Blog

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”

A line from a poem that I was assigned to memorize in elementary school, and a principle that I’ve grown to live by.  So here goes another try at getting my thoughts on paper in a coherent manner and using them to blog consistently!!!

While I haven’t met my goal of blogging consistently yet, the one thing in my life that I have been doing consistently is taking the First 5 challenge.  Proverbs 31 ministries created this fabulous app called First5, and each day I’m using it to work my way through the Bible one chapter at a time.  I’ve used other devotionals and read through the Bible in a year challenges, but I felt like I was just checking a task off of my to-do list.  For the last year, I’ve made it my goal to get up at the same time almost every day, feed the dog, grab my tea, and sit down with my Bible, notebook and First5 app.

I can honestly say that I’ve gotten more out of my Bible reading this last year than at any other time in my life!  I finally grew more tired of going through my days never making time with God a priority than having a few extra minutes of sleep.  Matthew 5 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is alive and active.  As I consistently dragged myself out of bed each morning this last year, God has opened His Word to me in such a new and surprising and life-giving way!

I’ve also returned to reading from my printed Nelson Study Bible rather than reading from a digital copy of the Bible.  I don’t know why, but it’s so much richer this way!  I also like that with a study Bible, you get more context from each verse because it gives additional information not provided in the text, or explains a tradition, or ties it into another portion of scripture that explains the meaning more clearly.

When I’m done reading through the chapter of the day, I open my First5 app for a teaching that explains how those principles written thousands of years ago still apply to life today!  It’s like the cherry on top of a yummy bowl of my favorite ice cream!

If you don’t have a Bible reading plan or you’re not loving the plan you are using, I encourage you to visit your app store or check out first5.org!  We are currently studying the book of Joshua and it’s “oh so good!”