Matthew 5:13-15 - Salt and light

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

- Matthew 5:13-16

I've been working through Matthew with my reading recently and reached the passage on being salt and light to the world. I wanted to do something to represent both parts of the passage and an old style lantern came to mind. I thought about drawing a salt cellar next to it, but then when I was googling inspiration pictures I found a small stone bowl with (pink!) rock salt in it, and that somehow seemed more appropriate.

The passage is one that I find comes to mind a lot as a reminder to me how to act. There's no point saying you're a Christian if you don't act like it, whether that's because you act completely inappropriately, you blaspheme, or just that you don't interact with anyone at all. Being Christians means we're the shop window for God. People should see God reflected in us every day. Of course we're going to have off days, get angry, say things that aren't what God would want. But the overwhelming impression we should leave on others is that we love them, God loves them, and that being Christ-like is something that we aspire to.

Something I noticed when I'd completed this page is that the art isn't perfect - the perspective is off, I got dark patches where there should be light, and the salt doesn't really look like salt. But I still love this page. The art does what I'd wanted it to do, which is to remind me of the important parts of the passage, and I had so much fun creating it. I think fun can be a taboo word when it comes to reading the Bible sometimes, but surely God wants us to enjoy the time we spend reading His Word, so I have no issues with saying I had fun doing this journal, as well as being challenged by the passage.

The prompt for this journal came from Rebekah R Jones' Bible Art Journalling Challenge weeks 30 (light) and 31 (salt).

The narrow gate - Matthew 7:13-14

The narrow and wide gates
‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

- Matthew 7:13-14

I've read this passage dozens of times, possibly to the point that it's become less meaningful over the years. I know I should stick to the harder narrow path, with rules laid out by God, and not go to the wider everything goes path, but it can be hard to think of the end game sometimes when there's so much going on in the present.

As I was reading the passage this time this image came into my mind - a choice of two doorways, one leading to a beautiful countryside place and the other filled with fire and smoke. In drawing this, hopefully it will make the destinations stick in my mind better if I find myself contemplating trying the wide path sometimes.

As usual, I used my Derwent Inktense pencils, black Micron pen and white gel pen for this entry.

Bible flip through March to October part 2

I had a lovely blank page at the start of the New Testament to fill, so I wanted to do something to show the change from Old to New. The thing that leaped to mind straight away was 'a king is born' - what the New Testament is all about.
I painted the page with gold acrylic paint then added the text with black pen and used gel pens to colour the crown. I finished with washi tape along the edge so I could find the New Testament easily.

This was a page I did during Bible study on Isaiah 1..

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A rebellious nation

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken:
‘I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.’

Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

Why should you be beaten any more? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness – only wounds and bruises and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.

Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.
Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
‘The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord.
‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers!
Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.

 - Isaiah 1:1-22

I wrote the warnings from the passage in the margin and chose to use the idea of dilution and scarlet sins for the background. The red colour is diluted as it flows down the page - not a literal translation of the idea but it reminds me of the passage - don't become diluted and that sins are 'red as crimson' if we refuse to make ourselves clean before God.

This was inspired by an inspirational picture I saw somewhere. When I was reading the passage from Genesis about Lot escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah it seemed to fit perfectly.

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’

When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, ‘Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!’

But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it – it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.’

He said to him, ‘Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities – and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

 - Genesis 15:15-26

John 8:32 - The truth shall set you free

If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

- Romans 10:9-17

The art is one of Shauna Bucaroff's whimsical girls and when I did the pages I really wanted to include it. In retrospect I wish I had done something different now - the pages when I copy other people's ideas and thoughts don't seem to mean as much to me as the ones when I come up with my own ideas.

Having said that, a few weeks after doing this page I had to preach at church and I found the verses coming back to me again. The following is part of what I preached - part of what the verses led to after I'd done some more in depth study.

