My Bible Reading Plan for 2025

 It's that time of year again when I decide what I will use as a plan for daily Bible reading for the coming year.  Back in 2003, we had just moved to Indiana and my husband was on a year-long deployment overseas. As a lonely young mom effectively functioning as a single mom in a new state that year, when our pastor challenged us if we had never read the Bible through in a year, maybe this was the year to do it, I decided that was exactly what I needed. And for the past more than 20 years since, I've made it a practice to do just that, some plans were heavier on the amount of daily reading than others, but always including at least one time through the Bible in a year. This is a practice I strongly encourage. Too often we read the Bible out of context and those favorite verses we love just may not mean what you think they mean if you take the time to read what they are actually saying. Any Bible reading plan needs to take context seriously, not just a verse here and there. Maybe you won't read the whole Bible all the way through every year, but everyone ought to take the opportunity to read it all the way through at least once, so you can grasp the whole arc of the scripture in context. It really is edifying. 

Another practice I gleaned from encouragement from another pastor is to read the Proverbs every day.  There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, so it works out nicely to read through the book each month, taking a chapter a day. That practice I'll continue this year, as I've found it very edifying and it is neat how the wisdom in Proverbs begins to filter into how you think through life's situations when you're spending every day reading through it. 

This year, however, I think I am going to change things up a bit.  I've noticed the past couple of years that the amount of chapters I had set to read each day were sometimes challenging, and it was becoming more that some days felt more like kind of a 'check the box burden' feeling, and I'd find my mind drifting and realize I hadn't really taken in what I'd read rather than really digging in and every day pondering what I was reading and digesting it well.  Some days were better than others, but overall, I think I've suffered a bit in deeper devotions and study. Also, I found that reading ahead for the various group Bible study opportunities I have during the week was suffering. I need to change things up this year and I'm hoping for a deeper devotional time for it. 

So, all that said, here is what I plan for my own personal daily reading this year. 

Every day (Sunday-Saturday): Read through the Psalms and Proverbs, repeating as often as the year allows. 

Monday: Read and think over the passage we will be studying in our Wednesday morning women's study. 

Tuesday: Read and think over the passage we will be studying in our Wednesday evening study.

Wednesday: Read the Wednesday am passage again and prepare for the morning.

Thursday: Read and think over the passage for our Sunday school lesson.

Friday: Read and think over the Sunday school passage again and the passage for the Sunday morning sermon if we know it.

Every day: Work on scripture memory. (I've been stuck on Colossians 1 for way too long now)

I'm looking forward to this new plan for the coming year. It will be different for me, and I have a feeling it will feel really weird not to be starting over in Genesis on January 1, but I'm looking forward to being better prepared for the group discussions and to learning more for myself as well. 

May I encourage you, too, whatever plan you might choose, to spend some good time in Bible reading and prayer each day? It is a gift of God's grace that we have these means to draw near to Him.

Whatever We Trust In

I woke up the other day feeling anxious and depressed, more than I think I ever have before.  I could write all the thoughts I felt crushing me that have been feeding that, many that are serious enough things to be concerned about, but somehow I had let these things become out of perspective in my thinking.  Many of these things are important and need to be discussed and hashed out in our society, but most of them are not my responsibility. I started to write about the things I’m concerned and frustrated and depressed about several times, but each time I felt a check in my spirit, and I decided to keep the details to my private journal and private prayer closet.  Except for this one: I miss church.  I just do. I miss the refreshing of the soul we get when we see each other singing and see each other responding to the Word being preached.  Virtual services are nice, since we can’t have the embodied meeting together, but in no way is it enough. 

So, with that background, the blues that hit hard the other day and which I’m battling to keep in proper perspective, today, during my morning prayer time I read this in one of the prayers from The Valley of Vision and it spoke right to my heart: 

“Remember, O my soul,

It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God:

He requires it of thee for all his favors of grace.

Rejoice then in the Giver and his goodness,

Be happy in him, O my heart, and in nothing but God,

for whatever a man trusts in,

from that he expects happiness.”

As I read and prayed through that, when I got to those words, “for whatever a man trusts in, from that he expects happiness,” I stopped and realized that the frustration and depression I am feeling in response to all these things I’m not discussing in detail are, in fact, a gift of grace, because that anxiety and depression are pin-pointing areas I have been sinfully placing my trust and hope for happiness in, without even realizing it.  

We are working on our last lesson from the book of Romans in our women’s Bible study this week, and after months of focusing mostly on Romans 8, this gentle reminder to check the idols in my heart and keep my focus and trust and hope grounded on nothing but God Himself is landing on prepared soil in my heart, where I’ve been meditating and pondering just what it means that God works ALL THINGS for the good of the people who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  All things means all things, even this season of not being able to meet together as a church family, and even those things I woke up anxious and depressed about. So, while the tears are real, and the concerns are real, so, too, and more so, is the genuine, deep, underlying, soul uplifting hope real.  I don’t have to be crushed by anxiety and depression.  I may not be able to control all the physical responses or stop the tears immediately, but I can fix my eyes, even when tear-filled, on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith and purpose in my heart to present my body as a living sacrifice and renew my mind by the washing of His word and choose joy, because He is the sustainer of our joy. 

A few other practical things I’m doing to reorient my thinking and keep things in perspective:

-I’m taking a mental health break away from Facebook and Next-door.  I don’t need one more preachy article about how anxious the secular world thinks we need to be right now and I’m tired of the memes and lectures

-Focusing more purposefully on the scripture passages I’m trying to memorize

-Taking time to pray whenever I feel the anxiety or depression rear up

-Talking through these things with my husband, who often has a great way of helping me see things in proper perspective

-Staying in God’s word and remembering that He is sovereign and His Providence is good all the time

-Listening to good podcasts (Truth for Life with Alistair Begg, Wretched Radio with Todd Friel, Just Thinking with Virgil Walker and Darrell Harrison)

-Making sure to take some time often to listen to doctrinally rich music

Because whatever a man trusts in, from that he expects happiness.  

Psalm 33:18-22

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

that he may deliver their souls from death

and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD;

he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him,

because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.”

Encouragement Today

It’s amazing how encouraging a video conference with friends from church can be during this time of isolation.  We had our Wednesday morning study together online today, and it’s so nice to hear their voices and see their faces.  We have been studying Romans 8, and it has proven to be just so very perfect for the times we find ourselves in right now.  

Our leader shared a video of John Piper reciting Romans 8, and I’m sharing it here because it’s just so powerful to hear scripture read this way, especially after several months of studying the passage first.  He speaks, not as one reading, but with the passion of a preacher, and it’s quite moving to hear it this way.  It's almost as if you're hearing Paul's passion as he wrote it. I was in tears by the end of it.  Often I find that reading scripture out loud helps me to grasp it better, but this is even beyond that.  It encourages me to get back to working on my memorization of Colossians. I remember when I was working to memorize Philippians how alive the words became as I was able to recite them out loud more as one speaking the full message of the passage rather than reading individual verses by themselves.  So, take a listen to this and be encouraged! 

After my last post when I shared the struggle I’m having with the edge of that depression pit, I am reminded once again how diligent we must be to remind ourselves of what is true when the darkness rages around us. We also talked about this today, how the beginning and ending of Romans 8 have the phrase, “in Christ,” and how incredibly significant that is regarding the teaching those verses bookend. It is only in Christ that the rest of the promises are true.  He is everything.  Because of who He is, we have hope, real, true, abiding hope that transcends any anxiety or depression the world may present to us. We discussed how we can intentionally remind ourselves every day that there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and live in that light.  One or our members shared how she memorized the books of the Bible as a child and she will go through each one and remember a verse or truth from that book.  I was reminded of this song which has been meaningful to me for a long time.  Take a listen to this and, again, be encouraged! Joy!

I’m thankful, once again, for the technology that’s allowing us to not be quite so isolated during this time of physical isolation, and I’m incredibly thankful for the way we are able to read and study and discuss together God’s Word to stir each other up to encouragement and good works.  As I shared in an earlier post, our longing to be together again is just a glimpse of our greater longing for the day when Jesus gathers us together when He returns.  But for now, how sweet that He places the lonely in families - the Body of Christ, our fellow believers, is a family and what an encouragement we can be for each other when we invest in each others’ lives, care about and for each other, and remind each other of the truths we learn and the hope we share in our loving, saving God as we study His word together.  What an awesome God He is.  

When I Awake

Psalm 17:15 

“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

I read Psalm 17 today as part of my morning devotions, and when I got to the last verse I paused and did some thinking about this experience we’re finding ourselves in with social distancing and fear and anxiety about the novel coronavirus spreading, well, virally.  

Kevin DeYoung yesterday on Twitter said, “The devil has won a victory if he can get us to fear death more than we fear God.”  I’ve been thinking about this.  I have to confess that during this time of uncertainty and disruption of our routines and, more worryingly, our sense of control and ability to provide for ourselves, I am realizing that I have been idolizing security and control. Even today, I posted on Facebook about some frustration and anxiety I’m feeling. So what I’m about to write - I’m working through these things and fighting for joy in them, I haven’t perfected them.  

When we went grocery shopping the other day, there was no ground meat of any kind, no chicken, basically empty shelves in the meat department.  I guess we’re going to have to learn how to be vegetarians? Anyway, there was a little twinge of, oh, no, what will we do that invaded my heart.  I can’t say I’m overly anxious about contracting the virus, though that does factor in the general level of anxiety I’m feeling, but I can say that the whole unsettled nature of pretty much everything is causing anxiety.  And there is valid reason for that.  I’m thankful my husband’s job is “essential” - many people are struggling and scared as jobs are being lost daily and our economy is taking a huge hit. I am praying often for people who truly are finding themselves in the position of not being sure they will have a paycheck for much longer. And I am thankful that for now, our family has health.  So very many do not.  So very many are being affected by this virus - and so many other diseases and pestilences and tragedies. These are real fears. Lord, help us.  Lord, have mercy.

But Jesus told us to seek His kingdom first. That’s where I find myself examining my own heart today.  Do I want Jesus more than I want the false sense of security of well-stocked grocery store shelves? Do I trust Him, even when the outside circumstances are frightening and even when the voices of anxiety are so very loud all around us? (Sanity tip: less time on NextDoor and other social media, less time watching all day news is helpful!) I am not saying we shouldn’t plan ahead and be wise, and listen to the health officials and practice wise precautions…we should, of course. Out of love for our neighbors, if for no other reason, we should be listening and taking precautions, but lovingly, not hoarding. But in the midst of the planning, my attitude always needs to be, “Lord willing.” 

