With all the new interest in Bible Journaling I’ve had lots of questions and I thought I would share a little more with you on what I’m doing in my Jornaling Bible… and I have a FREE gift for you today!

At church our pastor has kicked off the New Year with a new sermon series called “1UP”.  It asks us these questions…

• What if life was like a video game?
• As we make resolutions to better ourselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually, what if we could hit the restart button and have a do-over when we mess up?
• What if we had a hero who could give us the life we long to have?

I have been digging into the Book of James which is the scripture the series is built around and “Wow”…  James may be a small book, but it is packed full of life changing instructions. To go along with the series I was asked to do some Bible Journaling images the church could add to the “Daily Steps” email they send out. I decided to put together a whole team that could share and it has been so inspiring and such a huge blessing already seeing how each of us “create in the margins”.

As I started studying  James I began to see it as God sending me “Post-it Notes” or “Notes to Self” of all the goodness it contains. Each time I read it another life tip is revealed. Today I will share with you a few of those “notes” I’ve done in my Journaling Bible.

“Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” ~ James 1:2-3

This verse is a bit of a hard one to swallow… finding joy in tough times. These seem to be the verses I have to spend quality time with the Lord in to see what it is the Lord wants to reveal and teach me. As I studied it I learned it’s not the trials that we find the joy in, but it’s what the trials accomplish in us. It’s a testing of our faith – a purifying of sorts to make us stronger. It produces endurance, perseverance and steadfastness which in the end this is how we grow to become more Christlike. We are lying to ourselves if we believe the Christian walk will be easy, void of any pain. But God is more interested in building our character than making us comfortable. So we will experience trials, but He will always carry us through and on the other side we will have grown to be more like His Son. So… in this we consider it pure joy. “KEEP JOYFUL AND ENDURE ON”.

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. ~ James 1:19

For me… it’s the being quick to be still so I can hear God’s voice. How about you? Which do you struggle with?

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”. ~ James 1:22

Note to Self: JUST DO IT! Nuff said!

And I just had to share this fun pic with you as well. My little helper for the day! That wraps up the first week. I can;t wait to see what the Lord reveals this week!

I mentioned some FREE goodies for you… My first FREE gift to you is a Bible Journaling template of James 1:2-3. You will find the link to the download below.

This is how my creative process begins… lots of sketches and trace paper.

 

Download and print out the Pure Joy Bible Journaling Template, slide it under your page, line up in the margin and trace. It should fit most of the Journaling Bibles out there. You could also print it out, color and adhere right onto your margin or use washi tape to attach as a “tip in”. Oh how I LOVE washi tape! 😉

My second gift is a Bookmark PDF of the same verse that you can print out, color and share. You can never have enough bookmarks! Simply download, print out, cut apart and color.

 

I do have to say our Stampin’ Up! Paper Trimmer works great for a perfect cut. Or Scissors work as well, which everyone has on hand.

 

You can use whatever you have on hand to color. I used my Stampin’ Write Markers to add color on the first one and then Prismacolor Colored Pencils on the other.

Did l mention that our Whisper White Cardstock and Very Vanilla Cardstock are perfect for the bookmarks! And the Very Vanilla matches the pages of my Journaling Bible… great for making tip ins.

So… as promised… Here are the downloads for you… Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by today. I’d love to here from you. Have you heard of Bible Journaling? Have you started illustrating or documenting your faith in your own Bible or journal? How has it changed the way you spend time with the Lord? Please share!

Check out my Bible Journaling Category to see more of my posts for inspiration.

AND… last but not least… If you want to learn hands on more about illustrating your faith I have NEW Bible Journaling Classes coming up. Save the dates… more info to come.
Friday January 29th & Saturday January 30th

Blessings!
Anita

Save