Ressurrecting the Journal

About two weeks ago I was thinking about my quiet/devotional time. That time when I spend a few quiet moments praying and learning from God's Word. I have come a long way in consistency and I pretty much have a quiet time every day.

The problem laid in the quality of the quiet time. I would often read from a devotional book and the Bible and then I would put my head back to pray. Well, you can probably figure out how that ended up. I would find myself WAKING up ten minutes later and one time, even an hour later! Not only had I slept through my prayer time but I also wasted that time not doing more productive things around the house. I always felt so guilty and the little naps were not that refreshing.

I know that there is grace for tired Mommies. The Lord understands our humanity and he knows how tired we can become. I also know that God loves children and he supports those who dedicate their time and energy to raising them to be Godly people. I do not feel guilty for the few times when I was just exhausted from staying up all night or chasing a fussy toddler and I just couldn't stay awake when sitting still.

It was the number of times I was allowing myself to fall asleep. I depended on the fact that "there is grace for tired Mommies." Every time I allowed myself to fall asleep and I woke up I just thought, "Oh well, I am so glad God understands." I know he understands, but I also know that he knows I was abusing his grace and using it to catch a nap. Not good. What could I do about this?

Well, enter the prayer journal. I have kept a prayer journal on and off for a number of years. I would journal with fervor for a few weeks and then stop for who knows how long. When I look back I can see that when I journal, those are the times that I grow the most. When I was considering starting my journaling up again, I even received a nice hard bound journal from Chris' mom. Hmmm. Could that have been confirmation?! I thought so.

I have been journal again for just over a week now and I'm loving it. Not only are my devotional times more meaningful, they are also shorter. I know there are times for a nice long devotional times. But, my quiet times these days are just more productive meaning that I pack far more into a shorter amount of time. My days at home are more productive because my thoughts are clearer. When I have something on my mind I write about it and/or pray about it in my journal and then it is gone at least for awhile. I can leave it at his feet by writing it out. Another benefit that I didn't see when beginning is that a lot of my blog entries start in my journal these days.

I am so thankful for my journal and that God pushed me just enough to get started. I am excited to see where this goes.




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