Speaker 1 00:00:08 Hello girls. Welcome to the second episode of soar girls podcast. This is a place of conversation, featuring stories of girls like you, who have been influencing the world with a line of DCIS. Our mission is to raise a generation of girls you saw in Christ. We believe our conversations will lift you, lead you and launch you into your God destiny. So, David, today we have with us, Jen operata, she's a us Navy wife, mom to a sweet little boy of Bible loudest and a Jesus follower. She's passionate about Bible journaling and shedding the word of Bible art. I myself am a painting enthusiast. And when I found scribbling grease handle on Instagram, it gave me a new meaning to my Bible study diet. I'm sure you've all been loved. If you've always been curious about Bible journey, Jenna is going to share symbol dips to kickstart your journey. She will also be sharing about how Bible journaling has to walk with God. So keep listening.
Speaker 2 00:01:24 Welcome. Jenna. I'm so delighted to have you in our second episode of circles podcast, do you want to start off with introducing yourself to everyone? Okay.
Speaker 3 00:01:34 Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. So, uh, my name is Jenna parti. I am a wife and a mom to the sweetest little two year olds and also known as scribbling grace online on social media and my blog and YouTube and all that. Um, where I teach Bible journaling.
Speaker 2 00:01:55 That's great. I want to ask you this. What led you to start Bible joining?
Speaker 3 00:02:02 Okay. You know, I can't even remember where exactly I even found the concept. You know, somewhere online, I was, um, had just moved to Japan, um, after marrying my husband and I left my family behind and I left my job behind and I was really struggling, trying to figure out what to do with my life. And, um, at some point I was trying to turn to God and trying to find a way that I could stay motivated and reading the Bible because I had such a hard time reading the Bible daily, you know, and, um, then somewhere online, I saw some image of a Bible journaling page and it immediately sparked my interest and, um, I just started Bible journaling and then it all just snowballed from there and has totally changed my life.
Speaker 2 00:02:50 It's fantastic. I have been following you for a few years as you know, and you know, I kind of try to Bible journal, like, but I'm not very close. You're fantastic at it. Uh, so have you always been an artist or did you just pick the skill up?
Speaker 3 00:03:08 I definitely never considered myself an artist at all. It's it's like one of the craziest things to me because I get so many comments, just like what you said, like I will, I can never do what you, you do. And I started by just tracing clip art images from Google on, you know, and tracing them into my Bible or doing, I did like stick figure characters. You know, I was like, definitely never considered myself artistic at all. I was never into painting as a kid much or drawing and I always made fun of that ability. And it's really amazing to me how it really just does take practice and consistency to get better and better at something.
Speaker 2 00:03:50 Wow. Uh, looking at your Bible journaling, I, no one will believe that you don't consider yourself as not just
Speaker 3 00:03:59 Now. I'm slowly starting to call myself an artist, but it definitely didn't start there.
Speaker 2 00:04:09 It's very encouraging for people like me. Uh, so I just, uh, you know, Bible journaling, uh, it's, it's quite different, honestly speaking, not many people know of it, uh, especially in India, I don't think, uh, it's it's well-known so we, can you tell us, how does it help you with your walk with God?
Speaker 3 00:04:33 So the biggest way that it's helped me is by helping me stay consistent and actually opening my Bible. Um, cause I was the biggest struggle with me is how, you know, I always would get kind of bored by the Bible after us. There's just the new T the old Testament stuff. And I just like, I feel like that's horrible to say that I got bored by it. Um, but that's just the reality of the situation. And um, starting Bible journaling, it encouraged me to worship the Lord through art and it also created this fun aspect of reading the Bible. And so it helps me to really start getting interested in reading the Bible. And then once I start doing that for, you know, a longer period of time consistently, then it makes you actually want to open the Bible and you don't get bored by it, you know? So that was the big life changing, um, way that it's impacted me in my faith. It's grown my faith so much because I've actually started really reading the Bible regularly. Thanks to Bible journaling.
Speaker 2 00:05:31 Wow. Yeah, that's inspiring. Um, I think, uh, I hope you know, that this story of yours will help many goals out to your start Bible journaling and it was, you know, it will impact their walk with God. Yeah. I think that's the best thing. A lot of times, like I work full time and I, I do podcasts for my church and I also have my own small, a small business for suing clothes. Right. And a lot of times, uh, everything else becomes a distraction and God is left aside. So how do you make sure you know, that you're not into painting and this whole thing does not become a distraction for you?
