My Day One Blessing Journal Entry ~Mary Joy
Welcome to Week two of our Blessing Journal Challenge!
This article will be divided into three parts:
1– A devotion/sharing from how God has been working in my life this week.
2– Five Days of suggestions for Journal entries for Adults
3– Five Days of suggestions for Journal entries for Children
I hope this helps and encourages you in your journaling.
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Devotion/Sharing
As I look back on this week, I am humbled and awed at how God was present with me each step of the way…even when I didn’t realize it until afterward.
It has been a rough week for me…my life can be very messy…as most of life can be at times.
I found myself getting overwhelmed, feeling lonely, and discouraged mixed in with moments of excitement, joy, and feeling so loved. It was a week of roller coaster emotions and experiences. Someone in our house has been sick for the past two weeks and then a week before that the stomach flu hit our house. We had made it more than six months with no illness and then got hit hard this past month. This week, it was my turn.
The nights and days of taking care of littles who were sick, sleepless nights attempting to sleep on the couch with one of them on the loveseat a.cross from me and the other right around the corner in his room so that I could keep an eye on them…had caught up with me. I was exhausted, feeling physically out of sorts, battling burning pain in my upper back, and just feeling overwhelmed…which all resulted in me losing my losing my cool and coming unglued with the boys. No matter what I did, we encountered issue after issue…schooling issues…parenting issues…whining issues…runny noses…fevers…and I didn’t see how I could hang on one more day.
Did God really think I could do this life without my husband at my side?
Was He serious???
How could I possibly survive this let alone wade through the challenges of parenting, homeschooling, finding an ounce of structure during days of illness, or find an ounce of strength or energy for that matter??!!!
I was lonely…discouraged…frustrated…overwhelmed. I needed help!
I got on Facebook and poured out my heart. A dear friend saw my post and wrote me a private message. She spent time encouraging me, listening to me, empathizing…and then got practical and said, “Mary let’s figure out a plan to get you through this.”
Do you know that is exactly what my husband would have done had he been here with me? ((tears))
Once again God answered my prayers. I knew He was here but I needed a flesh and blood person to talk things out with…I had cried out for just this and once again God answered with a friend who I have known since college. We talked it out, came up with a workable plan and she committed to pray for me this week and check in with me periodically to see how I am doing.
He hears and answers our cries!
With all of the illness and bad weather around our place, we haven’t been able to get to church for the past two Sundays and this Sunday isn’t looking good at the moment if I can’t get my fever down. I treasure my Sunday mornings with my church family. My Will had an office/studio here at our house. He was home with us almost every day. Our days were filled with amazing conversation, mutual help and encouragement, walking our journeys together. I miss that a lot and I have been praying for more opportunities to build relationships with other Christian women and have encouraging conversation at times other than just Sunday morning that works with our schedule. (Evenings are tough for me due to pain and exhaustion being worse at that time of day.)
Monday night I got another message on Facebook from another friend. This one lives just a few miles from me. She invited me to join her Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study group who are starting a Beth Moore Deuteronomy Study this coming week. They provide babysitting and don’t have a problem with Josh coming along for that since he is homeschooled. Wow!
Once again God was right on time!
Later that night I came across this verse from Isaiah…
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 NLT
Wow! It was as if He was speaking directly to my cries to Him that night. I knew right then it would be my verse for Day One of my Blessing Journal.
Throughout the week, God found ways to directly answer prayers through providing for our physical needs…providing for companionship and conversation and support through friends…providing strength to get through each day and night…providing wisdom and confirmation through friends sharing their own experiences with me…His wisdom even speaking to me in a Christian novel I was reading this week.
But above all, I began to use the time I struggled to sleep at night calling out to Him and then finally shutting my mouth and opening my ears and heart to hear His voice…His wisdom…His forgiveness…His encouragement…His presence.
The reason I committed to myself to create a Blessing Journal this year was to help me to stay focused on the blessings in my life and getting the focus off of myself more and more and listen to His leading to bless others…help others…encourage others.
But I know myself well enough to know that if I didn’t have some accountability with it, the Blessing Journal would be another project that got a great start and then set aside…and this time it could mean that the fog of depression that I struggle to overcome on a daily basis would have a better chance of surrounding me.
Focusing on my blessings helps me more than I can describe. It shines a light on how God is actively working in my life every single day…even on especially on the days when I am struggling the most.
I hope me sharing my journey with my Blessing Journal on Blessing Journal Fridays gives you some hope and encouragement that in the midst of whatever you are facing…whatever challenges…pain…heartache…depression…trials…success…the daily messiness of life…God’s Grace is right there with you.
