Love letters from God

A few years ago at one of our Women in the Church retreats at Blue Springs in Marianna, FL, our guest speaker, Mary MacArthur spoke on developing a lifestyle of prayer and daily Bible reading. I have kept my notes from her presentation in my Bible as she had such wonderful things to share. I, in turn, recently shared these same thoughts with our mothers of young children Bible Study group. One of the things Mary challenged us to think about was what is our life verse? What passages from scripture sum up what our lives are all about? She also encouraged us to really study God's Word and read it as if it were actual love letters personally written to us from God. So, with that thought in mind, I am presently reading through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, something which I am ashamed to admit that I have never done before. I think it's about time! I also read a chapter of Proverbs depending on that day's date...there are exactly enough chapters to cover 31 days of the month, so that's easy to remember which one to read. George Mueller, one of the greatest prayer warriors who ever lived, read through the Bible over 100 times in 40 years! I recently found out that one of my long-lost relatives, Diamond Joe Ward, actually memorized the entire King James Bible! It took him over 40 years to accomplish that incredible task. If you gave him the book and chapter, he could recite from there on until you told him to stop. Amazing! I will be content just to know that I have within my lifetime read all of God's Word to me. I certainly don't want to miss anything! Beginning the day in the Word and prayer just helps set the tone for the rest of my day. We have so many things today that mean to sabotage our time away from having that personal relationship with the living God...even things like reading other Christian authors, other books, email, blogging, TV, etc. that take precedent over the most important thing and that is making time with Him our #1 priority for the day. So, I challenge and encourage any of you who are reading this blog entry to pick up your Bible, dust it off if you have to and join me on this journey through God's Word. I've already finished Genesis and am getting ready to head out of Egypt with the Israelites in Exodus. You know, there must be something significant about 40 years when I think about what I previously wrote and how 40 years appears in scripture. Interesting. Hopefully, it won't take me that long to get to Revelation!

So, what exactly is my life verse? I think that Proverbs 3:5-6 is the one that speaks to me the most: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Even though I have not always known why God was allowing things to happen in my life in certain ways, there's never been a doubt that He was in control of that situation and knew what was always best for me and my family. I can do nothing apart from Him. As I live in this new phase of my life, I look forward with anticipation to the paths we will walk down together as I draw nearer to Him through His Word each and every day.