Bible Journaling - Introducing Inspire Praise

Are you familiar with the term Bible Journaling? It is a relatively little known method of Bible Study in South Africa, though it is growing fast and becoming ever more popular. The idea is to buy yourself a Bible that has been published specifically for the aim of journaling. You then colour and craft your way through the Bible as you study it, thereby reflecting on the text even more than merely reading it, would have achieved. Bible journaling seems to be the perfect marriage of two of my blogs, namely Bybel Legkaart and A Pretty Talent. I recently bought my first journaling Bible and aim to start reading in it very soon. In the meantime, I wish to introduce you to the Bible itself and to open the world of Bible Journaling to you, if you are as yet unfamiliar with it. In upcoming blogs, you can look forward to blogs that does not only discuss the text of the Bible with you, as you have come to expect from Bybel Legkaart blogs, but also shows you how to go about journaling your own journey through the Bible. I will follow the same step by step instructional principle that readers of A Pretty Talent has come to expect. I invite you to enjoy the journey with me.

The Bible I opted for was the Inspire Praise Bible, which has the New Living Translation as its text. This is a translation that seeks to maintain the integrity of the original texts, while translating it into  more understandable English. They go one step further, by managing to modernize the setting, culture, poetry, etc. of the original texts. This is done in a very accountable way, in that variants and modernizations are explained in the footnotes, so that the original text is still accessible to the reader. Other texts that I like for these same reasons are the New International Version and the New King James Version. No doubt, you may have your own reasons for choosing the text you prefer. I may also add that there are Afrikaans translations available for Bible Journaling as well. Ask your local book dealer for details.

I quickly grabbed this image off the internet to show you of a journaling Bible that is available in Afrikaans. There are more versions available, so feel free to shop around.

When I open the box that my brand new Bible comes in, I discover a beautiful Bible. It was important to me that this Bible should be beautiful to look at, as this is after all a Bible that will be visually stimulating by the time I am done with it.

I also have to admit that I enjoyed the fact that the sides of the Bible (the pages) were also decorated. This scored substantial points with me. It is possible to decorate the outside pages of the Bible yourself, and I will be doing something to my own Bible to personalize it a little more, so you can look forward to a blog where I show you how to do this yourself.

When I open the front cover of the Bible, I find a double page spread that begs for me to get in there and add some colour to it. This I will not hesitate to do before too much time has lapsed.

When I open the Bible to the Contents page, I find that there are absolutely no study materials included in this Bible. Do not expect this to be a Study Bible. The focus is not so much on studying the Word, as it is on contemplating the Word. There are brilliant study Bibles available on the market, if this is your aim.

What I journal Bible has going for it, is extra wide margins to be creative in. It also normally boasts a single column text layout, rather than the double column that one has come to expect in Bibles. On some pages, you can expect to see big bold text in the margin that is meant to be coloured or painted. This particular version of the Inspire Praise Bible boasts even thicker Bible paper, especially with this in mind.

But the margins have more than just lettering in it; there are also some pages with beautiful line illustrations in the margins.

On some pages, these illustrations and lettering are not restricted to the margins only.

On other pages, they take up all of the space on the page.

A particular feature that I enjoy about the Inspire Praise Bible, is that it has a number of coloured velum pages inside. These leave some space for you to add your own contemplations or creativity to the page. Not all mediums are suitable to use on velum. I intend to show you a couple of ideas on how to deal with velum.

 Does your journaling Bible not have velum pages, but you like the idea of it? No worries, I intend to show you how to insert your own velum pages into your Bible as well.

As great as those printed pages are, these pages with nothing in the margins, except lines, are equally exciting. This is our blank canvas where we can create without limitations. More on that later.

A nifty feature of the Inspire Praise Bible, is the Index of Designed Scripture Verses at the back of the Bible. This makes it quick and easy to find particular pages that you may be looking for.

Right at the back of the Bible, on the inside of the back cover, you will find an envelope stuck inside the Inspire Praise Bible. The idea here is to store your Bible journaling embellishments in here. This is a nice idea, but I rather like the idea better,of storing prayer requests or gratitude cards in here. To each his/her own, though. You will know what you would like to do with your own envelope. Once again, do not feel let down if your Bible does not have such an envelope. Simply paste your own envelope in there to do with as you like.

When I look inside the envelope, I find that the publishers have started me out on my first collection of Bible journaling embellishments.

When I open the packet, I find three small sticker sheets inside it that are printed in purple ink on white. I think I would have preferred clear stickers, but these will certainly still be appreciated. The last sheet in the bundle has a set of eleven tabs for you to design yourself before inserting them into the Bible.

The best advice I can give you when purchasing your own journaling Bible, is to look at the back of the box to see what features are included in the Bible. That covers the visual part of it. But I also recommend you acquaint yourself with the particular Bible translations beforehand, as well, as it is hard to spend a lot of time in a Bible that you do not enjoy the translation of.

You can watch a compilation video of the photos in this blog on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/s7jR4Zyj1D8

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2005,2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois, 60188. All rights reserved.

Inspire PRAISE South Africa edition copyright 2017 by Christian Art Publishers, PO Box 1599, Vereeniging, 1930, RSA. All rights reserved.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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