Some pages in the Psalms

Psalm 36:5, 107:1 - Steadfast love

This page was done with a template from Monica Baur's Because Jesus Bible Art etsy shop - click here.

Psalm 143:8 - Unfailing love

Psalm 111:12 - Studying God's world

Psalm 47:1 - Shout to the Lord

Somthing a bit different with this one. I found some stickers that can be coloured in, so I tried using those for a quick and easy page. It didn't come out to badly, but I don't feel that this page is 'me'. I really feel the pages where I do my own artwork more truly express my heart when I'm journaling, and express more to me when I look back on them later.

Psalm 19 - The heavens declare the glory of the Lord

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day the pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his race. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

 - Psalm 19:1-6

This page is my attempt at the magnificence of the heavens in Inktense pencils, black Pitt artist pen and white gel pen. I love this passage as I love astronomy, and so many times I've looked through my binoculars and just thought "wow, God!"

Psalm 139 - Where can I go?

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

- Psalm 139: 7-12

I love this Psalm. In its entirety it's a wonderful declaration of how amazing God is. I love the imagery of the dawn and the sea, and this image seemed the only thing to go with the passage. I enjoy images like this - they're relatively easy to draw, meaning I can be thinking about the passage more while I create, but they illustrate perfectly what I love about the verses and what strikes me as important.

You may have noticed that I've not journalled on the page that contains Psalm 139. There is a reason for that, and that is that I wanted to use a verse from further on in the psalm on the other page, making a double page entry for this passage.

I used a set of alphabet stamps from Dovecraft, black Ranger inkpad, watercolour pencils, black Micron pen, and prepped the page with gesso before I started, because the ink will bleed if you don't prep the page.

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.

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.

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'.