Sunday Musings - Just Believe

When I'm teaching illustrated Bible journaling, I demonstrate products and techniques in a variety of Bibles. This often results in some interesting looking pages! The page below is one that I started during a class at Scrappin' Goodtime.

I was obviously demonstrating how to create backgrounds using Gelatos (along the bottom of the pages) and embossing folders (at the top).

I am so thankful to have several Bibles to use for demonstrations, however I never want to leave these pages incomplete. I want to honor God's Word, so every few weeks I work on these pages. I start with prayer and then take time to read the scriptures. In my example today, the text is from John chapters 12-14.

I take some time to complete the background in my margins, which gives me time to think and pray about the scriptures I've just read. As you can see below, I simply used the same techniques and colors to create a border all the way around these two pages.

For the left page, I chose John 12:46-50 as my focus. In these scriptures, we are reminded that whoever believes in the Lord will live in the light and not in darkness. I drew a box around those verses, then traced a light bulb in the margin. I wrote the words to verse 46 around the bulb and then stamped the words "Just Believe" below it. I included some handwritten journaling, then stamped and colored in several flowers to represent that the light brings life everlasting. I folded a 2x2 card in half to create a tab and added some additional stamping on it.

For the right page, I chose to focus on John 14:1-4 where Jesus urges us not to be troubled but to believe in Him and know that He is going to prepare a place (a mansion!) for us. Once again I boxed in the scriptures, then added handwritten and stamped journaling, along with the drawing of a mansion (which I traced from a coloring page). I added a tab, the date and my initials to indicate that the page is now complete.

I hope you've enjoyed this example of my process as I work to "clean up" and complete the sample pages I've used for demonstrations in my classes.

I have to admit that I enjoy this time because it means I'm spending time in the Word, searching for nuggets of wisdom to illustrate and emphasize in my journaling. There's also lots of creative time in the process - a total win/win in my book!