God usually speaks volumes in seasons of suffering. Actually, I don’t think He speaks more than at other times, it’s just that we’re finally in a place to perk up our ears and listen.
I don’t want to miss any of that. Four years ago, I needed a place to pour out my heart and I started to consistently keep a journal. There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Many people use art journaling. Some write out scripture or re-write a passage in their own words to dig down in study. I keep a journal to capture all the emotion I feel, all of my prayers and all that God is teaching me.
As I filled that first notebook, I started a process I still use today. I didn’t want some of my important notes to get lost in the words. So I began using symbols in the margin that I could quickly go back and find. These are the symbols I use:
Cross: I mark a cross in the margin beside something God is teaching me. Sometimes He unpacks my morning Bible study so fully that I have to make a list of bullet points to get it all down. Other times, I’ll record an insight God brings to mind as I’m driving or a nugget of understanding He gives as I’m praying. All good stuff that I want highlighted to help me find it quickly.
Heart: A heart shows something very personal God has done for me. It’s like a love note. Do you have a box of corsages and notes your husband gave you while you were dating? God is so personal. Sometimes He does small things that might not even matter to most people, but they matter to me. I know they are from God to me and they reaffirm all over again that His eyes are on me, that He loves me and if He’s doing these small things, He’s going to faithfully take care of bigger things.
Circle: I use a circle in the margin beside my prayer requests. An empty circle represents an unmet need. I love nothing more than going back and putting a check mark through that circle when God answers. I write the date and how He answered. I don’t record all of my concerns and needs because, really? I could fill volumes. I speak most of those prayers and park them in my heart. But there are times and there are needs that overwhelm me and it’s those that I often record.
Keeping a journal has served several purposes for me:
- It helps me remember. We think we’ll never forget the things God does and teaches. But months and years cloud our thinking and I’m sure without my journals, many of the details would be lost. Some of the little love notes He gives in the mundane of life would be forgotten. Journaling captures it forever.
- It helps me connect the dots. It’s fascinating to go back through older journals and see my overwhelming need one day and how God perfectly met that need on another. Just days after Dan died, I asked God whether we’d ever have joy again. I was so broken; I couldn’t imagine a life with joy. Days later, my journal shows how God answered so clearly and I tear up even now remembering how He reassured me that, yes, we would again have joy. What a perspective to see in my hurried handwriting the great despair and only days later to see God answer big.
- It helps me get emotion out of my system. I had lost my best friend, the one I usually talked things out with. I couldn’t dump this emotion on friends and I needed to process the fear and sadness and angst to parent my children. Every morning as I got away for Bible time, I poured out my emotion on paper. Instead of going to friends, I went to God. It didn’t keep all emotion from our home, but it provided an outlet. I could lay it every day before a safe God.
- It helps me remember special verses. I’m an underliner. My Bible is full of verses that I’ve underlined and words that I’ve circled. And if I’m claiming the promise in that verse, I’ll mark my name and date next to the verse. But I also like to put the promises God gives me in my journal. I can write the verse and write out my prayer for that verse.
- It reminds me of God’s faithfulness. In a thousand ways, God is faithful. When I’m having a hard day, reading through journals encourages me and reminds me of all God has already done. Just glancing over at the journals lined on my shelf stands as a reminder of all that He’s taught and all that He’s done in these last four years.
I haven’t always been a journaling girl, but I’m convinced. I see the benefits and I want to capture what God is doing in me and around me. I don’t use special pens or expensive journals. I write in a spiral notebook and when one is filled, I note the beginning and ending dates on the cover, shelve it and pull out a new one.
Do you keep a journal? Have you been wanting to start? Like that keepsake box of corsages and letters from your husband, journals are a forever record of God’s faithfulness and love to you.
The full 31 Days: Braving the Broken series can be found here.
This is excellent, Lisa. I really like your margin symbols. I journal as well, mainly quotes and lessons from my morning readings, also prayer requests. And my 1000 gifts list. I like hearing what other people do to benefit from journaling.
I’m not fancy either. Just use a day-timer, the kind that has one page per day. (And then I get another day-timer for planning.) Although lately I’ve enjoyed using colored pencils and pens. I have kind of a color code that helps me see things later.
Thank you Betsy! Color coding would be another great way to find things as you go back through journals. That’s a great idea and just plain fun to use colored pens. 🙂
Love this Lisa. <3
Thank you, Pam.
Lisa, Great job on the 31 days of posting! I love this one… and the symbols you use in the margins. What a super idea. Thanks for sharing your heart with us. I always learn something from your wisdom shared.
Thank you friend! I write fast and hard in my journals. I’m not sure anyone could easily go back and read them, but they’ve been a lifesaver many mornings as I cried out to God.
I just love the idea of using margin symbols! Lately, I have been wanting to start journaling more consistently and instead of just writing down what I’m getting from my devotional times, I have been wanting to also write down prayers and how I am seeing God in the everyday life. However, I’ve been looking for a way to combine all these in the same journal in a way that I would still find things later on — and these margin symbols are perfect for that! Thank you for sharing this with us, Lisa! I will definitely start using these.
So glad they will be helpful Ronja. 🙂
I have been journalling for several years and identify with lots of the benefits you mention. Writing definitely helps me get things out of my system and it’s great to look aback and remember God’s faithfulness too. I like the idea of the symbols you use as it is hard to look back and find what I’m looking for sometimes.
Glad to find another journaler, Carly!
This post provides such direction, Lisa. L.O.V.E. it! I’m a journaler myself. If there was a fire in our house, the journals would be high on the “save” list. They are my landing spot with God. It sounds as though yours are as well. (And I love the symbols. Oh to be that organized!) Think of how powerful and memorable these journals will be to your children or grandchildren years from now. (Assuming you don’t mind them looking through them after you’re gone.) Not only are you deepening the legacy through your own “drawing near” to God in words, but you’ll likely impact more generations with them as well. That’s powerful. Love you, my friend. #goJesus
Thank you friend. Two of my favorite books are drawn from the journals of Hudson Taylor and George Mueller. A-may-zing.
What a good idea – I have journalled for so many years I would love to find a way to capture all that and be able to refer back – using markings like you’ve suggested here would be a good start. Thanks for sharing.
Yes! I’m glad I started using them…so neat to go back and look at all the hearts or crosses.
I’m a scrapbooker….and my passion is to capture and immortalised moments, stories and events…. yes, i econfess i am fancy and use lots of embellishments in my journals. However, i have never used this strategy. I love it! And will start using it in my prayer journal. Thanks for sharing ! May God bless you!