My Journaling Journey: Making Devotions Meaningful & Long-lasting

Have you ever tried journaling in your devotions? And have you ever tried personalizing verses by changing them into “I” statements or “If I” questions?

Journaling is the one thing that has helped me have prolonged, successful devotions.

Part I

When I was first struggling with my devotions in high school, the struggle was keeping my mind focused on one thing for an extended period of time without thinking of the one million-trillion other things happening in my life. My dad told me that he journals for that exact reason, and he suggested I do the same. It really helped! But then I slacked off, as many teenagers do.

Part II

Later, I picked back up my devotions consistently in college. My freshmen year was a struggle, so a dear friend pulled me aside my sophomore year and asked about my devotional life. It was weak, actually non-existent, and she agreed to be my accountability partner. At first, she texted me every day asking what I read and learned. Then, she decreased to three times a week, until finally she only had to text once a week. That year, we grew much closer as friends to the point that we would regularly discuss our devotions together. At this stage of my life (primarily due to the nature of a college-life schedule) I loved following devotion books. Each day's reading was mostly short but jammed pack with truth and commentary and application for me to walk away refreshed with. Devotion books also already have places for notes, so I didn't need to journal what I read and what I learned like I had previously done in high school. After reading in the devotion book, however, I then found myself distracted during prayer and decided to try journaling my prayers. That really helped!!! College was perhaps the first time in my life that I genuinely felt the burden to pray for people besides my immediate family. But that can be a lot to remember, so writing really helped me remember and stay focused. I even categorized the days with a specific prayer focus. I also found this new-found means of journaling therapeutic because it was like when I would write in my diary as a child, except this time I was pouring out my soul to God. It was encouraging to look back on prayers from sophomore year and see how God had answered them come my junior or senior year.

Part III

It was at The Anchorage Christian Camp where I really learned to pray without ceasing (like any time of day, even while being pelted with dodgeballs or teaching a 7 year old table manners) and to pray for extended periods of focused time, both individually and with others. Every summer after a year of college, I counseled at this camp. It was my home away from home, since I had attended as a camper since I was eight.

The summer after my junior year of college in particular, our mentor said he wanted us to explicitly focus on prayer, all summer long. So, every Monday morning when we had our final session together before the campers would arrive that afternoon, we would pray together, sometimes for up to 30min or an hour! We prayed for the same 5 or 6 things each time, and we would sit in a group of 3-4 employees. Each person prayed for the exact same items, but it was amazing to see how each person prayed so differently. For example, I usually tried to partner up with members of the operational staff. So when we prayed for those items, I would think of things from my perspective as a counselor while they would pray from their perspective as a cleaner or kitchen employee (etc.). This repetitive practice helped me gain perspective, not just in life but in prayer. I realized how one-sided my prayer life had been for some time--biased without intention. During my camp years, I also followed devotion books since the schedule was just as crazy if not even more-so than college. And with this new-found way to pray, I realized that I didn’t journal much anymore during my devotions.

Part IV: The Present

Recently, I’ve found a new purpose for journaling in my devotions.

I had been trying to simply follow a devotional book and pray like I had before in the last stage or two of my life, but this stage is different. Not only am I older and I've grown spiritually, but I am now a teacher, married, finishing grad school, preparing to teach new classes, trying to balance family time still even though I don't live at home anymore, serving at out local church, taking care of my cat and trying my best to be my husband's cheerleader while he too finishes school while working full-time and serving at our local church.

Devotions have been HARD.

I've found myself able to either read or pray, but not both for some reason. It's taken me over 6 months to work through a devotional book intended for a 40 day study. I finally had to ask myself, "why?" Is it that I don't want to read and grow? No. Is it that I choose the wrong time of day to have my devotions? No. Was I choosing something familiar and therefore easy instead of challenging myself to move to the next developmental stage of my relationship with Christ. Yes.

So I realized that I needed to start journaling again, to help myself stay engaged. Words have always helped me more than anything else. And not just words but writing words. Writing words helps me because the action of writing words thus solidifies my thoughts. No longer am I simply wondering, I am concluding. And in order to make a decision and move forward, we have to make a conclusion about our thoughts. So, I am journaling again. But this time it's different.

I am now journaling to document what I’m learning as I’m learning it. It’s almost like taking notes but different. Instead of listening to a professor lecture, I’m reading God’s Word and listening closely to the Holy Spirit. If anything “clicks” or resonates with me, I write it down. But before I do, I ask myself, “Why is this in particular speaking to me?” And I try to figure out what exactly the passage means and is saying. Then I determine if it’s best to copy it verbatim, write down details I found from a commentary or BlueLetterBible, or change it into the explanation or the application. ALL of those really help solidify what I’m reading so I can truly glean from God’s Word. Plus, I can look back on it later and see what God has taught me or when He taught it to me.

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Personalizing verses with “I” or “If I” helps me and could help you too. It keeps the application at the forefront and helps me better internalize what I’m reading. Try it, and see the difference it can make!