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TIPS FOR BEGINNERS#Journalingpart2

I feel like I am on an adventure and it excites me to know someone else will be coming along. Who wants to get started? Let us set our hearts and our pages on fire by displaying the beauty of His word. 

While journaling, a lot of people aim to attain layouts which will be sensible, well structured and at the same time appealing over the years. I am a huge advocate of this but remember, it is all about the Word of God. I hope the few tips shared below will get you started. 

Basic essentials
  1. Bible
  2. Notebook
  3. Pen
Bonus materials (optional; you can do without)
  1. Sticky Notes
  2. Glue
  3. Gel pens
  4. Washi tape
  5. Stickers.
  6. Highlighters

GET YOUR OWN STRUCTURE

PART A

You can use the 1st page of the notebook to write down the scripture you are reading from and what you draw from the scripture i.e the major highlights and observations from the story. Here you can include tips we learnt from the previous article : plot, character study, key words, comparisons and cross referencing.

https://www.christmyanchor.com/growing-your-spiritual-appetite-studying-the-word/

Let the scripture sink in and fully immerse yourself by noting the events. 

While you write,you are free to include headings or titles, bullets, numbers, shapes or  diagrams to allow you to have some organization on your page and to aid in visualization of the story of the Bible. Where applicable, change the pen color if you want some statements to “pop out” on your page when you read through later. If your page is already fully used and you are restricted from flipping over, attach sticky notes at the edge or wherever you see fit. There is truly no “right way” to use any of your material. 

PART B

This is where the actual purpose of journaling gets to feature. This is where you pause, process and pray. I would suggest you flip to the next page of your notebook to give you extra space or you could continue with the initial page if you wish . 

On this page, you will focus on filtering your life through the word that you just studied. You have read using “spiritual lenses” and when you focus that lens on your life, what do you see? It has now ceased to be about the characters of the story and is all about you and what God is saying to you. But remember, we do not try to find ourselves in the Bible, we allow God’s word to build itself on our lives. 

Pick words that stood out for you. It could be obedience, sacrifice, honor, holy  Focus and think about those for a moment; Is it a word you want to define you? Is there a lesson you learn? Is there an experience that occurred in your life recently that has been dealt with using that word? Write that down. You can bold it, change color if you’re feeling fancy lol. Just play around with it. Just flow and write what God will lay on your heart. It could be prompts, praises or prayers

Was there a specific verse that stood out or was impressed on your heart by the Holy Spirit? What was the verse?  Write it. You can break it down and look for the interpretation and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal or you can choose to write it down for memorizing. My advice? Do both. Write it down in different translations if you can. You can create a box for it so that it pops out on that page and will be clear when you go through. It’s what I do most times and it has helped with my memorizing habit. 

The reason I encourage someone to use some sort of organization (the bullets, shapes etc) is so that the words won’t be all crowded together and you have to read entirely every time. Write it in a way that if you scheme through your journal the day after you will see phrases that call to mind the lesson you learnt without having to go through the entire story yet again. 

Someone is probably wondering, Won’t the flow of meditating get caught up in changing of pens and structure? Isn’t that too much work? Won’t I loose my focus if I start looking for the next pen to use? If you focus your attention on the pen and the neatness of the page, my guess is you will loose your thought process. Remember, the core purpose is to write down God’s word anyhow. These tips are just meant to aid in your structuring. With time, you get the hang of it such that even as you reach out for a pen , you are still processing( I can testify) and you just don’t give much attention to the pen, how you use it or how the page looks like. I do not always decide the colors I use in advance, I just grab what I see and it flows…because my FOCUS is on THE WORD!

I want to make it as practical as it can get for you so I will attach some pages of my journal which I use during my quiet time but I will still refer you to check some amazing layouts on Pinterest or better yet, just wing it. (P.S I intentionally blurred some areas, I don’t want you peeking at my confessions and dialogue with God  lol. It is my PART B of the journal . Also, please don’t judge lol. While a video would have been the best option, I hope my attempt with the images will suffice)

 

From the “personal gallery” up there, I hope you have made some observations such as: 

  1. I am carefree
  2. Each page is different- the structure is varying; which should show you I don’t go in analyzing how it should look like. 
  3. Some words “pop out” e.g Rehoboth and it is always a reminder whenever I flip through that God will make room for me like He did in Gen 26:22 that the people didn’t quarrel over a well again. Holy, Chosen, Special Treasure is like a love letter from God to me that I want to always remember. I equally do a lot of highlighting just to emphasize a point.
  4. I can do the most with my pages ha ha (the colors) and I can equally do the basic work with one pen. Believe me when I say, I tried to select some reasonable pages lol .
  5. I still have a lot to learn. I know this is still an amateurs work and it can definitely get more definitive structures but hey, I have started and it is working. 

This is just one phase of journaling that I enjoy sharing and I hope you have learnt a thing or two. If you prefer to skip a step or it is too much work , please skip Part A but do not miss out on Part B. I plead with you brethren. I urge you to please keep in mind the goal and to use the basic essentials. Part one link  https://www.christmyanchor.com/bible-study-journalingpart1/

Christ My Anchor borders around this goal amongst others: to help build consistency in your quiet time by launching resources such as Bible Study Journals which we custom made for your use that are simple and efficient. We will talk about this in another post after it’s launch Excited? COMING SOON !!

You are light and you are so loved.

May His light shine in you and through you and in everything you do. Do not stay hidden. Let Him be glorified. 

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7 thoughts on “TIPS FOR BEGINNERS#Journalingpart2

    1. Oh yeah? Super excited for you. It will get even more fulfilling once you begin. Can’t wait to hear you experience
      Thank you so much for your feedback.
      ❤❤

  1. Beautifull Beautiful!! I have seen you live this and everyday I see a better version of you❤️❤️,thanks for this, every christian needs to journal… there is a lot that God desires to communicate to us. Sometimes three years later we see Him fulfilling His word that we can only remember if we wrote it down.

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