Harvesting Your Journal
About 8 or 10 years ago, I heard David Jeremiah speak on journaling. One important principle he taught about was “harvesting” your journal. He shared the joy he got from reading back through old journal entries and “harvesting” the joy from what God had done in the situations.
So today I was cleaning up my laptop from work and I ran across my journal that I started right after I heard David Jeremiah teach. I kept it going for several years, although there were quite a few gaps. Today God just blew my away while reading back through the entries. It was incredible to see how God has worked through some of the situations I wrote about. Some he worked out in ways I was hoping for, others were completely different from what I was praying, but God knew what was best. Time gives you perspective that you don’t have when you are in the middle of the storms in life.
I have struggled trying to journal off and on over the years. I know it is important, but I haven’t really stuck with it. This blog has helped, but i still need a personal journal where I can really pour my heart out. Reading back through my journal entries has re-emphasized the importance of writing down what I am learning, as well as what I am struggling with. And at some point in the future, I will read back through what God has done, and realize that my perspective is way too small! And that God is bigger than all my problems. I am going to journal as I read through the New Testament this summer, and I’m looking forward to God rattling my cage through it all.