I was walking through the ashes of what was once our home. I saw my journal lying in the debris. I picked it up, Gordon McDonald’s words from “Ordering Your Private World” running through my mind, “If my house were on fire and I could only save one item, it would be my journal.”
I had read “Ordering Your Private World” a few months before that fateful day in February 1989. Little did I realize how real that sentence would become.
We lost almost everything we owned that day.
Living in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, we were use to windstorms. But this one was different. The temperature dropped well below freezing. The winds were strong enough to knock out power and water, and strong enough to stir up a fire in our chimney. The wind chill factor that day was -50 degrees.
I had taken Debbie and the kids to a friend’s house and went to work. Two hours later I received a phone call, “Jeff, I don’t know how to tell you this, but your house is on fire.”
We could only watch and cry. It was so cold the water on the fire trucks froze. The firemen could only watch.
So much has changed since that day. We rebuild our home. God gave us “beauty for ashes.” Things that were lost have been replaced. New memories have been made. God has been so faithful.
One thing has not changed – I am still passionately committed to keeping a journal. Here are some of the reasons why:
- Journaling causes my mind to slow down enough to hear God. God is old and He is slow. He speaks at a “slow frequency.” I cannot hear Him in the rush and the noise I am surrounded with. He speaks in a “still, small voice.” Journaling causes my mind to slow down enough to hear His frequency.
- Journaling helps me clarify my priorities and what I am working through. It is true; thoughts untangle themselves when they pass through the pen. Many times I have unwrapped problems and opportunities by journaling about them.
- Journaling helps me keep a record of what God has said and what God has done in and through my life. My journal is a witness to the grace of God in my life. Sometimes I need to go back to that witness and get a good testimony.
“Ordering Your Private World,” taught me far more than just journaling. It is the one book outside the Bible that has most shaped my life. It helped me determine what was important. It taught me how to cultivate the garden of my soul. And it showed me how to keep the main thing the main thing.
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. ~ Oscar Wilde
What books have most shaped your life? What books do you plan to read this coming year to continue cultivating the garden of your soul? I would love to hear from you. Post a comment below.
Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
