EDIT AGAIN!: Genius. just genius. Why didn't I see this before?! aigooo. Pastor John Piper's recommendations for Bible Reading Plans. Never too late to start one! =)

wish list? def. the ESV study bible...

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EDIT: I read this after I listened to the sermon. The Word is also a SWORD.

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AHH.. i am so convicted.
all that i'm trying to "solve".. these "heart matters" are gonna remain as individual puzzle pieces unless i go to the Word and find out what GOD wants of me. what kind of restoration GOD has planned for me. only through the Word can i put together these puzzle pieces.

i wrote in my journal at AF1 that if there's one thing i want my small group girls to get out of the retreat, i want it to be that the Word needs to be like an extension of their hand. i bought them these twistable crayons (which i am in love with, by the way) to make reading the Word more interesting, if you will. for me, i like to highlight as i go along, it helps me remember bc i'm a visual learner. for them, it may be coloring-your-Bible-101, but at least they'll know why they received the crayons.

i also asked myself, why do i want them to grasp this truth?
i see my life as a biiig jigsaw puzzle. as i live each day, every person i encounter, each gift i receive, every prayer lifted up, etc. is a puzzle piece that is added to this entire jigsaw puzzle. some things are in my control (what time i wake up, choosing to walk to my next class, doing my QT) and some things just aren't (what the pastor will speak about on sunday morning, a car accident that i read about in the news, etc). but ultimately, i know that my life is NOT in my own hands. it is in God's hands. and if i try to put this puzzle together w.o His wisdom, then it's gonna turn out to be one ugly, messed-up puzzle. His WORD helps me to complete this puzzle to put the right pieces in their respective places. We have SO many questions about life and we don't know how to go about answering them. look! it's all in the Bible. if you didn't know, it's because you're not reading it.

lately, i haven't been memorizing the Bible. But listening to Pastor John Piper's message on John 15:1-7, i have been convicted to start it up again. i encourage you to also listen/watch it. He opened the sermon by reciting the following passages: Psalm 1, Psalm 16, Psalm 103, Romans 5:1-8, Romans 8, Matthew 6:25-34, I Corinthians 13. He just kept on reciting for about 15 minutes. It was incredible. Word for word, he knew all those passages.

more than just reading and paraphrasing, we must know and understand God's WORD because it is life-giving and is a powerful weapon against the evil one. (Pastor John Piper gives many more reasons why we should memorize Scripture).


thank you Lord for growing in me everyday.