Spiritual journaling is one of the tools I use to clean up my Old Junk. My spiritual journal is a place where I can reflect on my thinking, my choices and my experiences. I can take the time to listen to that tape playing in my head and see if it’s playing the right song. If I need a new tape of new ideas, attitudes and beliefs, I can use my journal to write down my new song. I can put it all down in words, and my new song can start to work its way into my head. Old tape out, new tape in!

A spiritual journal can become your place to open up your heart to God and give him a chance to be on the move for you. Spiritual journal writing breaks down barriers between you and your creator. Spiritual journals reconnect you with the unlimited power of an unlimited God who can bring you comfort, hope and peace despite the place you find yourself. Please pick up a pen and find a place to place your heart. Don’t stay locked up and alone.

Don’t do it. Don’t ever live in a small place. Embrace the largeness of your story. Embrace the largeness of all our stories. Together we can all live in a larger place.

We can break through together. By sharing the spiritual stories of our lives, the stories of victory, darkness, joy, and hope, we can rip the threads (and chains) that bind us. In isolation we believe lies about the darkness we walk in. When we share, light comes into our lives and pushes back the darkness. Let this blog be a place where you and I both share and then discover that the world is infinitely brighter.

We can put good stuff inside of us. That means that we can choose NOT to put bad stuff inside us too. Bad thoughts, negative beliefs, fear and depression don’t have to fill up our souls. We can start filling up with the good stuff by choosing to believe in God’s truth about ourselves regardless of what seems to be true.

Is anyone in the middle of a God Challenge that’s changing them in new and wondrous ways? God would like it if others helped you out with the work He’s given you to do. Share your story and you’ll have some new friends on your journey.

Just by choosing to breathe we are all saying something about our story. The question is, “How to we want to live out our stories?” We can sit back and play it safe, or we can live with power and guts. We can live within limits or we can break them. So much more is out there for us if we are willing to break out of our present situations and take a leap towards outrageous, abundant freedom.

Make today your day for sharing your story. Let us hear how God has heard your prayers and moved in response to change the world. Share your story and give us all a little more faith to believe that our prayers really do change the world. Take a risk today, and make this blog a place to tell a story that will build our faith and join us together in prayer. Then we can all change the world one God story at a time.

Are you willing to consider that the spirituality of our lives is a story anyone is fit to share? What if the only people who share their spiritual memoir were those who believed they were fit for the task? I think we need to have some faith: faith to consider our story and the possibility of traveling the road leading us to share it.

The power in a chain of human interactions is in the stories that are shared. Maybe the individuals don’t document the words spoken, but hope is given and the power is still the same. It’s the power of sharing stories.

Ponder the influence your own story can have on your own life: offering you a fresh perspective, revealing your hopes and dreams and uncovering the desires of your heart. Contemplate spiritual memoir’s possibilities for yourself and your world.

We can all identify codependency in our relationships, overcome the influence codependency has over us and celebrate evidence of codependency recovery together. Denying codependency in our lives leaves us stuck in it. Dealing with codependency is an opportunity to enjoy new freedom in our relationships and in our lives.

What if we all held hands and prayed today? What if we understood that the power unleashed last night is at our fingertips with the simple act of continuing to pray with the same passion and fervor? Maybe praying was the last thing on your mind yesterday but today you want in on the deal? Is it possible that today could be a day for moving spiritual mountains? What do you think about joining hands and praying today?

I think it’s important that we think about the place of prayer in our spiritual stories. It’s important because the way we pray becomes a part of our story. It also becomes a part of the story of the person we pray for. Our spiritual autobiographies are not complete without exploring what we believe, how we behave and how we join together in respect to prayer.

If I don't take the time to stop my whole life is about doing, doing, doing: hypo manic, workaholism, a human doer instead of a human being. What about you?

I believe true life stories have power. I want our stories to reach out to others who have had experiences much like ours. If we share, our journey can breathe life into the lives of those it is meant for. Then we will have unleashed the true power of our story: the power to touch, change and enrich lives with our life.

Do you believe that you don’t have a worthy spiritual story to share or a worthy way of sharing it? I believe that God is alive and mightily at work in every life including yours. I believe you have a God story to share and you can find a way to share it.

