This is My Quest

I'm on a quest to study one book of the Bible every month. There are 66 books in the Bible so that will take me 5.5 years. I want to soak in the Word and be transformed.

I have a lot of regrets in my first 35 years of life. I wasted a lot of time and money doing stupid things. I hurt a lot of people because I was so selfish.

I pray that God would grant me another 35 years and this time, I'm going to live my life on purpose. I am no longer a slave to sin, but to righteousness.

Luke 9:62 and Hebrews 12:1 are the verses I'm clinging to at the start of this journey.

The songs that have really spoken to me are "Stronger" and "These Days" by Mandisa  and "Wonderful Cross" by Matt Redman.

I was planning to start this adventure in January - new year, fresh start. I joined a Bible study to help me stay in the Word until my quest began. The study started in Oct. and covered Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. It ends in mid January.

As I got into the study, I thought this is exactly what I was hoping for - a study to help me learn the history and culture around what I was reading. So, since my 35th Birthday was Oct. 1 I thought I might as well start now.

The biggest reason I wanted to wait for January is because I just had my third child on September 18. I figured by January, she would be either sleeping through the night, or getting up only once. I wanted to make sure that I had enough strength to get through the day so that I would be able to open my Bible at night when the kids went to bed instead of crashing at 7:00.

God is my strength. I have been able to keep up with my Bible Study, join a parenting small group with Bob, keep up with the reading for that, and still manage to get some sleep. "Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest," Jesus says.

So, Haggai was my starting place. "Opening the Window of Blessing" by Kay Arthur, Pete De Lacy, and Bob Vereen is the name of our study. It took me to the book of Ezra to get the background for what took place in Haggai. I read it several times in the NIV, New Living, NISB, and the Message. I read all the footnotes and extras in my new Archaeological Study Bible and the New Living (which is also a Recovery Bible for people with addictions). Thank you a million times Paula and Steph for the gift of God's eternal Word!

It was very encouraging to see how much God wanted to bless Israel if they would just obey. He is asking me to obey His calling and promising blessings. There will be opposition - maybe some things that threaten to stop my progress just like the people opposed to the Israelites' building the temple. God says to me just like He said to them, "I am with you."

I've been engaging in praise and worship a lot lately. I keep my ipod filled with Christian music and place it in my newborn's room. When she's having a tough time, I put the earbuds in and sing to her as I praise the Lord. Just giving myself over to praise helps motivate me to open the Bible. Even if I'm so tired, I just can't wait to get the kids down so I can get into the Word.

Sometimes, I study during the day while my 2 and 4-year-old watch TV and the little one sleeps. I'm finding myself looking for moments to be with God. He is blessing me so amazingly already and I have only just begun! I have the time and the energy to engage with Him.

I am overwhelmed at the many things that I would love to share, but I will stop here. My goal is to blog at least once a month if only to give a snippet of what I learned from that month's book and to introduce the next month's book.



I've already started Zechariah in my Bible Study. That will be the book for November. If you would like to join me, let me know and we can share together how God is speaking to us. It's going to be a wild ride!