I’ve recently had several people ask me the question, “What do you start with for illustrating in your Bible, the verses or the idea?” That’s kind of like the old question, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” The answer for me is that it depends! It depends on whether I’m reading and studying through a book of the Bible or responding to a message at church or using a devotional reading like Jesus Calling or the ones that Illustrated Faith has provided over the last few months. Those things often lead to verses that I want to highlight in my Bible. Sometimes it’s a product like a die cut or sticker or a stamp that makes me think of a verse in the Bible that I can illustrate with that product.
Recently I sat down with my Journaling Bible and the Bloom devotional and stamp set by Stephanie Ackerman. I had been reading and thinking about the idea of “blooming” or becoming the person God wants me to be that Stephanie talks about and thinking about how I could use the stamp set in my Bible to express the thoughts that were in my heart. As I looked at the words in the set, I thought of the idea of sowing and reaping. If I want my life to “bloom” with beautiful things, then I need to be sowing the seeds that will produce the results that God wants me to reap. I turned to Galations 6 where it talks about sowing and reaping – it’s a lesson that God has been teaching me all my life: what I sow – what I put out there, is what I will reap – what I will get in return.
I took my colored pencils and started marking repeated words and meaningful phrases and then began to pull the words into the margins with stickers and the stamps, coloring around them with my colored pencils. As I did this, I could see the relationship between the end of Galations 5 where it talks about having the fruit of the Spirit and the following verses in chapter 6 with the warning that what I sow, I will reap. If I sow the fruit of the Spirit, I will reap the benefits of mercy and grace and eternal life.
The stamps were perfect for illustrating these verses – a great reminder of what I want to have blooming in my life – a beautiful harvest of the godly characteristics that the Spirit is developing in me as I let Him sow those seeds in me but yielding to Him everyday.
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this is so lovely; i have been trying to resist the stamp sets but my resolve is weakening when i see them in action. thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your techniques. I love that in order to put this together you had to read the text in context, and got so much more out of it, and then you were able to illustrate that so beautifully. I love that this is not just about colouring in one’s bible, but it’s about pondering Gods word and allowing it to mold and shape you and grow you. Thanks for encouraging us all to get into God’s Word.
Hey Debby, I love you style and what you do! I am a book seller and run a Christian Literature Crusade in Aberdeen, Scotland and was just thinking, instead of linking your viewers to purchasing the bibles and supplies on Amazon why not direct them to their local Christian bookshops and missions? It means that people are supporting local missions and playing a part in keeping a Christian presence on the high street! Again, absolutely love what you do, it’s really inspiring and such a privilege to have an opportunity to inspire others to dig into God’s word and allow it to bring them alive! Thanks, Mel
Hi Melanie, thank you for your sweet comment on Debby’s post. She is a creative and education team member for Illustrated Faith and we are so blessed to have her be a part of the team. I wanted to address your comment about supporting local Christian bookshops. We understand your concern and we do many things to support artists and small businesses as much as we can. All commission we receive from our affiliation with Amazon goes right back into supporting this ministry. Illustrated Faith is a small business and we appreciate and are truly grateful for the support and love for Illustrated Faith and it’s mission. If you have any additional questions, concerns or ideas, feel free to email Shanna at shannanoel@gmail.com, she would be happy to chat with you.