Have you been following along in Stephanie Ackerman’s Bloom devotional this
month? I love what she has to say about finding self-worth and allowing yourself
to bloom where you are planted. Day 8 reminds us that we are acceptable,
valuable, loved, forgiven, capable, and well… just plain awesome! But it’s Day 7
that captured my attention as I went to my journaling bible on this occasion. It’s
title is “I am useable” and the gist of it is that we have been created with a
purpose, but too often we build up walls of doubt to protect ourselves because
we fear God might ask us to do something ‘way out of our box’. You know,
something uncomfortable and scary that you don’t feel equipped to handle.
Stephanie reassures us of two things to settle our fear. Firstly, it’s not by your
strength, but His. The great Almighty God who set the earth on it’s very pillars is
the power we are relying on. There is nothing impossible for God. So if he has
asked you do something then you better believe that it’s achievable. But
secondly, He has gifted you with a unique set of skills and qualities and you can
be certain that you are already equipped to handle whatever is coming your way
because God wants you to bloom where you are planted.
The verse for Day 7 is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you future and a
hope,” but as I have already journaled this verse I had to think of somewhere else
to put my entry. It reminded me of another classic scripture, Psalm 23 “the Lord
is my Shephard,” and particularly of verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever”.
One of my favourite ways to journal my Bible is simply to repeat the verse I want
to highlight in the column. Decorate it with pretty colours, cute embellishments
and lovely typography, but keep it strictly focused on the word. That way as I
flick through my Bible all the verses that I find most relevant jump out at me
instantly. So today I grabbed my Genesis kit for all it’s awesome letter stickers,
the Bloom stamp for the words ‘mercy’, and ‘love’ and the leaves, and one of
Shanna’s printable journal cards that comes free in the newsletter (which I
promptly cut up into bits!) I managed to journal out the first half of the verse this
way “surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,” and then I
squished the second half up beside it “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever” which I decorated with a house doodle inspired by the drawings of
Matthew Taylor Wilson.
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So if you’re following along in a devotional and the verse of the day is already
journaled, or even if you’re just not feeling it, don’t be afraid to go your own way
and chose somewhere else to put your entry. It’s not like you can go wrong when
you’re in the Word!
– Natalie
