Bible Journaling

It is amazing the many exciting ways we have that can lead us to spend time in God's Word. There is prayer, praise, worship, soaking, sitting still, journaling, all amazing ways of connecting with God. I love all of these, especially praise and worship, but last year I discovered a new way to interact with God in a way that makes my soul sing: Bible Journaling.

As a cardmaker, I am always on the lookout for inspiration for my cards. Little did I know that there was a way to use the techniques and tools of cardmaking in my private time with God. It was mindblowing! As I researched and followed Bible Journalers on Social Media, I fell in love with this, for me, a new method of spending time connecting with God. It gives me a sense of freedom as I read His Word and His Spirit plants seeds of creativity in my mind and I visualize how He wants me to interpret what I've read.

I have gone so far as to step out of my comfort zone and take part in a challenge. This was amazing because it involved using watercolor to create the journal entries for World Watercolor Month 2018. For thirty (30) days, I journaled based on prompts supplied by the challenge organizer. This challenge opened me up to going outside of my comfort zone and trusting God with my creative masterpieces. I am no expert, by any means, but I keep at it because I get to spend time in His presence and because the work that comes forth from our time together brings glory to His name. 

This is the latest piece I created. I was studying Spiritual Foundations based on Romans 8:1-2 in a Bible Journaling course I participated. This scripture reads, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." What impressed me most about this scripture was the phrase "the Spirit who gives life has set you free" and what immediately came to mind was broken chains. 

Take a look at the finished product below. If you want to see some more of the journaling pages I have done, click here.

World Without Walls!

We tend to think in terms of either or; either you’re black or you’re white; male or female; you’re heterosexual or homosexual; partisan or bipartisan, and the list goes on. This is how we tend to categorize people. We set boundaries and limits upon ourselves.

Day 14: Strong

God doesn’t look on us that way. He doesn’t see our color, sexual orientation, gender; He sees us as one: his children. He doesn’t categorize us, which frees us from limitations—we are all from the same tribe—God’s, and members of one body. As such, we see each other as brothers and sisters with a common bond: our Heavenly Father. Galatians 3:28 says it best, “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us, you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.”(MSG).

Free your mind from the demarcations imposed by man and live life in the knowledge that, “...since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.” Galatians 3:29 MSG.

Live Life As If It Were Your Last

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21 NIV

Do you make plans for the future and the things you will do but leave God out of it? Welcome to living life thinking you have a future. Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with planning for the future. The problem lies in planning as though you are in control of your future.

Our lives have a purpose. Do you know what yours is? If you do, are you living in it? Are you committed to doing what God has marked you to do or are you living life thinking only about yourself and what you want to achieve?

In Luke 12:16-21 Jesus tells the parable of a rich man who thought he had sole control of his life and made his own decisions. Read what he says to himself, “‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’”Luke 12:17-19 NIV

You know what God called this man? A fool! Read it in the text, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”” Luke 12:17-21 NIV

This man lived life with a “me, myself, and I” mentality. Everything he said was about him, him, and him alone. At no point did he stop to give God thanks for providing the soil to grow his crops or the means to even build the barn to store them! It’s important that we live our lives according to God’s will for us and be thankful to God because we wouldn’t have anything if it weren’t for His provision. Living life selfishly, only thinking about ourselves is not what God has planned for us. In everything we do we must seek God’s direction and live according to the path He’s traced out for us.

There is nothing wrong with living and following your dreams, but make sure those dreams are in alignment with God’s plan for your life and will bring glory to Him through it. The Bible clearly states, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you” —Matthew 6:33.

Live your life knowing that if you meet your maker tomorrow you can give a full account for all you’ve done to glorify and honor Him. Live it so you can hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” —Matthew 25:23.

World Watercolor Month 2018

July 1st marked the beginning of World Watercolor Month 2018 hosted by Doodlewash. I follow Sandy Allnock and she created prompts for those who do Bible Journaling and cardmaking to be able to interpret in many ways. I didn't set out to join this challenge, but because I Bible Journal and was seeing some of what other on her Facebook page where creating, I decided to try my hand at it. What I love best about this challenge is not so much following the prompt, but how God directs me to the scriptures to use and how I interpret them, plus the added bonus of practicing a medium that I am not familiar with.

Here are the prompts I have completed so far.

Day 1 - Star

Day 3 - Red

Day 5 - Circle

Day 6 - Young; the stamps is from Unity Stamps

Day 7: Pink

Day 8: Sweet

As you can see, I'm not following the daily prompts. I wait for God to speak to me and inspire me to interpret the prompts.

Here also are some cards I made over the past weeks. I hope to really try posting some of my work more often for you to enjoy.

Have a wonderful day!

D'Bee

This was a special request for a birthday guy. 

I love these stamps from Rubbernecker Stamps!

Here's another one!

and another!

God Is in Control

You think you have control of your life and make plans you assume will go according to those plans. You are not in control—God is.

Everything about you is known by God. He knows your weaknesses and where you will fail. You think you have the power to change, to act, to plan, but you don’t. Pride and self-sufficiency can lead you to failure. What you need to realize is that you are dependent on God. Scripture states, “For in him we live and move and have our being.’”—Acts 17:28. 

Every move you make, every step you take should be done at God’s direction. Surrender your will to His and allow Him to order your steps, He won’t lead you wrong.

Proverbs 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.”

Cast Your Cares on Jesus

Sometimes we face hardships that weigh us down physically and spiritually. We become anxious and worry to such an extent we can’t see the end from the beginning. This needs not be so! God is standing by waiting for us to call on Him, to give it all over to Him because He knows we cannot handle it on our own.

Why don’t we, then? Because we lack faith or we are fearful to muster it up and activate it. The Bible describes having faith as the, “...assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”—Hebrews 11:1. The other side of the coin of faith is fear which can be described as having the assurance or confidence that something bad is going to happen. How do we counter fear? We begin by changing our thoughts and affirming that fear, anxiety, and worry have no power over us because God’s Spirit dwells within us and we have love, power, and self-control; by, “casting all our care upon Him, for He cares for us.”—I Peter 5:7. Once we do this, “Then we will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7.

Here is a card I made using watercolors. I learned this technique from Tiare Smith, a Mixed media artist, and blogger who encouraged me to give my creativity wings. I made the original version in a sketchbook (see below) and decided to try it on a card.

Sketchbook Version

Card

I am also trying to really carve out time to do Bible Journaling more frequently. I spend time on Sunday afternoons watching Sandy Allnock's YouTube Bible Journaling lessons or following Rebekah R. Jones' techniques. Here's some of what I've been inspired to journal so far.

Exodus 15:20-21

Jeremiah 30:1-2

1 Peter 5:8

Psalm 84:11

Matthew 25:35