Creative Bible Journaling - April Pages

Come along with me each month as I journal my way through the Bible.  I'm not artistic at all, so you won't see beautiful illustrations and calligraphy, but what you will see is what I gleaned from the scriptures every day and how I creatively journaled what I have learned in the margins of my Inspire Bible.

I've got just a few pages to share with you this month.  I don't know what happened, I know I read my Bible everyday, but I just must not have journaled as much.  Now next month, I have a ton of pages!

During the month of April I spent my time in the book of Psalms...the EASIEST book in the Bible to journal in.  

In Psalm 63 David says God's "love is better than life itself".  Do you believe that?  Do you love God more than life itself?  I think I do.  But when I am put to the test, during a time where I am even wondering where God is, will I believe this?  I hope and pray so.

To make this page, I put a piece of designer page in the margin then I put a light coat of white craft paint over it to tone down the design so that the words could be more easily seen.  I used stamps for all the words, adding a die cut heart around the word "love" to emphasize it.  Finally, I colored in some of the flowers in the designer paper with pink and yellow craft paint.

This next page is so important in the Christian life.  So many Christians pray and don't receive answers, wondering why God doesn't hear the prayer.  There could be many reasons for that, but one could be unconfessed sin.  We must always go to God with a clean heart in prayer and confess our sins.  But if you have confessed your sins and still feel God isn't listening, just be patient.  God always answers our prayers.  I once heard a speaker say "there are always three answers to a prayer:  "not yet", "yes", or "no, I've got something better in mind."

To make this page, I first applied a sheet of pink paper in the margin and then used a combination of stamps and my own hand writing for the verse.  The praying man was a free image off the Internet.  The heart is a die cut.  I added some white paint dots for embellishment. 

What a joyful verse this next one is!  Yes, let's rejoice!  No matter what is going in our lives or in our world, lets "be glad in God's presence" and "be filled with joy".  I know it can be so hard during difficult times to be joyful.  But we have a beautiful, miraculous future to look forward to!  It's during hard times that we really must focus in on the Lord, and soak up His presence.  It helps to take our minds off our circumstances.

I love to listen to news Podcasts, I could play them all day long.  But somedays, the negativity really gets me down and that's when I say "Enough!"  I turn it off, and turn on some worship music instead, and before long my focus has changed.  I have entered His Presence, and I'm singing, and happy, and praising the Lord.  

To make this page, I once again used white craft paint to tone down the designer paper.  Then I used a variety of stamps for the Bible verse and added paper flowers for embellishment.

I love this verse and the image I found on the Internet.  Jesus is the shepherd who watches over and cares for his sheep...you and I!  The word says "each day He carries us in His arms!"  Isn't that incredible?  When you wake up in the morning, expecting a bad day because of some reason or another, remind yourself of this verse.  Jesus is carrying you!  Give the load to Him!

To make this page I painted the margin with green craft paint then using a mixture of stumps and my own handwriting I wrote the verse.  The image was found on the Internet.  I simply printed it and colored it in.

David had to wait quite awhile to see his prayers answered, but he never stopped praying and he always praised God through the trials.  He consistently felt God's love and mercy through the most difficult times while he waited for the answer.  We can do that too!  Just because we're going through hard times and it seems our prayers are going unanswered, doesn't mean we still can't feel His loving presence in our lives.

I have a friend going through a very painful cancer, but the comfort He gets from the Lord amazes me.  He recently said "God is good, no matter our circumstances.  His character remains the same...the God of all comfort".  Despite my friend's physical suffering, he is getting spiritual comfort from the Lord and he is being an encouragement and an inspiration of faith to us all.

For this page, I painted the background with different shades of craft paint.  The sentiment was done with a variety of stamps, stickers, and my own handwriting.  The praying girl is an image off the Internet that I printed and colored in.

And for my last page I have another joy-filled Bible verse.  Becoming a believer is almost always a search filled process.  When you hear believers testimonies, most of them tried everything else the world had to offer first, as if they are searching for something to fill them but they're looking in all the wrong places.  Here David acknowledges that search, and asks God to fill them with "Joy and Gladness".

To make this page, I used a variety of stamps and stickers for the sentiment, underlining a few key words.  I used stamps for the flowers and colored them in with pencils.  I sponged some blue on the border.  I made a mistake stamping the word "Gladness" so to fix it, I just stamped the word on another piece of paper and put in on top.  It kinda makes the word "Gladness" stand out more.  It's an example of how are Bible Journaling mistakes can be fixed.

