Other People's Judgment | Thankful Thursday

Today is Thankful Thursday. Time to count our blessings. I am back in my Traveler's Notebook today studying "Famous Last Words" devotional from By The Well 4 God.

This is today's Bible journaling entry. I learned about king Agag's last words.

I remember reading what happened to Saul when he did not kill king Agag and all the livestock and destroy the Amalekites. I did not remember what Agag's last words were, but it is found in 1 Samuel 15:32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately (cautiously). And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. It reminds me of the warning in Proverbs 16:19 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

God wanted the king of the Amalekites dead. King Saul was supposed to do it and he disobeyed God. So, king Agag thought he was getting another chance to do battle again. He was thinking he had escaped death but the prophet Samuel did what God wanted done and in verse 33, Samuel cut him to pieces before God.

I am thankful we have these true accounts of history so we can be learn from what others have done. I am sure we have all justified sin in our lives at one time or another. We may have had prideful hearts and thought we had escaped the wrath of God, but I want to be like the prophet Samuel in this situation and do what would please God. King Saul was removed from the kingdom. King Agag was violently murdered in Gilgal. We do not want to be like these wicked men. We want to be like the prophet Samuel who did the will of the LORD.

Thankfully today we do not have physical enemies to slay. We know the devil is our adversary and we can suit up in the full armor of God to defeat him. We must do the harder right than the easier wrong. I thank God for the warning of God's Word. What are you thankful for?

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you count your blessings all day. God is worthy of all praise and honor. Be sure to thank Him for the great things He is doing in your lives. I will do the same. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Creative Outlets | Thankful Thursday

My daughter and I enjoy creatively journaling our faith. We use traveler's notebook inserts instead of our journaling in our Bibles and we have a great time. We are currently working on a kit from By the Well 4 God called Famous Last Words. We are not going through this devotional study kit as fast as others we studied before but things are different now in our lives, too. Hopefully when we find our own home we will be able to have all our study materials out and can work on devotionals more often.

Each devotional study kit comes in a linen/canvas type drawstring bag with the name of the kit on the outside. It makes it a great way to find the kit we are working on and when we are done with the devotional book, we can put it in the drawstring bag along with our traveler's notebook insert to store it.

This is a look at the devotional book. I love the typewriter on the front and it has been so nice to work our way through the kit at our own pace. I like having Kadesia work on the kit with me but sometimes I work on it as I get time, by myself.

This is the insert I am using for this kit. I used stickers from the kit to decorate the front and remind me which kit it belongs to.

I prepped all the pages the same way. On the left side, I have a piece of decorative paper in this marbled/watercolor design. I add a piece of cardstock at the bottom to look like it could be an identification card. I use pictures from magazines to place in the small square box and then I write the name of the person, their title or a description about them, their famous last words scripture, and the name of the devotional kit. 

On the right side is where I do my journaling, answer questions from the devotional, or write a prayer. I used some washi to frame the page. I used my label maker to type out the question, "What great things has God done for you?", and then I used some transparent dots as bullet points. My response was:

*Salvation and sanctification. He has never given up on me.

*A family that loves God and me. My husband, Paul; my daughter, Kadesia; and my son, Javan.

*Hears and answers all my prayers even if I have to wait.

*Provided a house for us to stay in until He gives us our own.

This is not even a drop in the bucket of the great things He has done for me.

I completed this particular page on June 19, 2022. I do not have time to work on it today, but maybe this weekend I will have an opportunity to work on the next profile. I have three more to go and then I will start another Bible study devotional. I have some Illustrated Faith kits, and others I want to use as well from different companies. I love to creatively journal my faith in my traveler's notebook.

What Bible study are you working through? Do you creatively journal your faith? Do you do Bible journaling? Today I am thankful for the men and women who share their faith and knowledge with those of us on the journey towards Home. I am counting creatively journaling my faith as one of the things I am thankful for today. What are you thankful for?

