Happy New Year!
This time of the year can seem a little stressful for some people and exciting for others. I suppose it's all perspective and whether or not you partake in the "new year resolution" pressure. I stopped doing them a LONG time ago because there wasn't one promise that I made to myself that I kept!
Some of you may know that myself, along with Jon Olson aka @jonsjourney, created The Kingdom here on Hive to have a place where we could study the Bible and have open, honest conversations about our faith in Jesus. We also have a discord channel (you can check it out here) where we once held weekly Bible studies on various topics.
Then....we let life happen! Jon and his wife and children made a move across the country to a different time zone! And I went and had a baby! So we haven't quite been able to figure out the weekly Bible study when it comes to scheduling....yet!
But in the mean time....
Jon had a brilliant idea to get us back into the word of God, as a group. It kind of goes along with the New Year Resolution thing too (if you're into that!). He suggested we read the Bible, cover to cover, as a group. We can recap daily or weekly here at The Kingdom or in Discord. You could also do video posts as Jon did. I'll definitely be trying to do some of those!
For myself, I know that I won't be able to commit to a daily post. I am a stay at home Mom to 3 and that's my full time job. No excuses but they come first, so finding the time to write or record a video is challenging at times. I can however commit to a couple of recaps a week.
I really like this style because it allows us to have a little bit of freedom when it comes to our study schedule.
We're using the Bible app which you can get on your smart phones or use their website if you're not into apps on a phone. You can simply go to www.bible.com and create an account. It's completely free and really simple to use and has just about every translation that exists! The plan we're using is called Eat This Book: One Year Bible with Daily Psalm.
I've personally done this plan in the past. It's a great one! It is a big commitment because it's 3 chapters and 1 Psalm every day but what a great habit to get yourself into, right?
So....here's my recap for the first couple of days in the plan:
We're in the book of Genesis and I absolutely adore this book. Every time I read it, I learn something or take something from it that I hadn't thought of before. This very thing happened to me this past Sunday as I was driving to church. God opened my heart to hear something in a way that I hadn't heard before. Thank you, God!
I was alone in my car and listening to worship music. Earlier that morning I had read the first 3 chapters of our plan; so it was in my head as I was listening to one particular song called "Great Are You Lord" and the first verse says this,
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
And great are You, Lord
Then it goes into the chorus:
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
That first line in chorus reminded me of what I had just read in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 that says, "Then the LORD God formed man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being."
I wept. When I say I wept, I mean I went full on into the ugly cry. I almost had to pull the van over. It hit me in a way that I had never thought of before....
God literally breathed His breath into us and we are alive. It's HIS breath in our lungs. How many times do we take each breath for granted? I mean, really, when was the last time you stopped and took notice of your breath? Or even thought of it? The very fact that we breathe is a miracle given by God.
So this year, I didn't give a resolution but right there in that moment, I said a prayer to God and I praised Him for giving me breath in my lungs and asked that in 2023 and beyond, He help me to remember not to take each breath for granted. To help me use that breath to sing praise and give glory to His mighty name and to help spread the gospel.
I give 2023 to God and say use me, Lord! I am yours!
