hey, y'all!
i have for you today my very first guest post and i'm so excited!
i 'met' sarah not too long ago by way of her blog ad. i clicked cuz i loved the design and wanted to see what she was all about (check it out on my sidebar - cute, right?)
anyway, sarah - wife and mama to 2 beautiful children - has an etsy shop full of adorable, knitted goodies but what impacted me most about her is her heart for God.
last year, sarah made it a point to read the bible. the whole bible. a daunting task, at least for me. i asked her to stop by & share about her experience (and maybe give some pointers!)
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My name is Sarah and I blog over at The Fontenot Four. I am the wife of an amazing guy, Ron. I am the mom to two beautiful girls ages 7 and 5. I blog a lot about family and my growing relationship with Christ as journey daily through life with a special needs/medically fragile child {our 5 year old}.
In 2010, our pastor put forth a challenge to read the bible in one year. I tried. I failed. I failed after only a couple weeks or so of "trying".
In 2011, he put forth a challenge. He wanted 100 people to "sign on" for a "twitter bible study". By this he meant that we would join a one year bible plan of our choice, and then each day we would post the insight we gained on some form of social media, in 140 characters or less {that's the "twitter" part}. We would also post on his blog or facebook page the same insight. I was game. This was challenge I vowed to complete...this time. And I did. I successfully read every single day and posted my insight every single day for 365 days.
On January 1st, the same challenge was put forth. I am all in again!
Except this time is different. It is a challenge, in a sense, but in a sense it is not. You see, by keeping up with this plan last year, reading scripture every day became a habit. It became a part of my life. It became something I needed to do. No. It became something I wanted to do. Every day.
This challenge has changed my life. It has caused me to look at life through scripture at times. Don't get me wrong - I am in no way the perfect model Christian. I'm not. I'm a sinner just like each and every other human being. I cannot quote the bible to you. I can think of certain verses - or parts of them - but can't even necessarily tell you what book of the bible they come from. I do have a couple memory verses that I can tell you that information. I am not a bible thumping scripture quoting sort of person!
But I can look at situations in life in a different way because I have read through the Word of God. I sometimes wonder about different situations in life through they eyes of someone who has some knowledge of a scripture passage. One of the big things, for instance, is loving your neighbor. That means everyone. Not just the ones we want to love. Not just the ones that the public would say it's ok to love. No. Everyone. Even the unlovable. Even our enemies. Even those who are far from God. Even those who seek to harm others. EVERYONE.
If you have never done it, this is something you can do at any time, but since it's a brand new year, why not resolve to challenge yourself with this! This challenge brought fulfillment to me for an entire year, and continues to do so again this year!
Last year, I chose to read the Chronological bible study plan on YouVersion. I never knew that reading the bible from cover to cover is not reading the bible chronologically! There are so many plans to choose from! This year, I am doing the One Year Bible plan. I wanted to change it up a bit. My daily readings this year, so far, have consisted of a few chapters from Genesis, one or two from Matthew, one Psalm, and one reading from Proverbs. There are 5 or 6 selections on each day. I would challenge you to find a plan. Read each day. Don't just read like you're reading a book, but read intentionally. Read with an open heart and mind and ask God to give you wisdom and insight through what you've read. I didn't believe it possible, but there is so much insight to be gained in the Old Testament!
I'm not going to lie - if you haven't done this before, the first weeks may be a bit challenge.Stick with it.Especially in the early books of the bible where it gets bogged down in ancestry.There was a lot in the early weeks that I really struggled to get through.But I did.I prayed for patience, wisdom and God's guidance to see me through.
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Sarah, thank you so much for sharing with us and providing some inspiration! I'm also using YouVersion for my daily devotionals......
anyone wanna join me in a bible reading plan??
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