Military Wellness Collective
Military Wellness Collective is made up of four friends — two retired Marines (Joshua and Brian) turned church planters and their wives (Brittany and Kelli)— who have lived life both in uniform and on the home front. Together, we share real stories, hard-earned wisdom, and practical, biblical encouragement to help military members, and their families thrive in every season. Whether you’re navigating deployments, adjusting to life in a new town, or simply seeking hope in the middle of your military journey, our mission is to equip you with truth from God’s Word and tools for a healthy, resilient life.
Military Wellness Collective
EP-9: Journaling: Your Sacred Space for Growth
Ever felt overwhelmed by scattered thoughts and big emotions? In this intimate conversation about journaling, four friends share how the simple act of putting pen to paper has transformed their spiritual lives and helped them navigate the unique challenges of military family life.
The discussion begins with biblical foundations for journaling, drawing parallels between ancient memorial stones and modern journal entries that document God's faithfulness. While Scripture doesn't explicitly mention journaling, the Psalms essentially function as David's prayer journal, and Peter's instruction to "prepare your minds for action" speaks to how writing helps organize our thoughts.
Each person's journaling journey started differently – during college Bible studies, after hearing a powerful testimony, or during seasons of anxiety and loneliness. What emerges is a beautiful picture of how personal these rhythms become. Some maintain structured morning and evening routines beginning with gratitude; others write whenever emotions threaten to overwhelm. Some journals are neat and organized; others reflect the "hot mess express" of real life.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable for military families is understanding how journaling creates stability amid chaos. Deployments, PCS moves, and the stress of military demands can be processed safely on the page before manifesting in harmful ways. Old journals become time capsules of God's faithfulness, reminding us of past challenges overcome when current circumstances feel impossible.
For those intimidated by starting, the group offers practical encouragement: put your phone away, find a quiet moment, and simply begin. Write what you're thankful for. Write what's bothering you. Write a prayer. The hardest part is sitting down to start, but the rewards – clarity, emotional processing, deeper intimacy with God – are worth the effort.
Ready to transform your spiritual life with this ancient practice? Grab a notebook, set aside a few minutes, and discover how journaling might become your sacred space for growth and connection with God.
SHOW NOTES:
Just try it! 5 minutes a day. Some helpful places to begin
1. 3 things your grateful for
2. What did you read in your Bible?
3. What was hard today? What was a win today?
4. 3 things you delighted in today?
5. One thing you can improve tomorrow.
6. Write out your prayers.
There is NO right or wrong way to journal, the best thing to do is just start, knowing that your practice will grow, shift and change. Keep it simple. Cheers to your new habit!
http://instagram.com/militarywellnesscollective
Hey y'all, Welcome back to another episode we're going to dive in today and we're going to be talking about journaling. I am joined by Brian and Kelly O'Day.
Speaker 2:How's it going, hey, hey.
Speaker 1:And my wonderful wife Brittany.
Speaker 3:Hey, how come I don't get wonderful before my introduction? Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Sorry, you're supposed to be asking the questions today, I was sitting there thinking about what I was going to say next about the title, and then you threw that out at me.
Speaker 3:What are we talking about today? What are we?
Speaker 1:talking about. I could start throwing some stuff out there about how great it is to have you guys as friends, but now, if I do it now, it's just forced. It's like I was baiting it. You were asking for those little like oh yeah.
Speaker 3:What adjective would you use to describe me? No, I'm just kidding, Don't answer that question.
Speaker 2:What's our topic again?
Speaker 3:today, what is?
Speaker 1:the topic. Thank you, kelly. We're talking about journaling today Journaling and how writing can help you thrive.
Speaker 3:Hey shout out to Chris For real and how writing can help you thrive. Hey, shout out to Chris For real. So, man, so thankful for those who are faithfully listening to the podcast. And, man, some of our episodes, from here on out, will be in direct response to conversations we've had. And so shout out to Chris. He was texting just some feedback about the podcast and asked a question about journaling, and so we're going to talk about journaling.
