100 Days of Bible Journaling Days 22-28

I am officially at over a quarter of the way through with this journal/challenge, and I am falling in love more every day. This is truly such a great way for me to get in that creative worship time that has been so beneficial for me. Here is a recap of Week 4:

Day 22: Christ Doesn't Change

In life, change is inevitable. It seems that given enough time, absolutely everything will change. I don't know about you, but I don't handle change so well. Thankfully, no matter what changes life throws our way, we have one constant. God is the same as He has always been. Never changing.

For this page, I had a fun clear cut that actually portrayed this verse, so I created a simple gelato background to really make it stand out and cut my clear cut to allow me to give it a new layout. I loved this bold reminder of such an important message.

Day 23: Who Will You Serve?

We all know this very popular verse... As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. It sounds great, right? But are we actually living it? Are we living in a way that is serving God... or are we serving ourselves or others first? Every day we have to make that decision to put in the effort to make sure we are serving Him in all that we do.

For this page, I had some more fun with clear cuts in both the house and the lettering. I had two of the clear cut phrase from the last page, so I decided to cut them up further to use as alpha cuts. I loved the bright colors, but most importantly loved this reminder that God is first. Yes, even to family! 

Day 24: Put On the Armor of God

Life throws a lot at us, doesn't it? It seems like at every turn we have something else aiming to bring us down. Thankfully as Christians we are protected in this fight. We are equipped with the armor of God.

I must admit it took me awhile to decide how to go about journaling this particular verse. I couldn't decided if I wanted to go with this more literal knight interpretation or to think outside the verse a little bit more. In the end I decided to find a fun knight to print and cut and make it stand out with a boldly colored background. There was a little bit of bleed through on the opposite page, so I decided to add this great clear cut tip in (which flips open) which really pulls together these black accents and really makes for an eye popping page. 

Day 25: God's Love Is Always There

God's love is pretty amazing, isn't it? Let's be honest, we screw up. A lot. We push God away and think we can handle everything on our own. We fall short of the Christians we want to be. And still through all of that, He forgives us and loves us. He welcomes us back with open arms. Even when we think we don't need it, His love is there. Amazing.

For this page, I decided to tone it down a little bit with some softer colors and let this beautiful message speak for itself. I created this background with bubble wrap painting and added some stickers and die cuts to simply offer this reminder that we are not just loved, but forgiven as well. 

Day 26: Finding Strength in Trust

Trust is hard for many of us. Be it in a romantic relationship, a friendship or even in our families, many of us have been hurt by those we trust. So often the world seems to send us this message that the only person we can trust with certainty is our self. That makes this idea of trusting God completely very hard to wrap our minds around. 

For this page, I really wanted to play off of those iconic words from Isaiah 40:31: but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Initially I planned to have several feathers 'falling' across the page, but as I worked on the background- using the credit card method- I realized that with the colors I had chosen, it would look best with this one feather that perfectly coordinated with the background I'd created. In the end, I loved this decision as it kept it a little more simple. 

Day 27: Live With Endurance

I've never been very athletic. I dealt with asthma as a child and teen (and yes, even more recently have seen it flare up again), so I remember gym always being tough on me. A few times a year we would have to run a mile as part of our grade. That might not seem like much to many, but when you're dealing with health issues, it can seem like a lot. I recall so many times just wanting to give up... but instead I kept my eye on the prize--- the 'finish line'. If I just pushed through, it'd be over. I'd be done. Life likewise can often have us feeling like we are ready to just give up. We run and run and run... and never seem to get anywhere. These verses remind us that we have something worth running towards... when all else has failed, run to Jesus.

For this page, I was inspired by a song by one of my favorites Francesca Battestelli: Run To Jesus-

When you’ve reached the end of every road 

And you’re a million miles from home 

That’s when you run, run to Jesus 

When the clouds have covered up the sun 

And your strength is all but gone 

That’s when you run, that’s when you run, that’s when you run

When you’re all out of heart and out of hope 

And you don’t really know which way to go 

Come on, come on, run to Jesus 

If you’re lost and you don’t know where to start 

It don’t really matter where you are 

Come on, come on, come on, yeah, run to Jesus, run to Jesus

What a beautiful message, right? I thought it fit perfectly with this message of endurance. I used an older Illustrated Faith kit from January 2017 'Goals with Grace' that had this fun sneaker theme. I was initially planning to use the smaller stamp set, but if you hadn't figured out... I love the bold! So, I used the cover of the devotional and created my own fussy cut using the sneaker image from that. I loved that it coordinated so perfectly with the opposite page that I'd done earlier in this challenge so I kept with pink lettering to keep the monochromatic look going. In the end, this ended up being my favorite page for the week. 

Day 28: God's Goodness In All Things

When things are going well, it can be pretty easy to see God's goodness. When things aren't going well? Well, that gets a little bit harder. Still we know that in all things in our lives, God is bringing them together for something good. The devotional on this day uses the imagery of puzzle pieces. Individually, they make no sense and really aren't much to look at... but when it's all put together, it's a thing of beauty. That is just how our lives are. The individual pieces, the moments might not look like anything special, but together they form the bigger picture.

For this page, while I loved the imagery of the puzzle pieces (and found that many used that imagery in their journaling), I decided to go a different route with a photography theme. I loved this idea of all of the moments in our life- the good, the bad, the ugly- coming together to reveal God's plan for our lives. We only see the moments now, but He sees the big picture... and it is good! I found a image of the hanging photos online and though I'm not the greatest artist was able to recreate that look for this page. It's a simple page compared to some of my others, but I loved this simple image with the bolder colors. 

Are you enjoying following along with me during this process? Has it inspired you to want to join in? It's not too late! You can purchase your copy at the link below. (Use code IFSHIPSFREE for free shipping!)