My Scripture Journal

Alright...so this post is going to seem like I'm rambling a lot (which I kind of am) but just stick with me!
(And visit the link to Latter-Day Homeschooling. It's written much better than my quickly scribbled out thoughts.)

So, I decided to try out a new thing today...

It's called a "Scripture Journal".

I've done something like this before, but not quite this organized.

Basically, it's a three ring binder where you can keep your thoughts, favorite scriptures, and conference talks all together in one convenient and spiritual spot.

The past few weeks, I've been telling myself that I really need to start keeping a journal. But...it's so hard!

It started when my computer died (It does that sometimes) and my super awesome husband had to fix it by completely wiping the computer clean, rebooting the hard drive, re installing all of the software back on, and overall being extremely frustrated. (He obviously loves me if he's willing to put in all that hard work....either that or he REALLY didn't want to buy me a new laptop!)

Anyway, I had written down a lot of our memories from when we were dating, our first kiss, how he proposed, etc. in a word document...

on my computer...

which i then lost along with everything in my life...

Isn't it crazy how many documents and pictures we have on our computer that we never look at, but as soon as it's gone we wonder how we're ever going to live with out them?

Yeah, that was me.

So, now I have to re-write our whole dating experiences along with some of the newer memories from the past year or so that I haven't had a chance to write down yet. (I don't know why I have so much trouble with that)

I think my biggest problem is that I know that one day my future children will read my journals and I always think: "Man, I sound really whiny." or "Does this really matter?" or "Was I really THAT boy crazy? How embarrassing!" (true story)

So, the idea of starting off small with writing down the big memories and keeping a scripture journal greatly appeal to my mind much more than writing every little boring detail from my day to day life. One day, maybe I'll get to that point, but for now...

My Scripture Journal!

It will have all of the Spiritual Promptings that I get when I read through conference talks, or my scriptures, or whatever! And honestly, isn't this sort of stuff really what we want our kids to read (not to mention I'll actually go back in the future and re-read the things I wrote and not cringe at how naive and silly I sound)

I got the idea from Latter-day Homeschooling (here's the link again, just in case you didn't click on it the first time). She actually has a bunch of pages and quotes about why it's so important. Because I love the quotes so much...I'm going to share them with you:

Elder Richard G. Scott:  “We often leave the most precious personal direction of the Spirit unheard because we do not record and respond to the first promptings that come to us when the Lord chooses to direct us.”                   

President Spencer W. Kimball:  “Get a notebook, my young folks, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity.”

Elder Gene R. Cook:  “I’ve found, as I’m sure you have, that when you’re trying to learn from the Lord and you feel an impression from the Spirit, it’s important to make a note so it will not be forgotten. The more you not only hear but abide by what you've been told, the more the Lord will give to you. It will come more and more rapidly and you will begin to hear and feel those impressions of the Spirit more quickly than you have previously done.” 

Elder Neal A. Maxwell:  “The prompting that goes unresponded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital. A special thought can be lost later in the day through the rough and tumble of life. God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what is given such a low priority as to put it aside.”

So, it's pretty important to write down our thoughts! So, the pages that she has on Latter-Day Homeschooling (I added it a THIRD time! Bazinga!) are awesome resources to get your own book started (and quite frankly she does a better job convincing you that you need to create one...)

However, my printer was being crazy and wasn't printing out her pages very clearly...so, I recreated some of them myself!

Scripture Journal Pages

Either I am a super crafty awesome fun person ... or I have WAY too much time on my hands...

We're going to go with the first one!

So, I'm going to try this and see how it works out for me! Wish me luck. :)

Do you keep a journal? If you do, how do you do it? Do you keep a scripture journal, write down your thoughts each and every day, record all of the big memories, or something else? Have any advice for me?