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What's in your journal?


For years I've been keeping a journal. It's different from the one I write in every morning; the one where I record my observations, interpretations, and applications of the Scripture I'm currently devouring.

No, this one is quite different. This one only holds my thankful's, and each morning I sit and record at least 5 for the day ahead.

Because I want to remember. Because I want to hold to a thankful heart. Because I live in grace.

My favorite days are the ones where I get to turn the page and look back on what I wrote months and sometimes years before (because I always seem to do things backwards, I'm now doing just that as I move back to the first pages). Today was one of those days:

*Books that feed me in my longing for a faith-walk

*Clean sheets and warm blankets

*Testifying about my God of pursuit before students from Brazil, Taiwan, Chile, Vietnam, and China

*Words from a father I've adored all of my life

*Early morning texts from my son

*Food on our always Thankful table

*Possessing an inheritance that is imperishable

*When the house is quiet and only our dog's snore is heard

*When people choose NOT to gossip

*Morning walks of praise

*My Man's love for our daughter

*Food enough for daily bread (and more)

*Our sometimes smelly, always cluttered home

*Old black and white movies (when cussing and sex was not in the mix)

*The prayers of King David

*The sound of My Man's feet hitting the bleachers he can still run

*My CeCe's joy

*Leftovers and conversation

*The winds of Fall

*Precious Hannah-words in the book she gave me for my birthday

*Rising dough on kitchen counter

*My dad talking sports with his grandson

*Words of hope and life in my favorite book...God's story

Keeping this journal has reminded me to remain thankful--not just once a year, but every single day.

Maybe I've just given you an idea for a Christmas gift to a friend or family member who also needs to be reminded of the grace we live in daily.

I highly encourage you to add this gift to your list this year.

(And just maybe your name will appear in that journal someday).

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About Me

I am a learner.  I have an insatiable desire to learn, so I read a ridiculous amount of books.  And, because I love to read, I process my thoughts through journal-writing. 

I guess this would also make me a writer.  

I think that a writer puts their time into something they want to read again, and hopefully invite someone else to read as well.  The words mean something to them, and they want those words to mean something to others, too.

I believe that readers and writers are also pretty good story-tellers, and there is nothing I love more than a good story.

Stories tell us the things we need to know, and not just the facts we seem to think define us.  I am more interested in someone who drives a 95 Astro van than someone who drives a new car with a personalized license plate, because I know there's a story behind it (and I love that I am married to the one who drives the van).

So I wrote a book called Tell Me a Story.  In it, you will find stories of people that most don't sit and listen to; maybe because they've never traveled out of the country in order to hear them.  Or maybe they've never really thought about the importance of just listening. 

I didn't listen because I thought I was special; I listened because I believed they were. 

I've taught high school Bible for more than 20 years, written curriculum for all of my classes, led mission trips around the world, taken lots of pictures, made lots of journal entries, and prayed every single day for the people whose faces appear in my heart.  Each blog post will take you to a story; some will be from my memory, some from my journal posts, some from people I'm around every day, and others will be from the best Story-teller I know, Who wrote a book long before I did.   His story keeps writing new stories in mine.  I hope someday to get mine published so that others will be encouraged to read more of His.

 

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