Draw Near: Your Creative Spiritual Journal by Sophie Killingley

 

Are you a creative person who likes a paper planner? Maybe bullet journaling is your thing or you want it to be your thing? Draw Near: Your Creative Spiritual Journal by Sophie Killingley is a fun, basic journal that you can use to unleash your creativity and include your spiritual life. This basic journal is blank and could be started at any time.

Killingley writes in the introduction that she used to be a compulsive doodler--but that was never a part of her spiritual life. Then she reached a point where she was struggling with her mental health and had to take Scripture in much smaller bites. She used that time to connect her creativity with her spiritual life. She began lettering and doodling verses. She has since moved on from that time, but then decided to merge her creativity with bullet journaling and her spiritual life. This book is a result of that. 

Draw Near does have some basic organization to get your started. It starts with a "monthly" section. Killingley encourages the reader to start thinking about how they will engage the Bible creatively. For this book she uses Psalm 103 for the first six months. Then uses Ephesians 1:1-14 for the next six months. She encourages the reader to enjoy the process and remember this is all for YOU so there is no right or wrong way to use this book. There is a spiritual habit tracker within each month page that you can use flexibly to track what you are working on.

Then the "weekly" section comes next. In this space you can write down notes from your daily life, doodle verses and keep track of prayer requests and answers. She also has plenty of space alloted for taking sermon notes or just doodling to remember key sermon points. 

In the last section there are plenty of blank pages to use however you wish. You can make lists or set goals. Killingley also doesn't think anyone should say they aren't creative. It isn't about being especially creative to use this book. Instead, since God made us all with some level of creativity, she says "it's about stepping into a richer embodies expression of connecting with God." Ultimately, she hopes that as you merge art and God's Word that you will come away from this book refreshed and with a new love for Jesus and your faith.

I think Draw Near looks like a fun book to use. I like that it has some basic designated space while also giving room for some creative freedom. It has a general framework but it also has plenty of room to do what you want in the space so that it works for your life and goals as you need it to. As someone who is artsy and spiritual, I just really like this whole concept. I think the pages are fairly thick but I have not started to use pens on them yet. They may hold up to some markers but definitely would work with colored pencils.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.