A Journal's Journey

Every once in a while, I take my journals and read through what I have written. One of the reasons I do this is to revisit what I was going through then, how I overcame (if I did), and were I am now as it relates to a particular situation. It is always interesting to see the different expressions of my language as each entry was written. Some of the expressions gave a sense of despair, others joy, while others gave a glimpse of how irritable I was on a particular day.

Today, January 22nd, 2008,was one of those days I picked up my journal, and out of curiosity, I wanted to find out what was going through my mind on January 22nd, 2007. Was I sad, happy, irritable, or in despair? I had to laugh when I saw the entry, "The Colts won! We are going to the super bowl" in caps!!! That was a joyous moment indeed.

How one year can change things because the Colts are not going to the super bowl this year.

The journal allowed me to go back in time to re-live the moment, but also bring me back to the reality of life.

Other entries showed a consistent issue I was struggling with-understanding God's love and acceptance of me. I went back about 3 years and saw that the struggle I had then was still the struggle I had in 2008. It was at that moment when I said, "enough is enough. I know God loves me and He accepts me the way I am. This struggle has to come to an end because the enemy is having a field day over this issue." It was as if something snapped in me and my whole perception of God's love towards me was viewed with a new set of eyes. A journey I took in the journal made me come to terms with the struggle and thankfully, a decision to take a stand in understanding God's love.

It got me thinking about God keeping a journal about my life. I wonder what He reads about me every day. The beautiful thing is that God's journal concerning my life is already written and is complete. All that He needs to do is go to January 22, 2008 and see if what He wrote about me then lines up with what I have done on January 22, 2008 now. There are some journal entries that He has written down that I believe He is hoping I get.

I believe some of the entries points could be as follows:

* He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6)
* The Lord will accomplish everything that concerns me (Psalms 138: 8)
* He is my very present help in time of need (Psalms 46:1)
* Be still and know that I am God (Psalms 46: 10)
* Cast all your cares on me because I care for you (I Peter 5:7)
* For I know the plans I have for you (Jeremiah 29:11)
* Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3: 5-6)

I wonder if He turns the page and the entry for the day is, "Wait for the Lord: Be strong and let your heart take courage, Yes, wait on the Lord," (Psalms 27:14 NASB), but when He sees me, I am impatient, trying to figure out what He wants me to do. I am weak and I have lost courage. A conflict in the journal entry between the author of life and the life He is offering to the recipient.

How do I resolve the conflict?

By willing to trust that the author of Life because He has the complete journal of my life.

I believe God’s journal for our lives is His Word, along with the specific dreams and visions He has placed in our lives. We can always go back and find a point of reference were reading that particular scripture changed us for the better, or challenged us to grow, love more, or even rebuke us when we have missed it. God’s journal for our lives is complete. We see it everyday, but do we apply what we see in our lives?

My prayer is that the journey that God took to write us in His journal will bear the much needed fruit, that as He turns the pages of the journal, we are turning our lives in accordance with the pages that He has written-It is a beautiful journal, if we can only read it and align ourselves to it.