I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:10-11

Thursday, March 31, 2011

I did it!!!

Last fall a missionary who came to our church for our missions conference really challenged me.  During one of his messsages he held up a Bible and asked 2 questions:

 First question was an easy one...
                           How many of you love this book?
As you might expect almost every hand was up in a flash... of course we are a bible believing church... it is a given we love the Bible!  I grew up singing " The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me!!

  Then came the second question... a humbling one for me.
                       How many of you have read the Bible cover to cover?

My hand went half way up...
      um... I think I have...
             ah... I remember starting many bible reading plans
                         ... uh I went to a Bible Institute for 2 years so I must have...
                                                                           I shamefully put my hand down...

Around the same time the Lord had been speaking me in other areas of my life about being more intentional about how I live my life.  So I added intentionally reading the bible to my list.  I started a reading plan through Youversion reading key verses of the bible in 100 days.  I had started so many times to read through the Bible in a year and I always failed... before I was out of Leviticus.  So I thought this key passage plan would be great.. and it was... I finished it on December 31st.  But I still couldn't answer affirmatively that I had read the entire Bible cover to cover.  Then I found this website...
a group of women who were planning to read the entire Bible in 90 days?  90DAYS?? Are you kidding me??  I really felt the Lord telling me to sign up.

"Lord, you do remember I am the mom of 4 small kids right?"   
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
"Um, Lord, that is going to take me about 45 mins to an hour a day- I already need more hours in the day!"
 "I created time"
Ah, one more thing.. Marcus is still not sleeping through the night... it's going to be hard to get up every morning...
 " I will sustain you."

After awhile you come to your senses and remember that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to argue with God!

So I signed up.

And, you know what?

God really did sustain me!

There were mornings that I ( not a morning person) sprung out of bed because I was excited to get on with my reading.

There were weeks that I fell behind by almost a full week but God provided the time for me to catch up.

There were passages of the Bible, some familiar, some challenging, that came alive like never before.

It was within these 3 months that Marcus started sleeping through the night.... God rewards our faithfulness.

Was it easy?  NO.  Was it worth it. ABSOLUTELY!!

Would you like to read through the Bible in 90 daysMom's Toolbox will be hosting the challenge again in July.  Check it out here!  Go For It... it will change your life!!

4 comments:

  1. I just started a read through the Bible program with an accountability partner! Already the benefits/blessings have been great!

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  2. Rusheika well done!! May you be truly blessed by all you have read and may God continue to bless you along your journey.

    Love the "new look" of your blog too (where did you find the time for THAT!?)

    Please bear with the "tortoise" as she finishes up the bible in approximately 130 days :D

    xx

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  3. Wow - it is wonderful to hear how God sustained you through this - He is so good!

    Congratulations on a job well done!

    Your fellow Spring '11 grad,
    Shawntele

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  4. Congrats!! It's amazing how, when we set our minds to do something, God paves the way for us to reach our goal. :)

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