Illustrated Faith | Meg Pitts

Hey everybody! I’m Meg from Me With The Three. Those crazies in the photo are my dudes, AKA The Three.  I kind of love them just a tad.  A little info about me? I’m a photographer, creative at heart. When I don’t have an outlet, I get a little bit of a cooped up feeling.  Usually, my outlets are photography, painting, designing blogs and sites, and in general making things pretty. I also love reading, and usually I’m reading a few books at a time, mainly because I get bored if I stay on one thing too long.

Growing up, I never really read the Bible… just books ABOUT the Bible.  It never really occurred to me that I needed my OWN relationship with Jesus, and not someone else’s.  Then as I got older, life changes happened, and new people and churches came in, I began to see the need to read and study Scripture for myself.  But like I said before, I’m a little bit of an artsy, visual person, and I honestly got bored a lot.  Plus, I didn’t know where to start, or even HOW to go about studying Scripture for what it really was.

I’m learning now that it’s not about the mechanics, but the heart behind it. I started reading to feel God speaking to me at first, to get a closer relationship.  Now, I’m feeling more of a pull to really STUDY it… to know the Bible for all it is.  One of the ways I do that though is through art journaling. When I saw Shanna’s course in the Influence Network I was intrigued. I watched it and thought YES!!! This is how I can start to LOVE studying Scripture! And I was so right!

I use a notebook to write things down… notes, quotes, and things I want to remember. Then, if something sticks out to me and I want to “make it pretty,” I find some time and pull out my stash.

Usually, I just use some stickers, pretty paper, stamps, and just pens and pencils. I feel like I don’t go all out, I kind of rely on more simple styles.

I made this page after my time at the Allume conference.  One of the keynotes was Jeremy Courtney with Preemptive Love Coalition.  His talk wrecked me. I came home and shared with The Hubs, and it had the same effect on him too.  The quote “Love First, Ask Questions Later” has been etched on my mind.  So what better way to remember it than to make a page of it! I put it next to Romans 12: 9-13, because as I read those words, the quote came to mind.  This day I pulled out some stickers, alphas, and cut out the question mark, and got to sticking. Simple. But great visuals!

Another thing that I’m learning/trying to remember, is that even though they’re sometimes loud and crazy, my dudes are not a bad distraction. Yes, they take my mind off my reading and prayer sometimes, but they’re such a great way to be distracted don’t you think? The verse in Matthew 19:13-14 reminds me of this.  I had just found this flower stamp on clearance and wanted to try it out along with a gold Sharpie I bought. While the design doesn’t necessarily remind me of kids or anything, it’s still pretty and catches my eye, bringing a new view of the Scripture.

A lot of times I’ll just go really simple, with a word or short phrase I just want to pop out at me.  Or maybe that day I just got interrupted by one of those beautiful interruptions!

And then sometimes if I’m in a church service or message I just write with my pen and doodle right on the page.

My thought is that you don’t need to feel like you need the “right stuff” or have to do each page a certain way or it’s “wrong.” If you open my Bible, each entry looks different. Some are just pen and watercolors, some more scrapbook style, and some just black writing and doodles. But they all remind me of things I was thinking at that moment, and draw me back to that time.

Isn’t that what we hope to get when we read Scripture? Drawn closer to God, so we can understand and love him more, marveling at his goodness?

I hope you enjoy making your own art, because that’s what it is!!

And I’d love for you to come say hey over on my little space, and you can follow along with me in any of the places below.