O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I’ve seen you in the sanctuary, beheld your power and glory.

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands. Psalm 63:1-4

I love to hear my three-year old’s sweet voice as she sings Psalm 63:1-4.  We’ve been practicing it for about a month and she sings it so sweetly…it makes my heart melt.  We use the amazing Seeds Family Worship CD’s to help us memorize scripture.  If not set to music, I’m not sure how well we’d do!

This Psalm…because it is in my heart now…leads me towards wanting to praise Him.  It leads me towards earnestly seeking Him, to long to see His active hand in my life.  For me…I see it most clearly when I journal.

This is an EXERCISE…not a RULE…the only rule is to be real with the real God.  It can be done every day or once a week on a special day like Saturday or Sunday.  This is a great tool to help you slow down and notice your life, to build awareness.  Do you long to attend to life rather than hurry past it? Do you long for awareness?  I do.  I long for the Holy Spirit to make me more aware of the moments I’m thankful for and for the moments I’m not so thankful for.  For awareness of sin.  This exercise…if practiced regularly…is often used by the Holy Spirit to convict me of both the thankful moments and sinful moments.  This exercise is used often…but most often when I find myself in a season of “hurrying”.

1. Sit quietly for a moment with your bible.  Read where God has you in the bible at this time. Pray. Ask specifically for the Holy Spirit to bless you with joy and also to show you how to be more like Him.

2. In your mind, look back over the previous day or days.  What were your emotions, feelings of the day or week?  What were the happenings-big and small? Who did you run into and meet with?

3.In your journal, respond to the following questions:

When were you angry, frustrated, sad or depressed?

When did you have feelings of well-being, joy?

What would you change if you could?

Who or what made your day better?

4.Now write a prayer over what’s been written.  In this prayer, include in it repentance over any sin disclosed to you as you wrote about your day, any wrong thinking or actions that have caused you or others pain.  Cry out to the Lord for His help in being more like Him in this area and express dependence on Him for that.  Include thankfulness or feelings of adoration toward the Lord for His goodness to you.  Include any truths that He brings to mind…if that happens.

That is it. Be amazed at what the Holy Spirit reaveals to you as you seek to become more like Him and to praise and thank Him.  These are prayers He loves to answer!

It is 5:00 AM and the coffee is made…I’m off to begin this exercise for myself…

After today, I’ll move on from this journaling series. I hope it has encouraged you to write about your life.  I will continue to post an exercise once in a while in order to encourage those who are engaged in this habit.

I’d love to hear from you if this exercise was helpful!

Photo taken from Google search. No artist named.