Visual Faith On the Go

One of my favorite things to do is travel. Car trips were my primary form of travel up until college. I lived a distance away from home for those four years, so occasionally I would take a plane ride. College gave me the first opportunity to travel overseas for a mission trip, and then I caught the international travel bug.

South America, Europe and Asia all became travel destinations for mission trips and leisurely adventures. Just a few months before the pandemic, I marked a trip to the Holy Land off my bucket list.

As the weather began to warm up, the number of vaccinations increased and more people ventured out, I began to feel more hopeful about the coming season and the possibility of travel.

Using the tools of Visual Faith as a daily practitioner is only about a year old for me, so I have yet to take the show on the road. As I've contemplated possible trips this summer and beyond, I wondered how to decide upon which practices to continue on trips and what tools to take. I have created a small studio in my house for daily practice, but I needed to figure out how to take it with me.

My space for practicing Visual Faith.

I knew I wasn't the only one who wondered about these things, so I asked some fellow Visual Faith™ Ministry practitioners.

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"I do daily devotional journaling using a calendar template/prayers/blessings, take weekly sermon notes, and use the Worship into the Week resources in a sketchbook - so those were the ones I wanted to keep up with while I recently traveled to SC.

I took the Portals of Prayer devotion book (because my husband uses it too) and the sketch book for the daily stuff. I took my spiral journal and bag of gel pens for sermon notes (like usual) and then packed a double-sided pencil bag with basic supplies (two ink pads, a sponge, a background stamp, a stencil, adhesive, a couple rolls of washi) and the paper resources in a file folder. It worked for me!" - Eden Keefe

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"I pack a travel watercolor kit, a water-filled brush, and the small 3x5 watercolor notebook cards (you can buy at Walmart) This is an easy way to document moments and reflectively consider unique travel spots like a hike path, a town center, or an overlook that inspires a visual picture for a verse!

I actually did this for a trip to Europe and found myself painting pears on the side of the road as I waited for a bus ride before one of my day excursions! It was a moment I will always remember!" - Michele Bowden

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"I keep things pretty simple. I do take some printed prayer cards or blank 4-6 cards and keep a ring of banded index cards handy for visual prayer - if I want to share for encouragement, I just text or post a picture to that person.

And then I just take my Bible and favorite supplies in a small pouch. If space is limited, I choose my favorite Prisma colors (rubber-banded to fit in the pouch), as well as my favorite Pigma Micron pens, white gel marker, mechanical pencil, white eraser, and Prisma sharpener (always - because regular sharpeners break them). Also in the pouch: glue stick, small ruler, double-sided tape, sharpie pen, and Prisma Cool Grey 30% marker for letter shadows. I also take along a travel watercolor set." - Pat. Maier

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"This is a pouch (pictured on the left) with a band that fits over my Bible cover or a notebook cover. It usually holds a small ruler, eraser pencil, automatic pencil and fine-point pen. This is my current “take-to-church” group for taking sermon notes. The pouch is my Jane Davenport. It comes in gold and Pantone swatch colors . One of my journaling Bibles is pictured here but I don’t take it to church.

My travel choice is by car so this is a bag (pictured below) that is, most likely, sitting nearby so I can grab it and go for longer trips.It’s a bag I ordered and customized several years ago from Thirty-One Gifts. Contents may change but include: notebook, journaling Bible, current devotional book, colored pencils, fine tip permanent black pen, highlighter, automatic pencil, pencil sharpener, small ruler, roll of Washi tape. If it’s a trip where I will be away a couple of days, I will take a watercolor travel pans, water brush, glue stick, and some folded paper towels, as well as watercolor paper cut into smaller sizes - 4 x 6, 5 x 7. This bag also has a place on each side to hold beverage containers." - Candice Schwark

I hope this post provides some encouragement as you plan for the season and travel, knowing that telling the story of His faithfulness in your life goes with you. Check out some Visual Faith™ Ministry recommended art supplies here.

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Join our Visual Faith™ Ministry community here to gather more tips and tricks for your travel!