Tuesday, June 29, 2021

May Bible Journaling Pages: Jonah to Zechariah

Once a month I like to share my Bible Journaling Pages and what God has been teaching me.  In the month of May I worked my way through the minor prophets from Jonah to Zechariah.   Now before you think I read a lot, the minor prophet books are very short.    Sometimes I just color in the preprinted images of the "Inspire Bible" (available on Amazon) and I also create my own pages.
 
Unless otherwise stated, all the images are colored in with either gel pens or colored pencils.  I tend to color larger areas with pencils then get the more intricate spots with pens.  I high light my Bible with gel highlighters, and I usually use gelatos or  craft paint for my backgrounds.

I started reading the Inspire Bible and Bible Journaling in September of 2018.  I can't believe it took me almost 2 1/2 years to finally reach the end of the Old Testament.  But it did!  Now granted, I wasn't just "reading".  Bible Journaling is very time consuming as it requires a lot of studying and creating "art" to reflect what you read.  I also listen to an hour long sermon by Jon Courson on what I just read.  So, if it took 2 1/2 years just to get through the Old Testament, it is only because it is a very involved and deep study of the word.

Anyway, I was super excited to finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so I could begin studying the New Testament.  However, I didn't quite meet my goal in May.  I ended up in Zechariah, just one book short of the New Testament.

In last month's Bible Journaling post,  I left off in Jonah, so we will pick up there.

As many of my regular readers now, I love to use Bible coloring pages in my Bible Journaling.  When I come across a Bible Story I'd love to illustrate, I simply google the image, print it off, and color it in.  I print on sticker paper that I found on Amazon, so it's super easy to adhere to the pages of my Bible.  the Bible Coloring images are usually FREE for teachers to use in their Sunday School classes.  

Here I colored in a sky background using paint, then I used a variety of stickers and my own handwriting for the Bible verse.  Speaking of handwriting,  after years of struggling to do beautiful calligraphy, I gave up.  I have purchased books showing how to do gorgeous calligraphy to create beautiful pages, and I was miserable because it always made my Bible Journaling a chore or burden.  I just could never get my handwriting to look as beautiful as the ones in the books.  I finally realized, that there is nothing wrong with my own handwriting.  In fact, it's my own signature, it what makes me unique and me!  All of us have our own signature, why should I be copying some one else's because it's "prettier"?  Someday my grandchildren or  great children will inherit this Bible, and I'd much rather have them see my own handwriting rather than a copied version of someone else's.  Freeing myself from the chore of not copying someone else's handwriting has also lifted the burden of trying to Bible Journal the "perfect page" and focus more on what I am learning about what I am reading.


I had a lot of fun with this page.  The boat and sea was already on the page, but there was no verse.  After coloring in the image with pencils and Gamosol, I created a sky background then hand wrote a verse in with pencil.  I really love the way this page turned out, except I made a mess on the opposite page, as you will see.



Here is the cover page of the book of Micah.  Notice the blue smudge?  That came from the previous page of the sail boat.  I always stick a piece of card stock in-between the pages after coloring, to make sure they are dry, but somehow the blue still got onto the opposite page.  This is one of the drawbacks of Bible Journaling.  If you make a mistake, you can't just rip it up and start over like you can with a card.  However, I have learned some tricks to hide mistakes...like craft paint.  I could just paint some gold paint over this blue smudge, but it's not bothering me that much to do that.


I love the confidence Micah has in this verse and also how he is willing to "wait", and not just "wait", but "wait confidently".   Even though the answer might not happen right away, he is willing to wait because he is confident it will arrive.


The Christian can have so much peace that unbeliever can not.  When trouble comes our way, we can always turn to God and trust in Him to work it all out for good.  


This is something I've never done before in Bible Journaling:  I wrote a quote from another source instead of a Bible Verse.  This image was already in the Inspire Bible, but it didn't come with a verse.  I was listening to a Jon Courson sermon and he made this statement and I thought it was so profound I wanted to do a page about it.  

After coloring in the image, I colored around it with craft paint then I hand wrote the verse and hearts.


A beautiful verse for the cover page of the book of Habakkuk.  No matter what troubles afflict us, we can always have joy in God for our salvation.


I've noticed several times in the Bible that the image of the "surefooted deer" is used.  I really got the significance of this verse when we were in Zion National Park in Utah a few years ago and we saw mountain goats on the steepest slopes imaginable.  Their climbing ability is just amazing.  If we put our faith in God, we too can climb unimaginable heights.


