Simply Faith - by Jane Butcher

Hi, Jane here. One of the delights of my early morning routine is seeing all the beautiful and varied posts on the Bible Journaling Community pages, UK and international. Some are nothing short of masterpieces, the work of true artists, amazing drawings, paintings, multi media pictures; some (like mine) are simple, with limited artistic skill. What is important is the heart from which we all work in our Bibles; there are no "levels" of skill, just the desire to spend time with our Heavenly Father and in His Word.

Psalm 51 in my Journaling Bible

I can often be guilty of looking at some of the art work shared and feeling a bit pathetic in comparison. I have to remind myself of the first scribbles or paint daubs of a toddler, when they give them to us we are filled with delight and joy, we praise them and show them to family and friends, we see beyond the limited skills into the heart to please and share.
I once spent a wonderful weekend at a women’s conference where we were constantly reminded of how much God cherishes us, the image we were given was of a baby or toddler coming into our presence, our response is to smile, to say aaaah, to want to reach out and cuddle them; that is God’s response to us when we come into His presence, we are His cherished, beloved children.

He melts when we reach out to Him.

My son Ben - loves to worship God!

Wherever we fall on the scale of artistic ability, 0 – 100 God isn’t going to grade our efforts, He sees our hearts, filled with the desire to know Him more deeply, to walk more closely with Him.

Some people post their Bible/Journal pages very regularly, some not so much, some call themselves “lurkers”, simply enjoying seeing the offerings of others. Once again I think there is a need keep it simple; it’s not for any of us to judge or second guess the motivation behind anyone else’s sharing, though we share publicly our art and our thoughts, at the heart of every post is an intensely private moment between us and our personal Lord and Saviour.

At the end of the day Jesus Himself said we should have a childlike faith, the faith of a child, or an adult such as my son Ben is simple, but, such simple faith is paradoxically also the most profound!

Ben and Claire love to do Bible Art Journaling!

One of Ben's colourful pages about Abraham