The first part of the passage is one of those verses which often gets misquoted, or at the very least, misrepresented. “The truth shall make you free” is carved in stone on university buildings around the world, used as newspaper slogans, and quoted often – for the vast majority of the time, the people who use it ignore the first part of the verse.

Will your own opinions and the opinions of others set you free? Will knowing the latest gossip about soap stars set you free? Or having access to endless news reports online, on TV or in newspapers and magazines?

No. The verse is talking about knowing the truth about Jesus. That truth is contained in the Bible. Admittedly, the Bible can be hard and sometimes uncomfortable reading - but this is what will set you free.

We know that the Bible is true. All 27 books of the New Testament were written while the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry were still alive. Paul's letters were written 15 to 30 years after the death of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:6 he mentions the fact that 500 people had seen the risen Jesus at one time and that most of them were still alive. Most of the books were written before AD 70, within 40 years of the crucifixion, with the last to be written possibly only as late as around AD 90 – still within living memory. Think of it this way. If we were the writers of the New Testament now, for some of us Jesus would have lived in the late 1980s, for others the 1970s and perhaps for one, in the 1950s.  These aren’t stories of folklore that have been passed down for generations and changed with the retelling before being written down, these are contemporaneous accounts of Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection.

If we accept that the Bible is true then that is the standard by which we can measure everything else against. I admit to struggling to get my head around this thought for a while, then I realised it’s actually very simple. Satan is the “great deceiver”, and I don’t know about you but I’ve heard a lot of sermons telling us not to believe the lies he whispers about us being not good enough, or not having done enough good, or having made too much of a mess of things to ever be salvaged. In the face of this, the Bible is the truth – we can never make too much of a mess of things to be redeemed, and we don’t have to work our way into God’s good graces. The Bible tells us the truth about who we are and where we’re heading.

In the second part of the passage, not only is Jesus offering truth to know our real worth in God, but He is also offering freedom. He talks about being a slave to sin, which is worse than physical slavery. Have you ever done something wrong and then been wracked with guilt, not able to forget it no matter how much you apologise or ask for forgiveness?

Jesus offers us freedom from this kind of slavery. In the next few verses he explains exactly what He means:

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

The people listening – the Jews – would have embraced their biological relationship as descendants of Abraham and so didn’t quite understand what He was talking about when He spoke of slavery. However Jesus explained it to them – they were slaves to sin, but if they were to become His disciples they would know the truth and Jesus would set them free. They would join the family of God.

And in order to join God’s family, Jesus tells them in John 8:31

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

And that brings us full circle. Where do we find Jesus’s teaching? In the Bible. And only by knowing what the Bible really says can we make sure that we’re really following Jesus’s teachings, being His disciples, and fully part of His family.

Why are you so afraid? - Mathew 8:23-27

This entry goes with the story of Jesus calming the storm.

Jesus calms the storm
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’
He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’

- Matthew 8:23-27

I saw this technique on YouTube (created by Tai Bender - video here) and this passage seemed the right place to use it. I used blues and greens to represent the swirling waters of the storm, and in the centre kept a light patch - the eye in the centre of the storm where the calm presence is, in this case representing Jesus.

I added the text 'why are you so afraid?' to remind myself that Jesus can be a calm presence in my life any time I'm afraid - He is always there and has the power to control any situation.

I used watercolour pencils for the artwork and black and white pens for the text.

Ezekiel 34 - God the shepherd

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.
I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

- Ezekiel 34:11-16

I loved the way the whole passage uses the shepherd imagery. I think we can get so used to Psalm 23 being the "shepherd passage" that we can forget the imagery is used in other places as well. The whole of Ezekiel 34 is about God the shepherd, and I encourage you to read it for yourself.

This image shows the shepherd tending his flock. I found a picture to copy on Google, and used my watercolour pencils and a black Micron pen.

Bible flip through March - October

I've done a lot of pages that I haven't blogged about. Here are a few of those which I wanted to talk about but not in as much detail.





