So, as I have fallen in love with this new and exciting pastime of bible journaling I thought I would dedicate a page on my blog to it. It is such an amazing way to express yourself and what God is saying to you through a creative outlet.
God is the creator of heaven and earth and gives us our creativity, so I want to embrace all that he has put within me, always for his glory and this is the perfect medium for that. I love the way that it makes me excited about getting into the word and it’s literally bringing it to life for me. I have always been a visual learner and I see in pictures so this is harnessing the way God speaks to me and allowing me the vehicle to draw and paint what I see.
I will post pictures of the pages I create and what God has spoken to me about as I have painted or drawn in my bible.
I am hoping that you will be encouraged as I post these pictures and through what God is saying and that you too may start your own bible journaling adventure with God.
I have a friend that has a bible journaling blog called Draw Close where she is working through the bible and actually teaching others by illustrating the verses as she explains them.
Inspirational bible journalers on Insta are:
I will start with one of my favourite pages so far…
This page was a battle cry for me as I have struggled for years with using the voice God gave me in the prophetic through fear and comparison. For so long I didn’t understand how God spoke to me and often doubted that I was hearing God’s voice!
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Thankfully I have been on a journey over the last 3 years and know that these are all lies of the enemy because he wants to keep me quiet and go after my God given destiny. I saw a picture of the loudhailer as I read through this scripture and felt God say I was his mouthpiece. For me this page is a declaration that I am who he says I am and that I will not stay quiet any longer! I have learnt so much about my identity as his daughter and what that means for me in my everyday life. I am a work in progress but I know who I am and whose I am which changes everything.
Every time fear or doubt come in I remind myself that I am His Mouthpiece and the enemy is the one who is then silenced and NOT the Daughter of the King.
I was on the train one Saturday morning off on my way to hang out in one of my fave places in East London, Brick Lane. As I sat there on the train I realised from where I was sitting I could see straight down the train carriage from the beginning to the end. As it wasn’t very busy I had a really clear view.
Then the train turned slightly round a bend and suddenly what was a clear view straight ahead was gone and I could no longer see to the end of the train. It wasn’t a sharp turn in any way and simply a small bend in the track but it resulted in a restricted view for me.
God reminded me of the scripture,
Prov 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
He asked me if I still trusted him when I couldn’t see what was ahead of me. Gulp!! He also said ‘you knew who was driving before you got on and they are still driving the train. Now you can’t see straight ahead are you still going to trust him to stay on the tracks that are laid down?’
In the season I am currently in I am unsure what is ahead and I am making some decisions in my life that require me to trust in God. As I read the verse I looked up the meaning of the word submit,
Submit: accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person.
Was I fully trusting God with everything? It was easy to trust him when I could see clearly where we were heading but once I could no longer see was I panicking about him not being trustworthy?
This is why I used the word trust on the page as it was the key word for me. In all things I must trust in God. He has never let me down and is completely faithful. When I look back over my life, through some really dark times I can see that God’s hand was on me. He was faithful and fully knowing of my situations and he brought me through, without me being aware that he was there. I was completely leaning on my own understanding and was far from God and it was a place I never want to go back to.
Lam 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
He has proven himself fully faithful and I choose to trust in him with everything I’ve got and when I do this he WILL make my paths straight. Even when I don’t understand the direction I am going in I choose to trust in him because his plans for my life are always better than anything I can imagine myself.
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
This latest page is inspired by the lyrics in an amazing song by Kristene DiMarco. Iv’e had this song on repeat called Take Courage;
Take Courage my heart,
Stay steadfast my soul,
He’s in the waiting.
Hold onto your hope.
As your triumph unfolds,
He’s never failing.
As I listened to it I imagined the word triumph unfolding out of my bible and that’s what I tried to recreate here. It pretty much sums up what God has been talking to me about in the last few weeks. I have blogged about his too on Everything In It’s Time if you want to read about what God has been saying in this season of waiting. If you too are in a season of waiting I pray that as you read it you will be encouraged by my journey.
Easter Sunday has caused me to focus on his EXTRAVAGANT love poured out for us.
Eph 3:14-20 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a]in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
It is so hard to grasp how wide, how long, how high and how deep is His love for us. We will never get to the end of it and it’s unmeasurable. It’s ostentatious, unwarranted, unrestrained, over the top, disproportionate and that’s just for starters.
