Have you ever heard about the Pumpkin Gospel? The first time that I heard this story was during a Children’s Message at my church. The story goes like this:

There once was a gardener who planted pumpkin seeds. He cared for his garden by watering, pulling weeds that sprang up and sheltering the plants from the harsh sun.

One day, the gardener picked a special pumpkin from his patch. He took it inside and washed off the dirt on the outside. He wondered what was on the inside of the pumpkin. So, he cut the top off and inside he found a yucky mess. So he scrapped out the seeds and the stringy mess, so that the pumpkin was beautiful both inside and out.

Next he decided to give the pumpkin a new look and he carved out two eyes, a nose and a mouth. He decided it wasn’t quite finished, so he added a candle to let everyone see the wonderful light that was shining from the pumpkin.

So if someone asks you “what’s it like to be a Christian”. Tell them “It’s like being a pumpkin.”

God picks each one of us out from the patch (no matter the size, color or imperfections). He washes out all the dirt on the outside and then, cleansing our insides from sin; like self-doubt, hatred, despair and greed.

If we don’t put something in the pumpkin (like the Word of God), it will just be hollow. We need to add the light of Christ inside of us so that the whole world can see that we are changed and a new creation in Christ.

We need to spend time with the Lord through the study of His Word, prayer and listening for His direction in our lives. A pumpkin left to itself will soon rot and die.

How To Bible Journal This Page

I started with painting my background with Dark Green Light by Dick Blick. I used a credit card, dipped the short end into the paint and scraped down the paper. This way the paint dries much quicker because it’s not so thick.

After the paint had dried, I used bubble wrap with black paint and stamped dots on the page. To apply the paint, I just used my finger tips but you could definitely use a paintbrush. I used a round cylinder (from a mesh ribbon roll from Dollar Tree) and stamp white circles onto the page. This just gives the page a bit a dimension and texture.

I tore 5 oval shapes for the pumpkin sections. I purchased the Autumn paper pad from Hobby Lobby. I just love these new fall colors. The trick to getting a rough torn edge is to tear towards you. If you don’t have any Fall themed scrapbook paper, you can use book paper and paint any color of your choice.

I did need to trim my pumpkin just a bit to fit on the tag that I cut out from the blue striped paper. Just using a UHU glue stick, I glued my pumpkin on top of the tag. I attached the tag to the edge of my Bible with washi tape. I taped both the front of the tag and the back. Helpful tip: run your glue stick across the washi tape to prevent it from coming up.

I printed out the verse on cardstock and cut them into strips. I used a Faber Castell Pitt Pen (Fine Tip) to outline all the word strips. All that was left to do was to glue the strips down, write a prayer on the back of my tag, date my page and add a few more black marks with a stamp.

I’ve included a link to the devotionals, pumpkin and tag template plus the verse strips (in 3 different fonts). Click this LINK or check out my FREEBIES for my digital downloads!