I'm a musician so the psalms always strike a chord (pardon the pun) with me. This one in particular makes me feel joyful and inspires me to pick up an instrument and play to God, or just to sing worship songs loudly in the shower, car, kitchen or wherever!

A song. A psalm of David.
My heart, O God, is steadfast;
    I will sing and make music with all my soul.
Awake, harp and lyre!
    I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
    let your glory be over all the earth.
                                                - Psalm 108:1-5

I used Copics on page prepped with gesso, stencils, black and white pens.

Psalm 7 - God is my shield, using pencil crayons and black pen.

Lord my God, I take refuge in you;
    save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
or they will tear me apart like a lion
    and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
My shield is God Most High,
    who saves the upright in heart.
                                                  - Psalm 7:1-2, 10

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
                                                                                                          - 1 Corinthians 1:4

I coloured in something from a colouring book using pencil crayons for this verse, but honestly it's my least favourite page in my Bible now because I didn't have to think about the verse as much and it's not something personal, it's something someone else created.

Psalm 59:16 - God is our fortress.

But I will sing of your strength,

    in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
    my refuge in times of trouble.
                                           - Psalm 59:16

I used pencil crayons to draw a fortress wall then used alphabet stamps to add in some lyrics from Hillsong's song Made Me Glad (one of my favourite worship songs). They seemed to fit well with the psalm, which talks about God being our place of safety.

Matthew 6:25-34 - Lilies of the field.

Do not worry
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
                                                                                                           - Matthew 6:25-34

I used watercolour pencils to stamp the flowers and then create the background and highlight the words. I chose to write out lyrics from a song Special Kind of Love by the Malachi Trust. The song is a conversation between someone and God, with the person talking about their worries and fears and God telling them He's got it all in hand. The full lyrics of the chorus are:

Look now at the birds out there - do they worry? Do they care?
They trust that they will always be fed a special kind of love from Me.
See now how the lilies grow. Dressed in splendour they all know
more beautiful they couldn't be, clothed from head to toes with love from Me.

Isaiah 1:1-22 - Don't rebel!

A rebellious nation
Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: ‘I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ...but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.

 - Isaiah 1:1-22 (selected verses)

We looked at this passage in my Bible study group, and it was scary! The passage is a list of what will happen to Israel if the nation continues to turn its back on God. Two parts of the passage leaped out at me - the word 'dilute' and the verse which is probably the best known of this passage about sins being scarlet.

The passage is a warning not to be taken lightly, and I had an urge to use bright reds all over the page to signify the sins of Israel. I made them brighter at the top and faded them out at the bottom - diluting the colour with water as I worked down the page to signify the work 'dilute' which had jumped at me.

Although it's not in the passage, the phrase that seemed to sum up the passage for me was 'do not dilute your faith'. If you stay strong in your faith and stick with God's law, then you don't have to worry about any of the consequences listed in Isaiah. If you allow the world's values to dilute your faith, you'd better watch out!

I used watercolour pencils, which seemed appropriate for what I was trying to signify on the page, with white gel pen to highlight the verses and black pen to write the list of things which Isaiah warns of as consequences of sin. I didn't prep the page at all and there was no bleed-through.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 - Facing our giants

David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.’ 

- 1 Samuel 17:45-47

A simple image of five small stones and some lettering to remind me that God is bigger than anything I'm going to face today.

I used watercolour pencils and a black Micron pen.

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform... but be transformed

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

 - Romans 12:2

I journalled this verse over two pages, because there was so much meaning in it. For the first half of the verse, "do not conform", I drew a school of black fish to represent the world, then a golden fish swimming in the opposite direction to represent God's people. The picture had been in my mind for a while after chatting with friends who work at a conference centre who were thinking about a mural for the wall. They were talking about swimming against the flow, and it seemed to resonate somehow.

