When I first heard about Bible Art Journaling and saw some of the amazingly beautiful pages on Pinterest, I was totally blown away. And I too, wanted to interact with God’s Word in that way. But, at the same time, I was scared.
I wasn’t afraid of writing in my Bible. I had taken lots of notes and done lots of highlighting in my Bible. But, what if I messed up? What if my pages didn’t turn out as pretty as those I had seen? Where should I start? What pens, etc. should I use?
And which Bible should I use? Should I try it in one of the Bibles I already owned, even though they didn’t have wide margins? Should I purchase a new one? My daughter was getting married soon, so buying a new Bible when I already had one wasn’t really in our budget.
That question was answered when my sweet friend bought a journaling Bible with wide margins and gave it to me. I felt like God was nudging me to put all my doubts and fears aside and go ahead and get started. God is so sweet like that. 🙂
However, it was still a month or so before I made the time (and got up the nerve) to start on my first page.
It took me awhile to decide what verse I wanted to illustrate. But then it came to me… I wanted to illustrate the first chapter of John, because the truth conveyed in there is what made The Word come alive to me.
Years ago, during a women’s Bible study, was the first time I got the revelation that Jesus IS the Word! I remember it like it was yesterday. That one truth forever changed the way I look at Scripture. The Bible is not just a “rulebook for life” or God’s love letter to me, but it is Jesus Himself! So, the more I know The Word, the more I know Jesus. Which, of course, makes me want to keep digging into God’s Word more and more.
Here was my process:
First I sketched out the words and the lettering onto a scrap piece of paper. I wanted JESUS to be very fancy lettering. So I looked at some different fonts to get some ideas. I folded my paper to mark the middle horizontally and vertically.
Next, I put my sketch under the Bible page and traced my sketch. Since the pages in my Bible are so thin, it is easy to trace.
I did not trace using a pencil. I just went ahead and traced it with a black gel pen. Then I added some detail with the black pen
and also began to color it in using color pencils.
It is not perfect by any means, but I really enjoyed the process. And I will never forget that Jesus is The Word and The Word is Jesus!
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Really pretty and I like this idea to help in Bible studies.
How beautiful! God has blessed you with the gift of creativity, and you are using it to glorify Him! Thanks for the inspiration!
Beautiful! I want one! 🙂 Visting from Jennifer Lee’s link up!
I use my journaling Bible daily. I just write my thoughts and reflections. But I am such a fan of the art you can create based on God’s Word! How He must smile to see His creation be so creative! Visiting from #livefreethursday.
Welcome to the wonderful, creative, expressive world of Bible journaling! I too was a little fearful when starting and I don’t always have the time to sit and journal in my Bible like I want to, but I feel it takes my whole quiet time to a new level with new revelation. Thanks for sharing today at #TGISaturday
JoDitt, thanks for giving us some practical suggestions on how to try our hand at Bible journaling. I liked the idea of folding the paper and tracing it. And what a great truth to start with … Jesus IS the Word! Blessings!
I grew up with the Bible being a “rulebook” and it took years to comprehend His grace toward me.
Blessings for the gift you’ve given to me.
I promise to use these to grow closer to Jesus and share with others.
Thank you so much for sharing this process with us! I too am a big fan of gel pens, particularly those with glitter in them, but my artistic gift is that of words and communication, not drawing…plus gel pens smear badly enough for the average colorer, much less those of us who are left-handed. You have no idea how freeing it is to hear you say that not only is tracing okay, it’s a method used by an artist! Please, continue to make your work available to the stick figure drawing masses! If I had any sort of constructive criticism, it would be that you should offer all of your work for purchase in the same way as your coloring book; ordered from/sent by you or Amazon, for those who don’t have access to a printer, the homeschooling Mama’s who are already going broke on ink, the older people who have little grasp on technology etc.; you get my drift. I’d be perfectly happy to pay more for the service and I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one.
Jesus loves you and so do I!