A listener named David and Bristol Connecticut writes in, Pastor John, over the years,

the DesiringGod.org website has published a few excerpts from your decades of personal

journals.

For you, what exactly is the purpose of journaling in the Christian life?

I think about journaling in two pretty distinct ways, although they overlap.

Number one is the diary kind of journal keeping.

That means that you come to the end of your day and you take a few minutes and you narrate

your life.

You just write down the important things that happen during the day and maybe some comments

about them.

Each day you sum up what happened.

And I think if you reflect on God's hand in all of that, this can be enormously valuable

as a record of God's faithfulness and a record of your own failures and successes for your

own humility and encouragement.

For example, Psalm 105 says, remember the wondrous works that God has done.

Well, goodness gracious.

How many thousands of wondrous works in my life that God has done have I forgotten?

But wouldn't it be wonderful if they were recorded and periodically I could dip in and

remind myself of God's wonderful kindness to me over the years?

Or in another Psalm 78, 7, it says, do not forget the works of God.

So remember and don't forget.

So yes to the diary kind of journaling for at least those kinds of reasons.

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