Every New Year’s Day I read back through my quiet time journal from the previous year. It takes a while, but what else does one have to do on New Year’s Day?  Thanksgiving and Christmas are behind us, and the day is often quiet and still. It is a good time to sit, read, reflect, and remember.

After Mark, my husband, passed away, I would often read through his quiet time journals at night before bed. They spanned the years from 1984, when he came to Christ, until the last day he was able to physically write down his thoughts and what God had revealed to him each day. I consider Mark’s and my journals to be treasures. Treasures are defined as valuable or precious possessions of any kind, something of great worth.

What makes these journals valuable, precious, and of great worth are the truths God revealed to us each day of that year, and the prayers, many forgotten, that God divinely answered. Life pushes us forward at such a pace that we often fail just to remember what we did the day before. A few years ago, while reading through the Bible, the word remember leapt off the page. I began to highlight each verse where it appeared.

One of the greatest weaknesses of the children of Israel was their inability to remember how God had watched over them and provided for them. The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from the power of the enemies around them (Judges 8:24 ESV). God knows our propensity toward forgetting, so He says throughout His word: Remember. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth…(1 Chronicles 6:12 ESV).

In reading through my journal of 2022, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness in watching over me as well as His provisions for the ministry. I will remember the deeds of the Lord;    yes, I will remember your wonders of old (Psalm 77:11 ESV). I will forever remember God’s faithfulness to Mark and me over this now fifteen year journey!

If you are not in the habit of journaling, I want to encourage you to buy a journal and begin recording the truths God reveals to you each day from His Word, and the prayers you are asking Him to answer. Next year, as you read back through you will be reminded of the many ways God divinely answered your prayers; you will be encouraged by the truths that God revealed and planted in your heart. 

Your journal will become a valuable and precious book of remembrances!

God’s richest blessings for the New Year!

Dianne