Ginger

On the Journey with Luke…

In the past year or so, I’ve been putting together and publishing some guided journals for various books of the Bible. These aren’t Bible studies, but they’re meant to be Bible study tools – paperback books with some prompts and questions, with spaces to keep notes and research as you read through a book of the Bible.

The first of these journals is On the Journey with Psalms, followed by On the Journey with John, On the Journey with Romans, and On the Journey with Proverbs.

This month, there’s a new one – On the Journey with Luke.

As with the others, this journal provides prompts and questions for each chapter of the Gospel of Luke, along with a “guiding verse” I chose for each chapter. There are boxes and lines for writing, and a progress tracker to keep up with which chapters you’ve read.

I hope you’ll check it out!

♥

creativity every day even when…

I’ve written before about how it’s important to me to create every day. Even if it’s not much and not for long, I paint daily, and it’s something that helps me with calming and grounding and getting through.

There have been some big life changes that I’ve been dealing with, and there have been all the emotions that come when those things happen.

My hubs is officially retired now, which is a time of transition and brings adjustments to daily life and daily schedules for both of us. And our lives and our home are also very different now because our sweet 14-year-old calico Chloe passed away the week before Christmas after a long fight with cancer.

Only two and a half weeks after Chloe passed, my mother died.

And while none of these things were unexpected, they are still very big changes.

There’s a lot of grief. A lot of adjustment. A lot of feeling like life is just…different.

Through it all, every day, I continue to paint.

I paint because it calms me. It grounds me. It settles me. It brings me moments of joy even on days that are terribly difficult.

Even if I only paint for a minute, even if I only paint a heart or a circle, I paint every single day.

I do it because it helps me.

Even when life is hard, creativity helps.

What creativity can you bring into your life today, even if life in general is bringing challenges and struggle? What creative outlet gives you joy, even if you only have the time or energy to do it briefly?

Please let yourself do it. Because it can help.

♥

the Lord is my Shepherd {printable}…

Something I’ve been enjoying lately is playing with my dip pen and Inktense blocks with words, phrases, Bible verses, and general doodles and swirls.

This is one of them – the Lord is my Shepherd – from the 23rd Psalm. It’s a 4″ x 6″ image, and I’ve turned it into a printable for you to download and print if you’d like to have it.

As with the other printables on my blog (you can find those here – be sure to keep choosing “older posts” to go back to see them all) there’s no charge, nothing to sign up for, no strings attached. Just download and print as you wish.

I only wrote the opening words of Psalm 23 – the Lord is my shepherd – but I hope these words will bring to mind this entire Psalm, which I’ve included below the image. The 23rd Psalm is a Bible passage that can provide immense comfort.

The .jpg file is here.

For .png format, the link is here.

And if you’d like it in .pdf format, you can get it here.

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

{Psalm 23 – New King James Version}

♥