I have never been a journaler. I never even wanted to be one. When I left on my mission, my first companion begged me to keep a journal, and I promised her I would. So I did. For a while. The second my mission ended, so did the journal. It wasn't for me.

Then one night, I was talking to a friend of mine and he is, in every sense, a journaler. Has been for years. He told me he'd been writing so long and so consistently that he could open to any day and see exactly what he was doing, on that day, for the last three years. We talked about journaling for an entire hour. He told me nothing had changed his life like journaling had.

I left that conversation and knew I had to start.

So I did. That was 993 days ago. I haven't missed a single day since.

And I won't lie to you, he was right, nothing has changed my life more. My perspective shifted. I started seeing the good in ordinary days simply because I knew I'd be writing about them later. My stories got better, because I started living like an ordinary day mattered enough to write down. But the thing I love most isn't even the writing itself. It's the looking back. Seeing who I was 993 days ago, and who I am now. What changed. How it changed. Watching becoming happen in real time, one page at a time.
Now it's your turn.

You're about to start something. Maybe you don't think of yourself as a journaler, most people don't. I didn't either. But here's what I've learned, you don't have to love journaling, you just have to start.

So. Here is how to use this journal.

There's no wrong way to fill these pages, but if you need a place to start or you feel a little overwhelmed, start with the reflection cards.

Inside this box, you'll find cards full of questions chosen carefully, meant to slow you down. Some will help you notice what God is already doing in your life, even on the days it doesn't feel like much is happening at all. Some cards will help you think about the future, what God is capable of doing with your life. Some of them will feel easy. Some will sit with you for days before you know how to answer. That's the point. These aren't quick questions. They're the kind you grow into. Questions that help you understand your journey of becoming.

Perhaps as you fill this journal with the answers to those questions you will want to fill some pages with something else. The story of your current days. A tried and true journal. About what your life looks like in the middle of all this becoming. Remember this is a journal, not a calendar. A good journal isn’t full of what you did in a day, it is full of stories. Instead of making a list of everything you did, pause, and just write down one story. One moment from the day you never want to forget. One thing that happened to showcase who you are, right now.

Some days you will write a sentence. Some days you will fill three pages. And a year from now or three years, or 993 days, however long it takes, open this journal back up and read what you wrote. Perhaps when you look back you will realize that who you were is not who you are anymore. That's how you'll know it worked.

Becoming is slow. It's quiet, and mostly invisible while it's happening, which is exactly why it's so easy to give up before you ever see it through. You pray the same prayer for months with nothing to show for it. You try to change the same thing for the hundredth time. You do the work and wait for results, and the results don't come.

But here’s the thing. That's not failure. That's just what becoming actually looks like.

This little piece of paper has seeds pressed into it. Right now, it just looks like paper. Nothing growing, nothing to show. But bury it, water it, and give it time. It will become something entirely different than what you're holding right now. Because it was planted, and it waited, and it grew.

That's you. Right now, in the middle of your story, maybe feeling like nothing's changing at all. But you are being planted. You are doing the quiet, unglamorous work that never feels like progress while you're in it. And one day, not today, but eventually something is going to grow in you that wasn't there before.

So plant this little paper. Water it. Let it be a small, growing reminder that you don't have to see the change to trust it's happening.

You're not behind. You're just still becoming.

It's so easy to look in a mirror and see everything you're not.

The tired eyes. The lines on your forehead that weren't there before. The parts of your body you've picked apart so many times you don't even see them clearly anymore. That's the mirror most of us are used to, the one that only shows what's wrong.

Try using this one differently.

Next time you catch your reflection, don't look for what's wrong with you. Look for what God sees instead. Look for who you've already become. Look for who you're still becoming, even the parts that feel unfinished. God isn't waiting for you to get somewhere before He loves you. He already does. Right now. Exactly like this.

So keep this mirror close. Use it on the hard days, when it's tempting to only see what's lacking. Look past that. Catch a glimpse of what God sees instead. A version of you that's further along than you think, still being shaped into someone even better.

You are not behind. You are becoming. Look again, and see it.