Speaker 1:And for those who are listening that don't have a direct line of communication with us, you can also send us some messages through Instagram through Instagram the.
Speaker 4:Military Wellness Collective. You can find us there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4:Also through Buzzsprout, I believe you can message us through our website, so militarywellnesscollectivecom, and it'll take you to our Buzzsprout site and you can message us there.
Speaker 1:Groovy. Well, let's start this conversation off with some biblical wisdom. So, brittany, if you could dive into, I think you were in Joshua, in the book of Joshua, the only book of Joshua in the Bible. Yeah, I was in the wrong chapter but I misspoke earlier.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I'm not going to read the whole passage, but in Joshua 4, 1 through 24, and I want to be careful not to take this out of context I just want to say how the Lord used this passage in my own life to start a journaling path, because I wasn't a big journaler.
Speaker 4:And so he's telling the 12 men from the 12 tribes to God's, telling them look at all the stuff I just brought you through, go, take up some stones, pile these stones up, and then so you can look back and remember and you're going to tell your children, and your children's children are going to tell their children.
Speaker 4:And so I had read a book, and your children's children are going to tell their children. And so I had read a book, the Life-Giving Home, by Sally Clarkson, and she had mentioned how each year they had a family day and they would write out the things for family day of what God had done in their life in the past, and those were their memorial stones and they would take them out and then they kept them, so years later they could go back and see how God was moving. And that really sparked something in me to personally start journaling. Journaling to me is those memorial stones, so I don't. That's why I said I want to be careful not to take it out of context, because he's not talking about journaling here, but he was giving instruction and I saw how I could apply that to my own life, so anyway, we'll get more into that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's important to say I'm not aware of anywhere in the scriptures that the word journaling shows up, or we might see that. However, we could call the entire book of Psalms a prayer journal. These are prayers, many of them written as turned into songs, like to the choir master, to the right, and so they're turned into songs. So that would be the closest biblically is the Psalms. And so, if you're curious, how do I write out a prayer? The Psalms, and maybe some other places, would give us some like writing out prayers, which is part of what journaling is, another piece of what it is like.
Speaker 3:The passage that came to my mind was 1 Peter, 1. And Peter writes in 1 Peter, 1.13, 1.13,. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so this phrase preparing your minds for action, the English Standard Version, has a footnote that says the literal translation of that would be girding up the loins of your mind. And so, as Romans in that day would be preparing for battle, they would gird up the loins of their robe, they would tuck their robe into their belts so that they could run into battle. And so Peter is taking that concept and saying your mind has these things that encumber it as you're going into the spiritual battle and you need to gather all that up as you get ready, prepare your minds for action, gird up the loins of your mind.
Speaker 3:For me, journaling, and specifically prayer journaling, is helping me process through my thoughts. Our minds are such a fascinating realm. So many things come into our minds so quickly and we just writing it down helps us to gird up the loins of our mind, prepare our minds for action. Journaling just helps capture all those crazy thoughts that just feel like they're so scattered all the time.
Speaker 2:For sure. The first time I started journaling was when I was in college and I got involved into a Bible study and the leader she was telling me hey, as you're—because I was just telling her that I was reading the Bible for the first time like regularly in my life, and she said, great, you should write down anything that sticks out or any questions you have, because I had questions about some things, and so that's how mine started. But then it turned into this, you know, just talking to God about where I was, what I was wrestling through and, yeah, processing stuff, and now it's grown into so much more. But yeah, that's how when it started just asking questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. So that's how it started for you. What about Brian and Brittany? How, how, how did you guys start journaling? This journaling journey, we can call it?
Speaker 3:So I think I can tell you precisely.
Speaker 3:When it started, kelly and I were in college I don't know if she remembers this and the father of Rachel Joy Scott came and spoke at a campus ministry that we were a part of.