For the second half of the verse I drew a transformation, the simplest and most dramatic I could think of - the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Over the years I've heard amazing stories of people transformed after coming to know God - alcoholics suddenly not wanting to drink any more, drug addicts recovered, people finding a purpose in life, etc. My own transformation wasn't anything like as dramatic, but I hope I am a better, more Christ-like person because of my relationship with God.

This passage also reminds me of a study I once did on John 14:13 - "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The question was asked how can this be true when God doesn't answer some prayers. The answer is Romans 12:2 - if we transform our minds to think like God, then we will be asking for what God wants as well. If we don't, then we're only asking for what we want - in our name as it were - and that doesn't always fit in with God's plans.

The pages were inspired by week 13 of Rebekah R Jones' Bible art journalling challenge.

Hebrews 11:1 - Faith

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
  - Hebrews 11:1

About 15 years ago I bought a t-shirt with this verse printed one it. The verse really said something to me, although at the time I didn't really know what - I just thought it was a really good verse. At the end of the year my church printed a verse for the following year - and it was the same verse. It cropped up again a few times following that until it was firmly stuck in my brain and has become one of my foundation verses - something I go to if I need to read the Bible but have no idea where to start.

The translation above is what is printed on my t-shirt, which I had thought was the NIV translation, but it isn't what's in my Bible. That says:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

I found the verse particularly reassuring after speaking with a Muslim in London during a mission outreach. He talked at me rather than to me and kept asking questions which seemed designed to flummox me. He asked me about the trinity and asked me how I could explain it. I was so overwhelmed by the barrage of questions and trying to get my thoughts together that I couldn't answer, and afterwards felt like a failure and even started having doubts.

Then I remembered the verse. I didn't have to have all the answers, I just needed to have "assurance" or "be certain of" the things I couldn't understand. It's like when you're a child, you don't know all about the water cycle, but you know that you'll have water to drink, sometimes it will rain, and water flows in streams and rivers.

The verse has remained a firm favourite and a reassurance whenever I've felt frustrated or worried or doubting about anything.

While the passage was used as part of week 18 of the Bible Art Journalling Challenge by Rebekah R Jones, the art was inspired by week 19, which used washi tape as a background for the text. This is a different passage, but as it's one of my favourite passages I wanted to do something to highlight it and make the verse stand out and speak for itself.

I added the tape in strips across the margin, letting the ends hang over the edge, then trimmed them once I'd got everything down. I wanted to just have the verse and not much else, so googled lettering to get some inspiration. Lettering is not something I'm particularly good at, and I have to have something to follow as a general rule for it to turn out especially well. I discovered that the gold tape resisted the Micron pen, so I had to go over anything that was on that tape. It didn't affect the end result though, and once it dried it was still permanent and hasn't shown any sign of smudging.

After doing the lettering I added a short thought at the bottom of the page: "You don't have to have proof if you know. My belief in Jesus isn't my religion, it's my faith."

John 19:28-30 - It is finished

The death of Jesus
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

- John 19:28-30

The death of Jesus is one of the defining moments of our faith. If He hadn't died, he couldn't have risen again, and so this passage is full of the weight of history. Jesus had finished His work on Earth (which then leads me to think about how we now have all that work to do...).

I wanted something striking to emphasise the importance of this passage, but I didn't want to go down the blood or cross route, as I see those images so often it sort of desensitises me to their impact. Instead I Googled images of Golgotha - the place of the skull - and used that as the image on the page. I used the big block letters to write 'it is finished' and did use reds to signify blood and to make them stand out.

Overall I'm pleased with this page. It's stark and cold and has no sign of life, which was the whole point of these verses - Jesus was very dead at this point. He had to be to pay for the sins of the world.

I used watercolour pencils and a black Micron pen on this page.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 - A season for everything

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
 a time to be born, and a time to die;
 a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
 a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
 a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
 a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
 a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
 a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
 a time to love, and a time to hate;
 a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God’s gift to man.

 - Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

This scripture has always been a reassurance to me when things aren't going so well, or a reminder to control myself and not speak or act at times - something which I've had to learn over a long hard period. I used to have a tendency to speak whatever came into my head, especially if it seemed funny to me. Often it wouldn't come out funny though, it would be sarcastic or rude or hurtful or just inappropriate. As an example I once asked someone if they'd just taken their pants off (they had taken off a money belt) - it sounded like a funny conversation starter to me but it was wildly inappropriate. I hope that I don't make stupid remarks like that any more.

For the art journal I wanted to do something to represent time and seasons, but rather than just concentrate on autumn, like the Bible Art Journalling Challenge from Rebekah R Jones (week 43), I wanted to do something to cover more seasons. I decided to draw four clocks, one representing each season, all set at different times, and add the part of the verse "a season for everything" (verse 8). I used watercolours, washi tape and a Micron pen to colour and add the text.

Psalm 119:1 - Walk by faith

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. - Psalm 119:1

I don't usually stick things into my Bible (aside from washi tape) but I was inspired to use thus gorgeous shoe die cut when I started to think about a sermon I was due to give on the sabbath.

The way I was thinking was like this.

We’re commanded to take a day of rest each week and keep it holy – that is, recognise its importance. So why do we need a Sabbath?

If you ask Kevin (my husband) about our shoe rack, he will tell you that it’s got far too many pairs of shoes on it – and most of them mine. I can’t help it. I’ve had a big shoe cull over the last few years. But some of my shoes are just wonderful. Like one of my favourite pairs - gold shoes with four inch high heels. When I wear them I’m taller and I feel elegant and sophisticated and like a different person, more confident. Not that a lack of confidence is something I usually suffer from. But they took a bit of practice to walk in. They’re not always comfortable, and if I wear them for too long then my feet and legs can start to ache and I need to take them off for a bit or sit down.

Walking with God can be just like that. There's no point taking off just one shoe, or trying to partially walk with God - it just won't work. And if I take off the shoes completely - stop walking with God - then that defeats the point. But I can sit down, keeping the shoes firmly on my feet, and take a rest for a while before setting off again.

I coloured the die cut with copics, used a pencil crayon to colour a background for the shoe and then stuck it in using white glue. I added washi tape with the message 'walk by faith' and then journalled a shorter version of the above into the page.

Deuteronomy 33:27a - You can't fall further than His arms

I was in church a few weeks ago and one lady in the congregation was praying during the service. During the prayer she threw in the comment "help us to remember we can't drop further than Your arms". This comment really stuck with me and I was inspired to journal something about it to help me remember her prayer.

While the quote isn't scriptural as far as I'm aware there are several references to God's arms or hands, particularly in the Psalms. I chose this passage from Deuteronomy though.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

 - Deuteronomy 33:27a

I liked the idea that we can use God as a refuge, and even if we feel that that's not enough, or we don't feel comforted or safe, we can be reassured that His arms are underneath ready to catch us. I was quite pleased to find when I looked up the passage in my Bible that the verse was next to an almost empty page, so I had plenty of space for the image I wanted to create.

As soon as I heard the prayer I had an image in my head of someone falling and God's arms there waiting to catch them. I did a search for pictures of men's arms and falling and combined the two pictures to create this. I used watercolour pencils to colour the image, then wrote the comment I wanted to remember at the bottom.

I feel as if the verse is going to be important to me for a long time and something to remember if I'm feeling low or down. I suffer with depression, so low periods do come along, and it's wonderful to know that someone is there to catch me even when I don't feel like talking to people.

