I'm finished

with reading through the whole Bible that is. I started on July 11th with Amy at Mom's Toolbox and the others who took the challenge and finished in 85 days. I can't say it was easy, but I can say that I was determined. I had several different things that seemed to want to get in my way. Both my son and I were sick for a few weeks, my hubs had two different car accidents within a month, we had to evacuate for a hurricane and drove to my mom's 8 hours away in WV, and there were sometimes when I was just too tried to do reading. But I pushed through. Even when I was more than a week behind (which was after the hurricane), I still pushed through and finished earlier than I had hoped for. The Devil threw in many obstacles, but I wasn't going to give up this time. The first time I had tried to participate in the B90days challenge, I threw in the towel within a few weeks. The stress of a newborn (well he was 2-3 months old at the time) and hubs being underway just wasn't cutting it for me and my heart wasn't really in it.

This time around was different, I was ready to open my heart to God and His Word. I had recently found a church and had started getting involved in bible studies and getting to learn more about my faith that I said I held on to, but really didn't know much about. I use to be a C and E kind of girl ( ya know the ones that only go to church on Christmas and Easter), but even with that I hadn't been to church in a really long time. I felt something was missing in my life and I just couldn't place it. I had a wonderful husband and son, great friends, but there was just something not there. So I found a church and started out slow and then last month we (hubs and I) joined. I was even baptized there in July (which was an amazing event for me). But I still wanted more. I knew that Amy had done the B90days challenges before so I looked when the next one was and made up my mind that I was going to do it. I had recently even bought a NIV Study Bible ( among other bibles that I had recently obtained) and wasn't really wanting to buy another bible (if hubs had his way I'm sure I wouldn't have). But I bought the Bible in 90 days bible, which was great to use since it was a much larger print that the other bibles I have. (Plus I had intended on walking on the treadmill while reading, but that didn't happen).

Like I said before, it wasn't an easy task, but it was something that I wanted to do for some time. And now I can say I read it the whole way through. I finally know some of the stories I had heard about growing up, and got to meet new people (Deborah,  the many kings of Israel and Judah), I learned about the tribes of Israel, (which in VBS I was apart of the Issacar tribe), and learned all the laws that had started with Moses. It's so wonderful to know the histories and to be able to say "Yes I know about that."

As for what I'm going to next, I don't know. I would love to help out as a mentor the next time around. But as for now, I'm going to find a good devotional and keep on reading God's Word every day. I fell in love with it, even if at times it was  hard to read. I encourage everyone who has yet to read the Bible to do so, if takes you 90 days or a year or longer, it is something that can change your life.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT