Immanuel Journaling
here are some resources and an example of this life giving journaling process
Have you ever wanted to find a creative way to strengthen your relationship with God? Do you like journaling? I wanted to share how Immanuel Journaling has encouraged me in my walk with God, and it has given me a structure that helps me recognize how very real and present God is as He relates to us as His children.
First of all, you might like to print this handout, which is from Life Model Works.
Joyful Journey Immanuel Journaling Handout
Some years ago, when I first began studying in the counseling field, my friends Janet Taylor and Ann Martin (both of them were Marriage and Family Therapists who loved God) taught me about some approaches they used personally and also with their clients. Together we studied the principles and enjoyed using this valuable way of deepening our connection with God and increasing our joy strength.
I’ve mentioned The Immanuel Approach before, and the related Immanuel Journaling, and a book called The Life Model: Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You.
In an earlier video that I recorded, I taught you how to do the Five Bar Exercise, which is a way to establish a connection with the LORD. In this video, I explain a bit about how this fits into the Immanuel Approach and the Life Model. Here’s a link to that that earlier video:
Staying connected with Immanuel in the midst of life's "crap"
I am still learning how to use the video feature. I can’t find the edit feature yet. At the very end, my husband walked up to my office door, not realizing I was recording. So I just turned off the video abruptly, without wrapping up my final thought.
Today, I’d like to just give you an example of Immanuel Journaling, so you can get an idea of how someone might use this journaling exercise. If you were to print the handout from the link at the beginning of today’s article, you could give this a try for yourself.
First, if you’d like to read more about Immanuel Journaling, Soul Shepherding explains more about this method on their website: Soul Shepherding about Immanuel Journaling.
Joyful Journey: Listening to Immanuel, 2015, E James Wilder, Anna Kang, John Loppnow and Sungshim Loppnow.
This book mentioned above goes into quite a bit of detail about the biblical and brain science background of how Immanuel Journaling was developed.
I’d like to just preface my own example of using Immanuel Journaling by saying this isn’t meant to be prophetic, nor are you really trying to put words in God’s mouth. What you are doing in essence, is teaching your brain that God is with you, and that Jesus, our Immanuel (God with us), does have empathy for us as His children. In many ways, this exercise just helps you develop a more secure attachment with your Heavenly Father. The way they laid out this journaling process connects with how your brain forms attachments and our need for awareness of His Presence, His validation, and active care for us.
Jim Wilder, a psychologist and neurotheologian, has a keen understanding of brain science, and he was one of the writers of the book I have mentioned before called The Life Model: Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You. While the book isn’t the easiest reading, the concepts in this book are excellent and very practical. I use many of these principles in my work with coaching clients these days.
Jim Wilder and others have collaborated with Karl D. Lehman, a psychologist who first developed The Immanuel Approach. From their collaboration, Immanuel Journaling came about.
The Immanuel Approach: For Emotional Healing and for Life
Book by Karl D. Lehman
At the start, I gave you a link for The Joyful Journey Immanuel Journaling worksheet, which is the version made available by James Wilder and his associates.
Another version of the worksheet, which is very similar, as well as a nice explanation of Immanuel Journaling can be found at this website Practice and Presence: Immanuel Journaling.
At the Practice and Presence website, you can access this version of the Immanuel Journaling worksheet specifically right here. This is the worksheet I enjoy most, and this is shared with permission. These worksheets were was developed by Sungshim Loppnow (see credits at the bottom of the first page of the worksheet).
I often just write the main prompts in the front of a new journal, so I can follow the pattern any time. Here’s an example of my own Immanuel Journaling from earlier this week. Give it a try when you can and let me know how it goes! The first few times you try it may feel awkward, but over time, you may come to love this journaling practice.
1 Interactive Gratitude:
Dear God,
I’m thankful for the warm sun streaming through the large windows of the Upper Room. Outside, I love seeing the bright fall colors. As I see traffic streaming by on the street below, I am thankful for this refuge and time with You. From my seat, I see the cross on top of the Salem Alliance Church steeple, surrounded by red, gold, and orange leaves backlit by the sunlight. The view reminds me of Your glorious brilliance and Your light in this increasingly dark world. Here, I feel safe, secure in Your love, and deeply at peace in Your Presence. Your joy remains deep inside of me.
