Not Who I Was Yesterday

After a very busy, ministry-filled summer, I have a gift for you! The first half of this post is a Bible Study Guide for personal use or Small Group use. The second part will share what I learned when my Bible told me to shut up! I am a Bible colorer. Not like the pretty Bible journaling you may have seen, but I mark it up as I read. I have ADD, and while I love to read, I found myself reading entire passages and having no idea what I’d just read because I was also thinking about my to-do list. So I started reading with a box of colored pencils at hand. As I read, I look for things I may come back to, and things that were significant for any number of reasons. This all started when I was learning inductive Bible study from Kay Arthur’s books and found that marking Scripture made focus much easier. So a while ago I was reading through Proverbs and found that I was marking pretty much every verse, which leads to pretty pages but nothing standing out. A few chapters in, I...

Oh, how this verse has ministered to my soul! In January of 2018, my son swore into the U.S Navy. I was filled with pride followed by waves of fear and worry. That's when God whispered the promise found in Joshua 1:9 right to my spirit. Be strong and courageous, for I am with you wherever you go...  I am with him wherever he goes. I needed those words that day. I needed to be reminded of what I already knew: that I can trust God with my children's futures. I can trust that He loves them even more than I do and that He knows the perfect plan for them. That's a promise I cling to and God helps me to do that without living in fear. For a good while, I saw that verse everywhere - it was quoted in sermons, mentioned on the radio, painted on signs all over, printed on t-shirts... everywhere! After a while, either my sensitivity lessened, or it really did lose frequency, but I didn't see it as often. Like manna, it was there when I needed it. It turns out that l...