As I read that verse this morning, I was comforted in thinking that for the Christian, for the one who loves Jesus and whose life is hidden in Christ, we do not have to fear death.  Our ladies Bible study has been working through Romans 8, and I keep coming back to these anchor truths. Roman 8:29 tell us, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”  Just yesterday during our Zoom meeting we discussed what it means that it says he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. It means He will do it. It is a sure thing. If God is for us, who can be against us? He will do His will in us.  He will conform us to the image of His Son.  He is working all things to that end.  Even empty grocery store shelves?  Yes, indeed.  Even that. 

And for the Christian, what is the worst that can happen? If I die - I will awake and be satisfied with His likeness.  We get Jesus! Oh, dear reader, is Jesus precious to you? He is worthy of all worship and honor and praise.  Romans 8:31-35: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

And so, the challenge today, when fears are real, dangers are more than theoretical, is….do I believe this? Not can I answer the questions on my Bible study sheet correctly and theologically, but do I believe this? Do I trust Him? Can I say with Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.  The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:20-21) And, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him…” (Job 13:15). Do I trust that no matter what, in the end, I get Jesus?  I am going to Heaven.  Is that truly my hope?  This is where the peace of God, which passes all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus comes from. Get that - the peace passes all understanding.  When all circumstances are screaming at us to be unsettled and anxious, where does our hope and peace come from? Lord, teach me to lay hold of this in the very depths of my soul.  Let this be what informs my living. Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!

Do you have this hope? Are you drowning in the anxiety of these unsettled and anxious times? Come to Jesus.  He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.  Lay down your sin, repent, and trust Him.  Every one of us will face God one day. Death may seem a little closer under the cloak called coronavirus, but truly, it’s always only a breath away for all of us.  We just don’t always live with the reminder quite so urgently thrust upon our consciousness.  It is a shame to fear death more than we fear the One we will face when we die.  And the hope of all hope is that Christ Jesus holds out the way of salvation in that when we come to die, if we are in Him, we are safe. We can rest in knowing that when we awake, we shall be satisfied with His likeness.  

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 

Status Update - Monday, March 23, 2020

I used to do these fairly regularly back during the old blogging days when it was more of a circle of blogging friends rather than me over here typing away in my neglected little corner of the internet by my lonesome, but I thought I might drag it back out to help me start blogging more, so here goes…..

Sitting….in my den, seeing as we are pretty much confined to our homes for a while with this lockdown/quarantine/ what do we call this? and it is raining outside so we can’t even go out for a walk right now.

Drinking….hot tea, or at least I will be in a few minutes once the kettle whistles, Irish Breakfast Tea in my Disney “MOM” mug with my oh-so-cute little kitty cat steeper.  I have given up coffee since the last time I wrote one of these.  Shocking, I know, to not be one of those talking about my coffee and PJ’s in our national time of forced rest and staying home.  I found that it gives me really bad heartburn, and funny enough, once I quit, I completely lost my taste for it.  I mean COMPLETELY.  I tried to drink some the other day and I just did not like it anymore.  That was weird.  I wish my taste for sugar would fade as easily.  But I’m glad for tea.  I still very much like that, and I’m rediscovering just how much I do.

Snacking….on nothing right now.  It’s almost lunch time, and I’m in that perpetual quest to eat healthier, so I’m watching what I snack on.

Reading….The Grapes of Wrath. I’m about 73% finished, and I was already in the midst of it when this shut down happened, and I’m finding it’s pretty heavy reading while in the midst of this unprecedented situation we find ourselves in.  I’m pretty sure I read it years ago, but I don’t remember ever writing any papers on it, so I must not have read is as a required thing for school but maybe by choice.  I didn’t remember much about it, but snippets seem familiar.  It is so well-written, and I am very much enjoying reading it this time around, even though it’s heavy, I see why it is a classic.  Speaking of reading, I’m very thankful for the library’s Overdrive system and Amazon and my Kindle. In these days of shutdown, it’s nice to be able to put books on hold and check them out digitally. 

Thinking…..about a lot of things, but not very cohesively.  I’m finding it hard to concentrate, and I think one solution may be to put my phone in another room so I’m not tempted to pick it up and scroll social media without thinking.

Thankful…..about so very many things.  One thing I’ll focus on here today is technology.  We got to worship with our church family via live stream yesterday, and while it is terribly far from being as satisfying as face-to-face and embodied fellowship, I am thankful we got to participate, and I'm thankful for the beautiful encouragement to turn our attention to our Savior through worshipful music, prayer, and scripture reading and sermon. And our women’s Bible study is going to attempt some video conferencing software to try to meet together virtually this week, and that could be good, too.   

From our women’s study in Romans, here are some anchor truths to comfort us today: Romans 8:31-35 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”  

Happy Monday, y’all.  (I say “y’all” like anyone is even still ever reading this, but if you are, welcome). Stay well in these crazy days. 

