My Journal

For years, I was not a journaler. I just wasn't. I didn't want to journal...I didn't feel the need to journal...No interest in journaling.

These past few years, every now and then, I felt the urge to pick up my old journal and jot a few things down. Before that, I think the last entry was from 1994. Yep, I did let a few days go by without journaling.

Even now, there is no formula. Sometimes I write a few of the verses I just read that really hit me. Sometimes my entry is a prayer to God. Sometimes I rewrite a Psalm, personalizing it to reflect my heart's cry to God. Sometimes I copy a few quotes from one of the books I am reading. Sometimes I will spend a few days looking up verses on a particular subject...the names of Jesus, my identity as a child of God, prayer, the cross, Jesus' blood, being IN Christ, the Holy Spirit, trials. No set pattern.

This morning, as I was reading Andrew Murray's "Abiding in Christ", my journal entry was:
~"Christian, pray for grace to see in every trouble, small or great, the Father pointing You to Jesus, and saying, 'Abide in Him.'" ~Andrew Murray "Abiding in Christ"
"Through suffering the Father leads us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ."

So, why would my prayers for me, Greg, my children always be for safety, prosperity, comfort if this is true? NOT that I would EVER pray for suffering, but, I want my main request of God to be, "Whatever draws us deeper into You, trusting You, clinging to You, recognizing our dependence on You...that's my desire."~

So, Nick, Ali and Greg, journaling, dialoguing with God in your thoughts, or just being still and listening to Him speak to you, my prayer for you is that day by day, moment by moment, in trials and in triumphs, you abide in Jesus!

oxo-Mom