In His Steps

A Daily Journal

A quiet place to reflect each day and draw on Christian wisdom.

Build a daily habit of quiet time A few minutes of honest writing each day. Your streak keeps count, and a prompt is there when the page feels blank.
Rooted in Scripture and the great devotional writers Reflections draw from the Gospels, Paul’s letters, and the Psalms, alongside classic voices like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, Edwards, and Spurgeon, with links to the original texts.
Grow in His Steps Every reflection ends with an honest question to carry through your day. Browse back by date, or keep favourites close.
A fully private, encrypted journal Entries are locked with a passphrase only you know. Download your whole journal at any time.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”

Psalm 139:23 (NIV)

“But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Jesus, in Matthew 6:6 (BSB)

In His Steps

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Choose a passphrase for your journal. Everything you write is encrypted with it and can only be read after you unlock it.

Nobody else can read your entries, not even whoever runs this site. That also means nobody can reset this passphrase for you: keep the recovery key you'll be shown next. Why a passphrase as well as Google?

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At least 8 characters. A short phrase (“quiet morning, strong tea”) is easier to remember and harder to guess than a single word.

If you ever forget your passphrase, this key is the only way back into your journal. Write it down or save it in a password manager, and keep it somewhere safe. It won't be shown again.

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Copyright © 2026, Aaron de Vries

In His Steps

Tap Share (at the bottom in Safari; at the top right in Chrome).
Scroll down, tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

The app keeps its own sign-in, so the first time you open it, sign in with Google and enter your passphrase once more.

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Reflecting on your entry… this usually takes 20–40 seconds.

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Your name Journal name The title at the top of your journal. Leave blank for “In His Steps”. Save my draft every seconds Lock the journal after

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Open In His Steps from your home screen or desktop, in its own window, like any other app.

Tap Share (at the bottom in Safari; at the top right in Chrome).
Scroll down, tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

The app keeps its own sign-in, so the first time you open it, sign in with Google and enter your passphrase once more.

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Passphrase

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Create a new recovery key The old one stops working. Enter your passphrase to confirm.

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Passkeys

Unlock with your fingerprint, face or device PIN instead of typing your passphrase. Your passphrase and recovery key keep working too.

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Name for this passkey So you can tell your devices apart. Your passphrase To confirm it's you.

Your data

Export (CSV) Downloads your whole journal as a spreadsheet file that opens in Excel. It's not encrypted: keep it somewhere safe, or delete it when you're done.

Adds the entries from a file made with Export, e.g. to bring a journal from your own computer. Entries already here are skipped.

Permanently deletes all entries. You'll be asked to confirm.

Hidden entries

Past entries

In His Steps · Beta v0.2 · Sources · Privacy · Sign out
Copyright © 2026, Aaron de Vries

Wipe your journal?

This permanently deletes all , including hidden ones and their reflections, your unsaved draft, and the backup copies of your journal. It can't be undone.

Your account, passphrase and settings are kept. Want a copy first? Export (CSV).

To confirm, type this number in words, one digit at a time:

For example, 352 would be “three five two”.

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What kind of feedback? Fix or improve something Something that's broken, confusing, or could work better. Suggest a new feature Something you'd like In His Steps to do.

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Read by whoever runs In His Steps. Feedback isn't encrypted like your entries, so leave out anything private. It's sent with the screen you were on and your browser type, to help track down problems.

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In His Steps is invitation-only while it's being tested. Who would you like to invite?

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Your request goes to the person who runs In His Steps, who adds people by hand for now. You'll see it change to Has access below once they're in; then send them the link.

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