Perfect Peace - by Sarah Anderson

 I have admired this effect on a number of bible journaling pages on Instagram and decided that my declaration of peace page in John 14 would suit it perfectly.

I dip into Steve Backlund's book 'Declarations - Unlocking your Future' a lot!  Through attending therapy, after experiencing depression a number of years ago, I am now much more aware of the negative thoughts I have a tendency to listen to, and am making a conscious effort to now listen to the truth.  It's transforming!

I wrote out my notes, declarations, reference and date in the margin with my favourite pen - a fine Bic..

then used a flat brush and my Winsor and Newton watercolours to add patches of blue around the margin.

I continued adding a range of blues and a purple until I was happy with the effect - a simple but very effective way of adding colour to a page.  And for those of you who would like to know about bleedthrough -

None there :)  The photo was taken immediately after adding colour to the page so it will smooth out after being in a closed bible for a while.  I rather like the crinkly pages though :)

I'd forgotten I'd written this in my bible, in early January apparently, and used it again this weekend as part of our Creative Worship service at church.  It's not that we're not creative in other weeks but once a month we dedicate a whole service to an idea we explore creatively.  This week we asked people to bring an empty wine bottle to church as we were considering Song of Songs 5 from the Passion Translation which talks about Jesus' enjoyment of each one of us like this -

Jesus, your Bridegroom-King, says to you:

"I have gathered from your heart...

I have tasted and enjoyed my wine within you"

Imagine enjoying your favourite drink, whether it's a hot chocolate with marshmallows, cold elderflower cordial, or a large glass of wine - that's what Jesus is like, and more, with you!  

Sadly I forgot to take a photo of the finished wine bottle (It has been gifted to a friend who needed to hear this too!) but we gave everyone a large label to put their declarations of who they were on (and a sticky label with the Song of Songs verse for the back).  I chose to write a declaration of peace and after writing out the declaration from Steve's book, wrote my own around the edge.

And yesterday I was sooooo chilled despite some difficulties at work :)