 I hope you enjoyed my Bible Journaling pages this month!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Creative Bible Journaling - March Pages

Come along with me each month as I journal my way through the Bible.  I'm not artistic at all, so you won't see beautiful illustrations and calligraphy, but what you will see is what I gleaned from the scriptures every day and how I creatively journaled what I have learned in the margins of my Inspire Bible.

I've been working my way through an old devotional of mine where you read the Bible in four years.  I like that more than one year Bible reading plans because I feel you can do a more in-depth study.  In the month of March I finished the book of 2 Samuel and then the devotional author took me back to Psalms.

My first page I created to illustrate the story of how David lost his first born child with Bathsheba because of his sin.  What struck me most about this chapter was when Nathan asked David "Why, then, have you despised the Word of the Lord and done this horrible deed?"  I never really considered that when we sin we are despising God's Word.  

For my next page, I mediated on the story of how David still lost his child, even though he was repentant.  Just because God forgives us, doesn't mean there still won't be consequences of our sin.  For example,  people who abuse food, drugs, or alcohol can have affects on their body that will last the rest of their lives, and/or relationships affected by sinful behavior may never be again what they once were.

Another part of this passage was how David still worshipped the Lord, even though his prayer to save his son went unanswered.  That is a difficult, yet important thing to do, for it shows we put our trust in Him and His will. 

The story of David and Amnon is a sad one.  Amnon committed a horrible sin against his half-sister, but instead of addressing it, David ignored it, which resulted in more tragedy.  We must never ignore sin in our own lives, or in the lives of our loved ones.  We must address it and conquer it in God's strength.

I further illustrated this story by using a verse from Ephesians.  David's other son, Absalom was furious with his brother's treatment of his sister and he was provoked to anger because his father did nothing about it.  

David is brought low from his inactivity to discipline his own sons.  He has to flee for his life from his own kingdom and while he is down and out he is cursed from a villager.  David could have had his guards kill the man for his hateful words, but instead he humbled himself and was willing to hear what God might say to him through a cursing critic.  The story reminded me of the verse in James 4:  "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up."  It's hard not to defend yourself when criticized, or attack back.  

Bible Journaling isn't always pretty pictures.  Here I wrote some notes from a Bible commentary to help me understand this chapter.

For the next two pages I did both:  created a pretty page, but then added in some bible commentary notes to help me more deeply grasp the scriptures.

David's throne was eventually restored to him, but at the cost of his son's life.  The Lord had once again rescued him.

I really got a chuckle over the verse "There happened to be a troublemaker there..."  so I created a page all about how I shouldn't be a trouble maker.  Unfortunately we all have known people who are trouble makers.  I'm sure I have been one myself many times.  God desires us to be peacemakers, not trouble makers, so I wrote a little prayer to God asking Him to help me to be a peacemaker.  Then I added some Bible Commentary notes about the chapter and a Bible verse of how we should not devise evil, but be counselors of peace.

I absolutely love it when I can use paint in my Bible.  Here I created a sunrise using craft paint then I stamped and hand wrote a verse over it.

For my next page, I stamped and hand wrote a verse from Chapter 23 on top and then added some notes about Chapter 24 on the bottom.  Some times when I read my Bible, the story doesn't always make sense to me.  So I read a Bible Commentary on the chapter to help explain it.  "Enduring Word Bible Commentary" is my favorite.  Here I struggled understanding why David was taking a census and not listening to the word of God or his advisors.  Was it due to pride or lack of trust in the Lord that David needed to know if he had enough of a fighting force to conquer a neighboring nation?

For this page I just wrote some notes on how David had a sensitive heart and I should pursue one too.  David was not sinless, but he had a sensitive heart to sin.

I painted the background using craft paint.  Then I wrote some notes on the history of the threshing floor to help me understand the story.

After I finished reading 2 Samuel is was back to the book of Psalms to pick up where I left off.  The book of Psalms is the easiest of all the books in the Bible to illustrate, and for me, one of the most enjoyable.

 I hope you were inspired with God's Word today!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Creative Bible Journaling - January Pages

Come along with me each month as I journal my way through the Bible.  I'm not artistic at all, so you won't see beautiful illustrations and calligraphy, but what you will see is what I gleaned from the scriptures every day and how I creatively journaled what I have learned in the margins of my Inspire Bible.

I really did a lot of Bible Journaling pages last month.  The winter months are perfect for spending a lot of time in God's word!  I did a whopping 22 pages!  Because I have so many pages to show you,  I'm gonna make my commentary on each page very brief and let the page speak for itself.

