Building a Faith/Spiritual Planner

Today we thought we'd share a post from last year about setting up a Faith/Spiritual planner...

Hi everyone, Its Meredy and welcome to my first ever blog post!  I have a lot to share with you today as I walk through how I set up a Faith/Spiritual Planner using the Faith collection.  I want to start by saying that although I am Christian these same ideas could work for any spiritual practice. Even if you don’t think the Faith products apply to you I hope you will consider reading on—feel free to insert your own belief whenever I mention God and maybe this system can work for you too.  We all have wonderful things happening in our lives (or hopes for wonderful things) and I found this Carpe Diem line to be so helpful in focusing in on what matters.

I was thrilled when this line came out as I am a planner girl and bible journaler and I have been seeking a way to combine my two creative loves.  I wanted a way to document the things I am learning while Bible journaling as well as a place to record what God is doing in my life.  I love having my bible full of journal entries, but I wanted a way to see these lessons and A-ha moments grouped together by month so I could easily have an overview of what I had learned.  I had been dreaming about this for a while, but felt overwhelmed on how to create a system I would follow.  When this planner set came out, I knew it would be just the right tool to help me finally put something together.

When I am setting up a new planner, I always start by making a dashboard and filling the front pockets.  While I work away on this, I usually start solidifying the way I will organize the planner-- I usually don’t have that planned out when I start. (gasp!)

My Dashboards are always simple and made from a paper that makes me happy with some other small elements.  I just want to feel happy every time I open my planner.  This feather paper shouts happiness to me!

I love adding decorative elements into the front pockets, again these are usually items I know will bring a smile to my face—usually pretty journal cards, ephemera and planner clips. 

One thing I did differently with this planner is I devoted an entire section to supplies.  I don’t usually ‘plan on the go’ but this planner is really about documenting my time with God and I know having a section full of supplies will make it easy for me to keep up the system set up in my faith planner.  I love the pocket included in the Faith A5 Planner Insert Set - I am using this one to hold all my 4 x 6 stickers sheets.  As you will see further down in the post I use these stickers a bunch—they are perfect for brightening up a page.

Another great part of the Faith Insert Set are the pages of sticker sheets that are pre-punched to fit your planner.  The three pages are full of functional stickers that make a planner girl happy!  Not to worry if you find you used them all up right away there is also a separate Faith Sticker Tablet that includes 12 sheets of similar stickers that are perfect for planning.  One of my favorite item on these sticker sheets are the divider labels.  The headings helped me figure out how to organize my planner and once I put these stickers on my dividers, my planner looked like it was starting to have real purpose.

The first section I made was for Prayer, because, let’s face it, it is not my strong suit.  I want to become more habitual with prayer like I’ve done with Bible Journaling so there is no better way than to involve some pretty paper and stickers to get this going.

When I saw the Menu Planning Inserts (yes, the MENU Planning Inserts!), I knew instantly these would be perfect for documenting what I wanted to pray for each day.  I love that it is just a few lines for each day—not too much space to fill—and the bottom note section is a perfect place to summarize the week.

The whole page is decorated using the 4 x 6 sticker pack that is stored in my first section.  It was fun to use them each day.  Some days I just feel overwhelmed about what I should pray for (I can’t be the only one!) and I found the word and phrases stickers inspired me.

The next section is all about my bible journaling!  I used the Posh Monthly Inserts (the colors work perfectly with the Faith line) and printed out photos of my bible journaling to see an overview of my entries when I created them.  I wanted to do this because I don’t always post my entries on social media and I wanted a place to document them.

It was an eye-opening exercise as well, there was a good portion of the middle of the month I did not do any journaling—something I can work on next month. 

After the monthly layout, I created a Journaling Log using the decorated lined paper that comes in the Faith Insert Set.  I used the alpha letters from the 4 x 6 sticker pack to create a heading at the top, and the rest of the stickers are from the Faith Sticker Tablet.  In the heart stickers, I put the date of the entry and then I noted the portion of (if not the whole) the verse and the focus of that entry from the devotional.

On the back of this page I added a Journaling Card from the 4 x 6 Horizontal Elements 12 x 12  Paper and I wrote of summary of what I learned through the month.  I am so pleased with this process as I can really reflect of what God did in my life the past few weeks.  It was a wonderful way to remind myself that good things are happening!

The next section is all about Praise where I document events that I know God is at work in my life.  You know, those things that seem to work out just perfectly, or the comment your friend said that was just what you needed to hear, or that helpful hand that arrives just at the right moment.  To me these events are not a coincidence they are God at work.  I am working to become more adept at noticing these gifts so I am writing them down.

I used the 5^th divider as a “Go and Do” section.  I wasn’t sure about how I would use the inspired inserts from the Faith Planner Pack at first, but I have to say they are a perfect way to wrap up a week!  So much of this planner for me is about documenting the little things at work in my life.  This one pager covers provides a great overall snapshot of what is happening in my week.   So much of what we do as planners is about what’s coming up in the future, but these are a great way to look BACK on the accomplishments of the week. 

My last section is for notes or study.  I put the unlined decorative sheets here that are perfect for scribbling quick notes or doodling when I am feeling creative.

Whew, we made it through the planner!  I am so happy with the way this planner came together.  The great thing about the Faith Planner Inserts is that you can really make it your own.  I have to be honest and say it took me a few days to get all my ideas clear enough to get this planner organized.  Sometimes a blank slate can be intimidating, but the Carpe Diem products really inspired me to create something I’ve been thinking about for over a year.  Give it a try and if you post your planner, please tag me on IG.