Here is another pretty image in the Inspire Bible that didn't come with a verse, so after coloring it in, I colored the background then added stickers.  Both the bird on the top left and the sentiment are stickers.


The Inspire Bible has many different styles of art in it to appeal to everyone.  I must confess that I enjoy coloring some style more than others.  I much prefer the whimsical style like on the cover page of the book of Zephaniah than I do the realistic images like the one on the page above.  

I chose bright, happy colors to reflect the whimsical nature of this page.

I love the part of this verse "With His love, He will calm all your fears".  I don't struggle with fear during the day, but I often wake up at night gripped in fear and it's verses like these that I memorize and recite to myself so that I can fall comfortably back to sleep knowing I'm safe in God's arms.


I loved the verse so much, that I repeated the portion of it that means the most to me on another page.  Again, this was just an image without a verse.  After coloring in the image, I hand wrote the verse and I used a sticker for the word "Love".


It doesn't get much simpler than this.  The verse is so simple and straight forward, so it seems appropriate that the image should be as well.  "Seek the Lord".  If you seek the Lord, all will go well with you.  Great advice.


This is the cover page for the book of Haggai. I love how He tells His people then (and us today) to "Be Strong" and "Get To Work".  Yes, God is with us, and will help us, but we must do some work ourselves.


I did the cover page of the book of Zechariah in purple and gold metallic to represent royalty.


A beautiful promise, not just for the wayward Israelites at the time, but for any backslidden believer today.  God is always waiting for us to come home.


The verse below may at first appear to conflict with the "Get back to work" verse on the cover page of the book of Haggai, but it really does not.  Zerrubabel  was given the task of rebuilding the temple.  By human might, it was a daunting, difficult task.  God said through the prophet Zechariah that it would be accomplished through him by God's Spirit  and to trust and believe.


The next page I created myself.  The verse is about the Millennium but I found hope in it for today as well.  When I saw the verse, it struck me hard because the past eighteen months, we have not seen "boys and girls at play" due to government overreach and lockdowns.  One of the most heart-breaking things I saw during the lockdowns was all the playground equipment in all the public parks roped off with yellow caution tape. It made me sick that they would not allow children to play in parks.  I mourned for all the lonely children who couldn't play with their friends in their neighborhoods.  I know everyone has different opinions regarding "the virus" but I always felt many of the precautions were not worth the damage done to human lives.


The book of Zechariah is all about giving the Israelites hope in the future no matter what their current circumstances because they are promised a Messianic Kingdom coming soon.  Because God's promise of the Messianic Kingdom is the dominant theme in this book, the Inspire Bible had this pre-printed image to reflect it.   Today, Christians also look forward to the Messianic Kingdom to help us get through our difficulties.  We know that no matter what is happening here on earth, God is returning soon to set it all right.


This is a page I created myself once again using Bible coloring pages from the Internet.  Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was predicted many years before in the book of Zechariah.  Studying Bible prophecy really increases my faith because I see all the prophecies that have already come true, so I know the ones we are waiting to be fulfilled will also come to pass.


And on my last page, another simple but profound verse summarizing the book of Zechariah.  You may not be able to see my handwriting on the page, but if you look to the bottom where there is a sticker that says "Key Takeaway" I summarized the theme of the book:  Jesus is Coming Back to rule the earth!  Hallelujah!

Thank you for looking at my Bible Journaling pages this month.  Next month I finish the Old Testament and I start the New Testament!  I wonder if I will get through to the end of the book of Revelation before He returns.  Hopefully not. 

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

14 comments:

  1. Thank you for this beautiful post. Blessings.

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  2. These are beautiful pages and it's great that you will be able to pass this down to your kids or grandkids too! :)

    Hope you are having a lovely week :)

    Away From The Blue

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  3. This is beautiful and very creative. Thanks so much for linking up to The Weekend Link Up. I hope you can join us again tomorrow for Creative Mondays #TheWeekendLinkUp

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  4. So beautiful and creative as always, Amy! Thanks so much for sharing your most recent Bible pages and journaling.

    Shelbee
    www.shelbeeontheedge.com

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  5. Amy, these are just gorgeous! And inspiring! I can see why it has taken you quite some time to read, study, and illustrate each book. What a heirloom! Congratulations are in order as you finish the OT and move into the NT.
    ~Lisa, Visiting from World Religions #9

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  6. Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at the Exploring World Religions Linkup 9 so that we can better understand each other through our religion, faith, and beliefs. Pinned!

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  7. CONGRATS! Your post is FEATURED at the Exploring World Religions Linkup 10!

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