Speaker 3:Rachel Joy Scott was one of those that were murdered in the Columbine school shooting and her dad went around speaking about her testimony and he referenced her journal and the things that she had been journaling leading up to that, and so I'm a very introspectional person and so part of why I started journaling and I still have this in mind as I journal I don't think anybody in my family goes and picks up my journals and reads them now, but I do think if I die unexpectedly or whenever I die, my wife and kids will probably pick up my journals, and so I actually have that in mind as I write my journals, which is kind of maybe that's a weird thing to think about, but I can specifically remember starting a journal in response to that talk that he gave, because it was very powerful and some of the things that she wrote in her last days were very powerful.
Speaker 3:And then that's just kind of grown as we've paid attention to folks like Elizabeth Elliot and some other, just Christian leaders that have. A lot of what we know about them is from their journals. Yeah, that's good, like.
Speaker 3:a lot of biographies are written from people's journals.
Speaker 4:So true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about you?
Speaker 4:Well, when I was not a believer from the time I was probably 10 years old, maybe even earlier I had a diary with a little lock key and I have always been, maybe, a deep feeler and I didn't know what to do with those feelings, especially in childhood when there was some chaos and things happening, and so I would just write. I would say, dear diary, you know, because it was like she was my friend. I know that sounds weird, but then as I grew, I probably stopped writing as much. And when I started journaling, I can remember exactly what. We were stationed in Fargo, north Dakota, on recruiting duty and I was going through an intense bout of anxiety and I had never battled with that before.
Speaker 4:And there was a woman about my age in the church and I was confiding in her and telling her I was sleeping with my Bible. I was reading my Bible, I didn't know what to do, and she asked me if I was writing out what I was feeling like. Get it out of your head. And so I began writing and my journaling probably always starts the same I laugh like Brian.
Speaker 4:I know people, my family would probably pick it up and read it and I do have that in mind too, and I always tell our kids it'll look funny, because it starts off like this is what I'm grateful for, that's what she told me to write Three things you're grateful for. Focus on that, start writing. And so then I would just write out things and my writing always turns to prayers. So if I'm complaining or I'm upset or I'm anxious, then the Lord would always recall scripture to my mind and then I would begin praying through the scripture. So and then, like Kelly, it's grown over the years into what that looks like. But Fargo, north Dakota, was where it started.
Speaker 3:That is a great place to start. Write out. If you've never done this, grab a notebook, grab a journal, whatever it doesn't have to be fancy. Write out things you're thankful for Lord. Thank you for dot dot whatever it doesn't have to be fancy, write out things you're thankful for Lord. Thank you for dot dot dot. Starting every day, starting every morning, closing every day. Whenever you do this, starting with thanksgiving and gratitude is so helpful. There's so much in the military life that is so difficult. Let's start with gratitude. Let's start with Thanksgiving, so that's a great place to start.
Speaker 4:Which is interesting because we were on recruiting duty and I had just had my third baby, so we had three kids, three and under, and I was really struggling emotionally, mentally. Joshua was gone all the time, and that's. She told me like what are you grateful for? Are you grateful that you have a husband that provides? Are you grateful that God's given you three healthy children? You know just so, yeah, start there I agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah, putting those things into perspective and starting your day off with that, it can be so helpful to prevent people from falling into anxiety depressions. Things helpful to prevent people from falling into anxiety depressions, things that cause so many issues that just kind of creep up on people and then they fall into a dark space and they don't know how they got there.
Speaker 2:One thing I love is it is a safe space for that, but that helps us come to a place where that's how we are with the Lord too, like it's a safe place to come as we are and write out. Because I just want to say too, I am not a writer in any way. I love math.
Speaker 4:I do not like writing.
Speaker 2:I don't even like writing an email. I usually have Brian proofread emails because I'm just wording. But I I've come to love journaling because it is just my intentional time with the Lord. But I also get to come as I am and you know, god's used it in so many cool ways of to like convict me, to show me my own sin, as I'm just writing out all my feelings that are big and emotional, and there's been so many times after I finished writing I'm like, okay, I have some anger that I need to work through.
Speaker 2:Or I have a very critical heart, or I'm not loving this person. I'm not loving my husband.