Each week starts off with delving into God’s Word for a reason. If we take the verse or passage from Day One with us as we work our way through the messiness of life the rest of the week, we just might be amazed at how real His Words become…how relevant and powerful.
So how did your first week go? Did you get a rocky start? Forget to start? No problem!
The beauty of this Blessing Journal journey is that there is no such thing as being behind! Each day you start where you are. No need to catch up! No feeling guilty to worry about what someone might “think of you” for missing a few days or a week. Just get back up. Dust yourself off and continue on.
So on that note…let’s get started with Week Two.
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Blessing Journal Entries for Adults
Day One Spend some time in God’s Word and find a verse or a passage that speaks to your heart about how His GRACE is real and there for you every single day. Write it down as a journal entry or in a creative, artsy craftsy way. Whatever works for you. Each of us is different. How you do it isn’t as important as that you take the time to write it down to remember. If you are in a Blessing Journal Group take a moment to share your verse with the rest of the group to encourage them too. If you are not in a group, find someone to share it with who might find some encouragement from it too. You can even share it on the Unwrapping His Grace Facebook Page if you want to! We would love to hear about it!
Day Two Write down the definition of Grace. Take a moment to look back over your day and see how God blessed you with His Grace during a challenging time during this day or the last few days. Write a few sentences telling about what happened so that you will remember how He was with you.
Day Three Write a prayer of thanks to God for His gift of Grace. Don’t make it complicated…make it real. Remember prayer is conversation with God. It isn’t about fancy language. Thank Him for three things from that day or three things you learned or three times you felt him with you.
Day Four Ask God to show you a relationship or situation in which you may not have treated someone with the same gift of Grace that He offers you. Then take a few moments and ask Him to forgive you and help you to remember He loves you with grace no matter what you do and we need to do the same with the people in our lives and soak in His amazing gift of forgiveness. Write a journal entry about this experience of feeling the forgiving grace of God.
Day Five Think about a relationship in your life in which you struggle to handle with His Grace. Do you tend to be short with people (your husband, other adults or your children if you have any) when you are tired or frustrated? Is it hard for you to extend the same forgiveness that God extends to you when someone does something that upsets you or pushes your buttons? Make a point to find an opportunity to offer them forgiveness or gentle response to them instead of how you might usually respond to them today. Journal about it after you have done it. How do you feel while doing it? How do you feel afterward?
If you do not have children or if they are not participating in this please skip down to the bottom of this article now.
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Blessing Journal Entries for Children
Day One Spend some time reading your Bible to find verses about God’s Grace. Find one about how His GRACE is real and there for you every single day. Write it down as a journal entry or in a creative, artsy craftsy way. Whatever works for you. Each of us is different. How you do it isn’t as important as that you take the time to write it down to remember. Share it with your family.
Day Two Write down the definition of Grace. Have your parent(s) help you if you need it. Take a moment to look back over your day and see how God blessed you and blessed you even when you may not have deserved it today or in the last few days. Write a few sentences telling about what happened so that you will remember how He was with you.
Day Three Write a prayer of thanks to God for His gift of Grace. Don’t make it complicated…make it real. Remember prayer is conversation with God. It isn’t about fancy language. Thank Him for three things from that day or three things you learned or three times you felt him with you.
Day Four Ask God to show you a relationship or situation in which you may not have treated someone with the same loving response God gives you when you do something wrong. Then take a few moments and ask Him to forgive you and help you to remember He loves you with grace no matter what you do and we need to do the same with the people in our lives and soak in His amazing gift of forgiveness. Write a journal entry about this experience of feeling the forgiving grace of God.
Day Five Think about a relationship in your life in which you struggle to handle with His Grace. Do you tend to be short with people (your parents, other adults, your friends or brothers and sisters) when you are tired or frustrated? Is it hard for you to extend the same forgiveness that God extends to you when someone does something that hurts your feelings or makes you angry? Make a point of responding to them with kindness when you want to snap back at them or to forgive them when it is hard to do. Journal about it after you have done it. How do you feel while doing it? How do you feel afterward?
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in a comment here or send me a message on Facebook at Unwrapping His Grace.
I hope you find these entry guides helpful. If they don’t work for you write about what the Lord is putting on your heart that day. Just remember, the idea is to stay focused on how He is real and present in the middle of the messiness of our lives and let that bring us hope!
Have a great week!
I would love to hear how things went for you this past week if you would like to share with me in the comments here! Each of your comments makes my day!
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Dancing at the foot of the Cross,
Mary Joy
Be sure to come back for Encouragement in His Word on Sunday and Marriage Mondays for more encouragement along our journeys. God bless you!
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