Psalm 36:5-9 - How great is our God

This was the very first passage I journalled, so it's very simple. I'd heard you shouldn't start journalling with your favourite verse (you're unlikely to feel that you've done it justice when you're just starting out) so the page I decided to start journalling on was Psalm 36.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast in the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

- Psalm 36:5-9                                      

I had the song The splendour of the king going round in my head - a song with fantastic lyrics about God's attributes taken directly from scripture. As a result, when I read the passage the phrase that immediately came to mind was 'how great is our God'. While the song doesn't mention any of the attributes in this passage, it's another reminder of how big, strong, powerful and generally amazing God is.

After prepping the page with gesso I wrote out 'how great is our God' in various lettering, then coloured with Copic markers. It was very simple but because of that it gave me the confidence to actually put pen to paper in my Bible without worrying about it too much.

I kept the lettering to the margin because Psalm 37 is also on that page and over on to the next, and some of my favourite verses are in that psalm. I'll be returning to these pages and verses later.

Psalm 91:4 - Cover me with Your wings

He will cover you with His pinions,

And under His wings you may seek refuge;

His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

- Psalm 91:4

This was one of the first passages I journalled. It's a verse that I've known in a sort of passing way for a long time but not really thought about in depth. I was inspired by Rebekah R Jones' Bible art journalling challenge (week 25) to think more about what it means to be covered by God's wings.

It's reassuring to know that God is always there, in a way (and I mean no disrespect) like a spiritual comfort blanket, covering us, there for us to duck under whenever we need somewhere to go to hide or think or grieve or rest or anything else.

As far as the artwork goes, it's not the best art I've ever produced and in all honesty if I look at the page just as a creative product then I'm not happy with it. But that's not the point of Bible journalling. Through the process it made me think more about who God is, so even though I'm not happy with the end result, I'm pleased I got to spend time thinking about that verse more in depth and understanding more what it means for me.

I used some feather stamps as the basis for the page then embellished them with coloured pencils and added the lettering. I prepped the page with a very thin layer of white gesso, leaving the verse I was journalling uncovered so it stands out on the page.

Psalm 29 - The voice of the Lord is powerful

I often dip into the Psalms when I don't know what to read, and I found myself in Psalm 29 recently. The Psalm is all about how amazing God is and what He is capable of. I often find that it's difficult to conceive how big God is, but this Psalm goes some way to explaining His splendour.

A psalm of David.
Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King for ever.
The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

 - Psalm 29

Often when I Bible art journal I create something that speaks to me from the passage, but this time I thought I would illustrate what the passage said. There's so much in there and it all talks about how great God is, and I thought illustrating it might help me grasp better more of God's character and power.

I used coloured pencils, blended with a baby wipe, a white gel pen for the lightning and a black pen for the lettering to write out the part of the passage which seemed to sum it all up for me - 'the voice of the Lord is powerful'.

Exodus 3:14-15 - Names of God

I go to a ladies Bible study group every fortnight and we've been following a series on the names of God. In one session we looked at the meanings of all God's names and how they can apply to different aspects of His personality, and what that means for us. Although we weren't studying this passage at the time, it made me think of the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus.

God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”’
God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you.”
‘This is my name for ever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.'

 - Exodus 3:14-15

The art wasn't particularly much this week. I started to doodle the names down the side of the page during the Bible study, as I do use this Bible for everyday use as well as for my art. When I got home I knew wanted to do something to represent the bush so I found a drawing of flames on Pinterest to use as the template then adapted it to fit my Bible page.

The names I chose to use were ones we'd been discussing in the study - I AM/YHWH/Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah), Jehovah (The Lord), Elohim (God), Adonai/Lord, and Shaddai (Almighty). There are many other names which are used, particularly in the psalms, and it makes an interesting study to look at which name is actually being used in which instance to see how the author is relating to God in each instance. I found a good basic study on the names at Blue Letter Bible if you want to find out more.

I used Prismacolor pencils and my Pentel 0.8 pen for the lettering. I haven't stuck it into my Bible, but I also keep the study sheet with the meanings of all the names in that page as well, to remind me.

Mark 8:11-21 - Half full or half empty?

