Are You a Journaling Dropout?

Then try one of these 5 fresh and guilt-free approaches to tracking God's work in your life.

Jody Veenker

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Does the mere thought of journaling tire you out? Or does it conjure up spending time you don't have detailing overly "serious" thoughts and spiritual insights?

Perhaps you've tried to keep journals in the past—prayer lists, irregular accounts of your spiritual failures and victories, letters to God about your deepest dreams. But let's face it: While journaling can be an amazing tool to help you record God's transforming work in your heart, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the process. However, I've discovered some creative journaling techniques that have blown me away with their ability to renew joy and intimacy in my relationship with God.

So whether you're tired of your own humdrum attempts to journal, or if you've never given it a try because you don't think of yourself as a "writer," think again. Have I got some fresh ideas for you!

Quotes Journal

Collecting quotes and thought-provoking observations from my favorite Christian writers is a powerful journaling technique that boosts my spiritual morale.

I started this type of journal by accident. When I became a small-group leader, I began looking for quotes to illustrate the subjects we discussed. After a few sessions of fumbling through books for just the right passage, or forgetting to bring the book I wanted to share to small group, I began copying important quotes from readings into a reference journal. For example, when I read a chapter from Philip Ryken's Discovering God in Stories from the Bible, I underlined the passages that stood out to me about a particular attribute of God. On the left-hand side of my journal, I copied the most meaningful passages. On the right-hand page, I listed the times in my life this same attribute was revealed to me.

If you're more of a reader than a writer, a Quotes Journal is a wonderful way for you to meditate on some of the amazing things you're learning in your spiritual walk. Whether you love Christian poetry, fiction, or theology, your journal can become a special repository for your favorite quotes and thoughts.

It's also been helpful for me to illustrate each quote in a memorable way. For example, for a sermon on Jesus' teaching that it's more difficult for a rich man to enter heaven than it is to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24), I glued a thin silver needle to the page to drive the point home.

After a few weeks of journaling this way, you'll find yourself at unexpected times of the day dwelling on the ideas and Scriptures you've copied into your journal. A Quotes Journal allows you to reinforce spiritual concepts and record inspirational ideas from the great minds of our faith.

Impossible Prayers Journal

My friend Cindy was the person who encouraged me to start an Impossible Prayers Journal. Cindy had just finished reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, and she was struck by his contention that a lot of churches in America aren't praying God-sized prayers. Cindy began challenging me to examine my prayer life and to ask God to do things that were more in scale with his glory and power than my human thinking.

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Originally published in: Today's Christian Woman, 2004, May/June, Vol. 26, Issue 3, Page 50

Related Topics:
journaling, Prayer, answers to, spiritual disciplines

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