Join me for this Bible journaling tutorial on 2 Corinthians 4! This chapter is all about the struggles we face in life and faith, and how to be encouraged and let God’s light shine through our brokenness. I used some Distress Ink, gel plates, acrylic paint, and pens to symbolize this concept of God’s light shining through my dark clouds to create a beautiful rainbow. What will you do for your own journaling page?
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Ah, the classic Biblical symbolism of God as the potter, and us as His pots… shaping us for the plan and purpose that He sees fit.
This is the concept Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4:7-8…
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:7-8 (NLT)
In other words, we’re like cracked pots; made perfectly by God, yet broken by our own sin and troubles of life. But with God’s light inside us, those cracks can become opportunities for the light to shine brightly! As Paul says, our brokenness makes it clear that the light is from God and not from ourselves. We have the choice to let our brokenness and troubles make us bitter and dark, or to allow God’s light to shine brightly and point others to Jesus!
2 Corinthians 4:7 Bible Journaling Tutorial
To bring this concept to life for this Bible journaling page, I chose to do something a little bit different… instead of using the ‘clay jars/cracked pot’ analogy, I chose to do a rainbow analogy.
Among my Bible journaling supplies, I had a Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps set with this “dark clouds make bright rainbows” stamp. And it occurred to me that rainbows are very similar… in spite of the dark clouds, light is able to shine through the raindrops to create a rainbow. Just as God’s light shines through our ‘cracks’, a rainbow can still shine through the broken messiness of a dark storm.
I hope this tutorial inspires you, to think about the meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:7 (and really, the whole chapter), and to do a Bible journaling page that helps you understand and remember it.
Supplies
Below, you’ll find all the art supplies I used for this page. The star of the show is definitely the Faith Impressions gel plate set, which includes four small gel plate shapes, and two margin-size plates. As always, you’re welcome to use what you have on hand! You don’t have to run out and buy gel plates or paint if you don’t want to… you can make a rainbow effect with colored pencils if you like. Or, choose an entirely different theme to represent this Scripture passage!
- Ranger distress ink in “chipped sapphire”
- Ranger blending tool
- Faith Impressions gel plates set
- Ranger gel press brayer
- Acrylic craft paint (white, plus whatever rainbow colors you want)
- Paintbrush
- Tool to create designs in the paint, such as a paint eraser
- Sweet n’ Sassy Stamps “Count Your Rainbows” stamp set (+ an acrylic stamp block if you don’t already have one)
- Gel pens (I like Gelly Roll best) and Pigma Micron pens
Step-by-Step Instructions
If you’d like to follow along with me, and recreate the same steps I did, here they are! Feel free to adjust to your preferences though… choose different supplies, themes, or colors, to create your unique 2 Corinthians 4:7 Bible journaling page.
- First things first, if you’re using a regular (thin paper) journaling Bible as I did for this tutorial, you’ll want to apply gesso before you get started. Gesso helps protect and strengthen the paper so it can better handle the ink and paint.
- Start laying down your Distress Ink color across the whole page. You’ll notice in the video, that it blends really easily on the gessoed page, BUT it also smudges and smears really easily too, so just be mindful of that. (Even with the use of a heat tool to dry it, it still needs a good ~24 hours or so to settle on the paper and not be prone to rubbing off).
- Next, take your gel plate and add some paint. Use a brayer or similar tool to distribute the paint, then carefully flip the plate over and apply to your page. The gel plate will literally feel wiggly like jello (not the easiest thing to handle!), so take your time with this step.
- If you prefer a more solid distribution of white (as I did), feel free to use a paintbrush to add more layers of white paint in the margin. (I applied three coats in all, drying each coat before applying the next one). I wanted to create a nice white base for my rainbow, but you could totally let your white layer be more spotty or cloud-like if you prefer.
- Now, the most fun part! After you’ve dried your white ‘cloud’ layer, and wiped off the white paint from your gel plate, it’s time to create the rainbow. Apply a little of each color onto the gel plate, and use the brayer to distribute and blend the paint. You’ll notice in the video, I only blended two or three colors at once, wiped the brayer off in between colors, and then moved onto the next two or three colors. That way, the colors didn’t get mixed up or muddy.
- Take your chosen stamp from the “Count Your Rainbows” set (or any other stamp set you’re using), and apply some ink or paint. I used paint for this step, because I was afraid regular stamp ink wouldn’t stamp well on the texture of the rainbow print. Stamp as desired!
- Optionally, you can go back in with some gel pens to emphasize your stamped words, if they’re not showing up well enough against the rainbow. I used a black glitter pen from my Color Technik gel pen set to do this step.
- And lastly, of course take some time to underline the key verses from this passage, and add some notes about the passage and what God is teaching you through it! A basic black Pigma Micron pen is excellent for this kind of underlining and note-taking.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this bright and inspiring Bible journaling tutorial! What’s your takeaway from 2 Corinthians chapter 4? I pray it encouraged you, to not lose heart as you endure trials, and to keep shining God’s light in the world.
Hi! Thank you so much for visiting Divine Creative Love. I’m a Jesus-lovin’ girl, lettering artist, designer, and general creative-at-heart. And, I have narcolepsy. I blog about faith in God, overcoming challenges, and creative topics such as Bible journaling. If you’re new here, be sure and subscribe to my list so you won’t miss anything!