After my third miscarriage in under a year, I was lost and heartbroken. I was searching Pinterest and saving every verse that stood out to me, writing them down in a notebook and would go back to re-read them when I was having one of those days. I started seeing verses that illustrated in bibles. They had pictures associated with them, colors, beautiful handwriting. I became very intrigued so I started to save some of those to my Faith board. You all know how Pinterest works, the more you pin of one category you begin to see them more often on your feed. So the more I pinned the more fascinated I was with everyone’s drawings. I clicked on one and it sent me to someones Instagram who had a ton of Bible journaling entries on it. I thought what a neat way to express your faith. Then I thought, I wanted to do something like this! I am not artistic and can’t draw to save my life but I could try! It would at least help me to memorize some verses.

After looking at multiple entries and reading about some fun medias to try, I finally decided to start my Bible Journaling journey.  I went to BAM (which is a local bookstore), sat on the floor and searched through a ton of journaling bibles. I found one that really stuck out to me which was the Thrive Journaling Bible. I paid no attention to what version it was at the time. I just liked that it was cloth with a cream color and some baby blue on it, and it had enough space in the sides for me to do some artwork. It also has 365 devotionals in it that are geared toward women. Score!

I purchased my bible, came home, and had no clue where to start. I thought of some songs that I had been listening to that were helping with my losses. “Thy will be done” by Hillary Scott and “Come as you are” by Crowder. So I thought, what the heck I’ll start there.

I had gone by Hobby Lobby and bought some colored pencils, stickers, and gelatos. When I first read about people using gelatos my immediate thought was ice cream??? Wait, what? Turns out they are one of my favorite medias to use. I prefer using them dry and smearing them along the pages but you can also use them wet with a paint brush.

I was reading parts of the bible where I was journaling some of my favorite verses and realized I was actually understanding it which  had never happened before. Turns out the Thrive Bible was the New Living Translation version.

The New Living Translation combines the latest biblical scholarship with a clear, dynamic writing style that communicates God’s Word powerfully to all who hear and read it. It renders the message of the original texts of Scripture into clear, contemporary English that was written to be read aloud. With a focus on clarity, The New Living Translation invites readers to go deeper into the biblical text to discover God’s story for their lives and the world.

Tyndale House publishers

I had only known of the KJV and the NIV versions before. The NIV is much easier to understand than the KJV but it was still confusing to me so I had never read any of the bible because of this. I knew stories just from growing up in church but I had never actually sat and decided to read any of it.

I then had this thirst, this hunger to want to read it since I was able to understand it! I didn’t want to cover up the words if I hadn’t read it yet which is when I decided to read the Bible in it’s entirely and journal along the way. I started with Proverbs and I’m so glad I did. It was full of wisdom and knowledge and just simple instructions to how we should be living our life, how we should be treating one another, the good the bad and the ugly.  I loved it.

I also decided that this Bible was going to be dedicated to my daughter. When she’s older I want to pass it down to her so I began also writing notes to her at the end of every chapter about what I was getting out of it. After reading Proverbs I decided that I wanted to know the history, what it was referring to when it talked about “The Law”. I started at the beginning and read through Leviticus.

After those three I realized I needed a little Jesus!! I hopped over to the New Testament to read Matthew, Mark, and John and now have gone back to the Old Testament.  I am absolutely loving learning about the history of Israel.  So much so that I can’t keep up with my journaling! I just mark with a sticker what I want to go back and journal when I have time and am just reading my little heart out.  My eyes have been opened to so much and I am learning new things every day. I understand now why it was so important for Jesus to come and rescue us.  Why it’s so important to fear God. My brother always use to talk about fearing the Lord and I thought that was a load of bologna. “Why should I fear someone who is supposed to be full of love?” I would say. Well, read the Old Testament and you will understand what it means to fear the Lord. You will also understand how loving, caring, and most of all FORGIVING he is.

I am so thankful for this new journey and where it has taken me.   I’ve become way more artistic than I ever thought I could be! Now don’t get me wrong, I trace a lot of pictures in my bible from my daughters coloring books and free coloring pages on the internet. I have also purchased some amazing traceables on Etsy as well.  I’m learning new techniques like how to use a napkin in your bible like the pictures below.

I’ve also watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to paint with acrylics and I am so proud of these trees I did a couple of months back!

God is showing me talents I never knew I had.  My relationship with him is growing into something so amazing and wonderful.  It’s so exciting!   I hope that by journaling I am able to reach others and bring people closer to him as well.  I could not be more excited about what he has in store for me.  He is my strength, my stronghold, my saving grace.

Follow my Bible Journaling Journey on Instagram @iamlivinginfreedom