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Like it. Just it's been cool to see how God's used that, but it is. It's just a safe space to process exactly where we are, and sometimes we don't. We're not ready to do that with anybody else, or it may not be a good idea to do it with anybody else. The Lord is the best place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I. So, um, again, I'm going to keep going back to this passage, because my question is how would you do that if you're not journaling? Prepare your minds for action, so like, if we jump into action too fast without processing it out with the Lord, then we're just going to lead ourselves into more and more folly, and that's not good. And so we have to have a way to prepare our minds for action, and it is it's preparing for action. Sometimes that action is to keep our mouth shut, sometimes our action is to speak, sometimes our action is to pray. Our actions could be a lot, but we really need to prepare our minds for action. So I feel like I'm making a case a little bit that you should be journaling and I've got to—so, joshua, you're not a journaler. Is that accurate?
Speaker 1:Well, first yes, that is accurate.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you being open and honest with us.
Speaker 2:I'm glad we have somebody that represents that camp.
Speaker 1:What I would like to do is define journaling a little bit, because what I've heard as we've gone around the table is here's the purpose for it, here's how we do it, and each of you has described a. You have a little booklet and you have a blank sheet of paper, and then each day, you write something. Maybe you have a sequence of questions you ask yourselves. Maybe it's a hey, I start with this. Maybe it's you start with prayers, and then you just think through what you have throughout the day. Maybe it's whatever it is.
Speaker 4:Maybe we could go through our pattern of what that looks like in a minute yeah.
Speaker 1:If you guys could go through that pattern, that'd be great. But I'd also like to point out some other ways in which people journal that aren't just you. Sit down at the same time every day with a pen and paper and write.
Speaker 3:Does that make sense? So Joshua's going to defend why he doesn't journal.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm hearing. That is what I'm going to do, but yeah, what are your guys' normal practices for journaling, like what's your timeframes and questions you ask yourselves, prayers, that kind of thing?
Speaker 4:Well, first are you going to tell us what you do, then you want me to start there? Or do you want? Oh, I guess we can answer your question first and then you can tell us how you do it, because I felt like you were going in to tell us like, okay, I might not have a pen and paper, but this is how I do it.
Speaker 1:No, I was defending myself because of Brian.
Speaker 3:He's setting himself up to defend himself. So what I do? First thing in the morning I will sit down, I do. I have a journal. It's a very plain, normal, just literally notebook with blank lines on it. I did start buying a little bit nicer ones. Somebody I was using, like the during back to school time. You can get the composition notebooks like the ones that are like white and black and they're like you know, you can get 10 for a dollar, or something, or maybe when I was a kid you could get 10 for a dollar I don't know what they cost now, but those like fall apart.
Speaker 3:And so I sit down and I literally I write the dates on the top of the page and then I write where I am, because I travel a lot and I started this when I was in the military. I mean, I still travel a fair amount, and so I write where I am, and I don't know why. That's just interesting to me. So if I'm on vacation or I'm in somewhere else, I'm traveling for my job or whatever the case is. And so if you go, look back at my journals I don't even know when I started doing that, but there's probably journals that say FOBZ, afghanistan, right. There's probably journals that say Camp Leatherneck, afghanistan, right, there's probably journals back that far, and so, anyway, so I write that and then I write what I'm gonna be reading in the Bible that day. So you know, yeah, whatever I'm reading in the Bible that day, and so, and then I start prayer journaling and literally I just do Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3:If there's something that I'm prompted to pray for that early, then I will, but usually it's just sentence God. Thank you for new mercies every morning. Lord, thank you for a great night of sleep last night, thank you for the ability to exercise this morning, thank you whatever, just thanking the Lord for things. And then I do my Bible reading and then I pray in response to my Bible reading and that'll be usually a few paragraphs and I'm like I'm writing prayers, I'm praying prayers that I'm not writing. I'm writing prayers, you know what I'm saying? Like there's a lot of back and forth. So if I write two paragraphs, I may have prayed for 20 minutes while I write some of those summary thoughts down and then I start praying for people. Recently I haven't been writing down those prayers in quite the same way, because I usually pray for that person and I text them what I've been praying for them and so it's kind of captured there. So that's kind of my process.
