Greetings beloved Illustrated Faith Family!

As I was praying about what God would like me to post, I came across this devotion in one of my all time favorite devotionals – Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.

The January 10 entry begins like this,

Every time you affirm your trust in Me, you put a coin in the treasury.

And I thought… that’s what I do every time I write a post for you.  Every time I create.  Every time I write an Instagram Post that reflects my heart.  Every time I prepare for a yoga class or teach.   In all of these things, I give a bit of myself away.   In fact, I am literally putting the most tender parts of my soul in the offering plate.

And I am trusting.

I am trusting God will have use for it.  Maybe even multiply it.  I am trusting that He will guard my heart even if it isn’t received.  And I am trusting that if I give it away, God will come and bring refreshment so I can give again.

What are you extending into the offering plate?

Maybe you sing during worship on Sunday.  Maybe you write.  Maybe you make meals for people.  Maybe you take care of someone who is elderly or sick.  Maybe you are a tired mama who gets up every day and just does the next thing in front of her to serve her family.   I think we all can relate to placing something precious into the offering plate.

And here’s what Jesus says.

Luke 21:3 (The Voice translation)

I’m telling you the truth, this poor widow has made a bigger contribution than all of those rich fellows. They’re just giving from their surplus, but she is giving from her poverty—she’s giving all she has to give.

She is giving ALL she has to give.

AND JESUS SMILES.

Let’s journal truth friends.

Gathering Supplies –

When I knew what I was going to journal, the Lord gave me this picture of a coin.  Not a money coin but a soul coin.  With beautiful texture and shape.

I decided to use an embossing folder to create the texture.

Supplies:  Plastic circle template, embossing folder (or maybe you can think of something else that you can use to achieve texture), inspirational patterned papers from the You are Loved Illustrated Faith collection, a colored pencil, my Journaling Bible.

Slide the Embossing folder underneath your page.

Arrange the plastic circle template on the top of the page.  And begin to rub your colored pencil across the surface of your page inside the template.

Look at this beautiful texture!

I did end up with a stray mark.  No worries!  Simple eraser does the trick!

I loved the Illustrated Faith You are Loved Happy Heart inspiration paper and decided to use paints to mimic the feeling of the pattern.  Plus, I finally caved and went to Target and bought some of those cute paints you see everyone using.

I wanted a more dry brush, wobbly feeling for the pattern.  Symbolizing how my gifts often don’t seem to impressive to the world.

I started my first stripe with the Illustrated Faith orange.

I used a baby wipe clean my brush in between colors so that my brush would stay dry.

Because I hadn’t used the paints before, I just used the paint inside the caps and my Illustrated Faith Bible Mat to keep the messiness contained on the side.

Continuing with the rainbow pattern.

Pattern complete.  I left the area around the focus scripture free of lines.

Using my craft heat tool to dry the page.

I wanted to cut out some letters from the Illustrated Faith You are Loved paper.  I used my Sizzix Die Cut machine.

Honestly, this little baby hasn’t been cutting well but I managed to get a few sets of letters.

It takes so much trust to offer our gifts to the Lord, especially when they feel like the last bit we have.  I opted for only using the “t” from the patterned paper and plain black letters for the remainder of the word.

I decided to add a bit of my own writing and hand wrote “she gave her last coin” — I used my Sharpie paint pen to write over the acrylic lines.  And yes, it bleeds through to the other side if you use the oil based pen.  I don’t worry about that much anymore.  This is a journaling Bible.  It’s specific use is to spend time in God’s Word creatively and document my journey with Him.

Time for some paper pieces from the Illustrated Faith You are Loved collection.

The green highlighter washi tape was perfect to highlight the text.

Some more stickers and a tab.

Date stamp.

A cross from the You are Loved Fundamentals sticker page.

And…. I thought the entry was finished.

But the next morning as I was arranging the final feature photo for you guys… I couldn’t help myself.  I picked up a black pen and thickened the downstrokes in the handwriting.  AND I added a few more pieces of the Illustrated Faith highlighter washi tape under my tab and on the bottom of the page.

Not sure if I like it before or after but the message in my heart is the same.  Give.  Just give. And then trust Him.

Try the rubbing technique and tag me on Instagram friends @designsbyamybruce!  I can’t wait to see what you come up to use as a texture!

You are so loved.

In His light,

amy bruce

additional supplies: Artist’s Loft Circle Template, Artists Loft #4 Round Level 3 Brush, Sizzix Hero Arts Stamp Emboss Kit 658280, Target Hand Made Modern Paints – Candy Apple, Coral, Robin’s Egg, Deep Sea, Emerald, Carrot