Well, the day is quickly coming to an end here but I have a question swirling through my mind and I thought “why not ask my sweet blogging friends?!” 🙌🏻🧡 Are you a note-taker, journal-keeper type?? In all honesty, I’m not! 😅 Yes, I do keep a daily verse notebook where I jot down my favorite verses for the day buuuuut when it comes to journaling, I tend to draw a blank as to what to write and where to even start! This brings me to my question of the evening:
- Are you a journaler by nature? Or are you like me and slightly hyperventilate when a notebook or empty journal is set before you? 😂
- What are your favorite daily journaling prompts/questions to answer when journaling?
- What advice would you give one… (ahem, namely ME 😉) who is really not a journaler by nature but wants to QUICKLY jot down and keep track of daily happenings and all that the Lord is doing in every day life?
💁🏼♀️So my blogging friends, I have a fresh new leather notebook staring me in the face and the hope to have a better record of the days which have passed and all that the Lord has done and is doing. Any journalling tips/prompts/thoughts you have, leave them in the comment section below! I would absolutely LOVE to hear from you!!🙋🏼♀️
“One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.”
Psalm 145:4-5
“Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.”
Psalm 119:27
Rachel, I’m not a journal writer either, though I love to write books and songs!
I jot daily happenings down on a wall calendar. I have calendars dating back many years. It’s amazing and fun and sometimes heart-wrenching to go back through them occasionally. The smallish squares aren’t so daunting to fill, and I write like they are notes-which they are because of the size. Many calendars also have extra space to write on each month. Then I write down the date something happened, if it’s a momentous event, and write about it in more detail. (Really busy months may get some writing in the margins.)
I’ve done the same thing for five years! I love to write, but haven’t the time many days, so this was a perfect alternative!
This was in reply to Sheri’s comment.
Love hearing you’ve had success with this method too, Tirzah!!🧡
Sheri!!!! I would have guessed you to be the type that kept a very detailed journal. You have always shared such great and detailed memories from you past!🧡 But thankful I am not alone in being not too much of a journal writer.😅 🙈
I absolutely love the calendar idea!!! “The smallish squares aren’t so daunting to fill, and I write like they are notes-which they are because of the size.” YES! That is actually exactly what I am looking for! I am pretty practical in personality which I think goes well with your calendar journaling method!. Not too much space to overwhelm but enough to take notes on the day that spark memories when I look back. ♥️
THANK YOU for sharing!!🙌🏻
Rachel,
I’m a huge fan of journals/notebooks… pretty much anything that has paper in it or attached to it. 😅
I have 4 journals/pretty writing books (whatever you want to call them) on my bookshelf.
1 is older and has lots of my early teen “stuff” written in it, the 2nd is my current journal.. 3rd is my prayer journal, and the 4th is the journal I write notes & prayers in for my future hubby.
As to your 1st Q: I have no idea… I’m no artist, nor do I have pretty handwriting. But there’s something about keeping a journal that I just can’t get away from.
As to your 2nd Q: I don’t have any to my knowledge… when I write I find myself confessing and forsaking bad habits or sins I’ve recently realized… writing down a spontaneous prayer, even writing my emotions down🤷♀️weird stuff sometimes🤣
As to your 3rd Q: I would say, it’s definitely worth it no matter the outcome (whether you keep up or only get a few days down). I find myself calmed and relieved afterwards. Also, I recently pulled out a journal I started when I was 11. And yes I got to read my scribbling, but I also got to reread about the passing of my brother (Josiah) who was born with a heart defect. I found the hospital sticker I had placed in the journal with my last entry I had wrote the day before he passed away.
It’s bittersweet reading all my old journals and seeing my spiritual walk with the Lord, i get to see where I’ve grown ( by God’s grace) and where I’ve continued to fail.
I don’t believe I will ever look back and regret writing in my journals, rather I’ve been encouraged to see God work in mysterious ways.
Trinity!! So fun to hear from you!! Now, you sound like your a hyper-journal-keeper.😉
“I would say, it’s definitely worth it no matter the outcome (whether you keep up or only get a few days down)” That is great encouragement, thank you!!😄
Isn’t it amazing to look back and see all the amazing ways the Lord has worked in us and through us? Even in hardship and extreme loss even. How He has shown us such grace, spiritually grown us in amazing ways, given us the victory! It makes me excited for the days ahead knowing that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”!! Praise God!!🙌🏻💝
A “5 Year Journal!” A friend introduced me to this tiny book when I was single, and it’s the only way I’ve had time to continue journaling as a mom! There’s only a smallish space for each day, so it’s not overwhelming and is doable! You’d be surprised at how much I can pack into those lines when I need to, tho. ;) AND you can see every day what you did that day other years, which is really really fun. I’m on my second :)
LOVE hearing from you, Elisha! 🙋🏼♀️ So fun to see different ladies in different seasons of life and how they are keeping track of the daily happenings/journaling!! I have heard SO SO So much good about the 5 year journal!! I think it was Elisabeth Elliot who said she kept one her entire life. And I like the fact it only allows for a paragraph of space! 😝 I believe Grace has one of those. I need to go take a peek at hers! ♥️
RACHEL!!! What a fun midnight question! ;) YES, I do keep a journal, BUT I find that my journaling is very spontaneous! I’ll write monumental events, sometimes random days, heart lessons that I’m going through, and sometimes even a “year in review”, where I record all of the different “note worthy” events of that year.
