Book Review: “Tranquility: A Prayer and Reflection Coloring Journal”

This beautiful Tranquility: A Prayer and Reflection Coloring Journal invites us to slow down and reflect on God’s goodness and what He has done (or is doing) in our lives. The journal is something to be treasured whether you are the only one who ever sees inside its pages or if you take my challenge and share it between friends—more on that later.  (Click here if you you like to read the last page of a novel first.)

First of all, if you’re anything like me, you often find yourself wondering where the month went…or week…or day. Tranquility: A Prayer and Reflection Coloring Journal is the perfect tool to help me slow down, pay attention, and calm my heart.

The book is brimming with beautiful, blank drawings which invite you to add your own color and words as you reflect on the inspirational sayings, Bible verses, and decorative drawings the artist has provided to evoke a sense of peace and calmness.

The pages in the Tranquility Journal are set-up as spreads with each theme carrying across both pages. The layout of the spreads vary between:

• A guiding prayer*, Bible verse or inspirational quote, space to journal, something to color across the spread; and
• A suggested activity or reflection with ample space to draw or journal and something to color on the facing page.

The prayers were compiled and adapted by Amie Carlson from 365 Pocket Prayers for Women and are perfectly paired with Bible verses or inspirational quotes to enhance the theme of the specific reflection on that spread.

Gorgeous Spreads with Thoughtful Words

Each spread is specifically designed to calm your heart and mind so you can focus on the Lord and what He has for you that day. There is ample space for you to write your own prayer and or reflection for that day, and the pictures really are beautiful.

The only negative comment I have about this book is that some of the pages are either already colored or have some color on them which somewhat limits creativity for people who, like me, care about clashing. But the upside of this negative is that the colors they have chosen are lovely and do not detract in any way from the content. 

The book itself features a reinforced cover (thick board) which protects the inside pages from curling and provides a firm surface for coloring. 

The pages are thick enough to use gel pens without fear of bleed-through. I would not recommend water-based markers, Sharpie pens, or Koi pens, though. I personally prefer to use good-quality colored pencils which work well for blending and detail work.

Here are links to a couple of my favorite “tested and tried” coloring tools:

  

* You can pick up the U-Brands Colored Pencils at Costco for under $10 (assuming your local Costco carries them). They are GREAT!!!

Friends Who Pray Together Stay Together

At the beginning of my review I mentioned that I intend to do something special with my Tranquility Journal, and I’m excited to share this idea with you, in case you’d like to do it, too. 

Rather than keep this treasure all to myself, I plan to share it with a few trusted friends at church (probably a group of 4-5 ladies total, but we’ll see what the Lord has in mind). I have started the process by coloring the spread of my choice and journaling some thoughts in the notes portion and will pass it along to my mentor. Over the course of a week, she will select a spread to color and add her thoughts to those pages.

The following week, she will pass it along to another woman at our church. The plan is for each of us to have the journal for a week, and pass it on to someone else on Sundays. Additionally, while we have the journal, we are to pray for the person who passed it to us, as well as the woman we’ll be passing it to the next week. I can’t wait to do this, and I look forward to sharing with you how this works. Once all the pages are colored, I’ll pass it onto my mentor  (Click here to get back to the top, if you skipped here first.)

I’m happy to recommend the Tranquility: A Prayer and Reflection Coloring Journal to you, and I would love to hear how you plan to use it—whether personally or between trusted friends. Feel free to comment below. 

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”