I know sometimes it can be hard to shop for moms, especially ones who seem to have it all, so I will be doing a blog series all week long about some of my Mother’s Day gift ideas that you may not have thought of! My first recommendation is for the One Year Bible Expressions Journaling Bible. Tyndale was kind enough to send me this beautiful pink hardcover bible to share with my readers, and I was thrilled to receive it. I had wanted this bible back at the beginning of the year, since I’ve never used a One Year Bible before, but they were sold out at the time. If this Bible would be something that would interest your mom or wife, make sure to buy it now rather than waiting til December/January when it’s in high demand (hint, hint)!

To order the One Year Expressions Bible on Amazon, click here.

The reason why I recommend a journaling Bible, even for moms that aren’t necessarily interested in art journaling, is because it’s a personal gift that anyone can use! You can write notes or prayers in the margin, lightly color the illustrations, and just enjoy reading through this Bible. You don’t have to be an artist to use a journaling Bible. This Bible is both functional and beautiful.

What is a One Year Bible though? It’s a Bible that has the entire New Living Translation text divided into 365 daily readings that include a passage from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. By organizing the text in this way, it helps guide the reader through the entire Bible in one year in a format that is more conducive to a busy life, or for those who need the visual ease of having it organized this way instead of having to flip all over the place with a traditional bible and reading plan. Each section is dated from January 1st through December 31st.

This bible has 2 inch margins that are either lightly lined or contain a preprinted illustration. The pages are cream, the text is arranged double-column, and the page thickness is the same as the original teal cover Inspire Bible (read my review for the Inspire Bible here). In fact, the 100+ margin illustrations included with this bible are taken from the original Inspire Bible, so if you have used the Inspire before, they will look familiar to you. For me, I’m actually excited to see these images again, because I was only able to color a fraction of the illustrations in my Inspire Bible before it got too full and needed to be retired. This bible will give me an opportunity to color the images I missed the first time around.

The illustrations on the inside front and back cover are unique to this Bible, and the presentation page is absolutely beautiful! It would make a lovely gift for your mom or wife to color the presentation page and write a note to her. This would also be a great place to let children or grandchildren color for mom or grandma, creating a personal and special gift that she will cherish.

Also included in the front of the One Year Bible Expressionsis information about the New Living Translation, as well as optional ideas for how to use the reading plan of this bible and an alphabetical index of the books of the Bible. I liked that the publisher provided other reading ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of, should I want to read it differently. However I think the strength of this bible is that it’s already arranged for me to read straight through without having to find a reading plan and marking it off each day. The index is helpful for finding a specific passage, since this bible isn’t arranged in the traditional Old and New Testament format.

The hardcover is a soft touch cover with floral detail and etching. The endpapers are printed with a beautiful pink, green and teal floral print. The Bible also includes 2 ribbon bookmarks, which I absolutely love when publishers do this. It helps to have multiple bookmarks if you are reading different sections, or want to go back and reread a passage while still keeping your current place. The bookmarks match the colors of the pink and teal cover.

I did color one page of this Bible using gel pens, just to make sure the paper was the same as the Inspire Bible (it was). As with all gel pens, you do have to be careful to not color over the same spot too many times or it will bleed through. As long as you aren’t too heavy-handed with coloring, they do shadow but don’t bleed. Add a set of colored pencils and/or gel pens when giving as a gift (I recommend Crayola Twistable colored pencils here and Color-It gel pens here). I highly recommend this Bible, and I think it makes a great Mother’s Day gift!

Order the One Year Expressions Bible as a Mother’s Day gift on Amazon here.

Please note this post contains affiliate links. This means I receive a small commission when you purchase through the link at no additional cost to you. Tyndale Publishers sent me this Bible in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and pictures contained in this post are my own.