Tell my story? How can I do that? Where do I begin? It’s my mission to encourage people to offer their testimonies as a source of hope to others. It’s also my mission to reveal the power your story has to encourage you! Finally, I seek to offer people places to share their God story. This blog is just one of those places. 152 people visited this blog just this past week. That’s 152 potential opportunities for you to reach someone with your God story. If you have a testimony, share it here. Someone needs to hear your story.

Whether you are a God seeker, a new believer or a person who is solid in their faith, sharing your testimony can help you connect more deeply with God and others. Regardless of who you are, what you’ve done or where you are at in your walk with God, your story is life changing.

I’m having a hard time “dealing” with today. I don’t like the deal. The deal is that my kid is sick and I’ve been praying for him for 5 years. Today he’s sicker than ever. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong and God seems silent. I’m sad and I’m losing hope.

Today is kinda a down day. I just want to eat every carb I can get my hands on. My head is stuffed up, I’m sluggish and I’m fighting the desire to go back to bed. I’m at odds with someone I love very much and it’s getting at me on every level: physical, emotional and spiritual. I need to heal and get a new perspective. If I just sit in it I’ll be in the same mess I’m in right now when tomorrow comes. Somehow I need to pull out of it. What can I do?

Call it your spiritual autobiography, your memoir, your story, testimony or life story! Regardless, consider how you might share the ups, downs, ins and outs of your life touched by God. Then, share with us. We're all waiting to be encouraged!

Today the means and methods for telling your story have exploded. There are endless ways to communicate your journey to many people with just a little effort and inspiration. Sharing your spiritual memoir is no longer a lofty goal. Instead, the world is waiting to hear your testimony and you have the means to offer it. Communication has changed the ways we can impact the lives of others with our stories.

I love how we all have different ways of sharing our story. That's why I was excited when I recently learned about Manhattan Arts International's Healing Power of Art Campaign. Its a campaign that celebrates art that tells a story of healing. It's art that has a message and it's an important one!

Maybe you want to be a part of it? Do you make art? Do you want to make art? Do you have another creative outlet that lets you tell your story? Please share with us. We want to enjoy what you create and benefit from what your creativity expresses. Let your “art” tell us your story.

http://www.journeyoncanvas.com/dnn/Home.aspxCan I really write my spiritual autobiography? Do I have what it takes to tell my story? Do people really want to know about my spiritual journey? The answer to these questions is, "Yes, yes, yes!"

How can we pass on the freedom found in a creative act: writing, singing, making music, painting, journaling, collage, sculpture- even scrapbooking? What does what we make say about us and our internal world? How can creativity be used to make us healthier and more connected with ourselves? How can we, and others, use art as an emotional outlet? Thoughts?

I don't need to shame people, manipulate them or pressure them into "my spirituality." God draws us all towards Him. He has us all covered. I find great peace in that.

Today God is in the mundane: keeping us safe, blessing us and watching over us as we go about our day. Today is a really good day.

We think we have CONTROL over stuff but who really makes things change? Who makes the mountains in our lives move? If we're honest with ourselves we'll realize that God does it all.

Even if your life is in shambles it has power. A messed up life is hard but it doesn't stop you from loving people. No matter who we are, or where we find ourselves, we can still love people deeply. Kindness, empathy, sensitivity and a willingness to help are the most powerful gifts we have to offer.

Today was an unbalanced day. I wish I did a better job of sticking to the plan: God's plan for my day. Instead I get caught up in so many things that don't matter. I forget what's important so quickly.

This month's message series at my church is all about balance: something I really could use right now. Everything takes so much time. Even the good, fulfilling and healthy things fill up space on my daily calendar. Some days it seems like there isn't enough time to just do what must be done. Does anyone else out there feel that way?

Lifelong metaphorical writer and artist, Alisa E. Clark, tells a story of encouragement by combining four decades of words and images to create her story of hope: Dancing in the Doghouse.

Dancing in the Doghouse is a powerful encouragement for those facing life’s obstacles. If you need a new lease on life, this book will help you find the energy and enthusiasm needed to start fresh, new and with great hope for the future.

Do you keep a journal? Are your photo albums documented with stories, dates and memories? Do you scrapbook? Maybe you are a fan of genealogy? Make sketches that tell a story? Use a tape recorder to help aging relatives share their history? Perhaps you like to tell your children and grandchildren stories about your family's past? Are you a story teller, a writer, an image maker, a historian, a scrapbooker, a journaler or do you have some other special way that you share? How have your tried to tell your story? How have you tried to help others remember their own stories? The Journey on Canvas Blog is waiting for you to share!