- A Flip-Through Of My First Journaling Bible
- Flip-Through Of My More Recent ESV Double Column Journaling Bible
- NIV Journal The Word Flip-Through
- All Acrylic Interleaved Bible Flip-Through
Hi friend!
Do you know those new “reels” on Instagram? (If you don’t, it’s basically Instagram’s “TikTok”, of short and sweet 15 second videos.) Well, I posted one the other day that quickly showed some of my Bible journaling pages that I did my first year, and some of my more recent Bible journaling pages.
It’s a fun little video because you can so clearly see my artistic growth over the years! And so, I got a ton of feedback telling me how encouraging it was to see.
It really proved to me that this is something God wants me to talk about.
You see, I get told by other Christian women all the time that they think Bible journaling is so awesome but that they “aren’t artistic enough” or “don’t have an artistic bone in their body” or “don’t have the right skill set” to be able to do Bible journal themselves.
I also get a lot of: “I will never be able to create as well as you do” or “my pages aren’t nearly as pretty as yours” from fellow Bible journalers.
These comments break my heart. Because the last thing I want is for others to come to my page (whether here on the blog, or Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube), and be discouraged because they don’t think they have the “ability”.
The Truth
The truth of the matter is that we ALL have the ability to do Bible journaling! Whether you are super artistically minded or not!
BECAUSE BIBLE JOURNALING IS NOT ABOUT THE ART.
Bible journaling is about God. It’s about worshiping Him, growing our relationships with Him, spending time reading the Bible, learning scripture, and calling attention to the beauty of His incredible Word.
It’s not about the ART, it’s about the HEART! (Yes that is super cheesy, haha, but it’s true.)
When we go into Bible journaling with the mindset of worshiping our God and creating for HIM, every page we create will be absolutely beautiful!
It doesn’t matter if your page is a stick figure and chicken scratch or if your page is a full-blown painting that could be put in a museum. As long as the heart behind it is pure- THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY BEAUTIFUL IN THE EYE OF THE LORD.
Some Encouragement
Another thing to remember is not to compare your Bible journaling to anyone else’s. Especially if you are just starting, don’t compare it to somebody who has been Bible journaling for years (like me)!
Because we all have something to bring to the table.
And here’s the thing. When you go for it and stay consistent, Bible journaling has such an amazing ability to grow both your relationship with Christ AND your artistic skill!
The artistic part is all about practice.
When I started Bible Journaling almost five years ago, I NEVER thought of myself as “artistic”, I didn’t know anything (outside of an elementary school watercolor class) about painting. I didn’t know the first thing about hand-lettering or calligraphy. But I went for it anyway because I needed Bible journaling to help me get excited about reading the Bible and growing in Christ.
And when I first started, I didn’t have the mindset that I do now. I would be disappointed with pretty much every Bible journaling page I did. I hated it when I misspelled a word or messed something up. But now when I look back, I see the beauty of those pages. I’m no longer embarrassed by them.
So, that is why every picture in this post is of my early Bible journaling pages.
So, to sum this all up. I just want to encourage you. God has given you the ability to worship him in this way. Don’t be discouraged if what you create isn’t what you would consider “beautiful”. Because it’s not about you, it’s about the Lord, and it is beautiful to him, mess-ups and all. He is what matters.
Creating pretty pieces of art, is just a benefit of the Bible journaling process.
I hope that this encourages you that you can only grow from here. Grow in Christ and grow in artistic ability!
Much Love!
Jenna