Speaker 1:So in general your journal Bible prayer.
Speaker 3:So in general your journal Bible prayer first thing in the morning, Okay, so most of my journaling is prayer journaling, however, in that same notebook. If I am like when I'm sitting under preaching, then I take my sermon notes in that same book. Or if I have a thought of like brainstorming, strategizing, something, that's in that book as well. So it's chronicling my life a little more than just it. Mine's not a strict prayer journal. It has some other stuff in it, yeah.
Speaker 3:So that book you're carrying around, you're not just leaving it you know Literally my Bible and my little black notebook is just about with a pen, is just about. It's hard for me to walk into anything without those two things. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ladies, what are your normal regular rhythm for these things?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So when I get up in the morning, similar to Brian, I have my pen and paper, and I love moleskin journals or these really nice leather bound journals the same, I want them to be preserved. And last. And so when I grab my cup of coffee and I sit down in my chair with my Bible, the first thing I do is write out three things that I'm grateful for, and why. So not just thank you for a good night's sleep? I elaborate on that. Like Lord, thank you for a good night's sleep. I desperately need rest. I need the reminder that I must rest in you to give myself a little bit more. So it's not just so flippant for me. I personally need that.
Speaker 4:And then I write down. Well, I guess, like Brian mentioned, I don't put where I'm at, but I'm going to start doing that. But I do put the day, like is it Monday, tuesday, wednesday, with the date, so I can look back and remember like what day of the week this was on. Anyway, then the gratitude, and then I write what I'm reading in my Bible. I put the scripture passage and I read my Bible and, similar, I have a response time. So when I write in my journals, I am writing to the Father. So I write Father like I'm writing him a letter and it helps me focus, like if I was sitting down to write somebody a letter and I'm communicating, and it goes back and forth like this is what I'm feeling. I see this in your scripture things that are happening and, similar to Brian, like it's off and on, so not everything is captured there, but kind of a summary of what's happening or what I'm praying. I'm praying through scripture.
Speaker 4:I do that in the morning and then there's a lot of repentance confession in there. There's scripture that I feel the Lord is prompting me, that I've hidden in my heart in response, that I feel like he's speaking over me in what I'm praying to Him. So it's like a conversation back and forth. And then in the evening before I go to bed, I take back out the journal or after dinner and I write down what was hard today, any sins that I committed that I need to repent of, that I can think of. And then I always write three things that I delighted in and then one thing that I can improve tomorrow. So if that's character, like if I was having an issue with patience, then I will write down today, lord, I was impatient, and tomorrow I want to cultivate that fruit of the spirit. I like that, and then so it begins and then it ends my day. I just feel like that helps me stay centered.
Speaker 1:I can imagine that would help you get to sleep at night too, not? Having that like constant thought thing going through your mind when you go to bed. A lot of people lay down and they're like they think about something even if it's just a task, something simple and normal, and then that leads to another thought, that leads to another thought, which then brings them back to the original thought and they get in this kind of thought loop and it keeps them awake at night. Getting that on paper gets it out of your head.
Speaker 3:The word that just jumps into my mind as you're talking, Brittany, is intentionality. Like you're being very intentional with your day. That's just so helpful. Like here's how I start my day, here's how I end my day so helpful. Like here's how I start my day, here's how I end my day. And you know, we built these rhythms while we were in the crazy military lifestyle of deployments and moving and everything else, and these disciplines are like home for me.
Speaker 3:Like it doesn't matter where I am, I'm with the Lord, I'm writing, I'm reading His Word and it's like home for me, and so just I love that intentionality.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you mentioning that, as I did start this when we were in the military and I started asking those questions at night because I needed something to go back to, like when Joshua was deployed and I had three little kids, I was like this was hard today, yeah, but these three things were good. And so I'm always trying to count those wins and the things I delighted in, because I think it's very easy for us to say this is just all hard, instead of like, yeah, but where was God and where was it good today? And we miss that. Kelly, I'm excited to hear how your day flows.
