Nuggets for Personal Journaling
by Claudia N. Tynes

The Write Time

God has a plan for your life, and that includes your writing career or ministry.

The Plan

Knowing that God had a plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11) gave me the stability and boldness I needed to finally junk my own plans and pursue His purpose and plan for my life. His plan is the "write" plan for me. Someone gave me a tract with the referenced scripture inscribed on it in the early 90s. The words "God has a plan for my life" resonated in my spirit; and initiated my journey in discovering my purpose and destiny. Today this scripture, among others, is the foundation for the writing/speaking ministry God has entrusted to me.

Maybe, God has a "write" plan for your life. Are you ready to discard your plans in order to discover His plan for your life too?

The Purpose

Do you know your purpose in the plan of God for your life? Understanding purpose is one of the primary focuses of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. That purpose is linked to the reason God created you.

A few years ago, the purpose-driven life wave swept across the country like a whirlwind (and the book remains a bestseller today). Back then, the winds of rhetoric and chatter twirled in a spiral motion, swallowing up millions of readers. Church leaders, Bible study groups, support groups, and individuals alike were included. Were you among those readers who were swirling and twirling in the windstorm during the wave too?

At the crest of the wave, friends and relatives had shared contents of the book with me because they knew about my passion for reading, journaling, and writing. Some were surprised and even startled that I had not read the book. However, that changed in May when the book was assigned reading while I attending Ministerial Training School (MTS). By the time this column goes to print, my 40-day journey—beginning May 29 and ending July 6—on The Purpose Driven Life will have ended. The day before I began reading the book, I penned this entry in my prayer journal, "...concerning the crave of reading The Purpose Driven Life, I was never sparked to read it, so I did not... Well, now is the write time." And write His plan is what I did for the next 40 days.

Let me extend my congratulations if you are reading this column, and you have already taken your 40-day purpose-driven life journey. However, if you are like me, the last to jump on the bandwagon, your "write" time is now to pursue His plan and purpose for your life.

The Pursuit

As you do, know that you will encounter myriad experiences that will help define your purpose. MTS completion last month was just one of these for me. Other experiences during my 17 years on the "write" path included a series of job promotions and inter-departmental transfers; retirement; and, local church ministry employment. When I look back on these experiences, I know that God really does have a plan for my life—and yours—while we are journeying here on planet earth.

In order to know the plans and purposes of God for our lives, however, we must exchange our agendas for His. While it has taken me a few years of repeating many tests to learn this valuable lesson, I finally ceased from my own labors. My discovery disclosed that God is not obligated to put His stamp of approval on a task He has not assigned for my hands to touch. When He assigns us a task, He has already equipped and graced us with everything we need to get the job done.

Your Journaling Assignment

On Day 36 of The Purpose-Driven Life, "Made for Mission" was the featured topic. The author gave a profound recommendation in the book concerning knowing the will of God for your life. He says, "You hand God a blank sheet of paper with your name signed at the bottom and tell Him to fill in the details."

This is my challenge to you. Will you sign your name at the bottom of a blank sheet of paper, hand it over to God, and tell Him, "You fill in the details" for you? I took the challenge myself and signed my name at the bottom of a blank page in my prayer journal on July 3, 2007. I handed it over to God and said, "You fill in the details for me."

As he does, use your journal to record the many ways God revealed His plan and purpose for you as you allowed Him to fill that blank page.

Happy Journaling!