BAEsics of Worship: Journaling
I’m the blogger girl. The writer. The one who will probably write you a letter one of these days and spends too much money on journals and pens.
I’ve been journaling since I was seven years old. Whether you are a fellow journaler, hate it completely, are J.K. Rowling, or have the writing skills equivalent of a fifth-grader, I believe you should write. Even if it’s a word, a sentence, a phrase for the day.
I was an anxious kid, with my earliest journal entries saying “Dear Lord, I ask that tomorrow on the school field trip my group be all girls because boys scare me.” My early days were spent worried about the smallest of things, and little did I realize that God used journaling save me from myself. Unbeknownst to me, my emotions tried to consume me daily, but my God drowned the very thing that tried to drown me.
When I pieced together what God was doing in my life, I was 21 years old. I was digging through an old box and pieced together everything that God was about 13 journals later. It turned out that writing was my form of surrender to the One that took every worry, thought, happiest of days and saddest of days to show me that He was in control.
Journaling was the friend God sent me who forcefully tells you to let her know what’s going on in your mind because she cares. She also doubles as the friend that never asks you to explain why, you simply find yourself pouring out your heart.
Journaling also is powerful because it doubles as prayers. People are commonly drawn to addressing their journals as “dear diary” but it’s the perfect place to shift it to “Dear God,” acknowledge that He can come in and allow him to listen to you and, in turn, have him move in you.
Today, I stand to write for more than just me and God. Today, writing is my way of showing that God can move powerfully through your words. I invite you and challenge you to see what God can do through you, and what talking to him through this simple practice and habit will show you about how He’s moving in your life.
Cheers BAEs,
Jo