But as for “daily journaling” in my journal…not so much. It may be a couple months between entries. I think I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when I’m writing. So unless I just feel that huge urge to write my heart for that day, I sometimes want my entry to sound good, and be “right”, which could be why I’m not the best at frequent, raw journaling.🤷♀️ One thing I need to remember more, is that this journal is for ME, not an article for everyone in the world to read!!😅
Buuuuut one thing I have started doing is keeping an almost-daily record in a daily/weekly PLANNER (funny how it seems different in a planner, than a journal!), which I am sooo glad that I have done!! I like to choose a planner that has daily space, and I’ll try to jot down the events of that day, what projects I was working on, or sometimes a special heart-lesson that I was learning. Just a paragraph or two does it! It’s amazing how missing a day or two sometimes makes me TOTALLY forget what I did that day, and that day’s history is lost!! Even writing down events in the calendar space (as Miss Sherri noted!) has been sooo helpful!! I’ve become “the keeper of family history” at times, when we’re trying to remember when something happened or when we did this or that…it’s so fun to be able to pull out my planner, and know exactly when things happened!!
Isn’t it fascinating how each individual is wired differently?!! How one person LOVES to keep an up to date, beautiful journal! While another just pours their heart out in a very personal, raw journal. While another is intimidated by journaling, but has confidence to simply write a paragraph for each day. I think finding YOUR thing, and embracing that method makes things fun, helpful, and a blessing!! If you DO start journaling/recording more, Rachel, I’m sure you will find it helpful + fun later, and I hope you can find THE method for you!!!🙌🏻🧡 Love you, sister-friend!!
“Isn’t it fascinating how each individual is wired differently?” YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have sisters who have planners and journals and notebooks and that is how they are wired to work best. I have had to learn over the years that one person’s best way of doing things isn’t always going to be mine. We are all wired so differently and that is how we can work together so well as the body of Christ!🤗💗 Reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12 where it says, “If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?…But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.”
“I like to choose a planner that has daily space, and I’ll try to jot down the events of that day” My sister, Micah, was just telling me that her daily planner has been her best way of keeping track of events/days/happenings and become her journal in a sense. I LOVE that!!
” I’ve become “the keeper of family history” at times” Really, that is kinda my ultimate goal! To have a written history of my days. Something I can pull out when I need to remember exact days or just need a walk “memory sparker”! 😉🧡
Your comment is so encouraging and helpful! THANK YOU, Martha Joy!💝
Honestly, I’m not a journal writer either!😜 Though I LOVE writing letters, I’ve never really gotten into journaling…🙃I tried it a few years ago but only did it for about a week.😂 I guess I just don’t have the patience for it. 😄 I write down happenings on my wall calendar before I go to bed at night…I like to look back in my calendars every couple years and it’s fun to see all the things I wrote down.😁 That method definitely works better for me but everyone is different.🙂🤠😁 Good luck!😂👍
Now, I really would have guessed you were into journaling BIG TIME! 😄 But I can see how keeping you with letter writing as you do would probably be priority. You do that so well! 💌
I’m loving the calendar idea. Sounds like a good method for those of us who find it hard to stick to traditional journaling!! 🗓♥️
😂 I know!😄 I kind of seem to myself that I’m the “journaling type” but I just don’t do it…I guess I get enough of writing with my 34 pen pals that I don’t need journaling!! 😂😄😂 And I would have guessed that you were into journaling too!!😄😂 I guess not! 😂 I do like to take sermon notes but they’re very disorganized and probably no one else wold be able to decipher them!!😜😂🙃😆
I love all thing journals and notebooks, Rachel! But, I’m not good at journaling. I’m just not good at being consistent. Even with a 5 year journal, I still have trouble writing in it consistently. I have about a year left in my 5 year journal, and then I plan to do my journaling in my planner. I think it will work a lot better having everything in one place. Right now, I have a 5 year journal for journaling and another one for writing a daily Scripture. Plus my planner. It’s too many things to keep track of.
As has already been said, it really comes down to what works for your unique personality! I would say, try out a method that you think might work. If it does, great! If not, don’t be afraid to discard it and try something else.
I hope you find the perfect system for you soon, Rachel!!
“I would say, try out a method that you think might work. If it does, great! If not, don’t be afraid to discard it and try something else.”
👆🏻thank you for that encouragement!!! I’m the type that wants to find an instant solution but you’re so right. Don’t be afraid to try and discard then try another journaling method if necessary! 💝 Thank you, Bethany!!!!
I really enjoy writing in a journal/notebook! It is a good way to keep track of the different sermons you listen to or hear and want to take notes for, and also it is nice to write who and what you are thankful for in your journals as well which I enjoy doing. Also it is nice to write different ways the Lord is working in your life. I don’t do it everyday but try to at least do it once a week! Have a good day,
Sounds like you have a good system! I loved hearing what you write down. “At least once a week” that is great!! KEEP IT UP!🤗♥️