She drew butterflies... Day 28

I hadn't checked my e-mail in quite sometime and I had plenty. Much of it was newsletters I'm receiving from oneplace.com (Jack Graham, Max Lucado and Charles Stanley) or from Joel Osteen. Up until I had got my mailbox so filled up, I had been reading them and keeping them in my mailbox or deleting them. Since there were so many, I decided to write down what I thought was most important from each of them. Some scripture I wrote down, some I didn't. I might just write a sentence from one and fill up a whole page when reading another.

For the most part, I started with the most recent and went backwards to the oldest.
About 20 notebook pages later and almost done, I had 2 e-mails left from May 8th. What really made me stop and think was when I opened one of those two last e-mails from Dr. Charles Stanley and read this passage:

He has already proven Himself in our lives. This is why every believer should keep a journal, a written record of the Lord's faithfulness. During times of helplessness, we want encouragement not just about how God has worked in history or in the world, but about how He's worked in our own lives.

It may take some time to establish the discipline of journaling, but the rewards are tremendous. You may say, "Well, I don't have time for that." Friend, you need to make the time. When you record blessings, you begin to view God's work from a new perspective. You'll start to see how He's weaving the individual "threads" of your life to create a beautiful tapestry for His glory.

So, if I had read that almost a month ago, would I have started a journal? I suppose I already have this blog, but taking pen to paper is a little different and I enjoy it. I don't know that I would have, though. There are many great people in my life that have led me to Jesus or that God has placed in my path to lead me in the proper direction, but this inspiration to create a journal did not come from a person since I hadn't read that e-mail until almost a month after it was sent to me. I felt the inspiration to begin writing it down came directly from Him. It's great to see the small ways He is working in my life.

Colton had another baseball game yesterday. He walked, got a double and struck out and played his position well. Hopefully my brother can come Friday since he'll be the starting pitcher. Noah slept through most of the game, but once he woke up, he was ready to eat popcorn and let us chase him all over the park. He's such a happy kid.

I asked Gabrielle if she had done any thing fun and exciting at school today. She thought for a moment, and said that her class went outside during art class and the teacher let them use some sidewalk chalk. She drew butterflies. I bet they were beautiful.

Your mom and I love you very much, little ones. God does too. Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.