Goodreads Partner Review: Draw Near, Your Creative Spiritual Journal by Sophie Killingley

 

From the Publisher: 

This 365-day devotional journal brings a unique combination of creativity, reflection, and structure into your daily walk with God.

Just like a bullet journal, it includes monthly, weekly, and daily sections, creative prompts, space for sermon notes and doodling, habit trackers, and blank dot pages for extra journalling, lists, or notes.

The first six months of Bible-based creative prompts cover Psalm 103, an amazing psalm full of imagery describing God’s vastness, character, and loving care. The second six months look at Ephesians 1:1-14, which explores what happens to us when we are united to this great, vast, loving God through Jesus. These prompts will help you to meditate and reflect on God’s word and find new delight in Jesus.

This spiritual journal will also help you to:

• connect your creativity with your faith  

• maintain consistent habits of Bible-reading and prayer

• remember what you learned in sermons or quiet times

• reflect more actively on your personal journey with the Lord

So use this innovative resource to be creative, organized, and intentional in your spiritual life. Makes a beautiful gift.

My Review: 

What I like about the book:

• this is an option for those who need ideas on how to creatively document their time with God, or to get them going in a habit, and it also encourages documenting what you learn in your personal walk with God as well as in your local church and bible study.  
• It leaves blank dot pages for adding your own notes, doodles, designs, etc.  Plenty of room for the individual to take the suggested concepts and add their own structure or format to the book.
• It is the right size to take with you and seems durable and well made.  
• It provides a model in the structure for the first 6 months of studying two specific passages in depth, and it's always good to try a new way to dig into the Word.  
• The two passages selected Psalm 103 and Ephesians 1 are appropriate to a new believer or a more mature follower of Christ with rich concepts to reflect on and learn from.  

What I wonder about the book:

• Is there enough structure for someone to pick it up and meditate on the Word with the tool?  Is it too much structure for those who already enjoy dot pages?  Will the user expect a completed example to guide the process?  
• Would it also be a tool for a group of women to bring to a girl's night out and share something every month or so?  Would that improve its accountability and use of it?  
• How long someone will stick with the habit trackers?  I love the idea of picking it up daily to keep documenting the progress you are making, and that the author included documenting God's love for you, which is unconditional daily.  

I am not a dot journal kind of person, the blank pages and doodles that it inspires and the desire to look at it repeatedly are not my giftings.  But in this format, those dot journal pages are set up, and I suspect I will find notes and visuals that help me remember and apply the concepts to use.  

Thankful to partner with Goodreads and receive a copy of this new release.