me grow spiritually and emotionally I’ve been able to reflect on the seasons I’ve gone through in the past and those I am walking through now. It’s allowed me to jot down the sweet wipers of God to my heart and used them as reminders of all that He has promised me.
Friend, if you don’t yet journal can I encourage you to pick up a pen and start. To help you get started I created this FREE DOWNLOAD for you titled 101 Bible Journaling Prompts for Spiritual Growth. This is a list of some of my favourite prompts that you can use to get started with journaling, or if you ever feel stuck or blocked and not sure what to write about.
I pray that this post and this download has helped you and inspired you to put pen to paper, and I pray that through journaling, you discover what sets your soul on fire.
Have a beautifully blessed week,