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Gretchen Louise

mentoring digital wordsmiths

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by Gretchen Louise · 4 Comments

mud on memory lane

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(This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.)

This month at YLCF we’re walking down memory lane and re-posting some articles from the print YLCF Journals.  It’s been quite the walk down memory lane.  And it’s been fun, even if it has give me ample opportunity to laugh at my former self when I find a bit of “mud on memory lane” like I did the time I re-read some of my own journals…

IMG_2857originally written May 24, 2005:

I suppose it’s good to read through old journals once in a while, just to remind yourself of how very little you knew at 13, and how very little you know now. But it’s still disgusting to get an up-close and personal look at one’s former self. I was so “courtshiply correct” (instead of politically correct, you know :) ) at the age of 13. In my normal, every-day journal entries I was using courtship jargon that could top Josh Harris himself! “It’s so nice that he and I can have a friendship that’s attention without intention,” I wrote of one poor fellow.

The scary thing was, I thought I knew it all at 13 years old. Now I’m nearly 21, and I realize that I don’t know a thing. A single thing. Every little “box” I had created for my future, every little ideal I made back then—it’s all the furthest from my wishes now. Maybe I’m rebelling against the perfect and idealistic world I used to live in. But at the same time, I’m realizing that God never works in a box—or works the same way twice.

Of course, I can’t help but laugh at some of what I wrote. I don’t know if it was the books I was reading, or the thought that someday maybe someone would publish my journals, like Elizabeth Prentiss’ Stepping Heavenward, but I journaled in this high-falutin’ way that sounded more like 50 than 13!

After all these years, some things are still the same. But most are very, very different, thankfully. Please be patient—God’s not finished with me yet!

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Posted in Blog, Love on August 25, 2011 (Last Updated December 5, 2016) Tagged With: Memories, This Post Contains Affiliate Links

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Words from More Digital Wordsmiths

  1. Chantel says

    August 25, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    I think journals are a lot like growth marks on the side of our old door in my childhood home-monuments to where we’ve come from and how much He’s growing us! 🙂 *hugs*

    Reply
    • a farmer's wife says

      September 11, 2011 at 4:13 pm

      I love that word picture, Chantel! Thank you!

      Reply
  2. Elizabeth says

    August 25, 2011 at 10:40 am

    I’m the same way! I keep all my journals in a plastic tub, and cringe when reading some from my early teen years. I liked HIM?? On the other hand, I love reading entries from the early days of Chris’ and my relationship, especially the day we got engaged.

    Reply
  3. Rael says

    December 1, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    Gretchen, this evening I’ve been browsing all the old posts on Courtship here, and the Lord has both encouraged and challenged me with your thoughts. He’s been breaking lots of my boxes this year, in so many areas, not the least of which concern my previous thoughts on courtship.

    Thank you. 🙂

    He is not safe. But He is good

    Reply

Hey, I’m Gretchen.

Gretchen Louise I love books. And when I write, I feel His pleasure. In fact, I believe our love of words comes from The Word. Read more...

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