why I journal. such a boring title. but I need to get in the shower so ya know, it is what it is.

I started journaling again.

It comes and goes...this desire...well, more like this NEED to sit down and and dump my heart onto pages, put into words, that then tells a long rambling story that always and I mean ALWAYS reveals a hidden truth, a buried feeling, a neglected issue. The reason why there is chaos and anger and fear...things I can not explain or understand...it is ALWAYS that thing that comes out in my journaling.

And every time I come back to this practice I wonder why I ever stopped it in the first place.

School starts in a couple of weeks.

And so I am wrapping up the summer prayer routine and getting a little more intentional...a little more practical...a little less sit and linger in his love and a little more ok Lord, we have got work to do and things to get done so you lead the way and I promise to do it all in your name.

But for me to do this...I need to dump out the mess.

I need to pour out the ache.

I need to give the chaos a name.

I need to write it out.

For me? Journaling filters out the noise and leads me to the source of the stillness.

It strengthens my relationship with God.

It holds me accountable while allowing me to dream big.

It helps me to feel organized.

It makes life look manageable when truly, it appears to be anything but.

And the most important thing of all?

While I scratch it all out...from the praise to the prayers to the fear to the to do list for the day....I always end it all with this is where I am at Lord...this is what I want...now you do your thing. Show me YOUR plan for my day.

Not MY plan,

HIS.

And not the plan for my LIFE

but for the DAY,

because good grief, people...

sometimes thinking beyond lunch time is just too much.

I have a stack of journals that date back to God knows when.

I have a library, in a sense, of every miracle, every intercession, every grace.

Because the beauty of recording our days?

We have proof of the ways God HAS shown up.

HAS healed.

HAS been there.

It is there on the open pages.

The message is clear.

He is still good.

He was good.

He is so good.

It is hard to have perspective of our life circumstance when we are in the middle of it. Right? We can see OTHER peoples situations and respond so clearly. But to our own? It is impossible. Journaling allows that perspective; the ability to put life onto a page...step back..and see it for what it truly is, and not only see it...but respond it to - appropriately and effectively and prayerfully.

Feeling overwhelmed? Life is nothing but chaos? Things are a mess? The bank is empty? The sink full? Your pants too tight? Your desk a freak show? Your relationship gasping for its last breath? Your legs stuck in the same stinking place? The three cats pooped everywhere but the litter box? And you have no idea what to do??

Write it out, sister. (well...and clean up the cat poop, too.)

God speaks when we are silent...and sometimes the best way to get there is to dump out our noise and let him talk.