I did it!!!

Just over three months ago I attended a prayer retreat. It was an amazing weekend that I wrote about it in a post called God Showed Up. One of the things that I felt convicted of that weekend was to get into God's Word more. I was feeling stalled in my daily Bible reading and God put a crazy idea on my heart. This idea was to read through the Bible...but not in a year...in 90 days!! At first I pushed this idea aside, after all in 2012 my goal was just to read through the Old Testament and I stalled out on that one somewhere in the middle of Job. Then God showed me that for now I didn't have a lot of outside the house commitments, we were all unpacked and I had the time, so I took a leap and started this crazy 90 day journey. I needed accountability so I grabbed my Kindle and signed up for the 90 day reading plan on my YouVersion Bible. How odd it was for me to read in or some days listen to it on my Kindle vs in my actual Bible. I learned that for me that was needed to keep me reading through it and not camping on one section too long.  On February 2nd, I finished this intense Bible reading plan. I did it in 90 days!!!

So what did I learn from this experience? What did God teach me?

Bible reading is important. This book is a love letter that God wrote to all of us. The whole entire thing...all 66 books...1189 chapters...both Old and New Testament alike were written as a love letter! And in the past 90 days I fell in love with it all over again. I have always loved to read, I can spend hours reading. So why not spend hours in the best book ever written? Even if you don't have hours to spend reading it in 90 days...it is important to get into that book and read it.

Study in a way that works best for me. This experience taught me how I prefer to study the Bible. I needed this 90 days of reading it so fast for God to show me that I do better when I take my time and really dive into a book or even just a passage. I have a list of books that I really want to learn more about. So I am excited to get going on that, to dig out my highlighters and mark meaningful passages for me. So I encourage you to figure out what method of study works best for you and then go for it.

Sometimes it ok to switch translations.  I have been reading the same translation for as long as I can remember. It was comfortable for me...it is the translation I have memorized verses in...but it was time for a change. A new translation for me was like looking at the scripture with a fresh perspective. There are lots of good translations out there, its ok to check them out.

God's word is fresh every morning...just like his mercies. It seemed like everyday God's word would be new and fresh to me. I found verses almost daily that spoke to me in a new way. Sometimes it would be a verse I had read hundreds of times, but for some reason on that particular way it would convict me in a new way.

I come away from this experience refreshed and excited. God even gave me a new favorite verse. I think it fits my stage of life perfectly,  especially as my children are growing up and creating their own families and discovering all God want for their lives.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 1 John 1:4.

I also come away from this experience with a new Bible! My hubby let me get it...he's awesome like that. It is a massive study Bible, which is perfect for me right now, I have a lot of questions. Now all I have to do is get in there and make that first mark. Its so new and clean that it may take a few days for me to actually break it in!!

Isn't it pretty?!