I am sharing from one of my special journals today. This “Big Binder” holds my Thanksgiving to New Years yearly Journal as well as sections for some I keep for my Easter/Lent journey! I started this special endeavor in 2005 and if you are not a journal keeper yet, I highly recommend keeping this wonderful kind of journal which is a great way o preserve moments, memories, family traditions and spiritual growth through the years.
Some of my entries are long, some very short. But I always try to write a bit daily. If I don’t, no worries. It all balances out in the end. At the end of my entries I include the names of those people I am praying for with the specific prayer right under their name- it captures a snapshot of their lives at the time as well I now realize as I have been reading through! Specific circumstances and prayer concerns are much easier to find in theses journals as they are so much neater than my handwritten scribbles which tend to go on and on in a seamless life long letter!
Well, hope you enjoy “peeking” in my journal.
See you next month, and maybe you can share your
Thanksgiving to Christmas journal in a Random Journal Day in the future!
**************************************************************************
November 25, 2011
Day after Thanksgiving
Well, here it is the day after Thanksgiving.
Hard to believe I am starting another of my Thanksgiving to New Year journals.
But , here I am doing just that. Lord, I do have much for which to be grateful, as I start this journal and ponder the past year.
I am thinking of a passage from Job (1:20-22) today:
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.
Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Lord, how could I do anything but praise you.
You are God!
I am but the work of your hand.
Loved, belonging to you.
Lord, I am not like Job, in that so often
I have doubted you.
I have grumbled and complained
instead of given praise and thanksgiving.
I pull back from trusting you in the heat of the moment.
Sometimes, I am still led astray by my own passions.
Yet you know my heart’s desire is to follow you.
Therefore I trust in your forgiveness.
I trust in that way that you have made in my Jesus.
I hold out my hands to receive the grace I am unworthy of, yet lost without.
Thank you for mercy, love, faith and forgiveness.
Thank you for your faithfulness in the face of my lack,
neediness and sin.
I think about the journey of this year and all
you have given and also what you have deemed should be taken away.
I accept all as it has all come from your hand.
Lord,
thank you for the wonderful Thanksgiving
I shared with my family yesterday.
Even though it was quiet and small- it was so good.
Thank you that despite an evening “fail”,
you redeemed the night and it was good.
 |
| The nice thing about this journal is it is a snapshot of the same time of year captured with little details often forgotten. |
 |
| I keep favorite quotes I happen upon in this big binder. |
 |
| Depending on my wordiness the average is about 25-30 pages for each section of Thanksgiving to Christmas. |
Join in for our
sharing-
all month long!
Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
Enjoyed this.
LikeLike
Wonderful idea and tradition. Bless you!
LikeLike
Love, love, love this!! May have to steal it. I've an Advent one OR a Lenten one but have never gone straight through. Powerful.
LikeLike
Really like this post Dawn and I love how you put quotes in your journal, I do that to at times but your journal is so nice and neat etc mine you would hardly be able to read my scrawl 🙂
LikeLike
wow, your journal is beautiful, and yes, the details are often forgotten and it is wonderful to go back and remember, isn't it?
LikeLike