Journaling

New Years is just around the corner, and everybody is writing up New Year's resolutions. The whole “New year, new me,” is coming back around, and at this point, I think we should all have realized that making a long list of things usually stops working after January, but I'll give you one New Year's resolution that you should think, something that would be worth adding to your list: journaling.

I started journaling halfway through this year, and honestly, it was a game-changer. It may sound cliché, but it truly was. I'm not talking about writing down all your feelings in a diary and locking it up so that nobody reads it and finds out all of your secrets. No, I mean Bible journaling, reading scripture, and journaling about it. What did you observe about it? Any prayer points you'd like to pick from that verse, an application, or even a change that you would like to make your life based on that verse. Anything really, any reflection or revelations that you have that is connected to that verse. It doesn't even have to be connected. It can be anything you would like to bring to God or bring attention to your spirit. There are no limitations.

I find that it helps in getting more out of the scriptures I read because I want to write something down, and if I don't reflect deeply, I don't have anything to write down. So, it forces me to reflect and really squeeze out every single message in that verse. Additionally, there are a lot of times when I read some verses, and I really want to make a change in my life, but I forget about it the very next day and I don't have anything to remind me of it. Now, I have my journal. I can go over other previous things I wrote down, changes I said I’d make, and actually track myself, see what progress I’ve made. It also makes me spend more time with the word and in God's presence, which is something that I had been working on. I will also confess that a lot of the blog posts I wrote since I started journaling were from things I had also written down in my journal.

There are lots of different journaling patterns that I've seen online, and personally, I don't stick to any pattern. I just write whatever comes to mind, but some people prefer structure and that's perfectly fine. There's the SOAP method, which is which stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. There are numerous other options to choose from, just find something that works for you. I promise you it will make a difference one way or another. Here is an article that talks about some journaling methods and goes into more detail about the SOAP method as well.

https://susananyway.com/7-ways-to-start-bible-journaling-and-keep-it-up/

Happy New Year in advance! I wish you success in all of your New Year's resolutions and in all of your endeavors. Peace and love of Christ be with you all!