What Do You Have in That Bag?!?

I have a bag that I carry, known around here as Mom's Bible Study bag.  Recently I've been asked by numerous people, "What do you carry in that bag?" So I thought I'd show you!  Here's the top view. 

 It's a Thirty-One bag, I'm not sure that they even make it any more?  But it is super sturdy!  I don't carry a purse, the red pouch is my wallet and I just throw everything else in this tote.  There several pockets on the outside, this side is where I keep my nametag for Bible Study Fellowship.

 On this side I keep my Post-It note pads and apparently my cheese sticks.

 Front view - I should call my bag June...as in June is busting out all over.  Except she isn't.  All the seams are perfectly intact.

 Big books - I've got my Beth Moore Daniel study, a borrowed copy of Dianne Craft's Brain Integration Therapy, my planner, the green folder has my Bible Study Fellowship work in it, my Sunday school teacher's guide, an old Beth Moore Living Beyond Yourself that I'm copying notes out of, and a BJUPress catalog.

 I've got some Happy Mail in there, ready to mail out.

 Small books - my Bible, "Still Alice" (highly recommend), "A Thomas Jefferson Education" (also highly recommend), notebook, True Woman Manifesto (this always gets moved to last on my priority list, unfortunately).

 I've got two spiral bound notecard books, for scriptures for memory work, my wallet, my earbuds, van key with adorable keychain made my talented good friend, Jill and pencil pouch.

My pencil pouch is a bit on the full side as well.  I'm pretty particular about my writing utensils, I like a dull pencil but I really like these mechanical pencils, the lead thickness is 1.3mm, whereas a standard mechanical pencil is 0.7mm.  Standard pencil lead always breaks on me, but not these.  They are great!  I've also got my colored pens and watercolor pencils for Bible journaling, lots of medium thickness ballpoint pens, highlighter, and pretty Sharpie.

So, now you know, when you see me schlepping my Bible study bag around, what's in there!  I enjoy having everything right in one place.  If I get a chance to head to the coffee shop to work on Bible study homework, it's all in there.  When it's time to drive to guitar lessons and sit for an hour, I'm prepared.  When I settle in to my favorite chair to study my Bible, I've got everything I need gathered together.  If I want to go to bed early, I just lug the bag upstairs. 

Do you have a special space where you always read and study or do you have a basket or bag you store all of your needful things in?

Illustrated Faith

I bought a Journaling Bible two years ago after seeing the nice wide margins that allowed for notetaking.  This is the Bible that I have, it is no longer in print but there are a wide variety of journaling Bibles available.

A few months ago I stumbled on Valerie Wieners Instagram account and immediately fell in love with her art.  I was slack-jawed that she added her beautiful art to her Bible!

Valerie Wieners Bible Journaling

I am not an artist but I am a good copier and creativity is free, or really cheap, anti-depessant therapy.  I am also a very visual person so the idea of reading God's Word and mulling over what I've read and putting that into pictures was incredibly appealing to me.  So I tried it out.

Then I went back and tried adding some color to some of my existing notes.

Pretty fun!  But the pastels I was getting from my watercolor pencils just wasn't cutting it enough for me.  I unearthed my boys' watercolors and started really digging in.

I soon learned that this art form has a name, or several names, Illustrated Faith or Documented Faith.  I found other Instagram accounts like Stephanie Ackerman, Shanna Noel and Little Bit Funky.

Everybody does it differently.  This is my every day Bible but others have a study Bible and just journal and doodle in their Journaling Bible.  Some ladies use rubber stamps and stickers, others use water colors and Prisma Inks.  Some stick to the journaling margins, others cover their whole page.  

There are websites and Facebook groups and Alaskan cruises!  Oh my!  For me, this is simply my fringe hours with God.  Some of my notes are from Bible studies, sometimes I write another translation, sometimes it's just my own interpretation of what I've read.

I've started carrying a watercolor palette with me and at the coffee shop I ask for a small cup of water and plop myself next to a sunny window. 

Sometimes there is only enough time to get out the colored pens and pencils. 

Other times I'm gifted with more time and I plug in my earbuds and jam out on Pandora.  If you see me at McDonald's in full-on worship mode, don't be surprised if I'm raising my arms - just praising Jesus.

This one was a poor excuse of a hack from Pinterest.  My apologies to the original artist for ruining your picture!

I'm so blessed that God put this in my path and is using this to make the Bible come alive in a whole, new way for me.  His Word is alive and active in me and I'm so enjoying allowing it to bubble up in whatever imperfect, humble way He allows.

If you're interested in this, Valerie, Shanna, and Stephanie all have much more concise and beautiful descriptions than I could possibly add to.  I encourage you to check them out.  But even more than that, I encourage you to just get started.  Yes, you'll mess up (like the time I wrote Esther/Boaz when I meant to write Ruth/Boaz...still trying to come up with a creative way to cover that up), yes your pens might bleed through or dribble on your page, you might smudge your handwriting or misspell a word.  But your Bible is a part of your legacy.  I have my grandmother's and my great-grandmothers Bibles.  They are full of four-leaf clovers and obituaries cut from the newspaper.  I want my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be able to look back through my Bible and see what spoke to me, where I struggled, what verses I was working on memorizing.  This, to me, is a great legacy to leave.

If you don't want to doodle directly in your Bible, try buying a journal and seeing what images God's Word stirs in your mind.  Above all, don't get caught up in the details.  It's about drawing closer to Him and for HIS glory!