This week's fabulous blog post has been written for us by Claire Graham - it's so exciting to see her Bible Art Journaling journey over the last six months!
New Wine 2015 is when my Bible journaling journey began - less than 6 months ago! I arrived at New Wine exhausted; desperately seeking healing from past hurts which still had a huge grip on my life and eager to rejuvenate my relationship with God. While I was there I was definitely restored and healed from those past hurts, finally able to move forwards after nearly 18 years and my relationship with God was kick-started as through various meetings and workshops at the arts venue I realised that it was OK to be arty, in fact, better than that, being arty was part of what God made me to be. I'd never really thought of how arty God is before.. but He created the world and it's a beautiful place... think rainbows, autumn leaves and dew on spiders webs just for starters. He also created me, a creative being!
I remember going to a Bible Art Journaling workshop, focusing on lettering and tangling (2 things which I am now completely in love with!) I produced my first official page and experimented with some simple tangles:-
I knew that I wanted to do more and soon I was addicted, journaling some of my favourite verses, picking themes out of the Bible to follow (I officially love stars!) and creatively responding to issues both in the world and at a more personal level.
Then while searching for which journaling Bible to put on my Christmas list I stumbled (definite Godincidence!) upon Advent Illustrated... a book, Facebook group and Instagram tag that gave prompts throughout Advent for journaling. I've officially loved having guidance verses for what to journal each day and a plan which guided my thoughts from Creation to Christmas, I've also loved the discipline of journaling and therefore studying the Bible every day and having to carve time out for that and I've been able to see my skills develop over that time. Here are a few of my favourite entries from the plan.
New Wine 2015 is when my Bible journaling journey began - less than 6 months ago! I arrived at New Wine exhausted; desperately seeking healing from past hurts which still had a huge grip on my life and eager to rejuvenate my relationship with God. While I was there I was definitely restored and healed from those past hurts, finally able to move forwards after nearly 18 years and my relationship with God was kick-started as through various meetings and workshops at the arts venue I realised that it was OK to be arty, in fact, better than that, being arty was part of what God made me to be. I'd never really thought of how arty God is before.. but He created the world and it's a beautiful place... think rainbows, autumn leaves and dew on spiders webs just for starters. He also created me, a creative being!
I knew that I wanted to do more and soon I was addicted, journaling some of my favourite verses, picking themes out of the Bible to follow (I officially love stars!) and creatively responding to issues both in the world and at a more personal level.
I'm really looking forwards to continuing my Bible journaling adventure, I'm going to carry on with Seasons and Advent Illustrated (the new name for Advent Illustrated) following the weekly prompts through the book of Esther and beyond, to learning new techniques, to playing with my Christmas presents (Journaling Bible, stamps, chameleon pens, etc!!), to growing new friendships through a mutual love of Bible journaling and to growing my relationship with God as I journal, doodle and draw.
Many thanks for sharing with us this week Claire - such a blessing to hear your Art Journaling story - and looking forward to hearing much more from you!
If anyone else would like to share your Bible Art Journaling journey with us on this blog, or if you have something on your heart to share, please do get in touch with Deborah Gregg, Sarah Anderson, Jane Butcher or Sharon King - we'd love to hear from you!
Many thanks for sharing with us this week Claire - such a blessing to hear your Art Journaling story - and looking forward to hearing much more from you!
If anyone else would like to share your Bible Art Journaling journey with us on this blog, or if you have something on your heart to share, please do get in touch with Deborah Gregg, Sarah Anderson, Jane Butcher or Sharon King - we'd love to hear from you!
Claire thank you for sharing - I feel connected as New Wine 2015 is when God released me along a similar path of expressing His word creatively. It's wonderful to be so free isn't it? May God bless you and keep you as you continue this journey. :-)
ReplyDeleteHelen that's so lovely to hear! 2015 was my first new wine but I was blessed in so many ways by being there, hopefully there'll be many more!
DeleteI pray that God will bless you on your journaling journey too 😀