Friday Journaling Prompt...
I talked about this on IG this week and wanted to bring it into today’s journaling.
Today we would have been starting our retreat in Paris & Brugge. Last April we had to postpone our Paris & Brugge retreat because Covid hit the world. So we all decided to wait until THIS April...
We waited, did some art together via Zoom, I reorganized everything, planned some more and we all looked forward to this day.
And now instead of being in Paris, I’m home sick with two daughters that tested positive for Covid and my husband and I are waiting for our test results as well. It’s all a bit overwhelming and scary. We’re not with a beautiful group of women, doing what we love, gathering in Jesus’s name, in His amazing creation. This wasn’t my plan.
If you think I’ve cried big ugly tears and had a little pity party, you’d be correct. I’ve also questioned what it all means, and wondered if I should just quit. Is this really what I’m meant to do?
Maybe you’ve questioned your plans/purpose/prayers too...
May I suggest something that could possibly help you as much as it’s helped me?
Pray, cry and write.
Its ok to pray, and cry out our hurts, failed plans and negative emotions. God’s not taken aback when we come to Him with our disappointments. Sometimes things aren’t all fine and dandy. But that’s exactly when we need to bring everything to Him.
Tuesday I listened to a Hope*Writers Zoom class with Emily P. Freeman. You know I love journaling with a passion, but she said something that made so much sense!
“Journaling is brain decluttering and processing so that God can break through my own noise and speak truth.”
Oh my WORD. Yes.
So for todays journaling prompt, I want to bring that idea into it and have us think about the following question:
If you do believe the Lord plans our steps, how can journaling be a way to bring our thoughts before the Lord, so that He can instruct us, counsel us and speak truth into our lives?
I know this is a deep question, but I really believe there is something solid here that we can learn. I don’t know about you, but when I am doing my devotions and I write in my journal during that time, I am able to pour out my heart in words. When I read them back I realize the Holy Spirit was IN those words and was showing me something. It’s really amazing!
So I want to encourage you to read your Bible. Start with a Psalm a day. I know I recommend doing this quite often, but it is such a beautiful way to start the day. The following verse in Psalm 32 really lends itself to what we are discussing here, so I want to share it with you:
Psalm 32:8 says: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
Doesn’t this gives us such HOPE? We can plan our days and think we’re doing this or that, but ultimately the Lord wants to show us the way to go. He has great plans for us and even thought they may not look like what we thought, they are for GOOD. By the way… It’s not a bad thing to plan. God wants us to go forward in our lives and take steps of faith and I talk about that a lot in my book. (sorry, I keep bringing that book up, but I’m editing it right now and everything is so fresh in my mind…)
So go ahead and… Pray, cry and write friends.
It believe it will bring clarity from the Lord, because He wants to break through the noise. He desires to teach us, counsel us and lead us!
You know why? Because HIS plans for our lives are so much better than we can think up on our own!🙌🏻💕
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are Covid free. If you feel lead to pray for us, we would so appreciate it. Isabella is feeling pretty good but Rebecca is not doing so well at this point. Lance and I are feeling pretty good, but very achy and tired.
Before I go, I do want to say how thankful we are to all of you who signed up this week for our retreats! We have one spot left for our Marriage Retreat this September and one spot left for the Paris & Brugge retreat next April. The women’s retreat is SOLD OUT! We are seeing if we can get a couple more spots for this one, so if you were interested in this one, please let us know and we can put you on a wait list.
Thank you for supporting these retreats that we believe are a ministry and our calling. And for those who have asked, no… we are not going to quit. We will do these retreats as long as the Lord allows!
If you’re interested, we shared about each retreat we have open right now on our Monday post and you can check out the details HERE.
Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Laura McCollough