Illustrated Journaling Bible

Finally!!!!

I have wanted an illustrated journaling bible for SO long. And finally I have one thanks to B&H Publishing sending me one to review!

My immediate reaction: LOVE!

It is very beautiful! It is made to lay flat as you journal and color the illustrations in the bible. The one that I have is leather on outside grey and white with gold. I like that the illustrations are either Scripture or nature. There are also some articles within the bible that ask and answer a question. One is "How to Read and Study the Bible." This one that I have is an HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) version. I actually really like the translation. It kind of puts me in the mind of a NASB translation. I also like that in the beginning of the bible it explains the translation, what manuscripts it used, and features found in the bible. It is a decent size, large enough to read without my glasses yet small enough to toss down in my diaper bag to take with me.

Being able to color in the illustrations is a great help in calming me down when I am upset or having a hard day. It just focuses my attention to the Scripture I am coloring in.

This is the outside of the Bible.

This is what the inside looks like. As you can see I have been having fun.

Another shot of the inside of the bible. As you can see there is room to color and room to jot down some notes.

These are the color pencils that I use in the bible (on sale at Walmart for $0.50). I personally do not recommend anything heavier than a color pencil or gel pen considering how thin the pages are and especially not markers as I think they'd bleed through.

The Art of Worship

I'll be honest for a while this book intimidated me. Maybe because I knew that with reading it came a need for change in how I do life, in how I worship God.

and I was right.

Worship in its purest form is a way of life. 

As John MacArthur puts it, nothing we do is more important than worship. It will govern every aspect of our lives.

This book takes us, passage by passage through the Bible showing us not only how to worship but also the importance of worship and why it needs to be a priority.

A lot of times, at least for me, people tend to see worship as the time during service when we are singing unto the Lord (i.e. praise and worship). However John MacArthur paints a picture of worship being more than that and extending beyond Sunday service. 

For the longest, I had thought of worship as just the singing unto God, regardless of time or location. But this book trumps that thought. It informs me that worship is everything. It is in my attitude towards everything I do. Is my attitude nasty? Am I doing things/working as unto man or as unto the Lord? 

And those questions will prompt the change that will accompany reading this book. The next question will be: where does worship lie on my list of priorities? Is far down the totem pole or is it at the top of my priorities, leading the way for my interaction with everything else on my list?

And one thing about God is that He says "He desires those who worship Him in spirit and in truth." And that is in everything that we do.

Even better is the study guide (free) available on Moody Publishers, just scroll down to "free resources."

The Jump to Trust God

This book addresses a few different topics of application of the Christian faith: 

• When we trust God's love for us, 
• when we choose to walk with Jesus, 
• when we choose to relax
• when we take the time to notice God in everything, 
• when we choose to invest our time and finances into God's kingdom, 
• when we choose to be kind to everyone, 
• and when we place our hope in God. 

When we do these things, Rusty then explains the different ways God shows up in our lives. Each topic of application is explain in an "if then" circumstance. IF we choose to walk with Jesus, THEN God will show us how. Too often we forget, all of the Christian life starts with a choice. A choice to trust God, to accept Jesus Christ, to confess our sins and turn our backs on that sin (repentance). But after we make that choice, we must live our lives in such a way that we start to look like Jesus Christ: walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, point people past ourselves and on to Jesus.

This book is endorsed by Kyle Idleman (he wrote the forward) and I truly have enjoyed his books (Not a Fan & Gods at War). So that helped me become interested in the content of this book. And after reading it, it puts me in the mind of the Believe series of books by Randy Frazee. They seek to aid us in our walk in Jesus, in our relationship with God. And this book does the same.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to the application and benefit of application of walking with Jesus, trusting God, choosing God.

{fyi: I got this book through the BookLook Blogger program in exchange for my HONEST review.}

The Color Bible

I saw this bible and even though it is supposed to be for kids, I've thought about using it for myself because it is color coded, thus the name "the color bible."

The color code is organized as:

 Gold: God

Navy: Sin, evil,

Red: Jesus

Orange: washed clean from sin, new life

Green: growth in your new life as a Christian and Faith Walk

Blue: Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving

Purple: Heaven

It is the NKJV, which is a nice version to use, although not quite my preference. For those of us who wear like glasses (speaking about myself here, lol) the print is fairly large and readable. There are no footnotes or study notes to aid in understanding the word of God.

However this bible seems to be aimed at getting kids into the bible and helping them recognize the difference in the passages.I like this bible. I like that it is already color coded according to a system that is explained in the bible. It makes it easy for my daughter to understand the topic of a passage that she reads. For example if she reads a passage and its highlighted in gold then she knows it is about God. Or if its red, it is about Jesus. It also gives her a guideline of how to highlight/underline in her bible for passages she reads that are not already highlighted.

{FYI: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my HONEST opinion.}