Tag Archives: teens

Easy Bible Journaling Ideas

Perhaps you’ve caught on to the whole Bible Journaling Craze.  If you Google it or go on Pinterest you see beautifully illustrated Bibles EVERYWHERE!  Some are pretty spectacular and obviously created by talented artists. You’ll also find words of encouragement for Bible Journaling “Beginners” and lots of templates/coloring pages you can use if you don’t consider yourself an artist.

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I have been Bible journaling for 7 months now and I absolutely LOVE it.  From the time I was little, I have always had a passion for art.  Coloring was my favorite pastime and so I entered a lot of coloring contests as a kid (and won some).  There were also art classes I took in high-school that taught me things like how to blend and layer with colored pencils.  Although I found much pleasure with art, I never pursued it as a career, because I felt like my true gifting was with music, playing my flute.  Now that I’m a busy mom I hardly have time to play my flute, let alone sit down to draw a picture… UNTIL, I discovered Bible Journaling!!

Bible journaling is something that gives more meaning to taking time out of a busy day to create art.  Finding a scripture that resonates with me and then copying it with creative lettering, adding colorful illustrations in the margins of my Bible make God’s words even more beautiful than they already are.  The Bible verses leap off the page and come to life for me!  But, this post is not about what I can do in my Bible.  This is about what YOU can do in YOUR Bible.  So, if you’ve thought at all about starting to Bible journal but wondered how to start, here are a few simple and easy journaling ideas for you…

USE A PENCIL:  I don’t know about you, but I was a little hesitant to start drawing in my Bible.  What if I didn’t like the outcome?  It’s not like you can just throw the page away and start over!  That’s why I always use a pencil before outlining in pen or coloring with colored pencils.  It definitely helps with planning a good layout for your page.

TRY DIFFERENT FONTS:  I like to use a combination of different fonts when I copy a scripture.  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  Try writing a few words all in UPPERCASE letters (especially words that are important to you like GOD, JESUS, HOLY SPIRIT).  By using all caps it really makes those words stand out on the page.  Then, try writing in all lowercase letters, or making your letters tall and skinny.  Remember in high-school when we wrote in block or bubble letters?  That’s fun to do in your Bible too!  And, of course we all have different styles of handwriting.  Don’t be afraid of yours.  USE IT!!  It’s who you are.

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FLOWERS:  You don’t have to be an artist to draw flowers.  If you can draw a circle, you can draw a flower!  Even the simplest of flowers can be beautiful in the margins of your Bible.  For the more intricate flowers, try pinning some photos on Pinterest to refer to for inspiration.

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LEAVES:  I can never draw enough leaves in my Bible 🙂  They can be a simple border around your words or they can get wild and crazy like a vine that grows every which way!  All you have to do is draw a few long squiggly lines with little oval shapes attached to the lines in random places, and voila… LEAVES!

COLOR, COLOR, COLOR:  For me, colored pencils are the perfect tool that make your art come to life in your Bible.  I started with an inexpensive set of Crayola colored pencils.  But, then I treated myself to a set of Prismacolors that were on sale and that is what I use all the time now.  They are definitely worth the price!

PIGMA MICRON PENS:  They are awesome!   Amazon usually has these pens on sale.  They come in different tip sizes and colors. They even have brush pens, which are lots of fun to use.  The pens are good quality and won’t bleed through the pages of a durable journaling bible.

I hope this gives you a little motivation to give Bible Journaling a try.  If you’ve already been journaling, what are some of your ideas?

Dare to be a Daniel: Talking to Your Kids About Standing for the Lord

Jimmy Kimmel hit a new low in my book last week when he had children interviewed about their thoughts on gay marriage outside his LA studio. He wanted them to explain it. At first, my husband and I just sat there puzzling (a friend sent us the link) over why he thought it was appropriate to pull kids into the USA’s gay celebration—but then—we realized that this really is the new normal. Jimmy’s just going with the flow.

Over the past week, I’ve received several posts and emails from mothers asking how to talk to their kids about what is happening in the culture. After all, this is startlingly new territory for parents: explaining why a man is being celebrated as a woman on the cover of a magazine is not something we’re used to talking about. Here’s the thing: If we don’t set a place for the truth of Scripture at the table of our children’s hearts, the world will set out a feast all it’s own.

Talk we must.

