Site icon Bible Buying Guide

Giving Thanks with Creative Art Journaling

Lucinda Brown

November is the perfect month (for those of us in the US) to focus on giving thanks to the Lord in our Bible study and journaling. November is also a very busy month for many of us, which makes it both more difficult to find a quiet time to spend with God and much more important that we get our study and meditation time in to give us spiritual strength.

I thought I would highlight a few good verses for Thanksgiving and use the various creative art journaling Bibles we’ve reviewed to do it. I find creating my own artwork helps me connect with the scriptures more and much more personal but coloring pre-drawn artwork while I meditate on God’s word is great for calming both my mind and spirit either before or after a hectic day.

Old Testament

Psalms is the perfect place to start if you are looking for a verse about worshipping God for all He has done.

Psalm 100:4 is one of the first verses I looked for and I found it already illustrated in the NLT Inspire Praise Bible.

I found Psalm 106:1 in the HCSB Illustrator’s Notetaking Bible. There is more than one verse in Psalms with very similar wording to this including Psalm 107:1.

This Give Thanks word art can be found near the end of Psalms in the ESV My Creative Bible for Girls. Psalm 144 (which is on the facing page), a favorite Psalm, or a list of what we have to be thankful for will be great topics for meditation while coloring this.

The NLT Inspire Large Print has I Chronicles 23:30, a verse about praising God with songs.

The Thanksgiving word art in the KJV My Promise Bible is next to Isaiah 12, a hymn of joyful thanksgiving.

New Testament

The NLT Inspire Bible for Girls has I Corinthians 15:57 which highlights our salvation has a key thing to be thankful for.

I started coloring Philippians 4:6 in the NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible while I was working on my review of it. It’s a favorite verse of mine and I plan to go back and finish it this November.

While the ESV Illuminated Bible, Art Journaling Edition’s artwork is more finished than the rest of these journaling Bibles  I Thessalonians 5:16-18 could be personalized slightly. It’s also a great Give Thanks verse to include in my list and there is plenty of room on these two pages for personalized journaling with words or pictures

More Resources

Sometimes journaling and study is a very private and personal thing and sometimes we want to see or participate in what others are doing for inspiration and accountability. If you are looking for others who are journaling about Gratitude this November here are a few I’m aware of.

The Illustrated Faith community always does 30 Days of Gratitude for November. They always do a lot of sharing of ideas and artwork on Instagram and Facebook. They have journaling materials purchasable through Dayspring and the Illustrated Faith Print and Pray Shop, and a free Gratitude Documented Wordfetti printable available. This year they are doing the first 30 days in Shanna Noel’s new 100 Days of Grace & Gratitude Devotional Journal.  They started November 1st but are always glad to welcome newcomers who are running a bit late or that want to jump in to the middle.

While not focused on art journaling She Reads Truth does great Bible studies that would give you lots of inspiration for your own Bible journaling. Their 21 day Give Thanks study will run from 11/12 through 12/1 this year. She Reads Truth Bible Studies are always free to join but they have printed books for each study available in their shop.

Jann Gray has a self-paced seasonal study workshop you can join called Attitude of Gratitude. I have to confess to not having taken this particular workshop but Jann is a great teacher and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the workshops I have done with her. If you are mainly looking for help with the illustrations you might want to check out her Click Prints (especially the October and November ones) for printable artwork designed for tracing into a Bible.

__________________________________________________________

I’ve been wanting to do some comparison posts for all the lovely creative journaling Bibles available for a while and the Thanksgiving word art from the My Promise Bible was one of my sources of inspiration for starting this month. I’d like to continue doing them for different Bible topics, artwork themes, and specific verses about once a month. Is this something some of you would like to see me continue? Do you have any suggestions for themes for future comparison posts?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving verse? Did you color pre-existing artwork for it or do your own journaling? Do you know of any other gratitude focused journaling groups or classes? Let me know in the comments

___________________________________________________________

Links above are to our reviews for more information about the Bibles featured. Most of these Bibles should be available at your local Bible bookstore or at many online retailers. The following are affiliate links to find them and my art supplies on Amazon.

__________________________________________________________

photos by Lucinda Brown

Exit mobile version