Art journaling is my creative release. I remember creating this page as an expression of the stress I felt working full time and the demands of maintaining a family. This page was a way of granting permission for the chaos to infiltrate my life. This one was a deep reflection and lament over great loss, anger, sadness and resentment that entered my heart and my home. If there are any pages that shed light into my life, it's the pages of these journals.
Along with being an outlet of expression, art journaling has become a way to reign in my thoughts or react to something I have read. Right now I am studying the book of Revelation and one of the hardest things for me to do when studying any book in the bible is meditate on and absorb each and every word, every phrase, every message. I am the "theologian" when at times, I simly need to be the a "worshipper". Art journaling alongside scripture allows a time of contemplation and deepens my understanding as I sift through the words and conjure up ways to visually articulate them.
This week, the pages in Revelation brought me back to the prophet Isaiah. I was struck with his poetic description of righteousness, peace and joy that is to come.
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"And a highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness...and the redeemed of the Lord will walk there."
Isaiah 35:8, 9
No wonder, Isaiah says, "Encourage the exhausted, and strenghten the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, Take courage, fear not." (Isaiah 35:3-4). He knew a time would come for His people to see the glory of God, a time when they will "find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35:10). I too, rest in the same promise, for God says He "shall wipe every tear from their eyes" (Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 21:4). Oh what a glorious day that will be!
