Bible Journaling Through Lent: Hope, Cross, Humility, & Grace (and a Shaker Page!)

Can I share with you how much I am savoring my time with the Word? This Lenten journal project has been wonderfully sweet.  I treasure and wonder over how my heavenly Father uses the very gifts He's given me to draw closer to Him. He's made each of us with such care and knows exactly what will strike a chord within us to grow that desire to be closer to Him.
Today I'm sharing my latest few entries, days 21-24.

Day 21 - "Hope"
Scripture: Psalm 71:5 For you O Lord are my hope.
Scrapbooking Supplies - papers, feathers, arrows, banner from Simple Stories "I AM" collection,
letter stickers and letters cut with Cricut

Day 22: Cross
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18 But the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Technique: Sharpie, water color pencils, white splatter  (inspiration from this Zenspirations pin)

Day 23: Humility
Scripture: John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease
Technique: Scrapbook paper: Bella Blvd (black triangles) Pink Paislee (yellow);
arrows cut with Cricut  (Southwest Cartridge)
in Design Studio; hand lettered, Sharpie marker and water color pencils

Day 24: Grace
Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. 
Technique: hand lettering, Sharpie Marker with shadowing from water color pencils;
hearts cut with Cricut and inserted behind plastic - it's a shaker page! Border is washi tape.

I pray you are blessed and inpired to spend your own sweet time with your Savior!

So, What's Your Story? "I AM" Layout

Recently my pastor asked the question, "What's your story?" in a sermon. It made me think. A lot. What is the story of my life? I'm a wife, a mother, and so many other things, but is that the story? Pastor was preaching on 1 Peter 1:3-5.  As I went through this scripture on my own later, the thing that struck me was all of the ways in which I define myself and my life are important and meaningful, but they are not the most important things about my story.
Long before I was a wife and mom, I was known and chosen by Christ. I became His daughter in the waters of baptism and am a full heir to an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance. (1 Peter 1:4) My life's story is based on how God sees me. After all, He is the founder and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2) and He knows all the plans for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).  The plot of my life's story centers around acknowledgement and confession that I am a sinner, but that God in His mercy forgives me and accepts me.  By grace through faith I have been saved and redeemed and live this current life knowing I am secure in the promise of eternal life.

I shared some of my bible journaling on Facebook and my Pastor commented, "So, what's your story?" Because I'm an artsy gal, I turned my answer into a scrapbook page. I don't scrapbook myself very often, but thought this was the perfect opportunity.  Here's my story...

The I AM collection recently released by Simple Stories lent itself
beautifully to this self-focused and reflective page.
I often personally struggle with how I see myself.
This page is a visual reminder to me about the truths of who I am.

This is my real story, and I'm sticking to it! 

So, I ask you.  What's Your Story?

Try these links for more inspiration:
Joyce Meyer's "Knowing Who I Am in Christ" scripture verses
100 Bible Verses "Who Am I in Christ"
my Pinterest Board I Am

Lenten Art Journal - 3 Days, 3 Techniques

Today I'm sharing my most recent Lenten art journal pages.  They each began with a word prompt, which led to a scripture verse and then 3 different techniques for the page.




Day 18: Martyr

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

For this page, I began by applying acrylic paint (a grey-blue) all over the page, spreading it with a plastic card.  I freehanded with a sharpie marker the barbed wire lines at the top and bottom and then added black paint and some black ink around the edges of the page.  For my lettering, I used letter stickers and a sharpie pen.







Day 19: Sacrifice

Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This page began with an image of incense burning from a bowl - the "fragrant offering."  If you aren't much of a sketch artist, one good technique is to look up images on google or pinterest to get an idea of what you want to do.  I mainly do this as inspiration, but some journalers print out and trace images to jumpstart their own pages.
I used mainly watercolor pencils on this page.  The verse is written in my hand with a fine tipped Sharpie pen.










Day 20: Solitude

Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

For this page, I used one of my most favorite techniques - I turned to my scrapbooking supplies and my Cricut machine.  In Cricut Design Space, I looked for some "door" images and came across this door knob (found on the Sentimentals cartridge).  I cut it out in metallic paper.  The background paper is from Teresa Collins (Life Emporium collection).  I also typed up the verse and then printed it directly onto some of this paper.  I cut the verse into strips, added some ink to the edges and adhered it to the page.  I used some additional paper and rub-ons that coordinated with the paper to add a few extra details.

Be blessed!

Lenten Art Journal: A Royal Pardon

Pretty much anyone who knows me knows my favorite color is purple.  I was lucky enough to be born in February, so my birthstone is purple Amythest. I've always gravitated toward this color.  I love the richness of purple. I wear a lot of purple. There's a beautiful lady at church who also loves purple and each week we greet each other and admire each other's lovely purpleness.
Today's word prompt for my Lenten journal is purple.  The bible mentions purple quite a bit, in reference to royalty and richness.  Creating purple in the ancient world was a costly process, so only those with wealth could afford to adorn themselves with this color. Did you know the dye comes from a small snail found in the Mediterranean Sea? You needed a lot of these snails to make enough dye to color cloth, thus making it rare and costly.
According to biblestudy.org, "purple" is used 48 times in the bible. Most of these usages are found in the Old Testament, alluding to royalty and wealth (Esther 8:15, Exodus 28:5, Ezekiel 27:7). Purple was used in the temple curtains and King Solomon consulted an expert dye maker when designing the temple (2 Chronicles, 2:7). Purple is the color of kings.

And the soldiers twisted together
a crown of thorns
and put it on his head
and arrayed him in a purple robe. John 19:1-6

They meant it as mockery, this clothing of Jesus in purple. But Jesus is a King. And that purple robe he wore not only rightly symbolizes his royal status, it also reminds us of the sacrifice he made at the cross on our behalf.  He deserved to be arrayed in purple, but he humbled himself, suffered, and was crucified to pay our debts and give to us the gift of eternal salvation. As a daughter of the King, that gift is mine.  I pray it is yours, too, and with me you can rejoice that we are heirs to such an inheritance!  Amen.

For this Lenten art journal page, I used scrapbook paper for the background (wood grain by Crate Paper).  The cross is washi tape.  I found some photos for inspiration in sketching out the crown of thorns directly onto my page. I went over my drawing in black Sharpie pen, then colored it in with brown water color pencils.  I added some grey marker for shadows.  I wrote the verse in sharpie and added some shadowing with purple water color pencil.
Here's a few other pages I recently completed in my Lenten Art Journal.  You'll see a larger image if you click on the photos.  I share these daily on Instagram as well as on my Facebook Page.  I invite you to follow me there to see them each day.  Be blessed!