Coloring God's Word

I enjoy Bible Journaling as it's a way I can meditate on God's Sord while playing; creating an image that reflects what His Word says. It helps me to stay focused and not get bored. I like it so much, I made a Bible Journaling Playset that I can easily move anywhere I like. (In a previous post, I shared what items I have in my Playset, you can read it here).

But what if you are too nervous to write in your Bible?

I will admit, it was nerve-wracking for me to draw in my Bible that first time last month but once I leapt that hurdle it's been wonderful. Even still, I understand that it may be a little harder to take that first step for others.

Is there another way to color and think about God's Word? Yes!

Another great option I've found is Adult Coloring Books with Bible Verses. With these, you can color while focusing on a Bible verse without actually needing to color in your Bible. I bought a number of these coloring books for Christmas gifts this year because I enjoy Bible Journaling so much but understand that not all my friends feel comfortable coloring in their Bibles--and that's okay! But I didn't want them to miss out on the fun of coloring and meditating on God's Word so I got went with this alternative option.

Check out this picture of a coloring page I completed this week:

This picture took me about 5 or 6 hours to finish (it may not look like it's time consuming, but there are lots of separate pieces to color!). While I was coloring I would repeat parts of the verse in my mind and then work my way up to repeating the whole thing at once. Since this is a shorter verse, I did not repeat it the entire time I colored. At one point, I put on some Christian music, put my feet up, and relaxed; just soaking in the Christian songs as I colored.

It was glorious.

Right now I have two Bible verse coloring books and I think they will last me all of 2016. Even the pages with less details still take a decent amount of time to finish coloring completely. I received some sparkle and metallic gel pens for Christmas and they are wonderful! I probably haven't used gel pens in 15 years and I had forgotten how smooth they move as you use them. I particularly like them for coloring as they make a nice solid color instead of showing streaky lines like some of my markers do.

In addition to being fun, studies have shown that coloring helps reduce stress. Bonus!

Adult coloring books with Bible verses are a nice alternative (or addition!) to Bible Journaling. It's another fun way to meditate on God's precepts and consider His ways (Psalm 119:15).

How do you meditate on scripture in a fun way?

Focus Verse for 2016

Have you ever had words seem to jump off the page as you were reading?

I have.

When I was reading through Ephesians the other day, the verse from 2:10 seemed to do just that. As my eyes were moving over the words, I thought: This should be my focus verse for 2016. Now, because I hadn't even considered picking out a verse to focus on in 2016, I know this was a prompting from the Holy Spirit--a nudge from God Himself. Never before have I picked out a Bible verse to focus on for a year but since God told me to this year, I'm going to! 

So, I took Ephesians 2:10 and I created a picture I would enjoy looking at throughout the year. I also "added myself in" by switching the words "you are" to "I am" in the beginning and the word "you" to "me" at the end. This way, when I read this verse throughout 2016, I will automatically apply it to myself. I am God's Masterpiece. 

I printed the picture a couple times and haven't decided where I would like to hang it. I don't have a lot of wall space in my computer room and my fridge is cluttered. I'm leaning towards my bathroom near the mirror so I'll see it every day when I get ready, but I haven't hung it up yet ... I still have a few more hours to decide. 

As I continued reading through Ephesians, I had another new thing happen: a second verse stood out. While Ephesians 2:10 is my main focus verse for 2016, I was given a supporting verse to help me do the good works which God has prepared in advance for me to do. I made another picture but this one I wrote as a prayer using Ephesians 6:19.

In Jesus' Name, AMEN! 

I'm excited (and a little nervous) for God's plan for me in 2016 but I know God is able to do infinitely more than I could think or ask through His mighty power at work within me (Ephesians 3:20). 

Did you pick out a focus Bible verse for 2016? Which one? 

If not, you are welcome to share mine; comment below or message me on Facebook and I'll email you a FREE printable PDF version of it! 

Bible Journaling Playset

Bible Journaling is a fun way to meditate on God's word in an active way.

Today, I'm explaining what I have in my Bible Journaling Kit and a little more of the process. This is great information to get started with your own Bible Journaling but also fun to read to see how I play in God's kingdom. 

JLin's Bible Journaling Playset:

(You can click on the pictures to see them larger.)

