On Saturday I had the delightful pleasure of attending my first
Illustrated Faith Workshop in Lafayette, IN at the
Evangelical Covenant Church. I packed up my bible, my faith journal, & some cute supplies & trekked 2 hours north to hear the testimony of the sweet
Shanna Noel. Since I attended workshop, the most common question I've been asked is
"So how WAS it!?" And the short answer to that is:
it was life-changing.
If you haven't been to one of the workshops for this
incredible movement, I'll tell you a little about what goes on. There were about 65 of us in attendance & apparently the workshop was completely sold out! (No surprise there!) The workshop was basically broken down into 4 parts: 1. Listening to Shanna's testimony. 2. Listening to a 15 minute sermon via audio. 3. Free time to dive into your bible & illustrate your faith. & 4. Sharing your thoughts & creations with the other students.
As you can imagine, it was absolutely surreal meeting Shanna. She just walked right up to me & started chatting like we were old friends & it was the most casual thing in the world! (I die!) She's so down to Earth and
real! I loved talking products with her and showing her my little journal. I can't tell you how awesome she is-- so encouraging and exuberant about everything! Listening to her speak was riveting. Her story is so inspiring because she's just a "normal" girl that climbed the ladder in the scrap industry and she has TOTALLY used the journey to do God's work. Her aim with
Illustrated Faith isn't for people to use the products a certain way or fit into a cookie cutter version of what someone believes Bible Journaling "should" look like. She just encourages everyone to grab some paint, & go to town making a mess & talking to Jesus in the process!
Most people do their journaling in an actual journaling bible, but I'm going a different way. The photo above is the faith journal I created for Illustrated Faith using a
Simple Stories Sn@p Album. I have NO issues with creating in an actual bible-- in fact I think it's beyond RAD!-- but I just love the bible I have SO much & it has personal significance to me. I've always been a journaler & a mini book-maker so going this route just made sense to me. I want to be able to layer in all sorts of goodness that inspires me to talk to God & just punch holes in anything I find. I want to be able to write 6 pages if I feel moved to & just chuck them in the journal & go. I want thick paper to get really messy with. So here I go!
This is the little "page" I created during the creative portion of the workshop. We listened to an audio sermon on Colossians Chapter 3 & were then turned loose to make something beautiful. I felt moved to use this Simple Stories card from the
I Am Collection to talk about being "tailor made" by a saviour! How incredible is that!?
During the creative time, Shanna passed her first journaling bible around the room for us to peek into. It was so special being able to flip through the bible that kind of "started it all"-- the original document that began such a massive movement in Christianity! Needless to say, it was heavy with importance. ;)
There was also a little table of merchandise that Shanna brought with her that was available to buy. I purchased that stamp set pictured above. Everything else in that photo was included in a little goodie bag we received for the event! I'm especially excited for that faith words washi tape! Eeeeeek!
Here are a few of the pages I've created since Saturday just about the workshop and documenting the turning point for myself:
My thoughts on Illustrated Faith as whole are this: what a spectacular way to draw people into the gospel even if they've never been to church a day in their life. This is a way to PROVE to people that there is no right or wrong way to serve the Lord! There's no
template you have to follow when spending time with God! You don't have to be sitting in a pew with your hands folded to speak to Christ! Shanna hit the nail on the head by giving creative-minded individuals
permission to throw the rule book out the window and just worship right there in your craft room.
He will hear you wherever you are. Shanna is SUCH a personal hero & role model of mine & spending creative time with her this past weekend was a dream come true!
If you're interested in getting started with Illustrated Faith, check out
the website and
just start. You can also comment or email me at kelainedavis @ gmail . com if you have any questions, need help getting started, or just need a prayer. :) I'm happy to chat with all of you!
<3
E