Out of the Heart the Mouth Speaks

Matthew 12:33-37

“33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.  34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.  36 I tell you, on the day  of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I read this the other day and was grieved as I took a moment to think back over how I’ve used my words just in the past few days. If out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, what have my words said about my heart? Is what I’ve said to or about people edifying or hurtful? It grieves me to think how often ‘edifying’ has not been the adjective to describe my words and thoughts, but hurtful or prideful is. It really makes me cringe to look back and realize how careless I am, and how unkind at times. This is a good reminder to check my heart attitudes, how I think about other people, do I put the best construction on things or am I arrogant, prideful, presumptuous, or sinful in what I’m letting my mind think?  And how intently do I purpose to follow and obey Christ, even in how I think? As I think, so will I speak. Our words can be a very effective glimpse at how well we are battling sin at the heart level. How thankful I am for the grace and mercy of God to bring that scripture in front of me when I need it, and how incredibly thankful I am for His grace in that even this sin was forgiven at the cross. 

I got to thinking about this yesterday, too, while we were watching a movie we had wanted to see in the theater. What was overall a funny and fairly clean movie, was spoiled by an overabundance of casual blasphemy that was totally unnecessary in the dialogue.  I’ve noticed that our culture is getting more and more desensitized to this, and as culture is…..so am I.  It seemed that there was just so much more in-your-face taking of God’s name in vain in a movie where you wouldn’t have expected it that my husband and I noticed and commented on how surprised we were by it and how much we don’t like it and how totally unnecessary it was. It grieves me, too, that I can hear God’s name used flippantly and even laugh at the joke made with that added on and not be more bothered by it than I am.  It should bother us. I’m bothered that the more we surround ourselves with casual blasphemous talk, the more desensitized we are.  I don't say this to be legalistic, but that if it is true that out of the heart the mouth speaks, we need to be careful about what we allow to influence our hearts. When you hear coarse language and flippant, casual blasphemy often, it gets in there and makes it harder not to have it pop into your mind where you really don’t want it.

So, I’m thankful for God’s word and the Providential timing of reading this passage this week and how the Holy Spirit uses His word to bring to light sin that needs to be brought to light. This is a good thing to meditate on here at the end of one year and into the beginning of the new year. 

A Thought From Proverbs

Proverbs 12:25 “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

I’ve been pondering this verse since I read it during my daily Bible reading a couple of weeks ago, and wanting to write a blog post about  those thoughts, but I’m just getting to it today.  

I’ve mentioned that this move was one of our harder ones for various reasons. One thing is that I seem to struggle a bit with some depressing and anxious feelings whenever we go through these kinds of life changes. I know not to spiral and dwell there in my mind, but often the feelings linger and I can’t always even describe them or why, exactly, they are weighing on me like a gray cloud for days, weeks, sometimes months as I try to acclimate to a new normal in a new place.  

Anyway, for quite a few years now, since our pastor at a former church several moves ago encouraged us to do this, I’ve made it a habit to read through Proverbs each month.  With thirty-one chapters, it is easy to read a chapter a day every month. So, when I came across Proverbs 12:25 a couple of weeks ago, it happened to be on a day when I was having some of those nebulous, hard to describe, frustrating, heavy anxious and sad feelings. I got to thinking about “a good word makes him glad.”

Do you know what my refuge is, and has been for as long as I can remember when those anxious, depressed thoughts and feelings hover and linger? God’s Word.  In season and out, it is my habit to read through the Bible each year, every day. I can’t say that every single day I get a “wow” moment, but a lifetime of reading the Bible every day changes you.  God’s word gets down into your thinking, and, friends, I NEED it there, deep down in my core, when lying thoughts and emotions try to take control. 

Sure, a good word, an encouraging word from a friend can also serve to make us glad, but the abiding gladness that comes from a joy and a peace which passes all understanding, comes from the good word found in meditating and pondering on the Word of God. Reading His word and hearing it preached will truly make you glad when anxiety is weighing your heart down.  I know from my own experience this is truth.  The feelings don’t always follow immediately, but the load is much lighter when I’m pondering what I’ve read, or working on the passage I’m trying to memorize (Colossians at present), and especially when I push through the anxiety and depression and join with fellow believers in corporate worship.  Y’all, I can't tell you how thankful I am that we found a good church quickly this time.  Sundays are just plain refreshing. It’s like drinking from a cold fountain when you’re parched and thirsty.  

I’m thankful for the good word that makes me glad when I read God’s word - how over time, He allows His word to seep into my heart and mind, reorients my thinking to His priorities and His amazing goodness, and eventually those anxious feelings submit to the truth. I’m thankful for the good word of the spiritual songs and hymns we sing together with the choir and orchestra and gathered believers on Sunday (and Wednesday night practices, too!). I’m thankful for the good word of sermons preached by pastors who love God and HIs word and who love God’s people.  

Yes, a good word truly does make me glad. 

Honoring Our Father and Mother

This past weekend my brother and I and our families had the privilege of gathering together to celebrate my parents and their 50th wedding anniversary. What a blessing this was!  This past year has been full of some rather significant physical challenges, and I am incredibly thankful the Lord allowed us to have this weekend to honor our parents and celebrate together. It was wonderful to have all of us together, as we don’t get to do that very often with my family living so far away from everyone else. 