I hope you have been encouraged and inspired to dig into God's Word today and count your blessings on this Thankful Thursday. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Thankful For Grace and Famous Last Words | Thankful Thursday

 

This is the last Thankful Thursday of April 2022. I decided today I would creatively journal my faith in my traveler's notebook. I am using a devotional from By The Well 4 God. They have an incredible devotional kit each month full of stickers and stamps, stencils, bow clips, all of the things, but the best part is their incredible devotionals. Each booklet has about 14 lessons in it, which is to be studied and worked on throughout the month. I take my time and since I have several devotionals, I do not stay in this particular one each day. Today, however, I decided to work on an entry in the Famous Last Words devotional.

Inside this pink striped traveler's notebook insert I have created pages as a sort of scrapbook or portfolio of the people in the Bible and their "famous last words." So, today was all about Judas, the betrayer of Jesus.

I created a little card on left with a picture I took from a magazine. I glued it on and then I added the name of the person, a title or description of them, the scripture reference of their "famous last words" and then the name of the kit I am working through. On the right page I decided to write out the scripture reference and a few thoughts of my own.

I wrote from Matthew 27:3-5 in the KJV. It reads, "Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented (felt remorse) himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down (threw down) the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. My comment was: What a shame he did not seek forgiveness. He knew Jesus and yet he never believed because he chose suicide instead of redemption.

We read that Peter denied Jesus THREE times! That is awful and yet Judas's betrayal was far worse and not because of what he had done, but how he responded when he realized his error. Peter wept bitterly but he did not reject Jesus entirely. Remember when Jesus lovingly restored Peter and asked him, Peter do you love Me? He asked THREE times and each time Peter said Yes, I love You Jesus. Judas ran to destruction and in grief over who he had become was still selfish in his death, only thinking of how he could escape the situation. We can choose grace instead of disgrace friends.

The devotional ends with Titus 2:11-12 but I want to share Titus 2:11-15 with you all. It is so precious.

Titus 2:11-15 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

This Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for grace and redemption and the sacrifice Jesus made on my behalf. I am thankful that I have forgiveness from my sin and eternal life is promised to me. I am thankful for devotionals that cause me to pause, ponder, and think. I am reflecting on the goodness of God today. How about you? What are you thankful for?

God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

7 Bible Journaling Essentials That Won't Break The Bank | Thankful Thursday

 

If you want to study the Bible you only need a Bible, quiet time to listen, and a prayer from your heart requesting Holy Spirit teach you what He wants you to know. Nothing fancy. You can even use a Bible app for free on your phone if you do not own a Bible. There is nothing like opening up the physical Bible though and turning the pages, seeing the highlight marks, and reading familiar passages.

If you want to do some Bible journaling or creatively journal your faith in a notebook, I have a video today that gives you seven ideas that can get you started and some affordable options for those who are just starting out. I hope it helps you choose some things to get you started.

I have links in the description box of the YouTube video for products I mentioned from online shops. There is of course our shop, Blue's Blessings, and then Faith Heirlooms where they have beautiful covered Bibles in different sizes and beautiful bow clips. I also like stickers from Nashs PrintWork. These store names are clickable links so you can click on the name in this blog post and go straight to the store.

I am thankful to have a creative outlet to journal my faith. I use a lot of different notebooks to do this. I have used micro Happy Planner notes. I use different size Traveler's Notebooks inserts. I have made note cards, blessing cards, and decorated inside my Bible. It is all a personal preference and the way you choose to creatively journal your faith is completely up to you. You can pick an expensive notebook, use a sheet of copy paper, or make a junk journal with junk mail and other items many may toss in the garbage. It is up to you and what you want to do.

There are things I did not cover like stencils, painting, stamping, and more. I just wanted to share some essential items to help you get started. As I say in the video it is by no means an exhaustive list. And some of these items you may not want to even use at all. For instance, I like a metal ruler. If I use a slicing tool like an exacto knife, I am not going to damage the metal ruler like I could a wooden one. I can stick alphabet stickers on the edge of the metal ruler and easily place my word down in the precise location by having the freedom to move it about the page. So for those reasons and others I enjoy the metal ruler. It was only $1 at the Dollar Tree. It is a great tool for many uses besides measuring and affordable, as well. But, watch the video to see what essentials you think you may want to try to get started.

