Important Anniversary

Today is an important anniversary for me. I'm not dating anyone so it's not that kind of anniversary...and it isn't my parent's anniversary either. Today is an important anniversary because one year ago today I started to read my Bible every single morning.

I should probably start this story at the beginning, with my Journal. Early on in 2010 I got a small Bible Reading Journal, I decided that it would be a good idea to read a chapter of my Bible every day and then write out one of the verses that I came across. And so, in February 2010 my first entry was written. I decided that I would do these devotions in the evening because I didn't think I would have enough time in the morning (I was more of an evening person). As the months went on, I did my devotions sporadically at best. It wasn't that I didn't want to study my Bible, the desire was there; the problem was that I stayed up late and was often too exhausted to read my Bible clearly; like what Jesus had said to the disciples in Gethsemane, my "spirit was willing enough" but my "flesh was weak". Things continued like this for a couple of months that year until I started working at Camp.

While I was working at camp, they encouraged us to really dig into the word and I found a good time in the morning where I could read my Bible almost every day. This worked great for me at camp but after camp was over and on the weekends when I was off, I was still slacking on my reading. I tried and tried for several months to read the Bible like I did when I was working at camp but I was still failing and reading even less than I did before. By December 2010 I was getting pretty desperate and discouraged, I wanted to read the Bible so badly but I still seemed to have trouble finding the time. It was then that I tried doing something I hadn't thought of doing for the entire year, I prayed for God's help in that area so that I could read his word every day like I had longed to for so very long.

On December 10th I woke up like any other normal day, but then I took the time to read my devotion from the book of Romans. The next day amazingly I did the same thing, and the next day and the day after that- I even remembered to read on Christmas! Every day, before I even opened my Bible I would pray for God to open up his word from me so that I could truly understand it and to help me to continue reading every day, then I would read my chapter and write down one verse that I chose from it.

There were several things that I noticed as I began reading my Bible every day, the first thing came at Bible study, in previous years there was a person in my class who would quote many scriptures that were related to the lesson we were studying, but when I sat there in class I simply didn't know what scriptures he was quoting or where they were in the Bible. This year as I read my Bible every day I was able to do the same thing, often quoting related verses from memory. It was an amazing transformation! Aside from being helpful in class, I found that these verses that I remembered from devos were amazingly encouraging to other people, and even to me.

For example, in the spring I went on a trip to Canada to visit some relatives. I had a good time and was in the airport for my return trip when suddenly a huge blizzard came and grounded all outgoing flights. At the back of my mind I knew that the airlines worked very hard to get people on another flight if something happens, but at the time that didn't matter. I desperately wanted to be home and I was worried that I would be stranded at that airport forever. Even with all these fears and anxieties crowding my thoughts, a verse came to mind:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7) This verse was exactly what I needed, it gave me peace to wait and with the help of my Dad, being stranded in Burlington for two days actually wound up being quite fun "mini vacation"!I have learned so many things through my Bible in this short year. I learned that God chose me and has a plan for me and that he will never abandon me. I learned that trials are also a sign of God's love because they exist to bring us closer to him. I learned that things work out a lot better if you turn all the control over to God, that way you don't crash whenever you try to take back control. I learned that God is the one I should lean on for confidence and that he is the strength in my sometimes obvious weaknesses.This year has changed me more than I could be able to figure out and this is all because of the constant influence of God's holy word.When this first started I had to remember to read to Bible and I often had to force myself out of all the distractions of life. While I do still get distracted sometimes, I have found some new priorities in my life. Reading my Bible every morning has become more important to me than a good night's sleep, breakfast or even hygiene. This is not to say that these things aren't important (Or that I don't find the time these important things too) but just that the Bible became even more important to me, like Job says: "I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." (Job 23:12)I totally recommend that you read your Bible everyday, it is certainly worthwhile and has changed my year (And my life) for the better. It can be really hard and the only way I know to even start reading every day is to pray to God for help. It is a really worthwhile journey and I suggest that you start ASAP, you won't regret it!