Remedies For Your Winter Of Forgetfulness

Recently, I came across a box of my old stuff from years past. As my parents prep for their upcoming move, my mom found this box and gave it to me. Digging in, I sorted through old baseball cards, yearbooks….and a spiritual journal from the summer of 1999.

Journal Like Its 1999

What was happening in that summer of 1999? As I was about to begin my senior year of high school, what was I writing and praying about?

Going through the pages of what I written so many years ago, I was struck by the goodness of God.

Some of the entries I found:

• A prayer of thankfulness for seeing my parents hit 25 years of being married in August of ’99. Now, by God’s grace, I’ve seen them hit 50 years together. They are still together and honoring God.

• A prayer for my older brother who was navigating college life. He made it and it still a great brother, father, husband, uncle, and many other things.

• A prayer of thanks for answered prayer request of mine. I had just begun dating Jessica who would become my wife four years later.

• A prayer for one of my best friends as we were about to begin our senior year together. He has since gone on to do great things in key roles for the Kansas City Chiefs and their multiple Super Bowls.

• A prayer of thankfulness for the mercy I had received from my parents for breaking curfew (a whole separate story for another day!). This moment was instrumental in me not just “learning” a Biblical truth but experiencing it.

While I sigh at my poor penmanship in that journal, I am grateful to have come across it again. My heart was so full of praise for all that God was doing in my life then and all He would continue to do from 1999 – 2025 as I write this. I was staring at a record of His goodness.

What Is It?

I’ve written before about the spiritual discipline of journaling. You can read that series here in Part One   and Part Two  . I believe it is one of the best spiritual disciplines you can develop as you seek to grow in your walk with Christ.

What exactly is a spiritual journal? It is NOT a diary. It is NOT just a collection of how you are feeling. Instead, it is a way to capture daily Bible intake, prayer requests, prayers, learning, application, etc.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it. My method has evolved and changed through the years. Looking back at those entries from ’99, I see how sparse it was. I was writing out the verse I was in for each day and my prayer for the day. Since then, I’ve grown to do other stuff with it. My journals are simply a way for me to write and catalog my daily walk with Christ. 

To be clear, keeping a spiritual journal is NOT required to be a Christian. It doesn’t mean I’m “super Christian guy” for doing so. Actually, reading back over past entries, I can see prayers of confession, repentance, etc BECAUSE I am so NOT that guy. I am a sinner who needs grace every day. That is part of why I do it. 

 The Winter Of Forgetfulness

In that two-part series, I use Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s quote about keeping a journal. I feel it’s good enough to share once more. She says:

“There is, of course, always the personal satisfaction of writing down one’s own experiences so they may be saved, caught, and pinned under glass, hoarded against a winter of forgetfulness. Time has been cheated a little, at least, in one’s own life.”

I have seen this to be a strong reason in my own life for continuing to journal my spiritual walk. There have been times of great discouragement, gnawing doubts, bitterness, apathy, and all manner of hard times in my years.

I’ve found the enemy loves to bring about a Winter of forgetfulness. Times when I forget God’s goodness. Times when I forget God’s promises. Times when I forget God’s blessings. Times when I forget God’s truths.

One healing remedy I have found is to page back through my old journals and REMEMBER what God has done. I am greatly helped to see where God has answered prayers before or moved in unexpected ways I never saw coming. Essentially, my old journals are a warm fire in the middle of a winter of forgetfulness. 

Have You Tried It?

If you’ve never ventured into the discipline of spiritual journaling – give it an honest effort. Try it for a full year. The costs are minimal as you want them to be, but the benefits might surprise you.

Have you kept a spiritual journal before? What benefits have you seen? What’s your method? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading.  Your comments and insights are always welcomed.  If you enjoyed this, please share it.  Want more content?  Check the archives, my youtube channel, or listen to me on the Cross-Cutting Culture Podcast.