5 Question with Osheen Wright

There is no Osheen Wright without creativity, enthusiasm, passion, and the love to share. She is first a child of God, then an author, a graphic designer, and a content creator who buds from Maggotty in St.Elizabeth. Osheen’s core purpose on earth is to equip people so they can creatively utilize what they love. With that, they can enjoy studying the Word of God and Praying. She wants others to, like herself, discover that Bible Studies is not a boring and frustrating task, but a creative way to learn, engage, and express the truth of God.

She is a creative Bible Study and Prayer Journaling fanatic. Osheen is also the author of two books: a workbook called Navigating Life's Seasons and a prayer journal called Abide In The Core.

If you are a truth seeker, a creative, or someone who struggles with praying and studying the Bible, you are in the right place. The Education Jamaica Magazine has had an opportunity to ask Osheen five questions and we hope her answers will inspire you in different ways, so you too can have the fullness of joy when engaging with the Word of God.

1. Tell us a little about your professional journey.

My professional journey started during my time at the Bethlehem Moravian College. I intended to learn to teach the English subjects, but during the process, I met and fell in love with Bible Journaling, and that was when everything for me changed. One day while I was in my college dorm room, I was on Instagram, and I saw a highlighted and marked up Bible page that one of my good friends and sister in Christ did. I spent a great deal of time staring at that image, totally fascinated and to add to my excitement, the caption of her photo spoke about the fact that she was up from 2 AM to about 5 AM studying the Word of God. It was then that I had a strong desire for a relationship with God, just like what she had.

Seeing her Bible page led me to search for Bible pages that were similar to hers, and it was in that process, I found out about Bible Journaling. I started to dig even deeper into research about the different ways to Bible Journal. I was so excited to start that I went to Mandeville, Jamaica and brought my first Journaling Bible. Since then, I have been doing many forms of Bible Journaling from February 2016 until now, and this process has completely changed the way I approach the Bible. My Bible study and Bible reading process have transformed from a boring one to a process that is now so engaging, creative and fun that I now spend hours upon hours reading and studying my Bible.

Bible Journaling has taught me that creatively engaging the Bible is a game-changer to anyone’s relationship with the Bible. It changed the way I see the Bible, and my goal is to use it along with other forms of Creative Bible Study to positively change the way people engage with the Bible. I want people to move from seeing the Bible as a boring Book to seeing the Bible as engaging and exciting as I did.

2. What inspired you to become an author?

I have been through many frustrating seasons in my life – seasons that brought me to tears, seasons of hurt, fear, seasons where I literally gave up and was just going through the motions, and seasons of running and hiding from pain. Through those seasons, I have come to know and experience God in remarkable ways. I write because I want people who go through similar seasons to have access to the tools that God used to help me overcome.

I also write because I want people to access the tools that transformed how I engage with the Bible and Prayer. This way, they can experience that same transformation. It pains my heart when people say the Bible and Prayer are boring, and they find all types of excuses not to engage with the Bible and Prayer. It pains me because I, too, have been there until I found these methods, and my life has changed positively as a result.

3. What do verse mapping and bible journaling mean?

Verse mapping is the visual creative process of taking a verse of the Bible and studying it within its context. During this process, one defines terms, analyses the focus verse in various translations, researches background information, engages with cross-references, and the other verses and chapters surrounding the verse. This is done in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of what the verse truly means within its proper context.

Bible Journaling is the process of documenting your journey with God as you engage with and learn from Him through His Word. It can be done inside as well as outside of the Bible, and it can be as creative as you desire it to be. Persons may be familiar with the process of Bible Journaling that involves drawing on the pages of the Bible. That is only one form of Bible Journaling. It is not limited to only that form. However, you choose to document your journey with God, whether inside or outside the Bible is still Bible Journaling.

4. Tell us about your books and how interested persons can access them.

Currently, I have two books on the market, namely:

1. Navigating Life’s Seasons - this workbook is designed to help people deal with painful and hurtful situations effectively. It contains questions that will help you to:

• Acknowledge and be honest about your pain and hurts.

• Get to the root of the situation, which caused the pain and hurt.

• Use the Word of God to overcome.

• Always see and maximise God’s opportunity in your painful and hurtful situations.

2. Abide In The Core Prayer Journal

The CORE is Jesus. From studying the lives of the Apostles and the Early Church in the Book of Acts, I noticed that to abide in the Core, three main steps have to take place:

• Step One: Jesus must be your ONLY Lord and Master.

• Step Two: Continue Steadfastly in the Word.

• Step Three: Continue steadfastly in prayer.

The Abide in the Core Prayer Journal uses these three steps to help people develop the habit of consistently abiding in Jesus. You can access any of my books by contacting me directly at 1876- 909-1529, on Instagram @osheenycreations or directly on Amazon.

5. How do you create a balance between being an author, content creator and other roles and responsibilities you might assume?

Wow! Honestly, it is not easy, but there is one thing that I have asked God to do, and He has been consistently doing it. I asked Him to allow everything I have to do to connect in one central way to not feel overbearing and overwhelming. That helps me immensely. For example, in my personal Bible Study, I may be led to a topic called “The Lord’s Commands and I study that, then I may write a book that connects greatly to that same topic from my personal Bible study. Afterwards, when I create content, somehow God allows it to connect to that one main theme of “The Lord’s Commands.” Then, God may allow me to get work at church, and that work directly connects in some way or enhances the topic of “The Lord’s Commands.” This way, everything I have to do feels like they are working together rather than against each other. God has done this to me so many times in many seasons of my life, and it dramatically helps me navigate all my responsibilities.