I must have been in primary school when I started writing a diary and it very quickly became a safe space for me. I’d run home from school and fill pages with stories about girls who made fun of my skin color, teachers that I admired, subjects that I hated, people that I wish I’d never have to see again, rants about my brother, and so many things that seem silly now. Of course, my diaries were my only private space in the 200 sq. ft. tiny home that I grew up in along with my parents and brother.

I also remember having a diary with a lock on it! Remember those?

As I grew up, my stories turned into prayers. I’d start every entry with a “Dear Father” or “Hi, Lord” or in some very cool teenage phases even “Wassup, Jesus”. I didn’t realize every time I poured my heart out, these words I was writing was building a habit in me — a habit that would stick for life — journaling!

Today, journaling is a part of who I am. It is second nature to me. It’s my PRIMARY form of prayer. When I close my eyes and pray, I know God hears the words I’ve said; and when I journal, I know God reads those words, too — but I have the added bonus of going back and reading these prayers myself, too.

I used to fill up physical diaries every single year for as long as I remember, but for the past few years, I’ve been journaling digitally. I’ve moved to using Evernote, an app on my phone, to write daily.

Today, I want to make a case for journaling and hopefully compel you inculcate this POWERFUL prayer practice in your life.

Writing is good but writing in the Presence of God is powerful. Your writing can change the world but your journaling will change you.

Who is your Biblical role model? Mine is David and he journaled regularly. What we call Psalms today are basically excerpts from his personal journal where he poured his heart out to God.  He wasn’t writing a book. He wasn’t trying to make history. He wasn’t hoping future generations would turn his journal notes into worship songs. No, no, no. David had found a safe space in his journal and it was how he spoke to God. A read through the book of Psalms will show you David had bad days, good days, days when he wished the worst for his enemies, days when he admitted his weaknesses, days when he was thankful, days when he was depressed, days when he battled doubt — all sorts of days. Through it all, he stayed faithful to his habit of writing what he felt to God. He didn’t have a contract with a publishing house for his journals. They weren’t politically correct. They’re raw and they’re real and they’re a beautiful record of his erratic journey with God.

The thing about journaling daily is that it is a very personal experience. You don’t have to have fancy vocabulary, perfectly framed sentences, compelling phrases and extravagant expressions. Your writing is for an audience of one.

Today, I want to encourage you to start journaling. How, you may ask, if you’ve never done this before. Here are some pointers that can help you:

• First things first, you don’t need to be a writer to journal; you just need to be able to write. Journaling isn’t like writing to get published or blogging for an audience. It is about developing the habit of pouring your heart out to God in a diary – physical or digital.
• Secondly, journaling is a private and personal activity. Try and keep it that way. Ensure your diary is in a safe place or better still use an app like Evernote to journal which can only be accessed with a pass-code. Your journals are your letters to God.
• Choose a time and a place to journal which is free of distractions. I usually open Evernote in the morning and start my journal note for the day. Then, through the day, four to five times, I visit it to write down thoughts, prayers, notes, rants, etc.
• Are you a creative person? Make your journaling time creative. You can add craft, colors, paints, music and other elements to your journaling time.

I hope that you are encouraged to start today! I hope that you are stirred to get a diary or your phone and start writing to God. I hope that this transforms your prayer life, as it has mine.

To be honest, I’ve always struggled to pray at length alone — seated in one place with my eyes closed! My mind is travelling the world and thinking a billion thoughts a second. But, when I write, everything quiets down and I’m all in. My hands are moving and my mind is fixed on what I’m writing. My prayer life doesn’t feel dull and I’m able to engage with the Holy Spirit better.

If this is you and you are struggling with your prayer life too, give journaling a shot. It’s talking to God but in writing. It is powerful and it WILL CHANGE YOU!

I hope to write more about journaling in the coming week. If you need help getting started and would like to chat with me about it, get in touch with me. Comment below or write to me directly. I’d love to help you start this journey and make it count!

The post Why I Journal, and Why You Should Too! appeared first on Becky Lee Pearson.

After many confrontations with Pharaoh, some stiff resistance from the Israelites and ten deadly plagues; Moses managed to get the Israelites out of Egypt to sacrifice to God. But Pharaoh instantly regretted his decision to ‘let the people go’ and decided to pursue them with his army and catch up with them in the wilderness.

The Israelites were in an unimaginably scary predicament with the advancing Egyptian army drawing close to them on one end and the Red Sea on the other. It was a dead end. Literally. No escape. Only two things could happen logically—one, they drown in the sea or two, they face the sword of the enemy. Either way, death seemed certain.

Exodus 14: 11 & 12 records how they complained to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Their fears were warranted and their concerns were justified.

Here’s when I read Moses’ most incredible reply to the Israelites. He didn’t give them a solution. He didn’t give them an exhortation. He didn’t arm them for battle. He didn’t even prepare them to face death. He simply said: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)

He asked them to be still. But how??? What an unreasonable thing to ask them to do? If I was one of those Israelites, I would have wanted to push Moses into the Red Sea! The armies are closing in on one side and the tide is rising on the other, and you want me to be still? What I need now is a “how to swim in sea water” lesson. Or a “basics of sword fighting” talk. I need quick rescue, an instant rapture from this moment of certain death. But you are telling me, I “need” to be still and that the Lord will fight for me?

Most of us don’t know a thing about being still. It’s easy to be still when the sun is out, when everything is good and when people are smiling and saying nice things about us. But what is the reward in that? The Lord wants us to be still when everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is falling apart. When you can’t trust your closest friends anymore. When people are talking behind your back. When you’re drowning in debt and are in the middle of a financial crisis. When hopelessness and misery is all you can see around you. When nothing seems to work out in your favour. YOU NEED ONLY TO BE STILL.

