Years ago I began to read the Bible. My Bible. And with intention.
I purposed to finish it all, a chapter a day.
There are one thousand one hundred and eighty-one chapters in the Bible.
I confess, some days I forget. Some mornings I don't do it. Sometimes I don't care enough. But this morning I did, and this morning I finished Nahum. Which means that I am five books away from finishing the old testament.
Can I tell you friends, I am changing? I am. It's so clear now, these last few days especially though. I am so different, so much more a woman than I have ever been. I am hidden, hidden in Him, my carpenter.
I am rescued.
And so apparently, so obviously.
I hummed praise songs under my breath as I rode my bicycle home from the grocery store tonight. Oregon chai, peppermint tea, and a package for A underneath my arm. The roads slick with the southern Oregon rain still hanging in the air. The mountains wrapped in thick grey blankets. It was beautiful.
I celebrated.
Being this close to finishing the first part of something I started so long ago reminds me that I have not always been who I am right now. I was kind of a little lost before. But now I am found. Now I have been so gorgeously found. And I am cherished, I am loved, I am adored, I am pursued.
I'm in the cleft of the rock, and if you've never been there, let me tell you, it is a breathtaking place. It is a solace, a have, a safe place, a home.
Loving Jesus is like coming home.
I do this thing (+ have done it for a bit now,) where I mark your posts as "unread" in my Bloglovin' feed directly after I've read them once through. I do that so every time I go to scroll through the feed, your posts will still pop up (both new + old), because they're that good. I want to reread them, and reread them often. I don't do that with any other blog. All this to say, I cherish your words greatly. Every time.
ReplyDeleteI remember sitting under a mosquito net in Mozambique a little over two years ago, trying to read the Bible from beginning to end. I never finished it that summer, but the refreshment I experienced was unlike anything I had ever met before. For once, it was something I looked forward to doing. Truth would spill in + out of my heart. And I want that back. Guess what I did last week? I purchased a new Bible. It is red, soft, and a perfect size. I already had a Bible (a few, actually), but I purchased it in hopes that maybe a new one would help stir up the hunger to read it again. I'm realizing not even a pretty cover can do that. I KNOW I cannot leave without fresh manna, yet I tend to choose to live off of crumbs. Do you mind praying for me, Bella? For discipline to be built + a hunger to be restored.
Thank you for your friendship, beautiful!
You make me want to cry Erika. Your friendship is becoming so sweet to me.
ReplyDeleteI love you. I love your stories. I love your heart. I love your soul.
I'll pray for you, as I pray for you often anyway. You have a page in my prayer journal, just so you know. I wrote those two requests in there this morning + handed them up to the Father.
You will grow. I promise that to you.