Rare Finds: Journals & Prairie Chick Flicks

Flick Finds
I have been a bit burdened by school work and thinking about the future, so I haven’t been doing much of the writing I enjoy this week. However, I did want to share that I discovered the Hallmark movies for Love Comes Softly, Love’s Enduring Promise and Love’s Long Journey etc. on YouTube. They are very fun movies if you’re a fan of that “Little House on the Prairie” type storyline, which it so happens, I am.



So, take a click when you want to unwind. Just type in any of those titles in the search box and they’ll pop right up.

Journal Shopping
In other news, it appears I really have lost my most recent journal. I had been journaling in it since October, but it’s officially gone. I wonder if it accidentally slipped into an archives box while I was closing shop at work – Eek, the very thought is super embarrassing!

I already lost my journal on a train to Philadelphia once. It was after a crazy ordeal. I had missed a flight the night before and thus had to be on the train at an ungodly hour. So, after writing I slipped the journal in the pocket of the seat in front of me and drifted off to sleep. I awoke with a start when the train folks were yelling that we’d arrived in Philly. So I dashed off half-asleep and without it. When I discovered it missing my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach, but the Lord was merciful and months later I found it in my mailbox.

Anyway, I’m not sure I’ll have the same fate this time around so I went on a journey to pick out my new journal with my dear friend Melissa. You would have thought I was deliberating on a supreme court case, the way I was analyzing which journal would be my next. Melissa validated my thoroughness though.

I need a journal that invites me to confide in it. The pages have to be smooth enough to absorb a variety of inks. Not have any coercive, bold lines - Preferably not have any lines or have grid (organized chaos) and must have a cover that “feels like” this season of life. I have to be able to envision it with me at a coffee shop or resting on my night stand. I finally settled on this one:



Isn’t it lovely? It’s called “Butterflies”. Butterflies are often a symbol of new life so I’m hoping it means the same for the season that shall be chronicled in its criteria-meeting pages. Its pages are lined, but they are faint enough to ignore if I wanted to. And it has a built in pocket in the back cover for fortune cookie slips, ticket stubs or what not.

I first began journaling when I was about 9 and I think it's a great habit to cultivate. My cousin forbade herself from keeping one in order to never have a record of her misgivings. But embarrassing as it sometimes is, I rather like going back in time to see how much I have changed and mostly to see how faithful God has been to either rescue me from a hard time or to bring my wildest dreams into reality.

It seems the Bible is always begging us to remember. In Deuteronomy, the Lord often commands the people of Israel to remember how He saved them from Egypt. In 1 Samuel 7:12, the stone of Ebenezer is introduced as an icon of remembrance as it means, "Thus far has the LORD helped us".

I consider journaling as a kind of Ebenezer. It’s important for the purpose of documenting God’s faithfulness as well as helping us (especially girls) sort our hearts out. I used to journal just to write my thoughts, which is valuable in and of itself, but the older I get the more I find myself using it to pray through things in my life. I just start writing and before I know it, I’m pouring my heart out to the Lord. It feels a lot more purposeful to get all the ickiness or inspiration out and with someone who cares infinitely more than anyone else does and who can actually do something about the things that weigh on my heart.

So, do you keep a journal? How long have you been writing in it? Are you as particular as me when searching for the right one? Do you add anything fun to your journal? I had a friend who canvassed her journal with photos and quotes and what not.

Here is a pro-journaling scripture verse (in my opinion) to mediate on as you go forward:

1 Chronicles 16:11-12
“Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered…”