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All but this page are in the book of Job.  I must have forgotten it in last month's Bible Journaling post.

This is a page of the last chapter of 1 Samuel.  I used my "Enduring Hope" ephemera  to illustrate some thoughts and notes I had on this chapter.  1 Samuel 31 is the end of the King Saul's reign and shows how God started to clear the way for David to become the next king.  It also shows how God always has "mighty warriors" waiting in the wings to carry out his will.

The rest of my pages are all in the book of Job.  This is a page I created in response to how we should treat our hurting brothers and sisters in Christ, instead of how sadly Job's "friends" treated him.

In Job 17 I was reminded of how our prayers don't get answered in our own timeline and that we have to "worship in the wait".   The victory will come in endurance.

On my next page I just hand wrote some notes from the Enduring Word Bible Commentary that really resonated with me.

Job begged his friends to have mercy on him during this difficult time.  I used sticker outlines to write the main thought "have mercy" and then I added some notes on a ticket die.  

This is probably the most famous verse in the book of Job, there's even an amazing Christian song by Nicole C. Mullen based on this verse.

In Job 21,  Job asks his friends to "Listen closely". so I built a page around listening to suffering Christians and then hand wrote a verse from James 1:9 about being "quick to listen".

Even though Job's friends were judgemental and not very kind, they did have some awesome things to say about God, like this verse:

Another beautiful verse about God.

Even though Job got depressed and questioned where God was in all this, he never sinned against Him.

Here I used ephemera from my "Illustrated Faith" kit "Enduring Hope" to illustrate how God's Word is wisdom, which is manna for our souls.

For this page I took a statement Job made about his previous life and added some personal notes about how when we help others, we are blessed.

For me, most of the book of Job is about him wanting answers from God, but never really getting them.  In my own life, I often feel frustrated when prayers go unanswered.  But then I am reminded that there is a never not an answer to prayer but it's either 1) Yes, 2) No, or 3) Not yet, or "I have something else in mind for you".

This is a page I created after reading a commentary on Job 31.

More of Job wanting answers, of which he repents of in Chapter 42.

A beautiful verse on God the creator.

Oh, I struggle so much with wickedness and evil being done in the word and not seeing justice.  But Job 34:21 reminds me that God does see everything.  I then made a checklist of things to fully surrender over to God that really make me fume!

Hebrews 12:4-11 explains that sometimes God disciplines us through adversity so that we can share in His holiness.  We may not always understand why troubles come our way, but one thing we can always ask ourselves is "What can I learn from this situation?"

One of the most incredible things to me about the book of Job is that it is the oldest book in the Bible yet has modern scientific statements in it.  I mean how did they know about how it rains in 37:27?  

A pretty page for a pretty verse!  Often when I'm down and out, just getting out in nature and seeing all of God's handiwork cheers me up!

I love this verse because I really feel that when there are issues or problems in my life that the Bible doesn't have a clear answer for,   the Holy Spirit gives us guidance.

 I hope you enjoyed my very long Bible Journaling post this month.  Next month, will not be so lengthy, I promise.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Creative Bible Journaling - December Pages

Come along with me each month as I journal my way through the Bible.  I'm not artistic at all, so you won't see beautiful illustrations and calligraphy, but what you will see is what I gleaned from the scriptures every day and how I creatively journaled what I have learned in the margins of my Inspire Bible.

Since I finished coloring in all the pre-printed images of my Inspire Bible, I've been going back and illustrating all the pages that don't have pre-printed images on them.  I've been following an old devotional of mine which took me to 1 Samuel and Ephesians, then ended up in the book of Job for over two months!  So this month, and next you will see Bible Journaling pages in Job, and let me tell you, Job is not an easy book to illustrate, but I did it!

Let's start with my 1 Samuel page.  In this story, Samuel is telling King Saul that the Lord fulfilled what He said he would do:  taking the kingdom from Saul and give it to David.  Now, even though the verse is said in a negative way to King Saul, I looked at it in a more positive way, whether good or bad, if God says He's going to do something, He does it!  God is faithful and keeps His word!  So I too can count on all of God's promises in the Bible to be fulfilled.

The book of Ephesians was a letter written to the churches in Ephesus.  Ephesus was know for its idolatry and pagan practices.  The Ephesus Christians were primarily Gentiles who didn't have the life experience of the Jewish laws and culture.  Just like today, the new Christians were living in a pagan culture quite contrary to what the Old Testament taught, so they needed encouragement and guidance to help them understand how to live their faith in an ungodly world.

