Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Journaling - a place to privately write


Most writers - myself among them - did a lot of writing before we decided on romantic suspense. In high school I wrote poetry (Of course, everyone in high school writes poetry). Then I went on after high school and studied journalism. For a long time I wrote features and hard news as a reporter for a daily newspaper.


Then came the novels. And the short stories. I still write short stories and love both reading and writing them. (I hope you enjoyed the Valentine story that a few in our group here just completed!)


But, there is one kind of writing that I have always done, and that’s journaling. In my young girl days the word was ‘diary’. Then it shifted to the more grown up word - ‘journaling.’ And if I were even more grown up I might call it ‘memoir,’ or ‘personal writing.’


I have piles of completed journals in a back closet, but in the last year or so, I’ve been journaling online. I don’t mean blogging, I mean password protected private journaling. At first I just used a password protected Word document. Then I shifted to the ‘Notes’ feature in my Yahoo Mail, and most recently I’ve switched to an online site; http://penzu.com. That website also has a number of resources on how journaling is so cathartic, and gives tips to get started. It’s also completely private. And I’ve added a password that even my closest friend could decipher.


But it’s a place where I can cry out - like David - to God. It’s a place where I can rail against him - like David did - and say “have you completely forgotten about me?’ And then I can go into the specifics. But - and this is cool - usually by the end of my journal entry - like David did - I’m praising Him for his goodness and greatness and wanting to draw closer to him.

3 comments:

Mystery and Mayhem said...

I've always enjoyed journaling, too, and am encouraged to do it as we here prepare for our mission trip to Bolivia.
My husband grandmother journaled for 40+ years and kept note of weather conditions, who visited and what they ate, even. A remarkable testimony to keep for the future.
But like you, I have railed against God, and will always adn absolutely testify that God wants a dialogue with us, and can handle our anger. He even welcomes it when we shut Him out of our lives. And He always answers us.
Didn't Job also complain? Moses?
Most of the ancient Israelites? We have a wonderful God to go to with all our issues.
And he always reads our 'emails'.

Linda Hall said...

Thanks Barbara. I look at the Psalms of David. He was downright angry at God - and yet he was called 'A Man after God's own heart.'

Debby Giusti said...

I have a notebook where I note the special days in my walk with the Lord...the words He whispers to my heart, the dreams I lift to Him, the prayers I offer for those He has placed in my path. Rereading the entries allows me to focus on the various ways He is touching my life.

Thanks for a lovely post, Linda.