Hey friends!
Today, I thought I would do a brief post on how and why i decided to Bible Journal and how it had helped my spiritual walk grow. A little back story on what I did for my quiet time BEFORE Bible Journaling: I would read a chapter a day and anything that convicted me or something I learned I would write in a separate notebook why I liked it, I would underline any verses that stood out or meant something to me, and lastly I would write in the tiny margins if I thought something was really important. I never did the same thing, I always did something different. I found that not having a consistent way of doing my Bible Study was affecting my want to and effected how much I was absorbing. So I did some research and found the “highlighter” version.
I did research to which Bible I should get and I found my favorite Bible ever, The She Reads Truth Bible (Linked Below). First Let me rave about how much I loveeee this Bible. It has devotionals within every book for different chapters, it has pretty watercolor Bible verse images, and most importantly has the raw truth of Jesus in it. During my research I found so many different ways of doing the Bible Journaling; people used crayola twistables, colored pencils, bible highlighters, pens, regular highlighters, literally everything. Me being the typical me that I am, I of course bought all of the above (seriously, go check beside my bed). After trying all of them I tried the regular highlighters last, and guess what I LOVED THEM! Now, yes I know what you’re thinking ‘don’t those bleed through’. The answer is yes, to some degree they do bleed BUT not enough to effect the other page. So let me explain my process a little.
I start by reading the chapter all the way through one time. No notes, no underlining, no trying to go deeper in a verse. I just simply read the chapter. Next I go back and take it part by sections. So i’ll reread what is under the first header. After rereading those few verse, I will go to the first verse and pick it apart. I’ll see what words stand out to me, what phrase speaks to me, where I see this in my life, or how does Jesus show up in this verse. After I pick apart that verse I will write any notes I have from that verse and section them off. Once I finish with a verse I will highlight all the notes from that verse. And i repeat this process throughout the whole chapter.
Now, it takes me about an hour to get through 10-15 verses. So don’t expect this to go quick but if it does that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong! It is definitely scary at first but seeing my notes beside the verse visually helps me learn it sooo much better and easier. Doing this way has also made me go deeper into those verses because I am really focusing on what each word and verse means.
This isn’t for everyone and this is by no means the best way. I am still working on making the way I read the Bible an even deeper search. I am no longer reading it for the “good feeling” but reading it to understand the truth. I want to read it for myself and be able to formulate my own thoughts. I encourage you to invest in a journaling Bible and use it. Color or not, fancy or plain, it will definitely change how you read the Bible when you have them right there together.
XO, Em
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