Illustrated Faith

My intention is to focus this blog on creating.  But sometimes other parts of my life will creep in to provide context for some of the creative attempts I share.  This is one of those days.  I hope you don''t mind.  (Some of you might have read this in the facebook bible journaling group.)

I've never had a very strong or specific faith.  I was raised in the Catholic church and have always believed generally.  But my husband, second son and daughter have always had much stronger, more committed spiritual lives.  So when I was first exposed to the concept of bible journaling on Shanna Noel's blog (she is amazing!), I was surprised that I was so drawn to the concept.  I told my husband and daughter I wanted to try it.  But they were appalled - to both of them it seemed disrespectful and like an excuse to spend more time in my scraproom.  So I let it drop.

But the idea stayed in the back of my mind.  And one Sunday evening when we attended mass at an older church I was captivated by the colors coming in the stained glass windows.  I felt like God was telling me that using my creative side to explore my faith was the path that would work for me.  So I told my husband and daughter that I hoped they would understand, but I was going to explore bible journaling.  I was stunned when they pulled out a bible they had bought me for just that purpose.

My 14 year old daughter told me that she had come to the conclusion that anything that led me to reading the bible was ok.  Out of the mouths of babes . . . . .

So I've begun exploring the bible.  Sometimes I read the church reading for the day, sometimes I am inspired by a prompt from Shanna Noel and sometimes I open the bible at random and read.  Then, if I am inspired, I travel into my craft room and go at it with stickers, stamps, ink, shipping tags, you name it.  Over time I hope my bible is full of color and joy. 

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share.