I am so thankful for having a creative outlet. Our Heavenly Father is the ultimate Creator. He is the original. We are to be like Him, so when we have a desire to creatively journal our faith, we should do so to honor and please Him. It's nice to get compliments from others who see our work, but the main focus should be in honoring God and worshiping who He is. It should not be on the stuff we do or do not have. I am thankful to have a lot of tools and supplies but I have been doing this for 21 years so I have accumulated a lot over time. It is not something I recommend anyone rush into. Take your time and see what you like. Ask a friend if they can let you try their stamps, or paper trimmer. If you have a local scrapbook store, stop in and just see if you can get a tutorial on how some of the items work. If not, there are a lot of video tutorials showing how to use different products. If it is something you want to try, then go for it!

Thank you for hanging out with me today! I am so excited to share this video with you. Let me know if you have any thoughts, comments, or questions. I would love to help you as we creatively journal our faith! God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Gratitude Journal Tutorial | Thankful Thursday

I apologize for the absentee blog posts last week. My father-in-law passed away and it has been a lot to handle and sort through. The funeral will be on Monday and our family appreciates the prayers for wisdom and guidance as my husband has to make a lot of important decisions. Thank you so much!

For today's creatively journaling our faith post, I wanted to make a page with you all for my gratitude journal. I use a mini Happy Planner notes disc bound book for my gratitude journal. I haven't used the journal since last year and so I definitely wanted to get back to that. I choose three things to be grateful for each day and that helps with my mental health so much.

I love the verse in Psalms 9:1 that says, "I will praise Thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all Thy marvellous works." In this season of grief and loss, not just the passing of my father-in-law, but no longer living in Alabama, and not finding a home of our own, ... it's just been a lot and so I enjoy this verse so much. I will praise God with my whole heart. I don't want to hold back anything from Him. I will tell of His marvelous works because He is doing so much. We have been so blessed since being back in Indiana. He is a good, good Father and I am so thankful that He loves us so much and blesses us every single day.

I am going to share the process of how I created my gratitude page today. Here's a look at the finished page:

These mini notebooks are so fun and it just takes a few minutes to decorate the page. The supplies I used include: Paper Mate Flair pens, heart rainbow washi, and colored dots from the office supply section at Walmart. I do not link anything here because I do not want anyone to go buy a bunch of products. The goal is to just write things we are thankful for and use what you have. You can use stickers, draw, color your own boxes or bullet points, use markers or colored pencils. I will share how I created this page. I know many of you wanted a step-by-step process for how I work in this size notebook.

I ran a strip of rainbow heart washi tape along the top and bottom of the page. I like working with the page outside the notebook. It is a favorite feature of the disc bound system. I enjoy taking the pages out to work on and popping back in when I am done.

These colorful dots are so fun to use for bullet points in my gratitude journal. The label circles are so tiny and are the perfect pair for this size notebook. They are already sticky on the back so I can just add them to the page and they are ready to go. If you do not have these labels you can journal without them. You can add dots with an ink pen, colored pencil, or markers. I already had these for a long, long time so they do last if you are only doing three bullets each time. It is very inexpensive in the office supply section at Walmart if you do want to purchase these, but again, it is not necessary to journal your gratitude list.

Colorful pens make journaling fun, but it is not necessary. Many of my pages are written with black ink on the page. If you do want to check these Paper Mate Flair pens I purchased from Walmart, they would be a good purchase because they do not bleed through the pages. I purchased a set of six for just under $6 before tax. The type of pen is not important. It's therapeutic to write what you're thankful for even if you use a number two pencil.

Here is a look at the page in my notebook. If you do not have this notebook, again, use what you have. You can make your own journal book with any paper, notebook, or journal you already have. I only list three things that I am grateful for. I do not add scriptures or additional journaling. You may want to do that. If you don't have a lot of time, this took me less than 10 minutes. You can spend as little or as much time as you want. The point is finding the good in your day and then thanking God who provided every single blessing.

I will share another project next Thursday. If there is anything specific you want to see, leave it in the comments below, or send me an email. I have some fun things planned and hope you enjoy the tutorials each week. I will share a couple of video tutorials on my YouTube channel as well each month. Hope you have a wonderful day. Be sure to check back tomorrow for my Fuel For The Weekend blog post. If you are on spring break this week or next, I hope you are safe and happy and keeping your eyes on Jesus!