As we began thinking about what to do for this milestone occasion about a year or so ago, my brother told me of the project he wanted to do as a gift for them. Several years ago, my dad was teaching an adult Sunday School class at their church and working through the book of John, and he began sending his notes to my brother and me to share. My brother thought it would be a great thing to compile all those notes into a book format, and he worked for the better part of the year getting that accomplished.  What he produced was beautiful. We also wanted something to honor my mom’s art work, and we had the idea of taking some of her paintings and making a printed book of them for her. I think they were pleased with our gifts, and I’m so very thankful we got to spend the time with them that we did this weekend, celebrating God’s kindness and grace through 50 years of marriage. 

My brother did me the kindness of asking me, as the oldest child, to write the forward for what became the three volume set of “Lessons on The Gospel According to John.” I thought I’d like to share what I wrote here on my blog, as it is a small token of gratitude for the legacy God has graciously given our family:

The righteous who walks in his integrity - 

blessed are his children after Him!

Proverbs 20:7 

When my brother, Tim, first suggested this project as we were discussing our parents’ upcoming 50th wedding anniversary and what we could do to honor them, it seemed like a great idea.  As I’ve thought about it, what could be more fitting a tribute to what has been a driving and most important theme throughout their marriage than to honor their love for learning and teaching God’s Word? Yes, this project is my dad’s notes from the many months (years!) he spent teaching through the book of John with his adult Sunday School class at Faith Presbyterian Church. We have these notes because of his love for my brother and me and his wanting to share the truths he was learning and teaching with us, but the legacy of my and my brother’s lives is to have grown up with TWO gifted Bible teachers for parents. 

When my parents were a young married couple, they moved to the Space Coast of Florida as my dad began working at the Kennedy Space Center (my husband likes to tell people that his father-in-law is a real rocket scientist). Not only did that begin my dad’s professional career, but they quickly found First Baptist Church of Merritt Island, FL, where a dynamic preacher by the name of Adrian Rogers taught the Bible every week in a way my parents had never heard before. They loved it. They began growing spiritually and learning to study God’s Word and understand it better, and eventually to teach it. I remember my mom teaching children’s Sunday School and VBS for many years, and some of my earliest memories of that church were going over to the old Job building where my dad taught a couples class, and if I close my eyes, I can still smell that building and see some of those faces that I haven’t seen in years. My mom’s love for GA’s led her to teach it for a while when I was at the age to be in her group, and summer GA camp gave me some of my very first tastes of what it means to study the Bible and have my own quiet time in the Word. Later my mom went on to teach a women’s class, and even when I would come home on college breaks, I preferred going to her class than back to the youth and college class. I still remember her taking one lesson to diagram the first sentence of the book of Hebrews - ever the English teacher, as well.

Growing up in our home, my brother and I knew how important the Bible was to my parents because they talked about what they were learning all the time. I used to like to say it was part of the warp and woof of our life. It’s not so much that we had tons of ‘formal’ Bible training times, but that as they learned and grew, they talked about it - either to each other and around us, or directly to us, but always we knew how precious the truths of God’s Word were to them. So much of what I know about the Bible was caught just by growing up in a home where these things were not just something we heard on Sunday then put up on a shelf until the next week, but they were life to my parents. And believe, me, children notice these things. For my mom and dad, the Christian faith is everything. They love Jesus and they love His word, and they talk about what matters. 

When my parents discovered the doctrines of grace as they studied the Bible and prepared to teach, it brought them, eventually, great peace. Though the journey eventually led them away from the church that had been home for so many years, God graciously brought them to a new home at Faith Presbyterian, where my brother and I have watched them bloom. As my mom said, finally the pieces fit and she had been given the key for which she had been looking. God is so kind to His people! 

How thankful I am to have that legacy. The older I get, the more people I meet, the more thankful I am that God placed me in a home where my parents were real. They are not perfect people, there are no perfect families, but they are real and they love the Lord and His Word, and He has granted them both the gift to teach it well, and they have loved my brother and me through all of our ups and downs, and I’m so grateful God gave us these parents and this family. How thankful I am to have heard the gospel early and young and to have the example of two people who weren’t merely nominally interested, but invested in His Word. It is an immense blessing to a child to grow up in a home where Jesus is Lord and her parents are seeking to honor Him, where the faith is a part of who we are, not just an add on or something we do on Sundays. To this day, when I have biblical questions, I know I can go to my mom and dad and they will either be able to answer them or know how to search it out. They have modeled this since we were children, and their counsel and advice was biblical and practical.  For this I am grateful.

With these volumes we get to share the notes my dad shared with my brother and me as he was teaching the rich book of John. John is the book we often counsel new believers to read first, as it is so rich and such a glorious portrait of the Deity and majesty of Christ. My dad was excited to share his notes with us since we were far away raising our own families and couldn’t sit in on his classes except for the rare times we got to visit, and now, my brother has labored in love to set them into a bound series of volumes that we can present as a gift to honor my parents as they celebrate 50 years of marriage. We also felt that a fitting tribute would be to print some of my mother’s paintings on the bindings of these volumes, and for that we chose three that seemed fitting for John, “The Word” with the Greek LOGOS, “The Last Trumpet,” and “Faith Station Church” from her series of church paintings. 