While I was journaling this I was listening to Extravagant by Steffany Gretzinger on the new Starlight album by Bethel. The lyrics are amazing:
Extravagant
You were a lover before time’s beginning
You gave Your love freely withholding nothing
Jesus, my Jesus
You carried the weight of the world on Your shoulders
You stopped at nothing to prove You were for us
Jesus, my Jesus
It’s extravagant, it doesn’t make sense
We’ll never comprehend, the way You love us
It’s unthinkable, only heaven knows
Just how far You’d go, to say You love us
To say You love us
You don’t belittle our pain and our suffering
You comfort us in our greatest unraveling
Jesus, my Jesus
You are the dawn that is breaking within me
You are the sun that is rising around me
Jesus, my Jesus
It’s extravagant, it doesn’t make sense
We’ll never comprehend, the way You love us
It’s unthinkable, only heaven knows
Just how far You’d go, to say You love us
To say You love us
Here is all my love
It’s Yours, no conditions
When You pull me close
No I won’t resist
It’s extravagant, it doesn’t make sense
We’ll never comprehend, the way You love us
It’s unthinkable, only heaven knows
Just how far You’d go, to say You love us
To say You love us.
I had this scripture prayed over me recently and I love it so much because it’s so full of promise. I have been in a season of waiting but this season has not in any way been wasted time but has been a season of spiritual growth and a deepening of my relationship with the father.
I am so excited for all that God wants to do and for the vision He has given me, for his wanting to partner with me and use me to bring about the things He has shown me but I can be a little inpatient (cough, cough). When you see the tree but you currently have the acorn then you can often try and run ahead of God. But, His timing is always perfect and there is a season in life for everything.
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Having this scripture prayed over me has given me a real sense of excitement, hope and security knowing that my God is faithful and will bring about all that He has promised.
Isaiah 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
I’m ready Papa. Let’s take some ground!!
I looove my journaling bible.
I love the way the ribbons that mark the pages are a riot of colour before I even open it.
I love how the pages feel crisp and crinkly.
I love the way the pages sound as I flick through and look at them.
I love that it’s already crammed full of pictures that God has given me and words that He has spoken over me.
I love that it’s a visual reminder of His absolute gooey goodness.
I love that I am able to express my God given creativity within the pages of it.
I love that painting and drawing in it brings the words to life and gives me life.
I love that I’m excited and eager to get into the word.
I love how I spend time with Papa as I am journaling.
I love that spending time journaling is my happy place.
I love that it brings peace to my soul and joy to my heart.
Thank you for creativity Papa.
This page is based on Psalm 100:2-4
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
I love the simplicity of this verse and that to be in His presence we simply have to offer thanksgiving and we can come on in. We can laugh and sing and it warms His heart as He sees us enjoying Him just for who He is. We don’t have an agenda but just to dwell where He is-beautiful.
On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence. 3 Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn’t make him. We’re his people, his well-tended sheep. 4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. 5 For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.
I love the idea of being asked for the password before being allowed to enter and it’s as simple as this-thank you!
We are then welcomed into His presence and and its such a joyful place to be. Why would we want to be anywhere else.
My process
I looked at this scripture in the message version and immediately had this picture of the blue gates. I applied white gesso to my pages and then drew the gates on after finding a picture like the one I saw in my mind, on Google. I copied it onto my page with pencil and then used water colour for the gate. I also saw speech bubbles in my mind and I drew them with fine pens and used some of my lettering stash for the words on the right hand page.
The music notes were an after thought really as I thought about our songs of praise, so I drew some music notes on and then added more so they ran up the page. Sometimes as I am journaling spontaneous stuff happens and I go with it. In fact, most of my pages are spontaneous if I’m honest and they flow from a picture I have and then develop as I’m journaling. That is one of the things I love about bible journaling, that there is no right or wrong and the pages don’t have to look perfect (which has been helpful as something of a perfectionist if I’m not too careful). I added some stick on diamantes to the notes as I imagines our mouths full of praise and that those songs were priceless like the finest diamonds. I added a small gold key and this represents the key to God’s heart and that’s why it has a red heart in the centre of it.
The final touch was a couple of bits of sparkly washi tape because, why not! and of course a date stamp.
Abide
Based on Psalm 91:9-10…
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
God has really been speaking to me about what it means to abide and rest in Him. To abide, to be in His heart.
