My B-I-B-L-E

Good morning, family and friends! I sure hope this post finds you all joyful and having a lovely week thus far.
I may look all refreshed and ready for my day in that picture, but you should have seen me this morning! Holy moly! I was a mess. I went to bed late last night (like 11:00 ish...that's late for me) and I woke up at 5:30 in the AM.

Why so early? you ask? I've decided that this guy...
...has collected way too much dust from Monday to Saturday, so I'm going to start waking up before I do anything else and getting in the word. My usual schedule in the morning is to wake up around 6:15, eat a quick breakfast, leave the house by 7:00 to get to the gym, come home around 9:00 ish, walk Leia, get ready, piddle and go to work. No where in there have I dedicated any time in the Word. That's got to change.

Let's take a look at my Bible. I love it. It's been a great Bible for me.

First of all, I realize that the name engraved on my Bible is still my maiden name. I don't care to get a new Bible with my married name because I LOVE my Bible! Maybe one day, we'll engrave my new name above the one already there :)

This is the Bible that I use:

The New Inductive Study Bible. This is a FABULOUS Bible if you really want to dig deep into the Word and study the scriptures, learn about the people written in here, see maps and more. I love this Bible.

Right when you open it, it tells you all about what this Bible is about. How New American Standard is written, how to study, where to take notes, and so on.

I love that "Step 1" says to "Begin with Prayer":
Sadly, that's the part I forget quite often. I forget to pray that God's word will sink into my heart and mind. I forget to pray for God to allow me to live out His Word. Shame on me. Step 1 needs to be prayer.

One of the best parts of this Bible is the system for marking key words:
I use pens that are "Bible proof", so they don't bleed at all. And I mark important synonyms, pronouns and other words like: God, holy, blood, sin, pray, Israel and times. I'm such a visual person, so this is PERFECT for me! When I mark things in my Bible, my eyes are quickly drawn to the colors and words and I'm reminded what they mean.

Here's an example page:
A little closer:

A few years ago, when I lived in the Chi Omega house, I started studying the Bible chronologically, but then I got in a rut and stopped. Well, I'm out of that rut and am ready to get back in the Word. So I'm just going to start over from the Beginning, marking my way through the Bible and gaining a better understanding of God's Word.

This morning, I read Genesis 1, 2 and 3. It's amazing how many times I've read those three chapters and yet I'm still learning. I'd love to share a few things with you that I learned this morning:

Genesis 1:1

*From what we see of heaven and earth, we learn from the power of the great Creator. Our duty as Christians is to keep Heaven in our eye and earth under our feet.

Genesis 2:2

*God did not rest as one weary, but as one well pleased.

Genesis 2:8-9

*Eden signifies delight, pleasure and innocence. In these 2 trees, God set before Adam good and evil, the blessing and the curse.

Genesis 2:15

*We were not sent to the world to be idle. There is true pleasure in the business God calls us to, and employs us in. He that will not work has no right to eat.

Genesis 3:1-5

*From the beginning, the Devil was a murderer and a great mischief maker. It is the craft of Satan to speak of the Divine law as uncertain or unreasonable, and so to draw people to sin; it is our wisdom to keep up a firm belief of God's command and a high respect for it.

I hope you all learned something new this morning, like I did.

God bless you all and have a wonderful day! Love you.