Mom and Dad, from both Tim and me, thank you for loving us and always being ‘on our side,’ and for modeling faithfulness in marriage, and most importantly, thank you for pointing us to Jesus. That is the greatest gift any parent can give their children, and you have done it well, continuing on to your grandchildren, who share in this wonderful legacy.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad, with much love. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the blessing of a Christian home. I am more grateful than I can ever adequately express. 

One Thing is Necessary

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now  as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.  40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”  41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” 

We had a women’s retreat this past weekend with the ladies from our church, and I wanted to put down some thoughts that were a takeaway for me so I don’t forget them. Our speaker, Betsy Harris, blessed us by speaking in three sessions on Growing in Godliness. We looked at examining our definition of godliness as more than mere behavior, but as that which is better defined as “devotion to God which results in actions which please God.” Deep devotion to God is the beginning and the goal. We spent much time developing what it is to be deeply devoted to God and having a deep and personal relationship with Him through cultivating a right fear of God, appreciation of the love of God, and desire for God. Recordings of her sessions will be available on the church website soon and I recommend them! 

There was so much that I took notes on and am going to benefit from reviewing, but I am not going to go in depth in this blogpost. Here I just wanted to share something that struck me and that I’m still pondering and meditating on today. The second session dealt with training for Godliness, and she closed it with the passage from Luke 10 about Mary and Martha that is so very familiar to many of us. But this time as I listened to Betsy describe the language in the passage, how Martha basically bursts out and demands that Jesus tell Mary to help her, I got to thinking about it in a way I hadn’t before. I’ve usually heard this taught as sort of a caution against being distracted and caring too much about putting on a perfect dinner party or caught up in the busyness of life and neglecting time with the Lord, and that is correct. But what truly struck me was Jesus’ compassion for her in her distraction and frustration. 

Here’s what I’m getting at. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet learning from Him, in a culture and time when rabbis did not teach women, Jesus was willing and wanted to teach her. She was learning from Jesus, God With Us, the Lamb who would take away the sin of the world. And the tragedy is that Martha was missing this opportunity. She was missing it! And it seems from the exchange, that she was missing it for the sake of an expectation she had placed on herself, that it wasn't something Jesus was asking her to do. She would have been welcome to sit at his feet, too. In her good intentions to serve well, she was missing the main thing! She was missing the precious opportunity to be taught by the rabbi of all rabbis because she was ‘anxious and troubled about many things,’ yet she was missing the main thing, the one thing that is necessary - to hear from Jesus. And Jesus is so very gentle in His correction, drawing her back to the main thing.

I don’t know how to write this in a way that adequately conveys why that brought me to tears, but I think it’s the tragedy of missing it, missing the main thing while being busy with important, but not most necessary things.  How often do I rush, rush, rush through reading my Bible in the morning but neglect to really think about what I’ve read to the point where I’m taking part in what is most necessary, to commune with Jesus and train my heart to desire Him first? How often do I not take the time to pray until I’ve truly prayed? How often to I go through the motions during the day and not reflect upon what an awesome thing it is that God would save any of us, let alone that He would save me?

May I develop a right fear of God that leads to a deep reverence and devotion to Him that wells up in a right rejoicing in Him that grows and leads to actions that please Him every day. I’m thankful we got to ponder growing in Godliness this weekend, and I pray it will produce good fruit in the days to come. 

Love Is....

I’ve been thinking about something recently. Have you noticed lately that people in our culture seem to have lost the niceties of social graces? People say whatever pops into their heads, whether it’s appropriate or not, with no thought for how their words may affect the other person. Rudeness reigns. The sad part is that it seems that many do not even realize they are being rude. Then, on the other hand, we also live in the society of the perpetually offended. Everything is seen as an offense, it seems. That can be a rather toxic mix.

Perhaps someone says something that, in my sinful flesh, I find to be rude and have to fight not to take offense, and my unkind gut reaction thought is, “Really, you just met me and you went with that?” Am I going to chose not to be offended and put the best construction on it? Or perhaps someone tailgates me the whole way through the neighborhood when I’m going the speed limit or cuts me off in traffic, and my gut level reaction is a flare of anger. Will I choose to think the best and fight off that unrighteous anger or will I let that anger ruin my afternoon? Or suppose someone says something on my social media feed that just irritates me. Will I scroll on by and ignore it or even say something kind in response, or will I engage in one of those ugly internet comment wars and assume the other person’s intent is evil and insist that I must be right and have the final say? Or, what if someone in my family says or does something that just plain gets up my nose? Will I choose to be offended or lash out in anger or give them the cold shoulder, or will I choose to love and extend grace and seek to look beyond the behavior to the heart and lovingly address heart issues? 

As someone who wants to follow Jesus, and who sees Him as more important than anything else, I don’t have the right to be offended at trivial things, not even at a lapse in social graces. If possible, as much as it depends on me, I must be at peace with all (Romans 12:18-21).  I am not to think more highly of myself than I ought to think (Romans 12:3). Love is to be genuine, and I’m to love others with brotherly affection (Romans 12:9-10). I’m to keep loving one another because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). I’m to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than myself, looking not to my own interests but to also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4). I am to entrust myself in the midst of unjust treatment (real or perceived) to the One who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23).   Preaching the truth to my heart and mind. 

