Welcome back to my little corner! Today I’m sharing a page I created in collaboration with the YG Church in Arlington, Texas. They’ve been preaching and studying through the Gospel of John in a series called “He Gets Us.” They sent me the John Scripture Journal, and asked me to creatively respond to something in that series. I chose something from the very first sermon, The Incarnate Word, because it was just so good!
John 1 begins much like Genesis 1 does:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.” (John 1:1-3)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. 3 God said,“Let there be light.” And there was light! ” (Genesis 1:1-3)
Jesus was–is–the Word, and created all of life. He simply spoke it into existence. Galaxies and stars and oceans and creatures, all miraculously appeared at the command of His voice. Except for humans. With humans, His crowning masterpiece, Jesus was much more hands-on. He took the dust of the ground, and with His two hands, shaped a lump of dirt into a man. Then, He breathed life into him.
“Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7)
To create life, Jesus, the divine Word, first uses the power of His divine word to speak life into existence. Then He uses the power of His divine breath to breathe life into existence.
Likewise, the Word has the power to speak and breathe life into our lives. All we need to do is to breathe in the Word. Study scripture. Listen to it. Read it. Meditate on it. Pray through it. Jesus, the Incarnate Word, enters and fills our life just like air fills our lungs. Inhale the Word!
But breathing is incomplete without exhaling. Just try holding your breath. No matter how big of a gulp of air you inhaled, it eventually starts to hurt and burn if you don’t exhale. When we fully inhale God’s word, we must in turn exhale it. Share it with others. Speak the life-giving word to your family, neighbors, coworkers, classmates–to anyone!
I chose to paint a galaxy as a background for my page. I used a variety of watercolor paints to layer up the colors on watercolor paper, like the depth of the colors of a galaxy. I started light and then went darker. I used blues, greens, pinks, purples, and eventually almost black. I also added some gold metallic paint for specks of sparkle and magic. I love how the gold paint made a nebula-effect to the painting, but it’s the white acrylic paint flecks that really bring this image to life!
Next, I stamped the globe (from the Send Me stamp set from Sweet’n Sassy Stamps), painted it, and cut it out. I encircled it with vellum paper to add contrast. This surprisingly looked like the atmosphere surrounding the earth. I also drew, painted, and cut out an arm to represent God’s hand. However, I thought the hand looked like it had a cast or wrap on it, and the index finger looked like its tip had been chopped off! Thankfully, God is a much better artist than I am!
I stamped my title on the page and then adhered the images I had painted. I used the Bold and Outline alphabet set for “WORD” and “WORLD,” and the In His Image set for the words “In the Beginning” and “created.” I painted the words with the watercolors, as well as highlighted the verses John 1:1, 3, and 10. I finished by creating a tab to mark the page with a punch from the leftover galaxy paper.
I love how the page turned out! If you’d like to see a process video for this page, then check out the video below.
Thanks for hanging out with me today, and God bless!
Jules' Jewels 