Dear Child of Mine,
I love you. I’m glad you’re taking time to spend with Me. You sense the truth accurately. You are indeed safe, secure in my steadfast love, and my peace permeates your being as you abide in Me. I am HERE, just as the woman exclaimed to you at Cannon Beach, smiling broadly. I am here with you, upholding you. I am living in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
I can see you enjoying the warmth of sunlight filtering through the windows, and you’re basking in My Presence, heart warmed by My love. I see your tired eyes from poor sleep last night. I also see your joy and renewal as you draw near to Me in the Upper Room. I provided all of this for your peaceful enjoyment. I see your need for refreshing and renewal in My loving Presence, that’s why I brought you to the body shop across the street. It’s my love for you.
I can hear you thanking me for this time, for this beautiful refuge surrounded by the vivid reds, greens, gold and yellow leaves on trees. I can hear You soaking up My love for you as you sit here. Your mind is calm and receptive to My love. Your thoughts are resting in Me, in My provision, and you’re simply enjoying My creation. You enjoy this place set apart to commune with Jesus.
I understand the magnitude and gravity of all that’s going on in the world around you. We are One—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and our Presence with you brings peace, beauty, and rest. You sit at My feet in wonder. I do understand how big things are for you and validate your concerns.
I am always glad to be with you and treat your weaknesses tenderly. I am walking with you through these insurance issues with your van repairs, through your marriage and family interactions, through your daily rising up and lying down. I’m guiding you in your interactions with others. You’ve obeyed me as well as you know how. But I am glad to see you stand up for your convictions. Rest in Me now. The battle belongs to Me.
I can do something about what you’re going through. I give you daily strength, peace, hope, joy and My sturdy Presence in the midst of these trials. I give you Jesus—He Himself is your peace. I’ll always meet your needs, Sue, because you are My beloved child. I’m going to take care of those van repairs and help you as you deal with the insurance claim. Your job is to trust Me and listen to the voice of your Shepherd, who watches over you. Today He leads you beside still waters. Today, you need only abide in My love and know you are treasured and loved.
Read your interaction with God out loud to someone you trust if possible. (This also plays a role in rewiring your brain.)
Thanks for joining me for a little visit about Immanuel Journaling. It’s a tool that’s helped me to increase my joy capacity, and I love to sit by my fireplace in the winter months and incorporate this journaling process into my quiet times a few times a week.
This doesn’t replace your time in God’s Word, and but it’s one way you can connect with God, first through interactive gratitude, and then through these reminders that:
God sees you.
He hears you.
He understands how big this is for you/He understands how you feel…
He is glad to be with you and He sees your weakness tenderly.
He can do something about what you’re going through…
As Sungshim Loppnow wrote at the top of these worksheets she developed, “Healing is found not in the absence of pain, but in the presence of Immanuel. Immanuel journaling is designed to help you intimately interact with God, who is glad to be with you and capable of helping you.”
Excellent encouragement, Susan, and this method of journaling--of having an active, intimate conversation with God and/or Christ--is, apropos to your newsletter's title, transforming. I've been doing something similar for the past five years, having written conversations with God just as I'd talk with a dear friend on any and all matters, from work and money to personal issues and health, spiritual growth, etc. It's an entirely safe space, and no topic is off-limits because God already knows what's in my heart anyway--I'm the one that needs to bring it into conscious awareness. I know others have such conversations in the silence of prayer, meditation, and contemplation, but for me, I've found that it works best when writing.
I'm often surprised by what comes out--insights that had never occurred to me before that seem to be from a different level of wisdom. Sometimes there's some scolding, too! Of course, some might say it's just me having a conversation with my own psyche and that I already knew all this on some level. That's one way to model it, but I prefer to think of it as a conversation with my Higher Self, that part of me that *is* connected to all Creation and the Infinite Creator wherein those insights do already exist. The journaling practice, in other words, puts me in attunement with that expansive consciousness that I cannot claim as my own.
Anyway, I'm glad you posted this because although I haven't looked at the details of this Immanuel Journaling method, I can highly recommend the practice in general, if the 250,000 words or so in my own journals supply a testimonial.