Idea #23 from “52 Ways to Grow Your Faith”

52 Ways to Grow Your Faith is one of 2 new books I am publishing this summer. Each Monday I will post an excerpt from this book and on Friday an excerpt from 52 Reasons to Believe.

#23  All you need is a notebook
Journal your faith. A notebook is a great place to share what you’re learning, or to write out questions, or to simply vent your frustrations. One of the many benefits of journaling is that you are documenting your faith. Write what you learned from your Bible reading, and if you’re ever asked to teach on that passage, you already have some thoughts written down. Or if you’re making a list of questions, you can keep track of which questions have answers and which are still plaguing you. Once you fill a journal, it’s fun to flip through it and review your journey with God.

Key Verse
How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire? (Psalm 89:46, NIV)

No Cover
I went into my closet and pulled out the extra blankets, two suitcases, and a box of baseball cards I’ve had since I was a kid. I was looking for the box underneath those items, filled with memories from school yearbooks, photo albums, two pictures with broken frames, and five journals. Each journal was clearly labeled with the date, but I didn’t need to read the date. I knew each year based on the color of the notebook’s color, except for two notebooks that no longer had covers–those were intense years.

The red one was the first notebook I ever used to talk about my faith. It was worn, as expected, but the pages inside were full of hope. I had plenty of questions scattered throughout–some of those questions remain unanswered–but the majority of entries bubbled with talk about the power of God and discovery of new verses. It was a book written with a smile.

The blue notebook had its cover ripped off long ago, later reattached with tape. And by the looks of it, it had been reattached many times in different places. This was the second notebook I filled. It began as hope-filled as the first, but it included several pages with a giant question mark on them and the words “Why,” “How come,” and “I’m confused” written across the page. It was fun to look through that book because I remember each of those crisis situations like they were yesterday, but compared to what I deal with now in life, those circumstances seem insignificant.

The yellow notebook had all kinds of doodles on the cover. They weren’t my drawings–just pictures by one of the guys in my Bible study who needed to draw in order to concentrate. (Or so he said.) I can’t remember much about that year. Nothing stands out. The same can be said about the notebook’s content. Just a bunch of random thoughts and Bible observations. Some good content, but lacking the personality of the others.

The final two notebooks were coverless. The last one lost it’s cover because I accidentally dropped it down a flight of stairs. I filled about one third of it and then tossed it in the box when we moved…years ago. I never pulled it back out and, consequently, don’t have much written about my faith for several years. But the fourth notebook was the one I was looking for. This one lost its cover in a war, even though the notebook was defenseless. I threw it across the room in frustration. Oh yeah, those were some fun entries to revisit. Lots of pain and frustration. Interestingly though, amidst the turmoil and emotions were threads of hope and confidence. It was different from the hope in the red notebook. This notebook’s content felt deeper, more mature. It wasn’t that earlier notebooks were shallow, but this one was the most fun to read…and the most difficult.

Quote
One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness. —Anne Lamott

Try It
Don’t be intimidated if you feel like you’re not a writer. Keeping a journal is not a book; it’s a personal document meant to be only viewed by you (unless you choose to share excerpts with people). And if the blank page is daunting, get a journal with small pages.

Another idea for people on the go: use an app such as Evernote. Evernote allows you to take notes on the road (via phone or similar device) and it synchs with your computer so you can copy/paste the text into an electronic document if you like.

I Tried It!
“I used to journal a lot. I actually have about 8-10 notebooks in a closet from all my journaling as a kid. But I got out of the habit and hadn’t written an entry in years. It was fun getting back into it. Most of my entries are short, as it doesn’t feel like I have the time I used to have, but after taking a few minutes to write each day, I’m always glad I did.”

Prayer
“God, help me crystallize my thoughts onto paper. Help me see all You are doing in and around me. Amen.”