Speaker 3 00:06:18 That's a really good, um, a good question. I think that the, there is one danger to Bible journaling. And as that we can focus too much on the art and not on God and not on the Bible and the scripture that we're trying to learn and worshiping him. And we can get really bogged down in trying to create the perfect art page. And I think that's something that we definitely need to be aware of. And, um, just like if you are creating art and you find yourself getting to focus on that, I think just taking a step back, taking a moment to say a prayer. Um, I always try to pray before I start, um, also to make sure that I'm staying in the right mindset and then playing worship music and, um, you know, reading the scripture over and over again or thinking it to yourself as you're creating the art. I think those are the best ways to really create Bible journaling so that you know, that you're staying, um, focused on that, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:12 I know. I think those are fantastic tips. Uh, one of the, uh, whenever I do anything like a podcast or I Sue as well, the first thing I want to do is pray. Otherwise I know I just be too distracted. I think. Thank you so much for that tip. I think it was fantastic and yes, the worship music, I think it just, yeah, it shows you are on the right track, you know?
Speaker 3 00:07:35 Um, absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:07:37 Yeah, that's fantastic. Um, you know, um, honestly, like you said, um, reading the old Testament is quite a struggle. Um, times I have felt that so, you know, from the same boat, uh, yeah, we all have our own struggles in reading the Bible. And a lot of times we try to start off with a Bible reading plan, but we don't really, we're not really able to stick with it. I know you have written something about sticking to a Bible reading plan. Uh, do you want to share some things up, something up your sleeve that helped you?
Speaker 3 00:08:10 Um, yeah. I think that a, you have to give yourself grace, you know, if you miss a day, don't beat yourself up about it and just pick back up. I think that's one of the biggest things for me too, is I would, um, if I missed a day, I would start stressing out and that's like, not going to encourage you to read the Bible if it's causing you to stress out. So, um, I think giving yourself grace, when it comes to a Bible reading plan and also, um, there's so many different plans you can choose from to try to fit your style the best. So maybe a 90 day where you can just really dig into it for 90 days and read the whole Bible, or maybe it's a year, or maybe it's an in two years and taking your time with it. I'm just trying to figure the right plan out for you. And there's no one size fits all. You know? Um, I also think I'm praying about it every day. Lord, fill me with the desire to read the Bible. And, um, that's something that I have to do and, um, finding a friend maybe to do the plan along with you and keep you accountable or some of the best ways to go.
Speaker 2 00:09:18 That's great. Yeah. I think that will help our listeners a lot because that's, I think that's, everyone's struggle. Um, and, uh, you know, you rightly said that, uh, fine, you know, finding what works for you is the most important thing about it. Yeah. You know, if I want to start or anyone who's listening wants to start Bible journaling, which Bible would you suggest we should pick up as a startup or a beginner.
Speaker 3 00:09:46 Okay. That's my all time. Favorite journaling Bible is the ESV integrate journaling Bible because it has a full blank page. So you don't have to worry about covering any scripture up because I know that that's a big concern. Um, when it comes to creating art in your Bible, you don't want to mess up or recover the scripture. So that essentially the Bible has a full blank page that gives you lots of space to work with very notes or for arts. Um, so that's my all time favorite, but it really depends on what version of the Bible you enjoy the most. Um, and there's so many journaling Bibles out there now, so, and they're all pretty much comparable, you know, so find what everybody will you have, and you don't even have to have a specific journaling Bible either. You can just use whatever Bible you have and just some blank pieces of paper or a journal or a notebook to on the side. Um, that's just as powerful.
Speaker 2 00:10:37 That's great. Thank you so much for that. Yeah, I think, uh, we let you know if a lot of people do start Bibles only.
Speaker 3 00:10:46 Yeah. And I just want to, like, if you have any desire to start Bible journaling, I just really want to encourage you to just go for it and just start, because it can be intimidating to start Bible journaling. You don't want to mess up, you know, and I just want to encourage you not to be afraid of messing up because anything that you create, as long as you're focused on the Lord and worshiping him, that's going to be beautiful, you know?
Speaker 2 00:11:08 Well, thank you so much for encouraging. I think that helps, uh, you know, I recently read that you have started or you would, you were working on a Bible for your, your son. Uh, I think that is so unique. I haven't, I really have not heard anything and I love when God creates something unique to people. Uh, can you tell me something about it?
