I’ve written about Bible journaling frequently here at The Littlest Way. It is such a beautiful and varied spiritual discipline to encourage spending time in the scriptures. Beautiful, because spending time in the Word of God always is. Varied, because Bible journaling can be as ornate, creative, expressive, and individual as, well, each individual. The self proclaimed “artist” and “non artist” alike can enjoy the process of journaling through the Bible using whatever medium they choose. Bible journaling can encompass mixed media all the way to simple pen and paper or verse mapping. There literally is something for everyone! Today I want to share some examples of Bible journaling.
*UPDATE: I’ve written a book, Bible Journaling Tips, Inspiration and Permission, to encourage and inspire you in your Bible journaling!
I have enjoyed not only seeing Laci’s Bible journaling, but also reading her tips on how to journal in a Bible without wide journaling margins. Her most recent piece of advice was to use the Catholic Study Bible. It has a fairly large notes section at the bottom of the page. She suggested painting over the notes section with gesso and then journaling. This avoids covering parts of the scriptures, which some people don’t like to do. You could also use white label stickers or sticker paper, cutting it down to the appropriate size.
Lauren at Thinking Closet has some lovely color photos explaining her Bible journaling process. She also created a flip through video of her first ten entries. I love her tabs marking favorite scriptures. It looks like what I did with mine–Bible Journaling: Favorite Tabs. I love her encouragement when it comes to making mistakes, “Don’t freak out.” And of course I don’t think you can ever go wrong using Mason Jar stickers!
Dawn at Faithfully Yours quotes Stephanie Ackerman and puts a common “mistake” in perspective. “Won’t it bleed through?” is a very common concern when using paints, glues, pens or even highlighters in our Bibles. Stephanie’s response, “Yes it did bleed, but so did He.”
Valerie Wiener shows her beautiful hand lettering in the margins of her Bible. There are Youtube videos and how to posts all over the internet showing you how to get started in the beautiful art of hand lettering.
Candice at Mercy is New shares a couple of hand lettering videos in one of her posts on Bible journaling. I like Candice’s use of a date stamp with her entries.
I hope these posts have encouraged you to just do it. If you feel called to spend time in the scriptures Bible journaling, then go for it! Don’t worry about the mistakes, because there will be some. Don’t worry about people telling you you shouldn’t write/draw/paint/use stickers in your Bible, because someone will. Don’t worry about not knowing how to do this or that, because there is a Youtube video or blog post somewhere with step by step instructions. And if all else fails–you want to be creative but just don’t think you’re creative enough, use Washi tape!
Katie says
Really enjoying your bible journaling book! I like the verses under the subjects, and the encouraging words you offer. You’re absolutely right…it’s all about the time spent with Him.
Shirley Tucker says
Jenny
Thank you for the wonderful words of encouragement, and also for the many different ways that those of us who are hesitant to doing Bible journaling directly on our Bible pages can still go forward in another way of showing our love for the Father.
Jenny says
You are so very welcome Shirley. It’s not the outcome, the material or the process…it’s the time spent with Him.