Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Bible Journaling: My October Pages Luke 5 thru Luke 12

Once a month I like to share my Bible Journaling Pages and what God has been teaching me.  In the month of October I continued my study of the book of Luke.    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.

During the month of October, I continued to work my way through the book of Luke.  It was a great book to be in to get in my heart prepared for the Christmas season.

In Luke 5 there are two stories of Jesus healing people, so the pre-printed image "Healer" is very fitting.  Jesus was and is our healer, and not just our healer for our physical needs, but our spiritual healer as well. 


This page illustrates something my father told me constantly as a child, except he would say it "Treat others as you would want them to treat you."  I'm not sure if he knew this was in the Bible as he wasn't a religious man, but he sure did love this quote/verse and repeated it often to us kids.


This beautiful illustration in the Inspire Bible takes up an entire page!  I colored the scenery with pencils, but I used gel pens on everything else.  I kept the colors natural to emphasize all the nature references.

I have seen this verse lived out so many times in my life.  I've known several individuals that accepted Christ during a difficult time in their lives only to go right back to the way they were living before once the difficult time was over.  It's always broken my heart.  It's like, they only wanted God when they needed something from Him.  They see God not as someone who we should love because He first loved us, but just someone who should serve them.  They are the seeds who fell among the thorns.  They "...hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life.  And so they never grow into maturity" (Luke 8:14).  It is so heart-breaking to lead someone to Christ, and then see this happen later.

This next page continues on with the same thought as the page above.  Luke 9:23 says "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it".  Like Jesus, we must daily deny ourselves and live as an others-centered person. We should be seeking daily God's will for our lives, and not be self seeking, and doing whatever we want.  


This next page I created myself.  I first painted a blue background then I used a baby sticker from my stash.  I hand wrote all the verses and used a stamp for the stars and circles.  I have always loved this verse.  I have always interpreted this verse literally and figuratively.  I believe Jesus really wants us to take good care of children and minister to them, to teach them about Him.  I think Sunday School and Children's Programs are so important and should be given top priority in every church.  But I also interpret this verse figuratively, that believers need to be humble, unconcerned about their social status, non-threatening, and not jaded by success or ambition.  

In the second half of this verse Jesus says 
"Whoever is the LEAST among you is the GREATEST".  Striving for power, leadership, has no place in the church.   We are called to be servants.  



I have always struggled with the next Bible story because I always had sympathy for Martha.  I can just picture Martha hard at work, alone in the kitchen, while everyone else is enjoying and relaxing in the living room.  Then Martha goes and complains about it, and gets a little lesson from Jesus.  I often think "Well, someone has to prepare the food or no one will eat! It's not fair".  In my life, I'm always the Martha. I'm the one alone in the kitchen hard at work while the rest of the family has fun.  So I can really relate.  But, I get what Jesus is saying.  Jesus was with them, there were more important things than cooking!  Yet, unless Jesus was going to miraculously provide the food like he did with the loaves and fish when he fed the 5,000, someone had to cook!  

Yet, despite my sympathetic feelings for Martha, I get it.  As a Martha myself, I can get so caught up in the preparations, that I miss what's really important.  I love Jesus' statement "My dear Martha, you are so worried and upset over all these details!"  Don't we women do that all the time?  We want everything to be perfect when there is company and we put so much emphasis on having the perfect meal, the perfect decorations, the perfectly clean house, that we often don't just sit and enjoy the company.  That's what Jesus was saying.  Don't fret the small stuff!  Recognize what is really important in life.


Here is another page I opened myself.  I hand drew and colored a door and then hand wrote the verses/words.

This verse reminds me to keep on praying, to be persistent and not give up.


And finally, a Bible Verse for every flower gardener like myself.  I love this verse, because as a flower gardener, I totally get it!  I look at flowers everyday and I'm awestruck by their beauty and how marvelously they are made.  So yes, if God can take such good of the flowers and clothe them so beautifully, He can take care of me!





Have A Great Day! Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!




 



20 comments:

  1. So beautiful! Thanks for sharing :)

    Abdel | Infinitely Posh.

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  2. Ditto to the story of Martha. But then there is another passage in the Bible where Jesus goes to their house because he has heard that Lazarus died. Martha greets him and says that he can do anything. That if he had been there, her brother wouldn't have died. So she professes her faith in Jesus before her sister Mary does. That really struck me and we called our third daughter Martha.

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    1. Oh wow! You're right. Thanks for sharing that. I never made the connection before.

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  3. Oh, I love the Luke 8:5-8 page! Thanks so much for linking up at the Unlimited Link Party 62. Pinned and/or shared!

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  4. Always an inspiration. The gold, the neon. Love this month's messages. I spoke the golden rule over my students all the time. That was our numero uno library rule. Imagine what kind of world this could be if everyone just followed that.

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  5. Amy, these are all so beautiful! I appreciated your thoughts on the pictures and verses too. I feel like I'm more of a Martha than a Mary too. I'm so thankful for Jesus' grace as I learn to sit at His feet first.

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    1. Thanks so much. That is a good way to put it. We can be natural Marthas, but learn to be Mary's and sit at His feet too.

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  6. Inspirational, Amy! I thought the gel pens really brought out and complimented the colored pencils in the Luke 8:5-8 page.

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  7. Inspiringly beautiful, Amy! I really like the pencil with green/gold gel pen highlights. Absolutely stunning!
    ~Lisa Blair, strengthwithdignity.com

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  8. What wonderful pages. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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