Illustrated Faith | Lisa (ibtough)

Hi there! Happy Monday! Today we are joined by Lisa and I have to be honest with you… I don’t know a whole lot about her but what I do know I LOVE. I follow her on instagram and her bible entries are unlike anything I have ever seen before. You can tell she enters her bible with a sense of passion and determination and that is something I personally admire.  Please give a warm welcome to Lisa….

Thank you Shanna for noticing my work and allowing me to share with others.

When approached by Shanna, I explained up front that I was “just a regular person with no affiliation or blogs to make reference to.”  She knew this already and simply has asked that I speak from the heart about my artwork.

I grew up going to church and believing in God.  Unfortunately, it was just a Sunday thing and I know now I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

After I left home at 18, I stopped attending church altogether except for at Christmas and Easter.  Pretty soon, I was completely sucked into the world and this is when I began to live a life filled with some pretty hard knocks.  Lots of mistakes and lots of pain.  I was in survival mode for many years always pretending that I was strong and knew what I was doing but slowly dying inside.

Fast forward to me at the age of 40.  My life was so out of control that something had to give because I was done.  I decided to try to go to a local church because I was desperate.   I laugh as I type this because I never left.  I was baptized Christmas Eve in 2007 and have never looked back.

Part of why I share this is because I didn’t own a Bible until I was 40.  I didn’t grow up with anyone telling me that some people feel it could be practically a sin to mark in the Bible much less cover up the actual words.  What I’d like to ask the audience is to look at the art, heart, and message behind it.  This is my Journaling Bible only.  I never read this Bible nor take it to church with me.  Believe me, I have quite an extension of Study Bibles!

My inspiration comes from sermons, experiences, and quiet time.  I find it humorous when people don’t know where to begin because I am the opposite.  The ideas are endless and are almost a distraction if I am at church as I think about turning the sermon nuggets into art.  I have Post It notes with a million future ideas.

I do not practice nor have it all laid out ahead of time.  I am a free spirit and go with the flow not knowing what colors nor total media I will end up using.  When I first started Bible Journaling, I bought all of the supplies that people recommended and guess what?  They are already collecting dust because it wasn’t me.  Someone else’s handwriting made me go slow and felt unnatural and almost shaky.  Once I used my own, it came easy.  Be yourself and you will find YOUR gift!

This also means that I do not conform exactly to the blank margins set aside for the journaling as some do.  If what I am doing can fit in there, great.  If not, I keep going and concentrate on the big picture.  This means I may cover up words that aren’t important to this particular piece I am doing.  You have to understand, my heart is usually very inspired.  A lot of times, I may have tears when drawing and the last thing I am thinking of keeping it in the margins.

This morning I started my Advent devotions.  It’s also pretty common for me to think I’m going to draw and discuss one thing and usually when I’m about halfway done, I completely go into a different direction.  I was planning on talking about Elizabeth here but then I keep praying and other thoughts come to mind, which I will share when I officially post.  By the way, I cannot watch TV when doing this.  It’s Pandora Christian music or nothing because I feel like it’s a distraction for some reason.

The bottom line in this article is that I have found a new outlet that I really enjoy.  It’s definitely for me, but I also hope to help relay faith based messages in a way that most people can relate to wherever they are at in their walk.  Social media makes it possible for strangers to see my posts on Instagram (“Ibtough”) who may get drawn in by the art, but I try and back it up with faith based inspiration and verses while keeping it real.

I’m a career woman with 4 grown kids and 2 grandkids living in Corona, California.  Thank you again Shanna for letting me tell a little bit of my story.  I do hope to meet you and other like-minded individuals at one of your future events and look forward to reading about other guests and their style.  What an inspiration you and everyone has been to me in this community.  God Bless!

Thank you so much Lisa, and thank you to my readers for supporting Lisa in sharing here today! Have a wonderful day!