Speaker 3 00:11:31 Yeah. Okay. So this is my favorite project that I've done so far. Um, so basically I started it as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I had already been babbled Julian for a couple years and I knew I wanted to do something for him. And I had heard about like praying over your children and starting a journal where you could pray over your children. And I thought, why not do a journaling Bible where I can pray over him and do some Bible art journaling with it? And, um, so I got a journaling Bible specifically for him and I just started, um, I started in Psalms and now I'm almost finished with provers. So I did Psalms and Proverbs. It's taken me two and a half and I'm only two books, so it's going to be a really long process. But, um, maybe it's something I can give to him when he graduates high school or it goes off to college or something. Um, but yeah, so every page I just, I read the page and then I find a scripture that I think will impact him the most and, um, do some art on it. And I always write a prayer at the bottom of the page or somewhere on the page, um, for Clark involving that scripture. And it's just been so special and I think it's going to be such a cool thing to one day give to him.
Speaker 2 00:12:46 Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, even, I like to be part of the time when you, he opens the book and you know, you see, sorry.
Speaker 3 00:12:59 Yeah. And into this like baby Bible, like, um, in, I don't know if it's a thing in India, but in America we have like baby books, you know, where you're documenting first steps and you know, all those fun things. And so I've kind of been documenting his growth and like I've put his footprints in it and, um, it's really, it's going to be a cool thing to give to him one day.
Speaker 2 00:13:21 That's fantastic. I think it will also come as a reminder for a minutes, you know, life, uh, whenever he needs it. That's beautiful. I love when God is doing something unique, it just excites me a lot. Thanks. If I want to start off and if I want some tapes or I want to learn Bible journey, do you also have lessons that, you know, we can go on your website and take a look at?
Speaker 3 00:13:47 Yeah. So, um, I kind of slowed down on my blog just because I'm trying to focus on raising Clark in the season right now, but, um, I do have my
[email protected] and there's tons of tutorials on there. There's lettering tutorials as well as terms of Bible during tutorials and free printables galore. Um, so that's a great place to start. And I also have my YouTube channel scribbling grace that has video tutorials as well.
Speaker 2 00:14:14 Fantastic. I think I'll, I think I'll say that again to our listeners, uh, that is scribbling grades.com. We can, you all can go there and I have personally alone the lot on that website on tips on Bible journaling and the YouTube videos also channels are fantastic. Uh, please go there. Uh, follow Jenna. She's fantastic. I'm sure you'll all will be encouraged through Jenna's Bible journaling
Speaker 3 00:14:43 And so much. You're
Speaker 2 00:14:44 Welcome to general pleasure. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you have any projects coming up, something that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3 00:14:54 Um, I do have. Okay, so I'm not sure, but I'm completely allowed to tell you about it yet, but I may or may not have a Bible or a prayer journal, um, coming out in a year and about a year. So, um, that's a really fun little thing that I've been working on and, um, I'm really excited to share more about it maybe in a few months once I have that complete go ahead, but
Speaker 2 00:15:27 That's fantastic. Uh, I think, uh, we look forward to it and, uh, I, you know, I hope we're able to grab it out. You're in India.
Speaker 3 00:15:37 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:15:40 Uh, so just, uh, you know, to close off, uh, if you want to say anything to people who are listening, especially the young goals, um, you know, who are single, um, and or else anyone who wants to do some ministry work in the, in, you know, in God's destiny that has been chosen for them. I'll leave it open to you. You can just speak to the viewers and bless them if you can.
Speaker 3 00:16:08 Yeah. I mean, I just want to, um, encourage you that everybody has their purpose. You know, God created you for a purpose and no matter what you ended up doing, you can always find a way to glorify God through that. And, um, yeah. I just want to encourage you to just pray to live your life for God and, um, do your best to stay in the word. And, um, he will bless you. I'm sure.
Speaker 2 00:16:39 Thank you so much. I think that's so sweet. Thank you for that. Uh, I really thoroughly enjoyed talking to you, Jenna. Uh, we're so blessed to have you here and share this journey with you. Uh, hopefully you're able to have more connects, uh, like these with you in the future.
Speaker 3 00:16:57 Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 00:17:00 Thank you so much for joining us study Ms. So blessed by what you have shared with us. Thank you for listening and hope you enjoyed this episode. If you found this inspiring and things, someone needs to hear this today, do share this episode. Link with them for sharing is caring. Also don't forget to visit our website, soar goals.com to check out our weekly blogs, free resources and other exciting digital content. See you next time.