The Lord will fight for you. He will heal the disease. He will provide the finance that you so badly need. He will fix your marriage. He will silence the lying tongues. He will bring deliverance. He will FIGHT for you. You don’t need to help Him. You need only to be still. That is what He requires of you. And me.

For the Israelites, ‘being still’ meant waiting by the Red Sea for an entire excruciating night. But as they were still, they witnessed the Lord blow a strong wind on the Red Sea and part the waters for them. They might have expected something else…maybe Pharaoh would change his mind and go back, maybe a desert wind would stop the Egyptian armies, maybe Moses would call on God for an eleventh plague! But God did the unexpected. He parted the waters.

I believe that this word is for me as much as it is for each of you reading this. God will do the “unexpected” for you, if you just be still and wait. We need to shift our focus from the things around us to just waiting on Him. It may be frustrating, painful and stressful to simply be still and do nothing. But, when we least expect it and when we need it the most, His deliverance will come like a wind and make a way where there seems to be absolutely none!

Hey, what is it that you need most today? Is it a job or a raise? Is it marriage? Is it a new house? Is it deliverance from a bad habit? Is it hope for a broken relationship? Whatever our need of the hour is, let’s put it aside and focus on what God needs. He needs us to be still. He will fight for us.

All we have to do is watch the fight.

The post Watch the Fight! appeared first on Becky Lee Pearson.

So, here’s when it all started! I began to study Exodus and couldn’t go past chapter one. This story had me arrested (Exo 1: 15-20): 

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 

Here are these women who didn’t—or rather couldn’t—have families of their own, and whose profession involved helping other women start families of their own. I can only imagine the pain they might have experienced each time they helped a women deliver a baby. 

Often God calls us to serve in the very areas we lack in. He requires us to be there for the needy, when we ourselves are in need. He asks us to give, when we have nothing to give. What attitude do we do this with? Do we complain about our nothingness, our sickness, our weakness, our pain, our problems? Or do we cheerfully serve where we are called to? I couldn’t help but think about how these women carried out their service in the community “in spite of” how much it might have hurt or upset them. This was the first thing God spoke to me—Do what you are called to “in spite of” what’s happening in your life! What you are called to do, is not about you, it’s about Me! 

The other thing I learned from these women was their “fear” of God. I don’t think we fully understand what “fear of God” means. The Bible says they “feared God”. The king of Egypt, who obviously had the power to kill them with one word from his mouth, asked them to do something that would compromise their calling. I don’t know what this king was like, but if he was ruthless enough to suggest killing babies, I’d think I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. 

But Shiprah and Puah decided to do otherwise. They quietly listened to what the king had to say and then went back and continued carrying out their work as they used to. No alterations. No change of plan. No compromise. They could die at the hands of the king, but they didn’t fear that. They “feared’ God. They actually were scared of not fulfilling their God-ordained work. They were frightened at the thought of being answerable to God for the blood of innocent children. 

As I sit at work and type this article, I can only think of how many times I haven’t feared God. The many times I have thought it okay to lie a little for “fear” of being caught, or to make excuses for sin with the “fear” of being embarrassed in front of my friends. What a shame! Let’s repent of “fearing” the wrong party today. Right now. 

Lastly, I can’t help but mention how God blessed these women with families of their own when He noticed how much they feared Him. It wasn’t when they prayed for families that He blessed them. It wasn’t when they continued serving Him patiently under “normal’ circumstances that He blessed them. It was when their “ministry” was boldly challenged; and when they made the harder choice of fearing God and not their circumstance were they blessed with families. 

Beloved, let’s not assume that if we are doing our bit in the church faithfully, praying and serving diligently—that this alone will bring down the much awaited blessings in our lives. 

Let’s learn from Shiprah and Puah that demonstrating our “fear” of God in all the choices that we make is what moves the heart of God. 

The post Shiprah and Puah appeared first on Becky Lee Pearson.

I love it this way. He makes the choices for me. All I have to do is choose to live His choice. He leads. I follow. He sings. I dance. He lures. I run after mesmerized. He makes it happen. I live it. 

Sounds like fun doesn’t it. Sounds like something any monkey can do. But it isn’t. Following is much more difficult than leading. Listening harder than talking. It’s tougher than you imagine to be obedient than to call the shots. 

It’s because following God’s plan means deserting your own. It means forsaking your way for life and adopting His. It means changing your clock to work according to His time. It means letting go of your tight grip on the brush to let Him paint with it. It also means living in tough situations, making uncomfortable decisions, learning rock hard lessons and doing all of it by yourself. Your Self and you. Alone. In solitude. In confinement. 

But with that lovely decision to follow Him comes an unprecedented blessing. An overpouring of His unlimited favour. Incredible grace and incomprehensible abundance. Slowly, pieces of life fall together like a brick road forming in front of your feet to tell you where to go. Slowly, you succumb to His plans because He will surprise you like you’d not imagine in your wildest dreams.

He will gently lead you through a mysterious place like a lover looking for a secret place where He can tell you He wants to marry you. He will amaze you by making your secret desires come to pass. He will make every insignicant meeting with someone a design of destiny. He will weave people into the tapestry of your life who will help you grow and who will council you. He will make the music and you will dance. 

He will be God. And you will be all that He wants you to be. 

All I need to do is choose His choice. Say ‘I do’. To just be there when He’s looking for a new exciting project. When He’s looking for a life to mould or a destiny to shape. Just hang around when He’s feeling creative and jump up when He says, “Who will go?”

Will you answer THE CALL?

The post The Call appeared first on Becky Lee Pearson.