The hard thing of it is, when given the opportunity to remember these things, I find there is still so much of that monster, pride, in my heart. If I’m really honest, deep down I want to say something to correct the rude comment or treatment and to enjoy my self-centered sense of offense and stew over it for a bit or even to exaggerate its offense in my mind. True confession, there is much more of that in me than I want there to be. To walk with Jesus is to die daily to ourselves. In times like this, that self that rears up in me is just downright ugly. But Jesus says we are to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us. (Luke 6:27-28) That little unintentionally rude comment or misbehavior in traffic or internet comment or frustrating behavior was NO WHERE NEAR as bad as any of those things, so who am I to hold a grudge or refuse to overlook it? 

So, in this day of lost social graces on the one hand and perpetual offense on the other, here’s where I must choose to camp and ponder and park: 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong doing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Easy? No, it’s not easy to die to what I want, especially when it’s a deep-seated, self-centered want. But when I am praying for God to lead me in the path of righteousness for His Name’s sake, it is right. How thankful I am for Jesus, my great High Priest who is ever interceding for me. By His grace, and only by His grace can I walk the road He leads me on. And here there is joy. Why joy? Because my ultimate aim is to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called me out of darkness into light. I have received such mercy from God (1 Peter 2:9-10). I have entrusted myself, my wayward, wandering sheep of a self to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul (1 Peter 2:25). Ponder that for a moment. There is joy unspeakable in knowing such a Savior, who has made me clean and who empowers me to slay that monster pride every time it rears its ugly head. And I want other people to know that joy and to walk in His light, too. 

In this day of lost social graces and perpetual offense, let us choose love, the love that dies to self and lives to Christ. 

Treasuring God's Word

Psalm 119:11

"I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you."

Psalm 119:24

"Your testimonies are my delight; 

they are my counselors."

Psalm 119:54

"Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning."

Psalm 119:105

"Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path."

Psalm 119:144

"Your testimonies are righteous forever;

give me understanding that I may live."

Every time I think I'm going to get back to more regular blogging, I seem to let life get in the way. I am in a different season of life than I was when I started this blog almost 11 years ago. And that is ok.  Once I discovered Facebook, I tended to drift over there more and more, finding it more 'social' to a point since the people I interact with there are people I actually know, and somehow in the midst of that, and in the midst of several moves and my children getting older and myself getting older, blogging here has fizzled. I didn't intend that, but here we are.

Anyway, something I'm noticing recently is that I spend too much time scrolling through Facebook and I haven't always been as careful about sharing there as I'd like to be. Between the tremendous time waster I've allowed it to become and the fact that my Facebook feed is often filled with questionable theology and frustrating things to read, I've decided it's time for me to turn it off more often and check it less. I've also found myself in rather a bittersweet time of life as my oldest child is just about to graduate from high school, and in spite of all the wonderful things that come along with that, I am also finding that sometimes at odd moments I'm brought to tears and I struggle to fight for joy in the midst of it all, knowing that God is good and so very kind to His people and that He loves my son oh so very much more than I ever could. I know that every mother probably knows this odd tug at her heart that I am suffering, when her children begin to spread their wings - between the joy of watching them succeed and the memory of all the joys along the way (and sorrows and struggles, too - all the things that have gone into making him who he is today) as you sort through the pictures and memories of the boy he was and the man he is becoming, the tears will fall, but they are good tears, and I think even they are tears stored up in the Lord's bottle. (Psalm 56:8 "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?) Oh, how the Lord knows of my 'tossings' as I've cried out in the night when sleep is fleeting at times.

While thinking all that, I realized I need the discipline of actively putting off time-wasting thoughts and putting on more fruitful thinking. I've noticed that as I've grown more comfortable with my smartphone, I've grown much less able to concentrate on reading or anything else for longer periods of time without 'needing' to check that stupid phone. This is not good. I want to retrain my brain to think more deeply than a Facebook meme and longer than the next 'hit' of scrolling through what people are saying - quite often nothing all that important, it turns out.

I was remembering fondly the time I spent a few years ago memorizing the book of Philippians. At the time I was following a blog that encouraged its community of readers to Partner to Remember and we spent four months together memorizing Philippians. That was such a neat thing. I had never before tried to memorize a long Bible passage like that, and the tips and techniques I learned made it a very enjoyable and challenging experience. While I was working actively to memorize that book, I was constantly going over and over the verses, thinking scripture all the time, and praying scripture, and it was just a sweet thing to be filling my heart and mind with God's Word, and it was also a time of discipline to commit to the long haul and train myself to spend hours and hours memorizing, as I woke up, as I sat, as I walked along the way, and I want that again. It was amazing how often the very verses I was learning would come to mind as counsel and comfort and wisdom in prayer.

So, here's what I've decided to do. I just spent about a week memorizing Psalm 1, and now I'm ready to start working on Colossians, and I thought it might be helpful to type out my plan and share it and encourage anyone who may still be around reading this limping-along little blog to join me.

