From Larry W. Tiippets book ‘Receiving Personal Revelation’. . . .
There are at least three primary purposes for keeping a journal—three good reasons our Heavenly Father would encourage us to obey this commandment. First, a journal becomes a primary record of significant experiences of our lives. As such, our journals capture those things worth remembering. The birth or marriage of a child; . . . concerns about family or occupational life; entries about good friends, family vacations, or memorable accomplishments; experiences related to Church callings; humorous sayings of your children; the failures and struggles that are part of your life’s experience; and much more. Such a record will be of inestimable value when writing a personal or family history. We will not want to include everything in our journals in the story of our life, but our journal entries will contain details about people, events, and experiences that likely would have been forgotten. These experiences and events are often the framework through which God has manifested His influence in our lives. Our journals and histories will be of great value to our children and later posterity as well as to ourselves. Jacob wrote: “We labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and also our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents” (Jacob 4:3).
Second, our journal can become a repository for the inspiration, revelation, and manifestations of the Spirit that God has given us through our lives. Experiences with the Spirit can vary from subtle to intense as the Spirit ebbs and flows in our lives. There have been occasions in my life when personal revelation like a stream and other times when I could scarcely sense the presence of the divine. Therefore, when we experience spiritual impressions, it is important to recognize and write them down as best we can. When turned into a written account, it allows us to revisit the experience again and again. Writing the experience preserves it, validates it and completes it both for the one who experienced it initially as well as for those with whom it may be shared in the future. Rereading and retelling personal revelatory experiences (when so prompted) invites the Holy Ghost to bear witness again and again (see Doctrine and Covenants 50:21-22).
Some years ago I had been concerned about my family for several days. As I was doing the dishes one evening, the following thought came into my mind: “You have taught your children well; you have been a good example to them. They have been given what they need to succeed both temporally and spiritually.” My heart and mind immediately calmed and I felt peace that all would be well as I continued to try my best to live a life of faith and trust in the plan of happiness. i grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote down what I had experienced, for I knew it was from a source beyond myself. I needed that inspiration in that moment, but it continues to bless my life as I reread it in my journal. I have not forgotten the experience. In fact, while writing this chapter I took some time to randomly thumb through some of my journals sitting close by on the book shelf. I was reminded how much the Lord has taught me. Most of the entries, like the one I shared above, are personal and primarily meant for my own encouragement, although I hope my posterity may be strengthened by what I have written.~Larry W. Tippets, Receiving Personal Inspiration (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2017), 39-40 (To be continued. . . . .)
