I See You

I’ve been writing notes, drawing pictures and colouring in sections of my bible for as long as I can remember, but only recently has what many of us have always done, been re-marketed into a money making business for many creative Christians.

There are a lot of free journaling ideas out there, videos on YouTube and ideas on Pinterest, but there’s also a lot of expensive kits too!

I’m not against buying things if I like them, I’ve paid quite a bit of money for a journaling bible with wide edges to write or draw into and I really like it. However, I do think we have to be aware that some ideas are being marked up just to make money from a new trend (something for another day perhaps).

One idea I’ve seen are printable pages with bookmark sized images, great for colouring in. You can download these onto card and use them as actual bookmarks, or you can copy them onto a page of your journaling bible and colour it in onto the bible page.

I made one for you to try, it’s based on the verse in Genesis 16:17, where Sarai (later Sarah) was mistreating her servant Hagar. Hagar fled, but was met by an angel who told her to return (because God had a plan – Ishmael). Hagar, a mistreated servant who I expect felt had no one on her side realised God sees everything and she said, “You are the God who see me”.

So you can download the printable page here:

And this is how you put the image into your Bible.

1. Print off the page on normal printer paper.
2. Fold the paper so it fits under the page where you want the image.
3. Use a pencil to sketch the image onto the Bible page.

4. Using a black fineliner (0.3 – 0.5mm) is what I prefer. I also keep looking with the original image incase I’ve missed a line.

5. VERY GENTLY use a rubber to remove the pencil markings. Remember GENTLY!

6. Colour the image in. I use coloured pencils, and if this is your first time then I would recommend you do this too. Once you get into journaling you can venture out into other media like watercolours and gelatos.

7. This next step is optional, but I like to go over the page with a coloured pencil blender or a paper stubby stick. It blends the marks of the pencils together and makes the image look a lot better. I’ve half done this image, you might be able to see inside the circle. I’ve done the top half of the letter E.

8. I also added one tiny last detail, I used a white gel pen to add a tiny highlight to the eye.