First, I bought a notebook like this. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, just a cheap little spiral notebook small enough to carry around with you:

Then I copied Psalm 1 into it like this:

I wrote the date I started at the top, and the date I finished that page at the bottom. The method I use for memorizing longer passages is I start with the first verse and read it 10 times, making a mark to the left to keep count. Then I say it over and over until I can say it without mistake before moving to the next verse. Once I have the next verse where I can say it, I put them together until I can say them with no mistakes before moving to the next verse, and so on. When I was memorizing Philippians, I would take a week to work on one page. Once I'd been through the initial process of learning it as I spelled out here, I'd spend the week reviewing that page by saying it over and over anytime I thought of it - while cooking, cleaning, taking a shower, driving - pretty much whenever my brain was idling, I'd spend some of that time reviewing that week's passage. As the weeks went on, I would keep saying the previous weeks while adding the new weeks, so I never let the earlier weeks slip away. By the end I was able to quote the whole book of Philippians. Sadly, I cannot still quote the whole book of Philippians, but it is still very precious to me, and it is one of my long-term goals to review and remember.

Anyway, now that I've worked out Psalm 1, I'm ready to start Colossians. 

Memorizing longer passages is such a great way to get into God's Word and ponder and think through it deeply. I would caution, however, not to take it on merely as a project or a thing to pat yourself on the back for doing or to merely fill your head with knowledge. This isn't a legalistic, check-the-box, do-this-and-you'll-be-some-kind-of-super-saint sort of exercise. It is simply one way to hide God's Word in your heart, to spend time praying as you think about what you're studying for many weeks and to ask God to help you to love Jesus more and apply His word as you spend much time learning it. All with the goal to love Jesus more and to bring Him glory as you take in His word and let it inform your thinking and how you talk with other people, and to lead you to love following Him and obeying that word more fully.

Anyone want to join me in memorizing Colossians? :-)

Scripture Memory

Some time back, I followed Tim Brister’s Partnering to Remember challenge to memorize the book of Philippians. We took sixteen weeks and memorized the entire book of Philippians, as it was broken into segments each week. That was an amazing experience for me, and I’ve intended to try on my own to memorize another book of the Bible sometime. There are significant benefits to memorizing large passages of scripture. 

One benefit is that it encouraged me to really think for a long time on the book of Philippians, in a different way than if I merely read it through a few times. I spent sixteen weeks laboring over hiding those words in my heart and thinking about what they said and what they meant, and that was very, very good for me. Time I might have wasted on mindless things like Facebook games or such was instead devoted to working on memorizing scripture. I had a little notebook that I carried around with me for those sixteen weeks and I referred to it periodically during the day to work on each week's passage, while reviewing what I’d already learned. I even carried that notebook with me to jury duty that winter to study on breaks. 

Another benefit is that I found myself applying things I was pondering and learning and thinking on as situations arose, and I still do. It’s amazing how often what I was memorizing springs to mind even now when it is applicable to something I’m walking through. When you spend time in God’s word, your thinking begins to line up with it, it changes you, and you begin to think biblically, and that is an awesome thing.

Something else I found as I worked through Philippians was that those ‘coffee cup’ verses we all know and love and spout off kind of flippantly often have a much deeper, richer and even vastly different meaning when we read and learn them in context. I can no longer read a verse on a coffee cup or in a status update or on a poster without needing to know the context and actual meaning of the verse. SO many of our pet favorite verses that we flippantly quote often do not mean what we think they mean and should not be used how we use them much of the time. Learning a long passage helps you to understand that vital truth, and encourages you to read more carefully when you read other passages. (As an aside, take Psalm 46:10, for example. It does NOT mean what most people think it means when they quote it, very often. Read that whole Psalm prayerfully and thoughtfully and think about it. That is a verse that I often see taken out of context and it frustrates me a lot.)

So, all that being said, I’m getting ready to start another memory project. I’ve kind of hesitated to do that because I’m scared I’ll forget Philippians after working so hard on it. Silly, I know. Anyway, I’m planning to spend this week reviewing Philippians, and then next week I want to start memorizing Colossians. I have wanted to memorize Colossians ever since I attended a Bible study at my church in South Carolina where our pastor’s wife taught on Colossians and encouraged us ladies to memorize it. She was a big proponent of scripture memory. I didn’t take up the challenge then, but I’ve always wanted to. 

So, I’ve spent the afternoon today trying to figure out how to format a table to make nice little memory pages like I had for Philippians for my notebook. Thanks to my ever-helpful teenage son, I have spent the afternoon typing Colossians into the table he helped me design. I’ll spend this week proof-reading it, and I hope it will fit my little notebook, and I hope to start next Sunday.

 I’ll be using the ESV since that’s what I use these days, and I’ve broken it up into 16 weeks. 

Here’s the method I used last time, and I found it very helpful:

• On the first day of the week read each verse for that week through 10 times each. Then try to say them. Don’t move on to the next verse until you can fairly well say the verse you’re working on. After you learn the next verse, say the first two together before moving on to the third, and so on.

• Each day for the rest of the week, review the verses for that week. Say them several times, referring to the notebook if needed, but really work toward not needing to refer back to it. It worked best for me to do this several times a day, not just sitting with it once. I referred back to the notebook during free moments throughout the day and worked on the week’s verses. At the end of the day, I reviewed it again, and said it with the previous week's verses. Every day make sure you keep reviewing what you’ve already learned as you add new weeks. You’ll end up knowing those first weeks REALLY well.
• The more you review, the more you’ll retain.

Borrowing from the Partnering to Remember project, I use a little 5x7 size notebook like this: 

This method of scripture memory was very meaningful to me and I’m looking forward to starting a new project. 

Anyone want to join me in memorizing Colossians?