Journal of Grace

I’ve often made the resolution to keep a journal.  I love to write and this would be a good way to express my thoughts.  Journaling would also be a good way to track God’s work in my life.  The problem is…I never have done it consistently.

I have a Word document that I started many years ago that has just a few entries.  I even have an entry confessing that I dropped the ball and promising to get back on track.  But there are many gaps since then.  Didn’t Paul talk about this in Romans when he wrote about the struggle to do what he wanted to do?  I feel that way.  I want to; I know it would be good; I am blessed when I do it; I can see God’s hand at work through the thoughts.  But I don’t keep it up.

Even this blog has gaps of elapsed time when I didn’t bother to post anything; and this is supposed to be my online journal!  I am so thankful for grace.  My promises to God are sometimes unkept or forgotten but he will forgive me when I confess my neglect.  I’ve learned that he expects not only confession but repentance – that is, to turn away from what I’ve done wrong and toward what is right.

My prayer life is a journal of grace: I confess, he forgives, I fall off the wagon (so to speak).  Then the cycle goes again…and again.  What I need is a good dose of repentance to go with the confession.  Then I wouldn’t go through the cycle so much.  The hard part of repentance is not turning away from the wrong and toward the right but continuing in the way of the right.  But God is gracious.

Henry Blackaby says to drive a stake in the ground each time God does something in your life.  Then as you look back you can see where God has been working.  Today I am driving a stake – planting a spiritual marker.  Just as a bridge needs many points of support to span a wide canyon, so I need many spiritual markers to keep me on the right path.

Have you ever thought about keeping a journal?  There are many different ways to do it: thoughts, activities, “God” events, successes/failures.  The important thing is to look for and see God in the midst of your life.  Although he is transcendent, he is near.  The Christmas season reminds us of the most explicit example of this.  Your life is also a tremendous example of God’s near interaction with humanity.  Keep a record of it.