I hope something I have said or shared today gives you strength for your journey and light for your way!

God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Sacrificial Love | Thankful Thursday

The LORD impressed on my heart to carve out a section of my blog to share what I am thankful for. I started it on a Thursday and decided to call it "Thankful Thursday." Each week I share what I am thankful for. Come back each week so we can count our blessings together.

Hello friends!

Welcome back to another Thankful Thursday post! It is already Thursday; my, how time flies! I have prayed for God to give me direction for what He wants me to do on my blog each week. I sensed He was wanting me to share how I creatively journal my faith. I wasn't sure how that would fit in to a Bible study Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, or Fuel For The Weekend post. I continued to pray and I sensed God leading me to be creative with how I share what I am thankful for. The projects will evolve and sometimes I will have a tutorial, like today, and other times it will just be a project share for inspiration. I hope you like the new direction Thankful Thursdays is going.

I want to continue to put the emphasis on my blessings and not on the products I use to create projects. My focus is on God and while I have proved you can be thankful without a project, I am excited for this new path He is leading me on. I have been a paper crafter for over two decades and I have taught many scrapbooking, card making, and paper crafting classes in those years. I taught small children, tweens and teens, adults, women's groups, youth groups, children's church, Sunday school, taught in a brick and mortar scrapbook store and even hosted events in my home. I love having a creative outlet to express my faith and I am so thankful our God, the great Creator, has allowed me to share these projects with others.

I got a new Bible from Faith Heirlooms and it is so cute! It is covered with strawberry fabric and has an adorable bow on the side. It is micro size and I love anything tiny! I quickly made a prayer journaling card to put in my Bible and I want to show you how I did it. It is very simple and one of the easiest designs to get started for those who enjoy paper crafts but may not know where to get started.

Let's take a look at my new micro size Bible. It is in New Living Translation (NLT). My favorite translation is KJV, but I do like reading other translations as a part of my personal Bible study time. It helps me when I read the same passage of Scripture from various other translations.

Isn't this Bible so sweet? I love, love, love strawberries so this was the one I knew I wanted as soon as I saw the pattern, but they had many other beautiful fabric covered Bibles to choose from. 

To make the prayer journaling card, I chose a piece of kraft colored card stock by a brand called Echo Park. It was on sale at JoAnn so I was able to get a pack of 50 sheets for only $2.50. I cut my piece of card stock to measure two and a half inches wide by four and a quarter inches tall. The size you want to make will depend on the size of your Bible, or your preference. These measurements are what worked for my tiny Bible.

The next piece I cut was Bazzill card stock in the color Ballet. It has texture on this paper with raised dots. I really like this patterned paper and how the pink pops against the neutral card base. This piece will go along the bottom so it measures two and half inches across by 5/8" tall. If I was in my own home right now and had access to my inks and daubers I would have inked the edges and that gives it a nice dimension without adding any bulk.

I used a tape runner I purchased from Walmart to adhere the Ballet pink card stock to the kraft colored card stock. It is inexpensive and easy to use. The brand I am using here is called AdTech. You can use a coupon to get this adhesive at big box stores, but I found the best price at Walmart.

I placed the Bazzill card stock just a short distance from the bottom of the kraft card stock. You can eye ball how far up you want it to be. I preferred not to have the pink piece flush with the bottom of the card, but it is up to you if you choose to make one of these cards.

When stickers come on a clear backing sheet, you can easily see which size sticker to choose, as well as where you want to place it before sticking it down. Some stickers peel back up easily but others will tear your paper. These self-adhesive gem stones came in a package for one dollar at the Dollar General.

I decided to use two of the smallest sized light pink hearts flanking a middle sized silver/clear heart gem. I like how they look together on the pink strip. You can choose to skip these gem stones if you prefer to have a flat card. It doesn't bother me to have bulk on the cards. It makes my Bible chunk up, but I don't mind. If you like these gem stones but don't want to have the bulk in your Bible, you can keep these cards in a little envelope or pouch.

