›› The Journaling Trip

1. Buy a blank book or a spiral notebook. Write a paragraph about why you want to journal. Write a prayer asking God to guide your journey. Below are some exercises to try.
   
   
2. Suitcase Exercise. Imagine you are putting items into a suitcase. These items will help your children remember you when you are gone. What items would you choose? Write a paragraph about each item to explain what it would reveal about you.
   
   
3. Awareness Exercise. Choose a spot to relax and observe. Describe everything you see, hear, smell, taste, feel. What emotions does the scene arouse? Does God have some lessons there for you?
   
   
4. Daily Events. Write about a recent event in your life. How do you feel about it? Did you learn any lessons from it? What did it tell you about yourself? Did you see God at work in the incident? If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently?
   
   
5. Scripture Meditation. Choose a Bible verse. Read it in several versions. Copy the version you like best into your journal. Paraphrase and personalize the passage. What is God saying to you in this verse? Write a prayer of response.
   
   
6. Beauty Spot. Go for a nature walk. When you return, open your journal and paint a word picture of something beautiful you want to remember.
   
   
7. Memories. Where were you living when you were five years old? Describe your house and your favorite room. How was the house heated? Who was the center of emotional warmth? Recall something you did or something that happened to you at that age (if no memories come, choose a different age).
   
   
8. Clock Exercise. Draw a clock. Put in the numbers, but no hands. Ask yourself the question, “What time is it in my life?” Draw the hands to show that time. Write a prayer about what you want to do with the time you have left.

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Source: Dorothy Eaton Watts. Prayer Country: A Tour Guide to the Wonders of Prayer. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Boise, Idaho, 1993.