Category: journaling

Journal: A Record of Experiences, Ideas & Reflections Kept Regularly

 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7 The Message)

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On a monthly basis, a group of tender hearted women meet after church. We journal in community. Our faithful mentor, Mary Ann, asks God for a prompt or devotion to prime our conversation with God and each other. Each time we meet, we marvel at how God tailors the topic to our current needs.

Today was no different. Mary Ann pulled out photocopies of an article from her Insights for Living newsletter. Chuck Swindoll reflected on “What Journaling Can Do For You.” (You can read it here.)

We started reading the article and conversing over it, commenting on how timely, and encouraging his thoughts were regarding the discipline of keeping a journal.

After reading the article, we each furiously scribbled our reflections about what journaling meant to us. We arrived with various concerns on our minds, but this respite from the daily grind gave us time and space to reflect on the spiritual act of writing.

I started out this way:

What can journaling do for me? It’s a place, a practice, a playground, a personal space, a retreat with God, a sorting out time for thoughts, ideas and emotions. I can go back and read and recall conversations that I’ve had with God. It shows me God’s goodness and faithfulness. I can write Scriptures, praises, confessions, thanksgivings and ask for things. I can listen with pen in hand.

I continued to write about how my journal gives me space to plan and consult God about His desires for me. I thanked Him for the journaling group at our church and other journalers I know, like Lynn Morrissey, Kelly Greer and Dawn Paoletta and the RJD ladies. I wrote down a couple quotes from the article by Chuck Swindoll.

“I want to keep a journal because it is an intimate conversation with God.”

“Journaling is worth the discipline it takes to cultivate the reward of intimacy with the Almighty.”

“I want that [intimacy] for you. Deep roots. Journaling will help make that happen.”

Besides having a great record of my spiritual journey, much of the time God clarifies His love and purposes for me through the written conversation.

By taking the time to write with my journaling companions, I came away with a renewed vision for my blogging schedule. (I thrive on variety. Notice the new theme on this blog, that’s me needing something new and different to inspire me. While journaling today, a new schedule surfaced for my blog posts.)

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So with the unveiling of my new look, I wanted to introduce you to the new schedule and topics du jour.

Monday will be a Sabbath day for me, so no blog post.

Tuesday will be getting back to my roots; a “Defining Moments” devotion. (The word “root” may be the theme for a few weeks.)

Wednesday will be a link to my souldare blog, where I will be posting creative, artsy inspiration.

Thursday will remain Thrilling Guest Thursday and I will be looking for guest contributors to add to the weekly schedule.

Friday will be dedicated to the topic of journaling (which may include guest contributors, prompts, tips and/or links to inspiring articles about journaling.) On the first Friday of the month, of course, I will be posting with the Random Journal Day ladies.

I was going to pursue hosting an online book group for Bonnie Gray’s, Finding Whitespace, but feel I need to put that idea on hold for now. (I still highly reccomend reading her book, and may include some of her prompts on Fridays.)

I like trying new things. I hope you will join in by following, reading, commenting or even guest posting.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment or email me at kelrohlf@souldare.com

Here’s to living the life we know God has given us!

 

Posted on by kelrohlf 4

Thrilling Guest Thursday: Lynn D. Morrissey

. . . and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding, 
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure , 
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God. 
Proverbs 2:3-5 NIV

Today, we return to the journey of finding nourishment for our souls through words, art and the practice of journaling.  

Join us today, as Lynn shares how God introduced her to collage as a catalyst for expression and transition. This is a two-part series, so come back tomorrow, to view some of her collage work and the discoveries behind her process.

<!–[if supportFields]> SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>Art of My Heart
(Lynn D. Morrissey)












Collage for me is art-of-my-heart, my soul made visible in living color on the journaling page. I love its vibrancy and free-wheeling whimsy, its colorful playfulness and startling juxtaposition, its generating of spiritual insights and soul surprises.

But I didn’t initially gravitate to collage. I thought it was silly at best and occult at worst. I’d heard so many Christian warnings, whether from Puritanic admonitions against idolizing images or from Bible teachers’ concerns about name-it-and-claim-it visualizing techniques, sometimes called manifesting or the Law of Attraction.

But just days after my beloved father’s death, God used the art-form of collage as a significant means of launching my healing journey from grief.

Shortly after Daddy died, I attended a poetry-and-journal intensive in Denver. One of our assignments was to collage a cover for a new journal. It was at the end of a long day, and I was physically and emotionally depleted from the pain of grief. The *last* thing I wanted to do was cut pictures out of old magazines that I never would have read in the first place, in an attempt to make (so-called) art. It seemed like just about the most ridiculous Mickey-Mouse undertaking I could imagine. Though I know now that my grief overshadowed my attitude, it still wasn’t the kind of activity that remotely appealed to me.

But because I had invested so much of myself, time, and resources into the seminar and because I knew that Daddy would want me to pursue my journaling-facilitator dream, I chose to cooperate in this learning experience. I took a stack of magazines back to my room around 5:00 p.m. and didn’t emerge until the next morning!

After eating an early dinner alone in my room and getting ready for bed, I began leafing through the magazines, page by glossy page, randomly cutting or tearing out pictures, words, and slogans that seemed to speak to me. As I underwent this rhythmic process of slowly scanning and cutting, something happened that even today I cannot fully explain. The process calmed and soothed me, and my emotional pain momentarily subsided. Words and images of hope, beauty, and comfort emerged that resonated on a deep heart-level. I had not set out to find them, but God knew just what I would need to see. As I began arranging and rearranging the extracted words and pictures that I would later glue to my journal covers, it was as if God were using them to rearrange my broken heart into a multi-layered mosaic of meaning and hope. The juxtaposition of a kaleidoscope of words, colors, shapes, and images registered somewhere deep in my soul that even journaling my angst at that time couldn’t do, because my despair was beyond articulation.

Since that time I have gone collage-crazy and consider myself a Christian-Collage Poster Girl. I want to be clear to say that God speaks through the Bible, and nothing—absolutely nothing—replaces His Word for providing direct, inerrant revelation of His character and will. But God can also speak to our imaginations (which He gave us!) through Creation, art, song lyrics, books, poetry, friends, and the circumstances of our lives. One significant way He has spoken to me is through collage. God has used collage-journaling (where I collage onto journal pages and write to Him about what He shows me) to spark my creativity, help me solve problems, teach me insights and truths about myself, help me to set goals, and implement dreams.

I am not worshiping images, but God who speaks through them, the God who speaks at times through the art of my heart.

Question: Have you ever tried to use collage as a means of artistic creation and self-expression or to explore your “inner landscape”—translation: what God is showing you about your life circumstances, thoughts, dreams, goals, memories, conflicts, etc.? What were the results? How have you made collage-journaling a part of your spiritual practice?
                                                                                               
Please come back tomorrow and read about and see my “transition” collages and my thought process behind creating them.

(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)
Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.

Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.

Posted on by kelrohlf 11

Ravel: To Become Entangled or Confused {Random Journal Day}


Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw offer everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us . . . (Hebrews 12:1 NIV)


This morning as I went to pull out a random journal, I intentionally found the one from the beginning of the year. I was on a quest to unravel my motive for my “One Word” that I chose eight months ago. My word is . . .



I wanted to choose “want,” but it seemed too grabby and selfish. So, I went with desire, which rolls off the tongue with ease and grandeur. Where has this one word taken me this year? Back to the heart of God over and over again. Why? Because my desires and His desires are not always in sync. I become confused and easily entangled by the desires clawing at me through every medium possible. My phone, the internet, magazines, TV shows and movies, songs on the radio. Books piled around my house beckoning me to read them. So many distractions and choices. 

Some of the choices and distractions are benign, and even good like spending time with friends. However to stay focused on the “race marked out for me,” I often have to say no to good things.

My work is to write words. God has made that clear to me several times. And I want to live a writing life. I love journals and discovery collage and sketching because all of these activities feed my created soul and fuel my writing endeavors.

My desire for writing words is to encourage others to discover their created self. To offer words to feed your soul and dare you to embark on your path and persevere in your race. 

May God unravel those places in your soul that need to breathe, to be expressed and to be scribed or scribbled down on some piece of paper. Your journaling technique is yours alone. I am just sharing mine so you can see that it is possible to explore, enjoy and embrace your created self!

For a treat to myself, I created a journal collaged with magazine pictures and white space for writing and sketching. This journal began during Advent 2012 and goes through the month of January 2013.

This entry was a 5 Minute Quick Write response to the doodling on the top of the page, which I titled, “raveled.” 

raveled instead of unraveled, tightly woven around a central image–a story inside a book, stacked on top of another book, unearthed treasure, waiting potential
knowledge tied up in packages unopened
I prefer raveled–untouched, kept together–if I read will I get tangled or untangled or mired into deeper questions of quest and conquest?
untouched emotions– a place to write freely of how I feel, of how untapped potential lies latent unafraid yet fearful of emerging or plunging or expunging or accusing or bruising my egotistical soul life–life untouched, unwanted, desired and unwanted at the same time
will I be too rough and uncomfortable
will I cause embarrassment or shame
unashamed  unfettered  unbelievable
the piles of unread, unheard, unseen aspects of my life hidden below sub par standard
guilt, risk, freedom–tight, constricted, raveled, woven
no thread to pull to wreck the image– a wrecked image, a ruined reputation-who the hell cares? I care. you care. he cares. she cares. we all care–but I want to live a carefree life!


A journal is a safe place to vent, a real place to reach into uncensored parts of ourselves. It is vulnerable to share these musings here, but I hope this glimpse into my raveled self, unravels in you a desire to find your own safe place to write and express what is inside you. Journaling, for me is a form of prayer, a dialogue between my created self and our Creator God.

What draws you to journaling?


Linking with Random Journal Day and OneWord365
Posted on by kelrohlf 9

Confidence: A Relation of Trust or Intimacy {Where I Reveal My Dream Come True}

 
But know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
(Psalm 4:3 NRSV)




When I was a teenager, during a youth retreat we were encouraged to choose a name that would describe who we wanted to become. I chose the word, “confidence.” I drew a key and wrote the word across it. Probably the first time I ever used a concordance to look up Scriptures. Under the listing, I remember reading: “The LORD is my confidence.” (Proverbs 3:26a)

At that retreat was one of the first times I asked God for something for myself. I wanted Him to be my confidence, but also to make me more confident.

For many years I have been growing into that name. As I  was getting ready for a new venture today, God reminded me of that act of faith so many years ago. Back in May, through a series of God events, I took a step towards fulfilling a dream. This dream came to life today! I am calling this dream:

 
 
 
(Logo design created by Jessie Flori)


Souldare will be a place where people gather together to discover their created self through journaling, collage art and eventually, nature hikes accompanied by times of contemplative prayer.

What does this post have to do with my recent series on prayer? God hears when we call to him. And sometimes, the answer is revealed in stages, over the years. And sometimes, He uses that very request to increase our faith and confidence.

When I look at the word confidence, I think “with faith” or “with fidelity,” which when applied to my life humbles me. To think that God would call me one of his faithful ones exalts his faithfulness. It indicates a depth of intimacy with God that has grown sweeter over the years.

What a joy it was today to witness others exploring and discovering their created selves through collage art and journaling. God was in our midst. I can’t wait until next week to see how God reveals himself to us again.

 


A poem I read before I left to facilitate the workshop became another prayer for confidence:

Where fear imprisons, faith liberates;
Where fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Where fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Where fear sickens, faith heals;
Where fear makes useless, faith makes beautiful;
Where fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life,
faith opens the windows on a new world,
a new life that knows no end.
(Father Philip Chester, as qtd by Jonathan Aitken in Prayers for People Under Pressure)



 

How is faith enabling you to overcome fears?What long forgotten request
is God answering today?

 
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Stop: To Cease Activity

 
 
 
Cease striving and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:10 NASB)
 
 
“Stop, in the name of love…
before you break my heart.”
(The Supremes)
 
 
When I was out running the other day, I saw a stop sign and the above lyrics started humming through my mind. God in His sweet way was asking me to stop sinning in my thought life, which inevitably seeps into my language and actions. To stop out of love for Him and because sin breaks His heart.
 
Once a month Dawn at Beneath the Surface: Breath of Faith and the Recovering Church Lady co-host, Random Journal Day, where we daringly pull a random journal off the shelf or pile and pick an entry to share with the group.

After reading a couple posts from this month, I made this connection between journaling and prayer: If you write prayers in a journal, you have a great resource for written prayers to glean insight from, as well as see how God has been transforming your life.
 
I pulled a journal from the summer of 2009. And the following confession made me feel vulnerable, but I wondered if others have had similar struggles and awareness. As I reread it, I recognized how much God has helped me overcome this recurring sin in my life.
 
Confession brings sin into the light. Once it is named, God gives me strength to move away from the sin, in order to stop operating under its influence. The ability to turn away from sin is a supernatural ceasing.
 
Here’s the confession, I came upon in my journal from August 2, 2009:
 
I admit that I do give my tongue free rein to say hurtful things–judgmental things. My tongue frames deceit– I lie about myself and make up motives for others. I wrongly accuse. I try to put words in their mouths. I confess that I justify my slander by thinking that I am evaluating or assessing or problem solving.
 
O God, guard my tongue. Let me be silent rather than foolishly harm others. Purify my heart and tongue. How can I praise you one moment and tear down those you love the next. I am wretched.
 
Forgive me, most of all, for believing or thinking that You, the Most High and Holy One could even think or evaluate others the way I do. Let me worship you in holiness. Keep my lips from sinning.
 
Thank you for not remaining silent, O God Most High. Thank you for speaking to me about my tongue. For rebuking me in love. I accept the charges. I am guilty of slander, lies and wickedness in my heart, words and actions. Help me to think more highly of your beloved children.
 
Instead of slander, I offer praise, accolades, value and welcome. Why do I slander others? Because I doubt my own value. I want to keep the focus off my own shortcomings. I want to feel superior.
 
Father God, forgive me . . .
 
It is a rough thing to look into the mirror and see my grisly face, but it is also a beautiful thing because then our Gentle Healer can wipe away the debris and clean the wounds and bind us up with His mercy.
 
 
What kind of prayers do you write in your journal? Do you think written prayer is necessary or useful? Why or why not?
 
 
 
 
 
Linking up with Random Journal Day
 
 
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