January journal “unboxing”
This is the “unboxing” of the December mailer with the January journal, “Stories from the temple & synagogue”!
When we hear the words “synagogue” or “temple” while reading the Bible, we recognize that they both were important places to the Jews, places that comes up often in the Bible. But it’s interesting to see just how often we’re taken there in the gospels.
For the Jews, these were the places to be: the synagogue was their place of community and the temple was a place of worship. It’s where the heartbeat of the people of God should have been found. And that’s where Jesus went. He traveled everywhere, but almost always went into that city’s synagogue. And when he was in Jerusalem, it seems that more often than not, he was at the temple. He taught and healed and proved over and over to be the Son of God. There were many people Jesus met there: those filled with pride or pain or uncertainty.
And Jesus still comes to us who are similarly simply dealing with life and all its hurdles and seeking him. And just as he proved he was the answer to them then, he’s still showing us the same thing today...
This is what our everseeking subscribers are studying in January 2026! So let’s take a closer look at everything in the study and the mailer…
The journal
When we see Jesus in the gospels, there are two places he often went: the temple and the synagogue.
The temple was where the people of God would come to sacrifice and worship God specifically, an established version (in Jerusalem) of the moving tabernacle, where God came to dwell among his people. And this is where the Son of God came.
The synagogue was where the people of God would come for everything community, reading Scripture and talking about all sorts of matters of their lives. And this is where the Son of Man came.
Jesus came to the world not for his sake, but for ours.
He knew us as humankind better than we knew ourselves. He knew our ups and downs, our temptations, and our desire to seek God through the heavy weight of evil in the world.
And He came and knew it all firsthand. But life didn’t overwhelm him as it does us. He came to tell us to take heart, that he had overcome the world.
He came to give us hope, to gives us peace, and to restore us to newness of life in Him.
All of these stories we’ll study will have that change from the broken world before Jesus to the life full of hope when he steps in - a story still reflected in our lives today. So let’s see these moments of Jesus with us...
There are two places where Jesus went often to talk to the people, one of which is the temple. This is where the Jews would come to sacrifice to God. The Old Testament gives us details of the temple, but when we see it here, we see the Son of God walking through it, teaching. So on the left pages, we’ll look at stories of Jesus in the temple...
...and on the right pages we’ll look at Jesus in the synagogue, another place Jesus went often, where the Jews came together for many things, like discussing together and reading Scripture.
ON BOTH PAGES:
Questions - to answer from the passage (additional Scripture of the same story)
“Today in the...” - if you were in the crowd that day, write what you would say happened in your own words (like a diary entry) or write the verses
Connecting verse - find how this verse is similar/connects with this passage!
Studying through this takes us through the main 20 days of study. As in every everseeking journal, the “main study” can be done in 20 days because we all have those moments where we get behind, so this gives a little room.
But if you’re studying every day and get to day 20 and you still have 10 more days in the month, there are 10 extra pages of the journal (called “optional pages”) that take a deeper look at what we already studied.
In this journal… What’s incredible is because the temple and the synagogue were both such a big part of life for the Jews who were becoming Christians then, we get to see more stories in each place – but now from the vantage point of the disciples! See what each passage has to say (and where it is) and connect how we can act in the same way as disciples of Christ today (centuries later).
So whether you complete the main study with the 20 pages or the main 20 + the optional 10, you have succeeded in spending the month studying the Word of God!
The washi tape
As always, every everseeking journal comes with it’s set of washi tape: solid and patterned!
This month’s washi tape matches the blue patterned theme for this month and a similar solid color washi tape! We use these for highlighting certain thoughts, creating tabs throughout the journal, decorating, adding extra notes (scrapbooking style), color coding, and more! For more details, check out our “How to use washi tape for Bible journaling” blog at https://www.evergreencypress.com/blog/how-to-use-washi-tape-for-bible-journaling.
2026 Calendar Cards
Added to our January journal is a set of 2026 calendar cards, custom designed! Each verse coordinates with the Evergreen Journal Planner (volume 2) and the everseeking theme of the month. We loved coordinating these and adding a little reminder of God’s Word as we look at how we use our time, month to month and day to day!
Mini wooden easel for cards
And of course, we wanted to add an easy way to display the 2026 calendar cards — so included with the January journal and cards was a mini wooden easel to use wherever works best!
Homeschool edition
We also have everseeking for homeschool!
The homeschool edition sends out the same journal of the month for the girl to study through. With the 20 days of the main study, she gets to also go through one page a day for each weekday for the 4 weeks of the month.
The difference with the homeschool edition is that instead of the extras, the girl receives three pages…
Pacing guide: this takes the 20 days and schedules them in the specific month of study (in this case, January 2025). Here, she can check off each day as she completes it.
Discussion questions: after the girl has completed her study page for the day, there is an extra discussion question that matches (for example, discussion question number 4 goes with day 04 of the study). This is intended to help the girl explain what she has studied and for the teacher and girl to further discuss what the study of God’s Word means in her life.
Knowing Scripture/ end-of-month / encouragement: every month, the knowing Scripture section remains the same, but reminds the girl to keep a part of the study deep on her heart. She selects her theme verse for the study and writes it on the pacing guide to look at daily and then talk about it with the teacher throughout the month. The end of month section has an activity or assignment that helps the girl think through the study as a whole from a specific perspective as a review. And finally, the encouragement is for the teacher, to bolster her as she guides the girl in her care in God’s Word — making an eternal difference in her life!
And that’s a wrap!
And that’s a wrap for the January journal that came in the December mailer! We loved putting this one together for our subscribers.
If you are an everseeker, we would love to hear your feedback on this journal and mailer, whether on our social media posts or through email.
And if you aren’t a subscriber, we have a spot saved for you for the next available mailer, with the next journal and extras! This is only available for those who subscribe by the first of the month — so don’t miss out!
Every month is new and exclusive as a whole, so join us in being everseeking of God with consistent Bible study at evergreencypress.com/everseeking!
