diff --git a/jrnl/jrnl.py b/jrnl/jrnl.py
index 639e33d0..acd5eff9 100755
--- a/jrnl/jrnl.py
+++ b/jrnl/jrnl.py
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ def cli(manual_args=None):
         config.update(journal_conf)
     else: # But also just give them a string to point to the journal file
         config['journal'] = journal_conf
+    config['journal'] = os.path.expanduser(config['journal'])
     touch_journal(config['journal'])
     mode_compose, mode_export = guess_mode(args, config)