Whilst I was working on this page I was listening to the album Housefires III and the words from the song Abide fitted perfectly with what I was trying to create here. This wasn’t planned but sometimes happens as I listen to worship whilst journaling.
As I thought about God’s heart and being held, I had a picture of a heart being held by a pair of hands. I have never drawn hands before and felt a bit nervous. I found a picture of hands and was able to copy the hands straight into my bible, with only a bit of rubbing out!
I didn’t prepare the page first with Gesso like I often do because I wanted to be able to see all the writing beneath it.
I then painted the hands with water colour and I have found that water colour is incredibly forgiving. I just changed the tone a bit and was able to shade the hands and the heart. I then drew around the hands with a fine pen.
I wrote out the refrain from the song at the side of the page and synonyms for abide under the hands.
So this particular page is one that is reflective of where I am at the moment and that is in a battle. My friend sent me the word about the limpet and straight away I saw a picture in my mind and a scripture that it reflected.
I gessoed the page first with white gesso and then found a photograph of a limpet to copy. I drew the limpet and then spent quite a while trying to get the rock to look right as it had moss growing on it so I layered the colours up to create the effect I wanted.
I found the limpet quite hard to paint and I think it’s because its 3D. The results weren’t exactly as I would have liked them but I have learnt that perfectionism is not what bible journaling is about but an expression of the heart and the process of soaking and spending time with God whilst in the ‘doing’.
What I love about the limpet though is that they are created with a really strong muscle around the base of the shell that means they stick fast to the rock and even when the stormy seas cover them they do not fall off. For me that it what life is all about-sticking fast to the one that I build my life on-Jesus.
Deut 30:20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
I love that in the ‘Urban Dictionary’, limpet means type of hugging or bodily contact that resembles a Limpet in its strength of attachment.
My strength comes from a place of attachment to Papa God.
Lent 2018
So, for the first time I have started a daily bible journaling thingy! It is called ‘Red Letter Lent’ and is created by @bravelittletaylor (on Insta) for Illustrated Faith. You can access their Print and Pray shop and print out the set of cards, amongst many other delightful bible journaling resources (totally enabling here).
So I am attempting to do an entry every day during Lent using the adorable ‘Red Letter Lent’ Cards .
Illustrated Faith say;
This set of 41 printable cards each feature a single word taken from the “red letters” of the gospels. One word to ponder and pray for every day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. These beautiful mini-prints are perfect for journaling, tucking into your bible, or displaying as you count down the days until Easter. Scripture references are included for further study and reflection.
February 14th Ash Wednesday
You are given three pieces of scripture to read and meditate on and then I chose the one that stuck out to me and used that one for my entry.
Day One:WORD
I prep my pages with white Gesso usually, as it means the paint, pens or whatever, don’t soak through, and I like the way it makes the page feel (personal preference as I know lots of people that don’t Gesso first). You can also get clear Gesso, so for those of you who worry about not being able to read the words after, you still can (the bible I use is simply for journaling in and this doesn’t bother me about reading the other bits of scripture on the page, other than the one I’m journaling which I obviously don’t cover up).
I then chose a colour to match as closely as I could with the card and decided where I would stick this on the page as tip in (this just means to be able to life up, and it gives you more journaling space and you may want to write things on there that are a little more personal). I cut out my tab using a fab tab cutter I got from Amazon and dymo’d my word (is that even a word?).
I used some beautiful flower stickers I had from a friend called Ella Masters (incredible artist) because they were the colour I was looking for, and then just added my journal notes using a black roller ball pen. The little crosses on my page are part of my Bible Mat that fits underneath your page to stop you getting your other bible pages in a mess as you are journaling.
Day Two-FULFILLED
DAY 16-SEED
Day 29-TRUTH
Word of the Year 2019…
I feel an excitement about what this means and how it will look as I go through the year. The first thing I did was look up the meaning of the word:
Accelerate- to increase in rate, amount, or extent. “inflation started to accelerate”Synonyms; speed up, hurry up, get faster, move faster, go faster, drive faster, get a move on, put on a spurt, open it up, gain momentum, increase speed, pick up speed, gather speed.
Divine acceleration is a reminder that you can trust the timing of God. He is…faithful, He is sovereign, He is powerful!Helen Calder
What is your word for the year?
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