Much like all our lives, everything we go through, we have incredible mountains and valleys we experience that we just do not know how to begin explaining to anyone else, even those closest to us, who know us, love us, speak our language. That is how I feel about beginning to articulate what it has been like to dream of something with the Lord, to set that dream in motion, and to persevere through high highs and low lows to see that dream come to life.
The Dream Sets In
In 2019, we dreamt of what it would look like to create a Blessed is She branded Catholic Bible. Now, you may be asking, "Didn't a Blessed is She Bible already exist?!" Well, yes and no. We were approached by Our Sunday Visitor in 2017 to design a Bible with their imprint. That meant we got to pray about and implement a theme to the Bible, design art pages, and lay out the Bible with our own texts, fonts, margin sizes, etc., but the Bible was owned by Our Sunday Visitor. And we jumped on the opportunity! What an honor it was to be asked to design a BIBLE. Like what.
We prayed and heard from the Lord a very clear theme for that OSV Bible, and with an incredible amount of perseverance, that Bible was designed by surrendered hands who said yes to an incredibly difficult job. The Bible was edited, printed, and published by OSV. In order for us to stock that Bible, we had to purchase at wholesale from Our Sunday Visitor and then sell it on our site.
And so a couple years later, we thought, "What would it look like if we created our own Bible that wasn't owned by another Catholic publisher but it was totally ours?"
Now, that would require we hold a license for a Bible translation. That would require finding a designer. That would require hunting for a printer. It would require a lot of steps (most of which we didn't anticipate).
So we took another step.
I reached out to a dear friend and incredible designer (who designs all of our books, our daily devotion images, and most of our products) and asked her if she would be open to endeavor down this road with us:
Needless to say, Michelle said yes. Thanks be to God. Friends who say yes to an adventure with Jesus alongside you are life-changing.
The Journey to Licensing a Catholic Version of the Bible
Just a month prior to reaching out to Michelle, I inquired about obtaining the licensing for the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition because we had come to love that translation of the Bible. Recently I was asked "What makes it a Catholic Bible?" Well, it has the Old Testament canon which follows the Septuagint (an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) used by Jesus and the Apostles, which contained these books: Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and additions to Daniel and Esther.
Months later we signed a contract, and we were one step closer to seeing this dream come to life.
A Surprising Partnership
In the midst of us trying to make this beautiful Catholic Bible ourselves, we hit quite a few speed bumps. It's difficult to layout and design such an important and massive book. We became overwhelmed at times with how big the job was.
I reached out to another publisher to see what it would look like to create a custom Blessed is She Bible (similar to our relationship with Our Sunday Visitor but would be an exclusive Bible to Blessed is She, not to be sold by any other companies), and we decided to create that with Harper Collins Publishing.
That's the brown Blessed is She Bible so many of you have and love! We loved this Bible so much as well, and it was so sad when it sold out and we weren't able to order more.
We still felt called to make a Blessed is She Bible that was totally published by us as opposed to another publisher, so we kept pursuing that idea (even though, again, the speed bumps felt so frustrating at times).
A Theme, A Prayer, and a Beautiful Design
Something we have to come to recognize as vitally important not only in our personal lives, but also when it comes to Blessed is She, is prayer. It's asking the Lord where He wants us to move, in any direction, at any time. It's taking a step here and a step there, even if we don't know the subsequent step after that.
So when I asked my best friend Beth Davis, who is the one who originally prayed about and pulled all 73 bible verses for the very first OSV Bible as well as was inspired by the Holy Spirit to pull out the theme we used for that Bible, to pray about a theme and write our prayer prompts, I knew this Bible's theme and prompts would come to life beautifully.
Beth knows the Lord in such a profoundly intimate way, and I knew He would reveal to her just the right theme for this Blessed is She Bible. So, away she went, to pray and to ask God what direction we should go. And a beautiful way He went.
We originally tried to layout the Bible ourselves and with some contracted designers, but we came to realize that that job needed Bible Layout Experts (and apparently those exist?!), so we asked them to help us lay out the Bible after years of us trying to do it ourselves. Guys, I told you, it was a JOURNEY.
We found proofreaders for the Bible, and one book at a time was laid out, proofread, sent back to design, edited, and sent back to proofreaders. It was months of back and forth on every single book of the Bible.
We decided to make this Bible single column with easy to read fonts for better readability (because what's a Bible if it's not being read, studied, soaked in?!). We added in our prayer prompts and art pages (more on this below!), and we kept taking one step at a time.
We picked the cover by looking in a book of pages and pages of swatches, searching for just the right black cover that would go with our gold foiling on the cover, spine, and back cover. The front cover lettering is from the lovely artist Susanna April.
When An Artist Takes Your Breath Away
I remember the very first time I saw a post by an Australian mama artist named Susanna April. I was stunned by her unique and beautiful art style and how each piece invited me into deep prayer.
When I dreamt of this upcoming Bible, I envisioned her art within it. It felt like a full circle moment for me when I was able to ask her to work with us on this project, because I had been following her account around the same time that Blessed is She was founded. It felt like she was a woman who I had journeyed with, and who had journeyed with me, even though we had never spoken and I never met her.
She was an inspiration to me. Even though it felt scary, I pressed Send in 2021 on an email asking if she would paint and design the art pages for our Blessed is She Bible.
With love, she replied yes. And then began the course of working with an artist, a Christian, a mother, and a woman after God's heart on the art for our beautiful pulled-out Bible verse and prayer prompts.
It Takes a Village (And Lots of Purification)
We finally had all the pieces we needed: a designer to help us lay out, design, and dream up the Bible, a writer to pray and write with God for the unique theme and prayer prompts, an artist who would paint and design the Bible verses, a professional company to continue to lay out and proofread THE ENTIRE BIBLE, a team of people cheering us on (most especially my husband who told me to not to give up on this project, even though I felt like giving up many, many times), and all of you, who kept asking and asking and asking when our Bible was going to be available.
Most of all, it took our own journey of purification. Our own journey to humility, to surrender, to docility, to falling on our knees with tears in our eyes at the hard work that sometimes felt futile, to having hope.
So whatever dream you have sitting in your heart, dear friend, let this story be an anchor of hope for you. Let it be a reminder that sometimes while taking steps toward what you're being called to do you may falter behind, but stay the course. Keep going in the direction God has asked you to go. Keep praying. Keep worshipping. Keep seeking His face, His voice, His guiding presence.
Even if you're hit with a few years that throw you off course, or a speed bump that seems to knock you off your feet, be encouraged to get back up. Persevere in what God has set on your heart. I entrust this reminder to you, from Psalm 119:Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Let Him lead.
Jenna Guizar is a wife and mama in sunny AZ. She pretends to love football for her husband, reads lots of books to her seven lovely babes, and tries not to burn mac n cheese on the daily. In between football games, reading books, and [not] burning mac n cheese, she is the Founder + Creative Director of Blessed is She women’s ministry + community. Find out more about her here.
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