Speaker 2:You were just saying it was home Because you're not alone. You were just saying it was home because you're not alone. I think about the time that I just grew in my journaling was when you were deployed. We did not have kids, so I was alone in our house on base, a lot Like our first three years you were gone. Most of those three years and that was my biggest thing is like loneliness, and I remember sitting on my bed at night feeling the weight of that loneliness, of just like I wish he was just here, like his presence, you know, and I poured all that out to the lord, and the lord reminded me through that of just like you're not alone, I am with you and I am enough, and that's what I clung to.
Speaker 2:But talking about, about mine, I am not as structured, but I'm very encouraged to be just my personality.
Speaker 1:I love it, which is crazy because you're all about math.
Speaker 2:But I, when it comes to that, like I don't have, like this is how I do. I am a hot mess express and my journals reflect the hot mess that I am.
Speaker 2:I mean absolutely Like I just sometimes they're chicken scratch, Sometimes I write neat, sometimes I I don't even know. There have been seasons that I don't even have much to say because I I'm just in a place of maybe struggling with depression or you know what, where I don't even know what to pray or I have nothing except Lord, please help, help me read your word and keep going. You know. So there's definitely been those times. But then there's times where I could just write pages and pages. But normally in the mornings I get up, read my Bible and write, and I do start off with Thanksgiving just because God, I mean, he's just done so much in my life. I just want to like spend time doing that, and then I will. If there's a scripture that I read that I do want to pray through, I will. But other than that, I just go into wherever I am because I have to get that. I just feel like I have to get it out before I start my day, and sometimes that's self-centered, sometimes it's other-centered. It just depends on what's going on. I would love for it to be more other-centered than self-centered. But yeah, I just, and I think I love the going back at night, when I have big emotions.
Speaker 2:This is when I—it doesn't happen just in the morning. It could be after work or after church, or just in the middle of Saturday, whatever when I have big emotions that I need to process and I'm worried that my feelings and emotions are going to lead me to sin, I feel this urgency to pick up my journal and start writing because I need to go to the Lord. I don't need to do something that I'll regret or whatever. So when I'm angry or sad or worried or whatever, it is like anxious I. So that's some of my best. I feel like, just because and it's funny that y'all say you have in mind that you know your kids may read your journal I don't always have that in mind, so sometimes I'm like I don't know that I want people to read my journal because it is ugly. It's ugly sometimes just being real, but at the same time I'm okay because people have asked me, you know, like, well, what would you do if your kids read this? I want my kids to know that I I mean they already know.
Speaker 2:I'm a sinner and I'm a hot mess and I and I but I'm running to the Lord with my hot mess and I think that's okay, you know. And as I look back at some of my stuff, it is cool to see like, oh gosh, Kelly, you were worried about this or you were, you know, angry when you were sinful in this. But it's cool, you can see in my journal how God shows me that and, yeah, just how dumb I am, in need of a savior. So it's just good.
Speaker 4:I just want to clarify when I have in mind that my kids are going to read it.
Speaker 2:They're going to read some ugly things. Right, you're not being dishonest.
Speaker 4:No, no, no, there's not fluff. Yeah, like I do have in mind, like they're going to read this and I hope they find it encouraging. Like you're not alone. Like, and when I talk about picking up memorial stones, why Joshua was so important to me, the passage like sometimes I'll pull out old journals and say, especially now that I have a married daughter, like hey, I was struggling with that too.
