on journaling

do you journal?

i do. i've become an avid journal writer actually. it's a place where i can say anything and everything to God and no one will judge me and i know that jesus will probably laugh a little bit at me but understand.

today i finished a journal. it took me eight months twenty eight days to go through this little journal. it's been my favorite one so far. not only because it has cute bikes and wheels throughout its pages, and not because it alternates lines, grid, and blank paper. its my favorite because i've filled it with the sweetest, hardest, most confusing prayers and some of the greatest wisdom i've received from others.

this past weekend i had to have a really hard discussion. i was out of my comfort box the entire time. my journal has been full of prayers and verses and pleas for the whole situation surrounding that discussion to just disappear on its own, or for me to just get over it. but it didn't, and i'm so glad. it led me towards this hard but beautiful discussion that healed my heart in more ways than i thought it was going to.

this journal is filled with prayers about the first boy i truly liked. how mad i was at him, how much i just wanted to not like him, confusion on why the feelings were there then at that time, wishing for him to just like me back (because we were perfect for each other...duh...or not...) and all those feelings, while crazy and a tad ridiculous, brought me to a place where i had peace and i had confidence in the Lord's promise to fulfill my anxious heart.

this journal got me through my best friend dating her first serious boyfriend. those particular pages i could barely fill because it hurt and was hard, and i was frustrated, but with a lot of help from jesus, i wrote. and wrote. and we're still best friends because i was in constant prayer over it.

i journal because life is one big process. it's hard and messy. i write it down, and journal it out. i write so i can look back in five years and see how beautifully simple life was.

buy a journal, use it, and you won't regret it.