Journaling as a Spiritual Practice
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Journaling has long been a part of my spiritual practice. Its form has run the gamut from prayer lists, scripture study, to just a dumping ground for all that is going on internally.
The last few years my journaling has taken on a more nuanced form of listening and watching. Certainly this is a result of my work as a spiritual director but this type of journaling is accessible to everyone, leading to hearing God’s voice through your own words and giving yourself a gift that becomes a rich spiritual treasure.
I begin journaling by writing a few short sentences about how I’m coming to this time with God. Am I eager to meet with Him? Am I sleepless? Am I open? Resistant? God already knows how I am coming but this simple act has been like a light switch for me. I no longer have to leave myself in the dark about my current state. It’s a confession of sorts, a state of my soul declaration. God stands ready to receive me no matter how I walk in the door.
These opening steps are inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. He believed you could find God in all things. For me, journaling has been a place where truly, I find God. Next I state what I desire in this time with God.
Sometimes it’s simply God’s fellowship, sometimes I desire Jesus to shepherd me or the Holy Spirit to speak to me. Often my desires are less spiritual and come more out of my humanity; a desire to resolve an argument with my husband, a desire for answers or rest.
I once had a friend describe the grace of God as a great big barn, a storehouse full of treasure. Everyday God invites us to throw open the doors and take what we need. Do you need peace, take it. Do you need courage? It’s yours. How about some freedom? Here it is. Stating my desires isn’t a foolproof plan to get what I ask for. Rather it forms an ever-deepening trust that I can tell God exactly what I need.
After these simple steps I journal much like anyone would. I read a portion of scripture or a spiritual formation book and record anything that piques my curiosity. Often I write out a prayer to God or talk to him about a decision or a relationship. Much of journaling is a record of the ebb and flow of life, a testimony that God is in it and with me.
The real power for me in journaling is when I take time to re-read my journal. I try to do this seasonally and also at the end of every year. This is where the listening and watching for God has it’s power. As I read I do so with a highlighter. Noticing themes or something Holy Spirit inspired, I also notice the way God has answered prayers and questions that I’ve journaled.
“One of the greatest joys of journaling is revisiting old entries, reading with the knowledge you have now, plotting the distance between those points.” Suleika Jaouad.
Through this act of revisiting I am often able to see the slow work of God in my life, his faithfulness, his leading and his sustaining grace. Often I don’t even remember writing the words on the page but as I read them again it’s almost as if the words I wrote then are God’s voice speaking to something in my present life. It becomes this ongoing conversation with God. A rich and honest record of life with Him.