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FINDING GOD WITH YOUR PEN

 

By Kelly Ettenborough
The Arizona Republic

Misty Taggart grew up hearing about a personal relationship with God, and she wanted to experience it. Silent prayer tripped her up. The laundry or the next project work or dinner plans would distract her. The conversation would end, sometimes after it had barely started, until Taggart, a profession writer, found journaling -- writing in a journal not as a diary, but as an ongoing conversation with God.

Finally, the woman born into an east Texas Baptist family who was at church everytime the doors were open had found the relationship she had been seeking. "It doesn't take the place of Bible reading or Bible study or silent prayer," said Taggart, who lives in Surprise. "It's just an incredible tool for you to use, and it's a lifeline between you and God, and the blessings that will come to you from this are amazing."

Taggart spent many years in Hollywood writing for television, including the daytime drama "Another World". Now she writes books and finds time to journal in her favorite spot, her porch swing. Through her business, Ordinary Woman/Extraordinary God, she teaches other women how to experience that closeness using journals.

Taggart will lead a workshop next Saturday at the Palm Vista Baptist Church in Surprise. She has a Website - www.ordinarywoman.com - that has thousands of women on the mailing list. Her online journaling workshops fill up more than a month in advance. According to internet information which monitors many of the Christian sties on the Internet, her site is consistently among the most visited.

Misty encourages women to write in their journals in a stream-of-consciousness style, not worrying about grammar, spelling or sentence structure. It's handwritten, so there's no editing or rewriting. It's not a diary, although details of daily life will be in the journal. "It's grasping a thought and not just letting it come into your head and go away," she said. "No one is going to see your journal. It's between you and God. You're sharing this with the person who loves you the most in the whole world, the person who made you who you are today." The journal becomes a reminder of God's daily presence, she said. "He puts everything in place, but we don't always realize that," she continued. "How wonderful to be able to go back and see the incredible things God is doing in your life.Your faith explodes. You spend less and less time asking the questions, 'Where are you?' or 'Why?' It just becomes the most marvelous picture and story of you and God together."

Her rules of journaling are two: honesty and a 'real' fountain pen. The fountain pen's point molds to the person's own handwriting, and it's more symbolic and connected, she said. "The fluid in that ink is going to become your dreams, your joys, your cares, your prayer, your praises," she passionately explained. "It's like your life's blood. You fill your pen -- you're doing it -- and then you're going to take that pen and put it on the paper. You are are personally going to turn that ink into the story of your life with God." The women who do her online workshops are getting a real treat - for they don't have to leave their homes. She takes this marvelous tool right to their computers.