I used to keep an actual paper journal back in grade school. I mostly used that so I could keep track of which boys I liked and which boys I despised in a particular week. There wasn’t much other content in there, but it was therapeutic nonetheless.
Then I graduated to an electronic journal where I typed everything into a Word document on our computer. With that I documented what we did each day; as if it were some sort of contest to prove I was a busy, important person.
Then I became a smartphone user and started keeping a journal in a color note file. Still documenting our days. Eventually I wiped my phone clean and unknowingly deleted it along with everything else on my phone. It didn’t matter anyway.
From there I would email it to myself and sometimes add it to my already started word document; sometimes not.
Now I have done less ‘documenting my days’ type of journaling, and way more praising Jesus type of journaling. I keep a plain old spiral notebook handy and just write down my praises. It can be little things like ‘the mountain of laundry on the bathroom floor, because it means I have children who go out and have adventures and come back home messy, and happy.’ It’s things like my husband pacing the house at night checking each room to be sure everything is turned off. A once annoying trait, has turned into something I admire, thanks to giving thanks.
It’s amazing how much writing praises down, using real pen and paper can soften and calm our hearts. It eases my anxiety and puts me in a place I like to linger.
God is present, in the good and the bad. Praise Him through it all.
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