I have a problem with journals.
I buy the pretty ones. Soft covers, thick cream pages, the kind that feel too nice to write in. So I save them. For the right moment. For a version of me who has something important enough to say.
When we flew home for Mama's funeral, I stayed a little longer. Just me, Papa, and my brother, back in the house in Baguio where I grew up. I went through my old room and found one of those journals, sitting exactly where I'd left it years before.
I sat on my old bed and opened it.
And I had absolutely no idea what to write.
That's the thing nobody tells you about grief. You think you'll sit down and pour out something real and instead you just stare at the page, pen in hand, completely blank. So much pressing to get out, and nowhere to start.
That journal isn't empty anymore. I brought it back to California with me. Some pages are messy. Some entries are one angry sentence. A few have teardrop marks because I couldn't help it. But every single one is true. And true is what God actually wants from you.
He keeps a record too.
"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." - Psalm 56:8
This week on the blog I put together journal prompts for losing a parent. The real ones I actually used. The ones that finally gave the grief somewhere to go.
Save it for tonight when the house gets quiet.
โDrowning in Grief After Losing a Parent? Here are 5 Powerful Journal Prompts with Scriptureโ
If this is the season you are in right now, I write letters like this every Tuesday. You can join us here โ I will meet you in your inbox.
With love,
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