In my last hint on how to survive this refining period where everything you hold dear is being stripped away from you, I mentioned going back through my prayer journals to see just what had been the catalyst for the intense amount of joy I was feeling for seemingly no reason.
Prayer Journals! Yes, THIS is one of your most valuable tools in surviving this painful process and thriving in the aftermath. Document the crap out of the crap you’re thankful for! You are training your brain in gratitude and completely rewiring it to see the good in the bad, which trains you to see the good in EVERYTHING!
Documenting your gratitude allows you to later have 20/20 hindsight as to what it was all meant for and used for. You’ll get to look back and see how the crap turned into something craptastic!
If you are in a refining period, that means with 100% certainty that the Lord is seeking to speak to you, spend time with you, teach you, mold you, and prepare you for the purpose He has in mind for you. He’s courting you with a purpose.
That doesn’t happen if you ignore the call to communicate with Him. Your refining period will be utterly pointless if you aren’t chatting with the One Who deemed you worthy to be molded into something better.
He wants an intimate relationship with you, the most beautiful thing any of us can experience in life, and He’s set you apart, isolated you for a time to develop that relationship. He knows if He can get you alone, and you choose to be with Him, you will absolutely fall in love with Him. So to make the most out of these conversations, write them down!
Let me walk you through all the benefits.
Focus
Putting pen to paper does something in your brain that saying a prayer in your head can’t do. How many times have you fallen asleep praying?
How many times have you ended up with a whole new to-do list rather than finishing the conversation you started with your Creator?
We are wired to keep a thought going if that thought is running through a circuit from our brain and out our fingers. It is less likely, although not impossible, for our brains to drift off into ToDo Land if the thought moves past just being a thought and into something physical.
History of Prayers Answered
Oh, how your Faith Muscle will be strengthened each time you flip through your prayer journal and see all the times even the smallest prayers were answered. It truly is a beautiful thing.
I have continuously been surprised by how many little prayers I’d forgotten, but God didn’t. He took pleasure in answering them and reminded me of how good He is, as I perused back through old prayers.
Hearing from God
God will speak to you if you “shut up and listen” and if you write it down as you hear from Him, you’ll find these words will challenge and encourage you in different ways each time you go back to them. We tend to forget what God tells us and when it’s in writing, it’s never lost to forgetfulness or dementia or “mom-brain.”
Intimacy!
Here’s where God develops intimacy through conversation with you, if you so choose. This intimacy will carry you through some of the toughest trials and when you look back, you’ll be amazed how much your God loved you and carried you in those times. It’s your choice, though. He will never force intimacy.
Treasures in the Trials!
This is where the beauty in the adventure is immortalized!
The journey led me through some of the most beautiful places, like Niagara Falls; kayaking the Red River Gorge; Thousand Islands; farming in New Hampshire; Zion National Forest; Daniel Boone National Forest; Jenny Jump Campground in Hope, NJ; Ozone Falls, TN; Moab, UT; The Adirondacks; Chataquah, NY; Lake Ontario; Route 66; Nashville; The Ark Encounter; a Messianic Commune in Vermont; The Natchez Trace; The Gulf Coast; Hughes Crossing on the Blue River in Oklahoma; Coeur D’Alene, ID; The Petrified Forest; Heise Springs, ID; Mt. Rushmore; Bruneau Dunes; The Great Salt Lake, Utah; Jacksonville, FL; Myrtle Beach; Virginia Beach; Washington, DC…just to name a few.
There was so much beauty in the midst of all the trials. Look for the treasures!
When you come out on the other side of this refinement and stripping away, you will no doubt want to be able to see all that you and God accomplished together. You might have forgotten where you came from and how strong you’ve become and your prayer journal will be evidence of miracles and provision and the building up of perseverance and endurance.
Write!
Pour out your complaint to God on paper!
Give thanks on paper!
And leave a blueprint of how to do it for those who follow behind you.
One of my favorite entries, where God spoke to me, was on April 7, 2024, the day before the big eclipse:
“Prepare! Get battle ready. There will be war. The demonic realm is charging up. Your voice is needed. Declare My name and My authority everywhere you go. Take back territory. War is coming. The attacks you’ve endured are nothing compared to what’s to come. You’ve gone through Basic Training. It’s time for Tactical Training to get you battle ready.
She who endures until the end shall be saved. You will endure much but I made you precisely for that. It is your crown! No one can take your crown which also means no one can take your pain you will face. But I promise you IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT IN THE END!!!
You are mine! You must stand!
Remember feeling My hand behind your back keeping you in place as *********’s nose touched yours as she was screaming and threatening you? She was not allowed to harm you. That was Me – holding you up and holding her back. That is how it will be in every battle I call you into. I will use you! I will use your voice!”
That might not sound like something you want to hear, but I tell you, it was a fantastic warning and preparation that I needed for what was to come and what is to come.
He has a plan for everything you go through if you just submit your will to His. And if He’s calling you into battle (if you’re still reading this, He is) and He WILL NOT FAIL YOU!!
Song: The Story’s Not Over, by Jeremy Camp
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