Enthusiastically, Dawn

Welcome to this October! Here it is a new month and Random Journal Day Weekend! Besides that Fall is my very favorite month, mainly because Orange is the happiest color ever created. That’s why it Pumpkins wear it. Well, I am thrilled to have one of the most inspired and inspiring journal keepers you will ever meet here today. Patricia Paterno or Patsy, as she’s known, shares her faith-based journal writing regularly and it blesses many. She is one of the first bloggers I stumbled upon as a new blogger in 2011 and I loved her creative devotional sharing. Patsy continues to inspire from one end of the globe to the other as well as in her home country, the Philippines. Patsy’s creativity is a family affair and they have a gift shop which includes beautiful journals called Papemlroti! Please welcome our fellow Journal Keeper, Patsy and be sure to join us throughout the weekend for lots more inspiration and journal sharing fun!

I’ve been using a diary ever since I was a young girl.  I’ve had several of those candy colored cute diaries with the little padlocks. When I got older, I had 2 journals- 1 diary to put stories about my day and a second one for my prayers  and meditations. In 2006, when I turned 50 years old,  I was quite dissatisfied with this state of affairs. I thought it showed that my prayer life was not connected to the way I lived. That was true enough because even if I prayed early in the morning, at 10 in the morning I could not remember what Bible verses I read and prayed about. That was when I started using just one journal, and when I decided to embellish the Bible verses. Little did I know that my puny little efforts to embed the Word of God in my heart would bear fruit in ways I never dreamed of!

I started with cutting up magazine pages to separate the Word from my other writings. I would also try to cut up pictures to illustrate the verses. Eventually I started drawing, then painting. At first my drawings were just a little better than stick figures. I found artists who had Art Journals and started to incorporate mixed media in my journals. When a sister in community saw what I was doing she invited me to share about it, and since then, have given many workshops about Faith Journaling.  It was not only my painting skills that God caused to bloom and grow. I started to share my meditations and thoughts in my blog and Facebook, and God gave me insights and helped me to understand His word.

​When I wrote down and embellished Bible verses by making collages, drawings or paintings, I found that I internalized God’s Word more and sometimes can memorize them without effort.  I never looked through my old prayer journals with their tiny spidery writing again, but now I like going through my journals, in much the same way as my son likes looking at the scrapbooks I made when he was young. When I look at the paintings, and read my reflections, it’s like I relive my shared experiences with My Father.  I enjoy the journey again.​

Like Father, like daughter.  When we create, we imitate our Father, the Creator, the Artist.  We become more like Him when we open up this avenue for creativity and imagination. Then it also flows into other areas of our life.  We will be able to think more creatively and to think out of the box. With God as our partner, we can get His vision for our life.  And God’s vision is so much better, so much bigger than ours is for ourselves.​

Indeed, God’s vision IS so much greater! Be sure and visit Patsy’s Blog, HeARTworks or check out her backstory on the family business Thanks to Patsy for sharing here this month and now friends, it’s time to open up those journals and let us have a peek! I’ll be linking up soon…off to dig through my archives. THanks for being here, friends!

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