This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Last year, I received a beautiful journaling Bible for Christmas from my mom. I have done many different things over the years, to add to or mix up my devotional time in the morning. This year, I really wanted to try my hand at journaling in my Bible. My mom picked out a lovely Bible with very wide margins on the sides of each page and I got some colorful pens that were specifically designed for Bible marking. The pens don’t bleed through the pages and have fine tips for easy underlining and writing as well as coloring.
I LOVE new school supplies and to me, this new package of colorful pens held unlimited possibilities along with my new Bible.
I decided to begin in Psalms. With 8 colored pens, it was so much fun to underline in multiple colors and I found that the more I used the pens to highlight and annotate the passages I read, the more I remembered what I had read.
My artistic ability is very large in my head, but on paper it isn’t anything special, but as I started re-writing the special promises and adding some vines or flowers or hearts to them in the margins of my Bible, I started to realize that the more I interacted with different passages, the more they stayed with me all day long.
Along the way, I have started to realize that it’s more important for me to personalize my Bible and use it as a way to record when God speaks to me through different verses than to be afraid of drawing something because I’m not an artist.
I often choose to underline a specific passage and then re-write it on the side and illustrate it because I want it to stand out in my Bible and in my memory. I want to daily hide God’s word in my heart!
Sometimes, a text or passage means more to me and I rewrite it in my own words or for my circumstance. In this way, the Bible verses are applied to my life today! This morning, I paged back through the Psalms and looked at the verses I had illustrated or underlined or rewritten and these became the reminders for the day that God is very present in my life.
“Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against you.” Ps. 119:11
How do you personalize your Bible study to make it meaningful to your daily life?
Some of my favorite Bible study tools.
This is the Bible I use. Great, wide margins!
My favorite pens!
Guide to Bible Journaling
Bible study journal.