Daily Devotionals
Monday, June 17, 2024 (Mary Ann)
Recording the Days of Our Lives
Today’s devotional is going to be a bit different. You see, in coming up with what to write, I was struck by the fact that if only I remembered more of my life, there might be experiences back then to draw from. (That’s “from which to draw” for you grammarians.)
Alas. I simply do not remember big chunks of what happened along the twisting trails of my life and career. Trust me, young’uns, this could happen to you down the road too, so here’s our bottom line for today: If I had it to do over, I would journal.
I know many of you already do this, but still, let’s look closer at some reasons Believers should consider faithfully journaling along their own twisting trails.
Build an altar
Remember reading in Genesis and Exodus about God’s people building altars or “standing stones” to commemorate God moving visibly in their lives? Writing down our stories — or standing stones — can create a record of all the times God has proven faithful, which will be a powerful reminder of God’s faithfulness on our future spiritual journeys.
A safe place for truth
Honesty in what we write unlocks the door to spiritual growth. Think of David’s brutal honesty in Psalms. In fact, think of Psalms as David’s journal! It’s this level of honesty that opened the door for God to work in his heart … which he also recorded.
On the flip side, when our journey gets difficult and we nosedive into that “slough of despond,” a journal record can warn us of how the enemy uses these times to bring us down and that can help get us back on track.
Look around you!
I’ve found that when I’m intentionally looking for topics to write about, I see more. More beauty and wonder in nature. More evidence of God working in my life. More things to be grateful for. And by writing these realizations down, I have an on-going record of how awesome our God is.
A progress report on the good and bad
We all work on habits. Journaling on our progress in developing good habits is positive reinforcement. Likewise, journaling on our bad-habit struggles can reveal triggers that bring us down and can point the way to strategies to overcome them.
A place for lists
Prayer requests, accounts of personal relationships, records of daily events, insights and lessons learned — all can go into a journal to remind us of the stuff of life and how our faithful God works for and with us all the days of our lives.
And all this, dear Sisters, is why I wish now that I had a whole bookcase full of decades of journals!
Mary Ann
Today’s devotional is going to be a bit different. You see, in coming up with what to write, I was struck by the fact that if only I remembered more of my life, there might be experiences back then to draw from. (That’s “from which to draw” for you grammarians.)
Alas. I simply do not remember big chunks of what happened along the twisting trails of my life and career. Trust me, young’uns, this could happen to you down the road too, so here’s our bottom line for today: If I had it to do over, I would journal.
I know many of you already do this, but still, let’s look closer at some reasons Believers should consider faithfully journaling along their own twisting trails.
Build an altar
Remember reading in Genesis and Exodus about God’s people building altars or “standing stones” to commemorate God moving visibly in their lives? Writing down our stories — or standing stones — can create a record of all the times God has proven faithful, which will be a powerful reminder of God’s faithfulness on our future spiritual journeys.
A safe place for truth
Honesty in what we write unlocks the door to spiritual growth. Think of David’s brutal honesty in Psalms. In fact, think of Psalms as David’s journal! It’s this level of honesty that opened the door for God to work in his heart … which he also recorded.
On the flip side, when our journey gets difficult and we nosedive into that “slough of despond,” a journal record can warn us of how the enemy uses these times to bring us down and that can help get us back on track.
Look around you!
I’ve found that when I’m intentionally looking for topics to write about, I see more. More beauty and wonder in nature. More evidence of God working in my life. More things to be grateful for. And by writing these realizations down, I have an on-going record of how awesome our God is.
A progress report on the good and bad
We all work on habits. Journaling on our progress in developing good habits is positive reinforcement. Likewise, journaling on our bad-habit struggles can reveal triggers that bring us down and can point the way to strategies to overcome them.
A place for lists
Prayer requests, accounts of personal relationships, records of daily events, insights and lessons learned — all can go into a journal to remind us of the stuff of life and how our faithful God works for and with us all the days of our lives.
And all this, dear Sisters, is why I wish now that I had a whole bookcase full of decades of journals!
Mary Ann
