5 Inspire Bible Ideas

Congratulations to our Inspire Bible give away winner: Rachel Reamer and our runner up DeAnna Hill. Now  let's open up our Bibles together and study! Here's a post to get us started. 

The Bible

God's Word 2 Timothy 3:16

The Truth John 17:17

The Inspire Bible, like all Bibles,  is God's Word. It holds the truth of how we are to live. 

It teaches us, trains us, encourages us and equips us. 

This is why we love the Word of God.

The Inspire Bible offers you and I the opportunity to engage with scripture in a unique, meaningful way. I want to encourage you to consider these five ways to use your Inspire Bible. 

 You can share your ideas and thoughts on our FB page 

or comment below! I'd especially love to see what you create as a result of your time with the Lord. 

 Our FB Page

3 habits for developing a healthy mentoring lifestyle

"A healthy lifestyle is one which helps you to keep and improve people's health and well-being." 

A healthy mentoring lifestyle is one which helps to keep and improve people's spiritual health and well-being." 

I'm always surprised to hear women say, "I could never be a mentor, I NEED a mentor." 

When we hide behind our desire for what we do not have, we keep that very same thing from those who need it.  

Let's be the generation that develops healthy mentoring habits! It's really not hard or even that time consuming. I've found myself mentoring over a quick cup of coffee or text message. Mentoring happens during a conversation in the church foyer or a brisk walk around the park. It doesn't have to be complicated or formal. It's as easy as changing your eating habits. 

Three habits for developing a healthy mentoring lifestyle: 

#1. Change your eating habits: 

Yup, weird, but true. What are you feeding yourself? Do you have a steady diet of FB, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat? Maybe you binge on Netflix series. Perhaps your sweet tooth can't resist hours on Pintrest's baking files.

All of these things tempt me. Sometimes, it's like a physical pain to simply close my computer and walk over to where my bible and colored pencils sit. As if there's a battle waging or something! Um.. yeah, there is a battle raging. 

Feed yourself a steady diet of The Word. If you are creative I suggest bible journalling as a great way to inspire your study time. If you are not creative, I suggest a spiral bound notebook and a good pen to write down your thoughts and ideas as you study. 

As you fill yourself up with truth, wisdom and knowledge you will find you can nourish others out of the bounty in your soul.

#2. Exercise more

Last summer, I bought myself a bright green beach bike complete with a basket and a cupholder. I loved the sunshine on my face and the opportunity to be with my son as we rode all over Wheaton. The exercise did me good in many ways.

What does exercise look like for a healthy mentoring lifestyle? You just have to DO IT. 

Invite that college girl over for desert, Ask another family to join you for a game night, Call that friend and go for a walk in the park together, Text that person that's been on your heart and go out for lunch together.  Mentoring can begin with these small exertions. Endeavor to step out of your comfort zone and exercise your mentoring muscles. You may find you are invigorated by the effort.

#3. Create a support system

Who is your greatest cheer leader? My mom is that for me. She is quick to pray with me, quote bible verses over the phone and remind me of the strength I have in Christ. 

Find at least one other person who is like minded. Let them know you are developing a Healthy mentoring lifestyle and tell them what that means for you. Ask them to pray for you and invite them to ask you how it's going periodically. 

Don't have a person in mind? Ask God to send you one. Remember that God is the foundation of this whole thing. He can be your support system if there is no physical person available. 

So, I'm certain this list is leaving you wanting more. 

You may be asking, "Where's the resources?" 

Or, "Where's the method?"

With any lifestyle change you must simply make a start. Work on these three things for awhile and see if you don't feel renewed strength and vitality coursing through your spiritual veins. As you improve your spiritual health and well-being you will discover you can't keep your transformation to yourself.  May God be glorified in you my dear sisters. 

Under the same wing,

-Joleen

Creating an heirloom from your "art"

Few people know I have a degree in English Literature. During my undergrad years, I fell in love with Shakespeare, Wadsworth, Whitman and Dickinson. Yet, of all the famous literary figures, Emily Dickinson is the poet who most captured my attention and imagination. 

Emily's somewhat solitary life is folded up with the warm ideals of hearth, home and wandering over hills in the afternoon. It's said she kept many active correspondences and often enclosed poetry with her letters. She even hand bound forty volumes of her nearly 1,800 poems. She actually made them out of stationary paper that she folded and stitched together.

I love that. Even though she was not famous during her lifetime, she valued her own work enough to document it. This idea has inspired me. What will my children and grandchildren know of me? Yes, they may eventually own one of my three bibles with notes in the margins and drawings throughout.

But what about the other things I love like recipes and poetry and drawings? I guess, I could hope they'd find my FB files someday. But, I've decided to compile as many of these precious things into a notebook as possible.  I'm pretty sure no one will find them and try to sell them on ebay like Emily's  manuscript books  But, I do hope they will become a treasure of memories and thoughts for the next few generations. 

So here's where i've started. I bought a spiral bound multi-media book of paper. Multi-media just means you can use watercolor, pens or colored pencils. I've started with simply creating pages of my favorite birds and flowers. I plan on adding a favorite scripture verse or one of my original poems to some of the pages. 

One of my poems is inspired by Emily Dickinson's entitled HOPE.

Here is Emily's original poem: 

"Hope" is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops - at all

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest Sea 

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of ME.

So, I'll keep you posted on this little project, though I suspect it will be lifelong. In the meantime, share your ideas about documenting your "art" how will you create an heirloom for the next generation of your family? Share below. I'd love to hear from you!

WHEN I COLOUR

When I colour, I ponder

I ponder

 Easing through the door of creativity

My heart slows

 My thoughts turn towards God

We sit

talking and sharing

He listens through the colours

He speaks into the silence

I hear

I smile

I colour

-Joleen

Ready to ponder? www.colormecards.moonfruit.com

Scripture coloring pages? Yes please!

I have always loved to color. My kindergarten teacher had to watch me carefully lest, I sneak that favorite coral crayon into my pocket to take home.  The waxy smell of my first BIG box of crayons is like an indelible happy memory.

 So, I've decided as an adult to keep that happy memory flowing. I'm currently creating a line of scripture coloring pages. I'm so excited about this, I am actually running out of ink for my calligraphy pens.

Here's a few examples of what I'm working on: This page depicts a beautiful array of poisonous plants and critters in order to illustrate the allure of sin. It appears beautiful, but be careful, it's full of poison that will eventually lead to death.

Here's an example of the page colored in.

Here's growth! This has two verses and is such a delight to color. The flowers simply pop off the page as you add the colors.

This page is all about Jesus. Each letter reminds me of the world as I color the insides blue and the landmass markings green. 

These pages will be available tonight at midnight at my www.campingstickkids.com website.  There will be one free download for you so come on over!