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

- Mark 8:11-21

Our new pastor Tony preached on this passage a few weeks ago and it really stuck with me, so I wanted to journal something. He started by asking 'is the glass half full or half empty?' (Personally I've always thought it depends on whether you're in the process of filling it or emptying it.) He went on to talk about how the disciples were so fixated on what they didn't have - bread - that they assumed everything must be to do with that. Jesus was actually talking about something completely different.

He goes on to remind them about how the bread was multiplied when He fed the thousands of people. Why should the disciples worry about not having bread when they were with a man who could do that?!

Tony finished by reminding us not to worry about the things we don't have, especially if they're things we don't need, as that can distract us and take over our thoughts; but to concentrate on what we do have.

For the journalling it was a very simple entry but I wanted to do something to remind myself of the sermon. I sketched a half full glass of water in coloured pencils and then added the text. I coloured the page with a blue pencil, leaving the passage above white. I'll probably add some notes to myself underneath at some point, but that was all I needed to do.

1 Samuel 1: 9b-20, 24-28 - We prayed for this child

This passage from Samuel is the story of Hannah praying desperately for a child and God hearing and answering her pleas.

Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
...After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

- 1 Samuel 1: 9b-20, 24-28

The passage has always been special to me as I have wanted to have a child for as long as I can remember. It took a lot of time for that desire to be fulfilled though. I remember three years ago on Mothering Sunday crying in church because I'd been dating my then-boyfriend Kevin for 18 months and it didn't seem to be going anywhere, I was getting older, and I wanted to be a mother so badly. A friend prayed with me during the service, which helped me feel better, but the underlying desire was still there.

But God had everything worked out! Five months later Kevin proposed to me and before the end of the year we were married. We decided to wait until we'd been married for a year until we started trying for a baby, to get used to being a couple first. In 2015 we started trying for a baby. So many prayers were sent up on the subject for the first six months of the year! And in August we finally got a positive test result. I remember clearly sitting there looking at the test result and praying "thank You, thank You, thank You!"

I had to wait until I was 37 years old before I finally got the child I longed for, and while I wasn't being mocked for being childless by other people as Hannah was, it was something that weighed heavily on me. The story of Samuel had been an encouragement to me and a ray of hope, even through all the years that I was single and having a baby seemed an impossible dream.

The art

The verse I chose to illustrate, v27, is very simple but says so much - a release from all the stress and longing, a huge prayer of praise, and a statement of how good God is.

I prepped the page with gesso and then decided to use my Copic markers to add a wash of colour over the page. This wasn't my best idea! Not only did the gesso stop the markers blending together properly, but every pen stroke showed up and the markers bled through the page quite heavily in places where I had missed with the gesso. I can still read the text through the colour, but I will be more careful with using Copics in my Bible again.

I used my Pentel 0.8 pen to do the lettering on the side, then filled in the banners and spaces in the letters with a white gel pen. At the bottom I used the space to journal some thoughts about why the verse is special to me.

This was partially prompted by the Heaven is Calling Bible art journalling series by Rebekah R Jones, lesson 1, Set your hope on a good God.

Genesis 8:21-22 & 9:11-16 - God keeps His promises

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” - Genesis 8:21-22

Sometimes things can seem to be completely out of control, and it's good to remember that we can rely on God's word. These verses are part of the story of Noah and the promise God makes to Noah immediately after the flood.

The second part of the promise is in the next chapter^:

I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” - Genesis 9:11-16

I love rainbows because they always remind me of this story and that God does keep His promises - we can rely on what He says and what He tells us He's going to do. It's very reassuring to know that even if we don't know what's going on, God does.

For the art I used my watercolour paints to create a very simple rainbow background and then did the lettering in the margin. I'd prepped my page with gesso, but missed a few bits around the edges. Fortunately the paint didn't bleed through, so the only result was that it looked a bit darker on the front of the page on the un-gessoed bits.