Hi Friend! I’m so glad to be back here on the blog. It has been a long month and a half of transition moving from Japan, to my parent’s house for a month, and now to our new apartment in San Diego. Hubs and I moved in yesterday- we still won’t have our furniture from Japan until the end of the month, and won’t have internet for another week! Currently sitting at the Navy Liberty Center on base to get this blog post out! It’s been stressful and overwhelming at times, but also so fun and exciting! Can’t wait to see how God uses us during this next year in SoCal.
Anyways, for a few weeks last month, I found myself in a funk inspiration wise for my Bible journaling. After talking to a bunch of other Bible journalers, I realized that I am not the only one who goes through funks like this! So what do we do? How do we find inspiration? How do we find our creativity when we aren’t feeling creative?
Here’s what I have learned:
Take A Break
First off, don’t feel guilty if you need to take a break for a few days (or weeks) from Bible journaling. Sometimes we need to just give our minds a break. One of my good friends told me last month “sometimes we need to take a break for a little while- especially from the things we love most.”
If you are similar to me, when we get passionate about something, we go full force into it. And eventually, we begin to feel major burn out. Taking a break now and then allows us to reset, and also to remember why we love that thing so much.
So take a break from Bible journaling- and spend time with God in other ways.
Watch A Sermon
One of my favorite ways to find Bible journaling inspiration is by watching sermons, whether at church or online. For example, last week at my parent’s church, our pastor talked about the fake Gods that us Christians believe in that we shouldn’t. Such as Guilt God (who will tisk you if you aren’t the perfect Christian), Bodyguard God (who never will let anything bad happen to you), and Boyfriend God (who you will always feel butterflies for when you think of him). This sermon was so dang good that I have been thinking about it for days. (If you want, you can watch it here.)
To me, that is the best kind of inspiration for a journaling Bible entry. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I totally believed in the Boyfriend God- I always want to feel giddy and feel God’s presence, and when I don’t, doubt starts to form. So I ended up making the page below on Hebrews 13:5 “for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'” This page is to remind me that even when I don’t feel his presence, God is always there and will never leave me.
Gosh, I’m getting deep here!
So, that’s my tip number two, feed off of sermons.
Use a Bible Study
I’ll be honest, I’m terrible at keeping up with Bible study plans, but they can be a great source of inspiration. Choose a study or devotional that interests you, or maybe even one that you normally wouldn’t want to go through! I love the She Reads Truth and The Bible apps to find daily Bible studies.
I was also one of Sarah Koontz’s creative partners for her free online Ephesians Bible study that is amazing (you can sign up for that HERE.) This study was a source of a ton of inspiration and I created these pages below from that.
Find Inspiration Online
I’m sure you already make use of this tip. Social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, are wonderful places to find Bible journaling ideas. It’s amazing how many talented and artistic Bible journalers there are out there!
Lately, I have been finding a ton of Bible journaling inspiration from YouTube videos! Particularly Journaling Bible flip-through videos. I decided to make a flip-through video of my own which you can watch below and see every page in one of my Journaling bibles!
Pray for Guidance
My aunt, an amazing woman of God, told me to do this when I first became a Christian and it has always stuck with me. When you are feeling lost in where to go in God’s word, or need his direction, say a prayer for him to speak to you through his word, then close your eyes and open your Bible to a random page, read from where your eyes first look and you will find something wonderful to take away from it. Sometimes you may have to do this a couple times, but I guarantee you will always find something that will hit you in your heart. When you find it, journal it!
