Journaling 101

Needless to say, there has been a lot of downtown in our lives lately.  Either in the hospital battling Jim's kidney stones or in bed with my foot elevated.  

I get bored super easy so, going into this surgery, I was prepared!

My two latest obsessions.....

Bible Journaling

How have I been missing out on this??  How have I not heard of it before??

Bible journaling is decorating your Bible pages (yep, even coloring right on those sacred pages!) during your devotional time each day.  

I learn better if I write down what I'm studying .  I've gotten into the habit of journaling about verses I come across during my daily quiet time.  

I'll copy the verse down then write about what it's telling me.  Recently I've added a "doodle box" to draw out what the verse looks like in my head.

I choose one doodle each week and use it as the template to decorate that verse's page in my Bible.  

Look friends.....I am no artist!  As soon as I let go of the idea of perfect drawings, I really got into it!

By the end of the week, I usually have a verse that's been talking to me all week.  

I then find inspiration on Pinterest, etc. for designs.  

The best part is that this has really deepened my studies.  I'm chatting with Jesus the whole time and I'M LOVING IT!!

And......I found out that my local Lifeway Book Store has a Bible Journaling class once a month.  SCORE!!  I put myself out there - with a class full of total strangers - and had a ball!

Obsession #2:  Bullet Journaling

My coworker - Lizzy - turned me on to this one.  It's a hand-made planner that you design/customize to fit your lifestyle.  

Lizzy makes each blank hand-sewn bullet journal by hand.  Check out her Etsy shop.

I have preached blogged several times about my love for planners.  My planner is as vital to me as oxygen.  Seriously!!  I would be lost without it.  

I honestly never thought something could take the place of my wubbie  planner, but this totally has!

Before we get too far into this, how did I not know about the cult of Bullet Journal-ists out there?  Have I been living under a rock??

The great thing about these bullet journals is that you can use it any way you want.....as a "to do" list, a weekly appointment planner or even a diary.  

I was already journaling about my quiet time each day so it was really easy for me to incorporate this bullet journal into my daily routine. 

 OK, so here how to do it.  

Step One:  Purchase blank journal

Step Two:  Personalize as you wish 

(I needed a scrapbooking fix so the photos above are of my decorated journal - front/back/inside covers)

Step Three:  Fill that sucker up!  :)

The possibilities are endless!  And don't forget about that Bullet Journaling community.  Pinterest & Google have thousands of links for inspiration.

A few examples for you......

Index (table of contents)

Weekly planner

Daily journal

Collections (random layouts of daily life)

Brain dumps 

(Is anyone out there like me?!  When you go to sleep at night, you just can't turn your brain off?  A brain dump is me spending 5-10 minutes emptying my churning brain.)

Monthly highlights

Total random-ness that is our life.  

I keep thinking how I wish I had something - a diary, etc. - of my mother's that would give me a peek into her younger life.  

That's what these journals will be for my kids.  Along with the scrapbooks I love putting together, they will know what life was like for us......however random and silly it might be! :)