Belinda recently responded to a series of questions about Bible Journaling and Illustrating her faith. She is a presenter at the 2015 SED Tending the Flame Event in Richmond, Virginia. Stop by her workshop to learn more.. Tending the FLAME
1. How has the process of Bible Journaling changed your approach to Bible Study?
I have found that my note taking has changed, focusing on groups of words or phrases rather than a whole scripture verse. Most of the time a key word or phrase will jump out and I will use that as my inspiration for an illustration.
2.What do see as benefits for adding a visual part to your faith formation walk?
Pictures tell stories. One of my favorite activities with children in a classroom was to sit down with them and listen to the story that inspired their artwork. Sometimes the responses would be stories of happiness, friendship, family, pets and even sadness. For me, using visuals helps me to express a feeling or an experience that connects me with a particular scripture or devotion. My faith walk has taken many turns and curves over the past years and when I go back thorough my bible and journals and take a look at past entries, I can see my happiness, pain, sadness, joys, celebrations and struggles. All of this is the Faith Walk I want to remember. It is where I've been and am now as a child of God, wife, mother and grandmother. Illustrating my faith has been a very personal way of sharing what is on my heart and in my head one scripture at a time. It is simply..documenting my faith!
3. What is the class that you are currently teaching at church?
I am leading a Bible study series from Illustrated Faith by Stephanie Ackerman called Bloom. We meet weekly in a home setting. We are blessed to have a house on campus that is used for Family Ministry and small group meetings. We sit in the living room and discuss the topic of the week using talk sheets that I create from the study. We share and apply the topic to our own personal experiences.It is a time where we can be real and support one another. After caring and sharing, we move to the activity table where we create bookmarks to place in our bibles using all kinds of art supplies to mark the scripture. I am introducing illustrating the bible study themes in the form of journals. Using our talk sheets from each evening we create a scrapbook type of visual as a reminder of each discussion. It is an activity that the beginner or the experienced can enjoy, creating a keepsake to be enjoyed now and later.
4.How do you see the Holy Spirit working in this area of your discipling walk?
This has been my first year of retirement. I have spent 25 years of my life sharing Jesus and his love and forgiveness with preschoolers and their families. I love teaching. I love sharing. Life was evolving and I was missing elements of my former life in the changes. As a trained and active Stephen Minister, I was still having trouble helping myself.
When I ordered the Bloom devotional for myself, little did I know, that the Lord would lead and guide me with these materials through this transition. Each week I can see more light on my path. By the time I completed the Bible study, I knew that I had to share this process. I use my own Bible to share my Illustrated Faith. I use all of the social media sites to show examples of how others are expressing themselves through the art of documenting and illustrating. Participants are already asking about the next study. We will continue to Illustrate our faith!
Facebook page- Do You Frog-DoUFrog?
Belinda is a wife of 37 years,
mom to 2 adult children and one granddaughter.
She is an active Stephen Minister and
veteran Early Childhood Christian Educator.
She lives in Hickory, NC. and is currently teaching the Illustrated Faith Bible class
at Concordia Lutheran Church, Conover, NC.
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