Speaker 3:Let me read this to you, not everything, but some things you know so one memorial stone, though, because one of the reasons for memorial stones in the Old Testament is that your kids would walk by and be like, hey, what's that pile of rocks for? Yes, and they would ask that question To me. Us being in the same place at the same time each morning is a memorial stone downstairs to get ready for you know, before school. Growing up, I can tell you exactly where my mom was sitting with her Bible open, praying when I got, when I started getting up earlier, I got this job or I started doing something where I met at school beforehand, and my dad would be the same place with his Bible open. He would do it while he's eating his breakfast, because he went to work very early in the morning. So, like, in some ways, the memorial stone is, I know where mom and dad start their day, and it's with a Bible open, sitting in the same spot, turning to the Lord.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really good. I recently, too, just was in a season of not doubting the Lord's faithfulness, but I needed to remind myself, and I think something beautiful about journaling is I just got it. I just picked random old journals because I just needed the reminder that God because in all my journals there's reminders that God is so faithful and the things that I was struggling with or going through just seeing that.
Speaker 3:So I think it's a great reminder of his faithfulness seeing that, so I think it's a great reminder of his faithfulness. One thing I love about going backwards is I'll be like where are you, lord, what are you doing? This is so hard. This is so difficult. And then, like two days later, like thank you, lord, this is great. And it just helps me remember like okay, sometimes the hard seasons are two days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we are truly a forgetful people, which is why the Lord helps us with so many things to remember what he has done for us. We are running out of time, so it seems like I'm not gonna be able to defend my position a little bit, oh shut up, oh man.
Speaker 1:Hey, you guys talked. I'll tell you what we did. Yes, I will say I do have a morning rhythm. I do go to my chair, I have my Bible reading, my prayer time, my sermon prep time, and I definitely take copious notes and do a lot of the similar things, just not in a dedicated journal like you guys have. I will mention that I talked to somebody a couple months ago that did the same thing you all are doing, except he did it on an electronic pad with like a stylus pen, and so the reason he did it that way is so that he can go back in his electronic notes and have them put into the typed form and then he can search things in there instead of having to look through 800 like Is that Jonathan's?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those of you that know Jonathan, intentionality in journaling, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. Shout out to Jonathan. Yeah, hey, shit, mate, if you know him, you know him.
Speaker 3:One thing I've got to say is, as you hear us talking, one thing that's probably going to be the challenge for you to start doing something like this is take the first step, but also, you're going to have to throw your phone on the other side of the room, right, because we're talking about rhythms the first thing in the morning and, for Brittany, the last thing at night before she goes to bed, and a lot of you are filling that time with things on your phone and you're just going to have to get that under control and we'll probably have an episode about that at some point, because that's a big problem and so fill that time with this stuff while you throw your phone on the other side of the room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as we close out, just a real quick around the room. What is the biggest way in which this has helped you?
Speaker 4:Oh gosh.
Speaker 3:Just in a couple short words, I know we don't have a lot of time, but what was the biggest way journaling has helped you in the last couple years? So it has helped me think in complete sentences. My thoughts are never in complete sentences until I write them down, and so it's helped. So if I've ever spoken clearly, if I have ever been able to say something that makes sense at all on a podcast or in a sermon or anywhere else, it's because I write things in complete sentences, and writing out my prayers has forced me to do that. Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2:Man, when you asked that question I was like that's gonna be hard. But then immediately I was like no intimacy with the Lord, that's like the biggest thing, because the Lord has met me on those pages that are full of tears or joy or you know, wrestling whatever, just intimacy with the Lord.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:I agree with that Definitely a deeper personal relationship with the Lord. He is very real to me and it's given me a love and a hunger even more for His Word, which gives me a desire to want to write my words and process through what the Lord is teaching me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that is so good, cool. So last encouragement as we close out this episode is just, if you haven't done it, give it a try, put the phone away, I hope it can be helpful and just take a couple minutes. All it takes is a couple minutes. Yeah, the hardest part about going to the gym is walking out the door to go to the gym. That's true. The hardest part about journaling is just sitting down and going okay, I'm going to journal.
Speaker 1:So for all of you that's out there, just give it a try, give it a few minutes and give it some time and see what happens. This has been a great conversation, guys. I appreciate y'all and I appreciate y'all out there. Love y'all.
Speaker 3:Love you guys.