While this could lead to a negative form of peer pressure, it was a beautiful thing in the fall of 2015. There had been a "buzz" about this new method of connecting with Scripture by creating art in the Bible. Through a series of text messages, my friend Carrie and I decided to go for it. She had seen a sale on journaling Bibles (with a margin along the side and specifically designed for written and/or creative journaling) at Lifeway, and we both jumped into this new pursuit together. I'll admit that it took me awhile to actually start once I had my Bible in hand (but once I started, I loved it! My first entry was November 25, 2015. Nothing fancy, but I realized that the process of creating was more important than the finished product. And since Christmas was around the corner, I acquired some fun art supplies that got me even more excited. Carrie and I co-led a Bible art journaling interest group at our church the following February.
For a solid two years, I would read my Bible during the week, making notes of what verses/phrases/imagery stuck out to me or what quotes or songs they reminded me of. Then on Sundays, I would create from the inspired verses of the week. Pens. Markers. Paint. Stickers. Washi tape. Pictures. Some pages would be quick. Some would take an hour or more. One of the best parts was being so deeply in the Word. It was one way of meditating on Scripture -- by illustrating and hand-lettering and crafting. Still to this day, I often see images of my Bible art journaling entries when I think of certain passages.
Another benefit of Bible art journaling was the creative outlet. I never considered myself an artist, but I DO love to create. I think this is part of being made in the image of a creative, creating Creator God. Using artistic expression in a way that connects my heart to Scripture was so, so good for the soul.
It also provided a way for me to share my faith with others. It can be intimidating to share with someone on heart levels about what God has been teaching me, but it's much more disarming to start with "Here's some art that I did recently."
This wasn't my main "reading" Bible, but I tried to leave the words read-able. I also would always "date" the entries. On more than one occasion, I've been able to look back in hindsight to what God was doing in my heart in specific seasons. In particular, there was a period of time where our baby had stopped growing in my womb, but I didn't know it yet. In those days of still feeling fully pregnant and unaware of what was happening inside, I journaled pages along the lines of "Bitterness is a choice" and "When you pass through rivers of difficulty, I will be with you."
Although I still refer to my art Bible and share pages with others, I haven't created in a long time. I could chalk it up to having 4 kids now instead of 2 (and considerably less creative time). My laundry room/"war room" area is now buried under piles of...stuff. I've pursued songwriting and learning Scripture memory songs with the free time I do have. Just writing about this season of my life makes me want to start again although I have the same mental block that I did when I first started. Hopefully, this creative outlet is not over in my life but just "dormant." :-)
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