For my page, I highlighted the verse "Live as People of Light" because that is what I took as the most important principle in chapter five;  but I love the words that come before and after this phrase:  "For once you were full of darkness, but now you have LIGHT FROM THE LORD.  So live as people of LIGHT!  For this LIGHT within you produces only what is good and right and true."  It is an admonishment to me to be a light in this extremely dark world.

And now I begin my two month journey into the book of Job.  Job is a tough, depressing book to read.  It explores the question everyone always asks "Why do good people suffer?" and you know what?  It never really answers that question.  It's hard spending two months in this book, reading about someone's suffering.  But I think reading it is important for we see the value in patience and perseverance in waiting on the Lord.  We also see the importance of just being there for our friends when they are suffering and learning how to hold our tongues.  And finally, we see God's faithfulness and restorative power.

For my first journaling page in the book of Job, I simply hand-wrote some notes with just a few illustrations.  Bible Journaling doesn't have to include a pretty picture.  There are several Bible Journalists I follow who simply write creatively in their Bibles and do not use any images.

For this page, when I read about how Job wished he had never been born at all.  Many people today think it's better to not be born at all than to lead a life of suffering.  But the word of God says the opposite in Romans 5:3-5 so I hand-wrote that verse in the margins of my Bible, then I added a rainbow as a symbol of hope.

Many verses in Job often brought to mind other verses in the Bible.  In Job 4:3-4 we are told that Job was an encouraging person to those who were weak.  I thought of 1 Thessalonians 5:11 where it tells Christians to "encourage one and another and build each other up", so I hand wrote that verse in my Bible and added some ephemera from my "Unyielding Hope" kit.  I still have so much ephemera from that kit!   Even though I purchased a new Bible Journaling kit from Illustrated Faith, I am bound and determined not to open that one till I used EVERYTHING from my old kit first.  And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you will have to go back and read this post HERE!

Here is an example of how I did a page based on some Bible commentary notes.  Here "Enduring Word" Bible Commentary had an excellent reflection on Job's sentence "I don't have the strength to endure.  I have nothing to live for".  At this point in the story, Job just wanted to die.  His suffering had become too much to endure.  The "Enduring Word" Bible Commentary said "Remember this story" when your prayer isn't answered.  "Thank God" that the Lord didn't answer Job's prayer and end his life, for his suffering did eventually end and everything taken from him was restored twofold!  Can you just imagine if the Lord did answer Job's prayer and end his life?  He not only would have never experienced God's restorative power and blessings, but his witness to all his family and friends would have been lost.  His story would have ended tragically instead of a powerful miracle that possibly strengthened the faith of all who watched.

 

This page I created based on the verse "What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often?"  This sentiment is also reflected in Psalm 8.  It reminded me of how much God love us, so I created a page contemplating divine love.

In Job 9:4 Job says "God is so wise and so mighty", and in Job 9:9 he says "He made all the stars".  Throughout the book of Job, nature is referred to as an example of God's wisdom and power.  I love to be in nature.  It always brings me closer to Him and it where I feel His presence the most.

Psalm 139 and Job 10 are powerful verses to support the sanctity of human life.  It's amazing to me that even before the science of ultrasounds, these words were written in the Bible.

Here I did a page illustrating the transcendence of God.  Although Zophar here is scolding Job for questioning God, I think there is some validity in his statement for God is so vast that we can't possibly understand everything Him,  such knowledge is "Higher than the Heavens".  When things go wrong in our lives that we can't possibly understand, we just have to trust Him that He is all knowing and all powerful and that there is a very good reason things are the way are.

Job desperately wanted to know what, if anything, he did wrong to endure so much suffering.  His words "Tell me, what have I done wrong?  Show me my rebellion and my sin" (Job 13:23) reminded me of David's words in Psalm 139 so I did a page on that Psalm.

Many things Job questioned are answered in the New Testament like when he wishes for a mediator in chapter 9, verse 33.  1 Timothy 2:5 says Jesus is our mediator.  And in Job 14:14 Job asks "Can the dead live again?"  The answer is "Yes!"  "God has given us eternal life through His son Jesus!" (1 John 5:11).  We can have peace in death for we will live again!

While reading Job's story, I was reminded of another Bible verse:  Romans 12:12.  It says to "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer."  I decided to illustrate this verse with stamps and then write a little personal note of prayer.

 I hope I was able to encourage and minister to you today.  We all go through trials and suffering in our lives.  Like Job, we ask God "Why?"  We may never know the answer in this life, but Job and other scriptures provide the answer as to how we are to act and think while we are suffering.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!