“He Has Done It” Bible Journal Process

“Pointing to Jesus” from By the Well 4 God is all about making the connections between the Old Testament prophecies and the fulfillment of those prophecies through Jesus in the New Testament. It is remarkable that even one or two is so completely brought to fruition, but to have so many different predictions from different prophets come together in Jesus Christ is one of the most amazing threads in the Bible. As I was working through Day 9, we focused on the connection of Psalm 22 and the crucifixion.

My primary method of study for this particular devotional has been in my traveler’s notebook. However, I just couldn’t help creating a Bible journal entry for this particular day. It gave me the chance to compare Jesus’s words “It is done” to the words in Psalm 22:31, “he has done it.” I think those two sentences tell different sides of the same story. “It is done” is Jesus willing giving up his body. He died for our sins and the gravity of that ways heavy. But also, at the same time, he conquers sin and is able to offer all of us this deep connection with God that was missing before. There is triumph in that, even before the resurrection. These were some of the thoughts I pondered as I worked on this entry.

The main issue that I ran into while journaling this page is that there was significant bleed through and shadowing from the entry on the opposite side. The primary way that I deal with that is through paper layering, especially in my Illustrating Bible where there is generally more room for bulk. Additional ways would be to cover the area with acrylic paint or white gesso. You can also layer on digital images in sticker paper that mute or tone down the bleed through. In the end, there are several options to deal with significant bleed through which is one of the reasons that I never let it stress me out too much.

This page is actually rather simple, but sometimes paper layering takes a little trial and error which is the process that this page went through. I also had the opportunity to use the large ticket collage background stamp that coordinates so well with this kit. I love it! I lightly embossed over the stamped image to create a little interest through reflection. Otherwise, I just had fun layering elements from the kit with vintage ephemera elements that I already had in my stash. I chose to highlight the verses I was focused on by writing them out on a tag and nestling that into my collage.