Friday, December 23, 2016

The Journal Challenge is Back!



If you've been following my blog, you know that I've done a Journal Challenge back in 2012! The purpose was to encourage women to get back to a place of prayer and focus on the Lord. I want to do another journal challenge for the month of January to get us started for the new year. I believe that the Lord is pouring out His spirit on His daughters to accomplish their purpose. I also believe that distractions and the temptation to quit will also be present. It's so important that we stay focused on the Lord, refuse to quit and to keep TRUSTING Him no matter what.

I started this journal challenge because I realize that at times, we have a hard time spending time with God daily.  BUT if we had a flight to Hawaii every morning at 5am that was an all expense paid trip.. we would be at the airport on time. We would MAKE time to pack & check in on time. Let's make SPENDING time with GOD a priority.

How amazing is it that thousands of us will journal & write our "day" that we're on.  So, January 1st will be "Day 1" and you will continue to note what day you are on. (Example, January 15th will be Day 15) and it's not for show- it's us spending time with God daily and letting Him change us from the inside out. Writing the day on your journal is ONLY for accountability.

So, what will you need?

  • A Journal! (I must add that the Pinky Promise Store has some fabulous journals - but find one that works for you!)
  • Notecards! I swear by notecards! I use these often as it does something to your brain as you write down the scriptures. Then, I meditate on them throughout the day. So write out the scriptures longhand-- based on what God places on your heart to study & to meditate on.
  • Here's an example of how you'll start your journal. I always start mine with "Dear Daddy"-- and be sure to write the CONSISTENT day. The point of this journal challenge is to get you to be consistent in spending time with God daily. So day 1, day 2, day 50, day 56.. etc.
  • Your favorite bible. I like to study with a few bibles. I love The Life Application Bible- NLT version. I purchased it from a Lifeway Christian store. It's a GREAT study bible that breaks stuff down and also love the Dakes King James Version Bible. 
How do I journal?!
Ok, so now that you have all of the materials, you may ask, "how do I journal?" What do I say?! As I blogged before with "How to Spend Time With God"  - so be sure to read that entire blog if you're joining this challenge. But to answer your question - I look at my journal like my diary to God. I just pour out what is in my heart. I thank Him for being God, I tell Him I love Him and what is going on in my life & my struggles. 

Prior to journaling my heart out to the Lord - I like to put on worship music and dance to him, sing, cry out, pray in the Holy Spirit, pray in English and this helps to soften my heart and unclutter my spirit. I don't want to go into the presence of the Lord, meditating on worries and fears. After that, I sit down/lay down and I begin to write, I start with "Dear Daddy" and I pour my heart out. Then, I sit and wait for Him to respond and He typically starts out speaking to me by saying, "My beautiful daughter, or I love you so much Heather." Then, He begins to speak into my heart about my life and I write everything down. Then, there are times where I don't hear anything directly from Him - but I still just sit there and rest in Him while worshipping Him with my words. 

Then, I open my bible to spend time with Him. My husband taught a GREAT study on "How to Study the Bible" - you can watch it before the challenge starts if you find yourself stuck in how to study the bible. I study my bible based on what is going on in my life or whatever the Lord leads me to study. Most times, He tells me to go to certain books in the bible and I study from there. 

So the challenge starts WHENEVER you read these words if it's after January 1, 2017. (You can of course start now as we should be spending time with the Lord daily but the Day 1 will be January 1st so we are all doing it together!)  You could be reading this a month after todays date.. but I challenge you to get started in TODAY. The beautiful thing about this time is that you don't have to only do 30 days - instead, you can do 60, 100 or 300 days. 

Before I close out -  know that satan is gonna attack you. You'll be sleepy, too busy, or whatever else. Remember that you'll desire WHAT you give your attention too. So shut your phone off, Facebook & the TV. No distractions.

You can subscribe via www.pinkypromisemovement.com under "connect" to stay in the loop! :)

Let's go!! It starts on January 1st! 

God loves YOU like CRAZY!

Heather Lindsey





19 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the confirmation to get alone with GOD. He has been instructing me this month during my lunch break at work to do so. Contin to be spirit led. GOD bless.

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  2. Let's warm up. Can't wait to start. I am with you 100%

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  3. So excited to read this. I love to write to Him after worship, praying in the Spirit or just thinking about His goodness, and then i always have a response from Him... where He starts with 'Precious child' or something sweet.I started thinking maybe I was the one writing back to me, telling me all those things. But I'm glad to know someone else writes His response same way as I do... Confident I'm on track.

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  4. I'm excited and can not wait to start this challenge I pray I intentionally spend time with God 365 days of 2017!! Please pray that throughout 2017 I will not be distracted, make excuses or get lazy when I don't spend time with God!! I pray all the women doing this challenge with grow in Christ and develop a stronger relationship in Christ! Thanks for obeying God heather!! Love you!

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  5. I'm excited about this! I did something similar several years ago. I called it my SWAGG challenge: 30 days of selflessness and it includes journaling in my daily devotions. Thank you for sharing this with us Heather. Have a wonderful holiday Sis!

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  6. Awesome idea! I needed to see this!

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  7. So excited @heatherllove and all my pinky promises ladies lets do this and grow closer to God��

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  8. So excited @heatherllove and all my pinky promise ladies lets do this and grow closer to God

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  9. perfect time thanks Heather.
    may God reveal his word and his heart to me and all of u ladies.

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  10. I'm super excited to be starting this journal challenge. Being able to partake in this challenge with the rest of the pinky promise ladies around the world will be an amazing experience. knowing the result in the end will lead us closer to our father.

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  11. I'm so excitex... I love flash cards...

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  12. I am so excited to start!!! :)

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  13. Thank you so much for this..You're a Blessing

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  14. This could not have come at a more perfect time. Thank you for your pure heart, Heather. Please, ladies, keep me in your prayers as I deliberately and intentionally give God my all. This will be a challenge but it is so very necessary. It's time to take it back to the basics! Living for GOD's approval and not allowing the world deter me.

    Love!

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  15. I'm stumbling upon this now....today is my day 1

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  16. I'm just now seeing this aand will be starting the Journal challenge today. I have a hard time giving Him the time He deserves so this will be the perfect way for me to get on track. Thank you 😇

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