“Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.”
Lamentations 2:19 NLT
Most days after school, I spent fifteen minutes writing notes to God. I think I was twelve or thirteen. I didn’t even call myself a Christian then. But every afternoon, I peeled open a small, light-blue journal and begged God for friends.
There was a group of girls who gave themselves a special name, and being part of their group was the hope of every junior high girl I knew. So I’d sit down and scribble my heart out to God: God, please let me be invited into this group. When I see so-and-so after fifth period, please let her ask me to join.
Day after day after day.
Finally, at some point, I gave up. I gave up on hoping to be invited in and on whether or not God cared. What I didn’t realize is that before I gave up, I’d been building a little habit.
Years later, it was almost instinctual for me to open up a journal and write my heart out. The God I wondered about years before — the One I thought didn’t care and didn’t answer me, the One I was pouring my heart out to — was the One I now knew. And I already knew how to talk to Him! Throughout those years of honesty and unanswered prayers, I was building a posture I had no idea I would come back to like a muscle with memory.
Think about your most honest journal entry. What if you addressed it to God?
God wants our honest feelings. Our emotions and true thoughts aren’t too much. They aren’t a liability; they are a pathway to intimacy and true growth.
The anxiety and worries that wake us in the night have a welcome place to go. The contents of our hearts do not have to stay inside and hidden. What would you say to God if you were twelve or thirteen again? What would you say if you knew God’s ears and heart were wide, wide open?
by Tasha Jun, as published in 100 Days of Strength in Any Struggle
You can’t do this life on your own . . . and you’re tired of trying. You need evidence that God is still present and good when everything around you tries to convince you otherwise. You need help and encouragement to keep going when the one next step is simply too much. We get it.
100 Days of Strength in Any Struggle will take you on a journey of learning to see God clearer and to know Him deeper in the middle of your struggles. As you experience pain, move through daily challenges, or get bogged down by anxieties big or small, you’ll learn to find Him right in the middle of it, ready to strengthen you and give you rest.
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Dear (in)courage……..Loved to read the devotion this morning. I have that book and I am going through it for the 3rd time and it is enlightening what I journaled the first time and how much more I had learned when I wrote the second time. Now the third time, I have really have so much more spiritual growth and that makes me smile. All of your devotions teach me or remind me of things I didn’t know or had slipped my mind. I feel as if my communication with God has gotten much more honest.I have quite a few serious problems, but He is working on them. I know that. The one thing that I still have to work on is being more patient in the wait. I realize that God has His plans for each of us, but sometimes I worry that He hasn’t heard me.It seems like I face one problem after another, but these are opportunities to make ourselves stronger and take that next step. I still cry about not being allowed to see or talk to my one grandchild who will be 15 next week and it has been over 4 years since his parents have allowed me any communication. I pore out my heart to God at least once every day and I have been given some peace to try and wait. I urge anyone reading this comment if you have anything that is really upsetting to please get this book if you can as it really does help whatever it might be that is frightening or emotionally upsetting to you. Once again, thank you so very much to the (in) courage women’s community for writing this devotion. I wish all a blessed weekend as to me I do think that God sent you to me by way of my Holy Spirit who nudged me to look at this web site when it appeared on my computer. Love always……….Betsy Basile
Tasha,
I would ask God to guide my paths in school. Assist me in choosing the right classes. Teach me to be a better Christian. Since that time I have grown as a Christian. I lay everything on His shoulders- all my emotions, hurts, & worries. My prayers come late at night when I awaken, on the way to & from work & in the shower. My earnest prayer right now is the song Different by Micah Tyler.
I wanna be different I wanna be changed ‘Til all of me is gone And all that remains
Is a fire so bright The whole world can see That there’s something different
So come and be different In me
Blessings 🙂