Why Wilderness Journal?
God has been speaking to me through the process of journaling for a very long time. Maybe my whole life. It has been like that still small voice that many times I did not recognize, but felt compelled to write down. When I was a kid I read the diary of Anne Frank and I imagined that one day people would find my diary and… what? I don’t know what. Listen? Care? Understand? (Sounds like a good topic for counseling). It just felt like an inspiration to me and a way to make sense of my inner life. At the same time the world taught me that what mattered to people was appearance, performance and popularity. And the inner life and thoughts were irrelevant, dismissed, and probably incorrect. So the fact that I am actually putting this into a blog format is a miracle. I’m intentionally starting it with the preface that it’s essentially a rough draft. But it is alive and active and infused with thoughts that came from the Spirit of God who is leading me through the wilderness.
What is on these pages is going to be unpolished and disconnected at times. I can always update it later (or not). For now I intend to follow through on what God has led me to do, which is to write these things down, and put them “out there”, because the lessons I have learned in the last eight years or so have been valuable through challenges that I know others are experiencing. I’m not sure where it will go from here, but this is going to be like a messy envelope full of stories, parables, lessons, and maybe a Bible study or two. if you read this far, then welcome to this collection of souvenirs from my journey through the wilderness. They are precious to me, because they represent the loving Paidea of my Heavenly Father. It has taken me a long time to remove from my mind the image of Him as a critical teacher ready to grade my work with a spiritual red pen. I know that image was a lie and my blog “in process” is proof that I will not be held back by that anymore. ❤️
The Greek word Paidea is described this way in the Greek lexicon: tutorage, i.e. education or training; by implication, disciplinary correction:—chastening, chastisement, instruction, nurture.