I have enjoyed this alphabet sticker book so much. I believe I got it from Michael's in the Recollections line but I am not sure. There are so many different sizes and types of fonts to choose from in this sticker book. It is so fun to make titles with these stickers.

I used the alphabet stickers to spell out ROMANS and the numbers 5 and 8 for the scripture reference. I had a bow header sticker from NashsPrintWork and I like how the silver bow looks just below the alphabet stickers.

I thought it would be cute to a put another gem stone heart in the center of the bow. It ties in with the three heart gemstones on the bottom of the card. And I like using them because they are so cute! Again, if you want a flat project, you can skip the sticky gems. The bow header is cute with or without the gems.

I wrote a short prayer on the back of the card. I used a new white pen that I picked up recently. I am not sure where I got it, but I am not a huge fan of this white pen. My favorite white pen to use is a UniBall Signo Gel Pen. It is so smooth and bright. This was bright enough to read but it skipped a lot and that's something I didn't experience much, if at all, from the UniBall Signo Gel Pens. Do you have a favorite white gel pen? Do you find your white gel pens skip, too? It definitely depends on what type of paper you write on that determines how much skipping it will do. I may try it on a smoother paper and see how it works.

To make this card stand out in my Bible, I decided to use an Avery tab on the back. The sticky part is see-through so it doesn't interfere with my writing. I love the shattered glass look. This is one design in a set of three. I purchased a pack of three at Walmart in the office supplies aisle. Have you tried these tabs yet? I have some in my main Bible. I love the different colors it picks up as the light hits it. It's so pretty!

I recommend to do any writing before sticking on the bulkier accessories. It just makes it easier to write, especially the prayer on the back. Since this Bible is NLT, I decided to write the scripture on this card using the NLT translation. It is Romans 5:8 "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Isn't that an amazing fact? You are so loved, and I am so loved, that God sent Jesus, His only Son, to die for our sins while we were still in sin. We did not love Him yet. We did not know Him yet. And that is the heart of God. He loves us that much!

Look at that top tab sparkle! It's so pretty! Don't forget to date your card somewhere so you can look back later and see your style change or progress. It is also great to look back and remember what you studied. If the goal is to use these as memory cards it would be fun to see if in a few months you can remember the verses, maybe quiz your family or friends.

I had a hard time writing on this card stock. I didn't like the way the white gel pen was working. I tried my ultra fine tip Sharpie pen and it was going out on me. The tip was nearly gone. So I had a fine point Sharpie pen and it would have been okay but I don't like the different tip sizes. But the point is I still wrote out the Scripture, reflected on it, thought about it, and so this card did what it was supposed to do, help me draw closer to God through my creative process of journaling. Doesn't it look so cute nestled in the pages of my micro sized Bible? I love it!

Here is a top view of the shattered glass Avery tab peeking out of the top of my Bible. If you prefer not to see your journaling cards sticking out of the top of your Bible, just leave the tab off and make sure you measure your Bible pages so you can cut the card base smaller than the pages of your Bible. I love having mine stick out so I am pleased with how that looks.

I like how this is already starting to get chunky. If I had used flat embellishments it wouldn't look like this, but it's so cute to me. I am excited to make tons and tons of journaling cards. The only drawback for this Bible is that it only includes the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. But it is just for me to have fun creating prayer/journaling/Scripture writing cards so I don't mind that it is not the full Bible. I would love to have a full Bible in the micro size though because I love it!

One last look at the tab. Those tabs are gorgeous and I love how the colors change depending on how the light hits it.

I am not getting paid or sponsored to share these tutorials. It is just a fun way for me to share my faith in a creative way. I make these projects anyway so I am happy to share on my blog how you can do this too. If you make any of these cards let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram @BridgettOwens78 and I will check it out.

So, in conclusion, this Thankful Thursday I am grateful for Romans 5:8, a sacrificial love that was not reciprocated until I encountered Jesus for myself. I am so thankful that while I was still in sin Jesus Christ died for me. He didn't just die for me, though. He rose on that third day and now sits on the right hand of the Father. He didn't just die for me, and rise again for me, but He is also coming back for me and all of you who are waiting on His triumphant return!

I pray that something I have shared today has been strength for your journey and light for your way! God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens