Monday, August 3, 2009

Journal

Since using the blog for the first time last week, I've spent some time trying to post past topics on the site. If you look in the left hand column of this website, you'll see that I started from the oldest posts and I'm working my way forward. I'm about halfway through 2006 as I write this. It's interesting to go back through these old posts. Walking back through these topics has been a lot like walking back through a journal. I come across topics related to areas in which I'm certain I've grown quite a bit since writing the original topic. But I also come across topics related to areas where I've had little or no growth. Even some areas where I think I may have been more mature back when I wrote the original message. Some topics remind me of periods when my prayer life was very active and others bring back memories of when it was weak to say the least. It's all very humbling and it's given me a new sense of brokenness. If you don't currently keep your own journal, let me highly recommend it. It will help you see growth that's so slow, you wouldn't see it otherwise. It will help you see stagnation that otherwise may have gone undetected. It will help you recognize answered prayer and it will make you thankful that some prayers are answered with a "no". Most of all, it will help you to see Him in more and more areas of your life.

On a side note, If you have something to add to one of the topics, simply click the "comment" tab at the bottom of the post on which you wish to comment. You will have the option of posting with your name or anonymously.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob

1 comment:

  1. I'd just like to reiterate what Bob is saying. I've been keeping a prayer journal since December and it has revolutionized my prayer life. It helped me to see that my prayers were stagnant and fairly self cenetered. When you see the same stuff on the page day after day you wonder why God would listen to you at all anymore when the same thing just gets repeated ad naseum - that's religion not a relationship.

    It also forced a certain self examination that did not exist before. What exactly do I need forgiveness for, what exactly am I thankful for, etc. These things have improved my relationship dramatically in the eight months I've been doing it. I would encourage anyone to try it for a couple of weeks and see if it doesn't strengthen their relationship with Christ.

    ReplyDelete