So what do we tell our children? How do we talk to them as Christian parents?  If you’re searching for your footing, here’s some ideas and direction:

  • Talk age-appropriately.
    Clearly, you’ve got to talk about age-appropriate things. There’s no need to take your four year old out to dinner and explain things she’s not ready to hear. You’ve got to know your children. When you sense they’re ready, or if they start asking questions about things they shouldn’t be burdened with, it’s time.When the time is right, tell them the truth. Most of our kids are old enough, and so we have been having honest, and sometimes painful discussions with our children in the months leading up to the SCOTUS ruling. This generation of children are being forced to think about things that never even entered my mind as a child: from racists to the brutal beheadings of Coptic Christians in Syria to Bruce Jenner and the removal of the Ten Commandments from public grounds.
  • Take them to God’s Word
    The Bible should be the authority in the life of every person who claims to be a follower of Jesus. Read about God’s standard, His mercy, and His holiness.
  • Tell them we’re all in a war.
    In the Bible, we see everywhere that we are in a very real war. Talk to your kids about the spiritual war that is waging around them—the Bible says they are part of it, too.

Ephesians 6:12
“For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.”

Consider the word Paul uses here to describe what’s happening around you every day.  He says we are “wrestling,” but not against flesh and blood. Wrestling is a very personal fight. Every day, we wake up on a spiritual battle field. The place where the devil wages war against individual believers is in the mind. Our goal is to first steal back any thoughts that the devil places in our minds and give those thoughts over, “taking them captive” to the mind of Christ. Even Paul’s use of the word “captive” reminds us that there are captives in this war.

Do your kids know about putting on the armor of God? Read what the Bible says here.

  • Pray with them.
    There is power in the prayers of God’s people!Pray humbly, because we are all sinners.
    Pray reverently, because God is holy, set apart and worthy of our praise
    Pray with hope, because the Bible says that our hope is not in this world; it’s in the Lord!
  • Teach them how to talk to other’s about what God says is sin, and the remedy for it: Jesus!

 

  • Start here:
    • We are all sinners, by birth and by choice.  God says that our sinful, fallen hearts are bent towards sin, not away from it.The culture is telling gays that Christians are against them—but true followers of Christ point the finger first at themselves, because they know their heterosexual sin is no better than their gay friend’s sin.
    • When my fallen heart tells me to lust after anyone who is not my husband, I am in sin.
    • When our fallen hearts tell us to lust after someone of the same sex, we are in sin.God calls us to turn away from all our sin—by placing our faith in Jesus and then daily (daily, daily, daily) surrendering our fallen desires to Him so that we can walk in the ways He has told us are good and right.
  • Dare your kids (and yourself!) to be like DanielDo you remember the story of Daniel?In the ancient Middle East, one empire was being replaced by another. In 605 B.C., the Babylonians conquered Israel, taking many of its promising young men into captivity in Babylon. One of those men was Daniel.When the story takes place, Daniel was in his 80s. (See? You’re never too young or too old to stand for God!)Through a life of hard work and obedience to God, Daniel made his way up through the political ranks and eventually, became administrator of this pagan kingdom.It turned out that Daniel was so honest and hardworking, his co-workers, other government officials, became jealous of him. This was a problem, since they could find nothing he had done that warranted his removal from office.
    Finally, they decied to use Daniel’s faith in God against him. They tricked King Darius into passing a decree that during a 30-day period, anyone who prayed to another god or man besides the king would be thrown into the lions’ den. Can you imagine?

    Daniel learned of the decree but did not change his habit of praying to God. Just as he had done all his life, he went home, knelt down, faced Jerusalem, and prayed to God. The wicked administrators caught him and told the king. King Darius, who loved Daniel. He tried to save him, but the decree could not be revoked.

    At sundown, they threw Daniel into the den of lions. The king was so worried and upset, he could not eat or sleep all night. At dawn he ran to the lions’ den and asked Daniel if his God had protected him. Daniel replied,

    “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong

    Scripture says the king was overjoyed. Daniel was brought out, unharmed, “…because he had trusted in his God.” (Daniel 6:23, NIV)

God’s Word is true and He can be trusted! The culture may change, but God does not change. His standard is right—and as Christians, we are called to follow Him—no matter what. God takes good care of His people. We do not need to be afraid.

The Bible teaches that we are to be ready to give a defense for the Scripture “in season and out of season.” 

We either believe God’s Word or we don’t—and we demonstrate that by the way we live our lives.

Will you be set apart? Dare to be a Daniel!