1. Medium Sterilite Ultra Basket. I love these things. I have a few bookshelves that home these baskets; mostly organizing books in different genres for my kids. I choose to use one of these baskets for my Bible Journaling Kit to keep all my supplies organized in one place plus have the mobility aspect. With this basket, I can grab it and find a nice quiet spot to work.  

2. Journaling Bible. Is a Journaling Bible any different than a regular Bible?  Yes! The paper in a journaling Bible is more study than a regular Bible plus it has wider margins with lines for notes. This one was a gift I received years ago but I wasn't sure how exactly to use it until recently. It's in the English Standard Translation which is a close word-to-word translation from the hebrew into English.  

3. Crayola Colored Pencils. I choose Crayola because they are good quality color pencils at an affordable price. These are great to add color to drawings in my Journaling Bible. 

4. Mechanical Pencils (not pictured). For my first few journal entries, I did freehand drawings with just colored pencils. This was before I heard that I could outline in pencil first and then color it in! I know, I know, it sounds like a really simple, obvious thing but it hadn't crossed my mind. Now, I tend to draw lightly in pencil first to ensure everything looks on paper how it is in my mind before coloring it in. 

5. White Erasers. Going along with the mechanical pencils, I invested in some "fancy" white erasers. These don't smudge on the paper like the traditional pink erasers. I am happy I added these. I don't consider myself an artist and I make plenty of mistakes ... that I can now erase easily! 

6. Gelatos. These little guys are a bit pricey but a lot of fun. It feels like you are writing with silk when you use them; it's really delightful! My picture below is a bit light, but I wanted it to be. I wanted to draw the breath of the Lord on the page and leave it light enough to be able to still read the words underneath. 

7. Washi Tape. When I first heard those two words I said, "What?" Washi tape is a quick easy way to add a little umph. In the picture above, I used Washi Tape across the top of the page to make it look more pretty and to draw your eye into the page more. I didn't like the empty space at the bottom of the page, so I decided to add a pop of color by sticking on a different piece of Washi Tape. It was an easy way to dress up the page and it took hardly any time to do it.

8. Staedtler Pigment Liners. Simply put, these are black fine-point pens. After drawing a picture in my Bible Journal, I can go over the outline with a Pigment Liner. This helps the image "pop" and stand out more on the page. 

9. Crayola Watercolors. Okay, these I borrowed from my kids (they weren't using them anyway!). When I did research on different methods of Bible Journaling, one of the ways I came across was watercolors! I was a bit nervous to try it out but I braved my way through it as you can see in the picture below. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it was a little hard for me to color outside the lines but I really enjoyed the look of the end result. (I also have some disposable paper cups for water and a paintbrush in my kit so I have everything I need to use the watercolors--minus the water.) 

10. Gesso. Remember how I said I'm a bit of a perfectionist? What I did not like about the watercolor is that it bleed through onto the back side of the page. Not the worst thing in the world but I didn't like it. This lead me to some more research in which I found if I pre-treat the page first, the watercolors won't leak through! Gesso is like a glue I can now paint on the page (and let dry) before doing my Bible Journaling to prevent any color leaking over to the other side of the page.

   

11. Pencil Sharpener. This one is a bit of an indulgence. I like to have all my Bible Journaling tools in my basket so I can move to any location of my choosing to work. The pencil sharpening makes it so I don't need interrupt my journaling to get up and to go the automatic pencil sharpening in my house if I find a dull colored pencil. 

12. Christian Music. I like to listen to Christian music as I work in my Bible Journal. It helps me to stay in a mood of worship as I draw. I will use the free app (also a website) Pandora and go to "Contemporary Christian" radio. I like having the option to "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" songs so it will play mostly Christian songs I enjoy. For a small fee, I have Spotify which I have saved a number of my favorite Christian songs into my own playlist. This is great for when there is a specific theme I want to listen to. 

As I continue to Bible Journal, I may add some more items to my kit but for now I am very happy with all the tools I have available to me. 

If you are thinking about starting Bible Journaling, please don't feel overwhelmed by all my goodies! START SMALL. 

I recommend grabbing a blank piece of paper and pencil (if you have kids, borrow their crayons or colored pencils!), choose your favorite Bible verse, pay attention to what words seems to stand out to you as you read it, then try and draw it out while you listen to Christian music. This way, you can try out Bible Journaling before investing a lot of money into it to be sure you like it. 

(You can read my post on how I got started Bible Journaling here.)