Month: November 2019

Categories
All 66 Books

All 66 Books: Philippians

Need some background info on this series? See here and here.

I was thinking about which book to start with and thought it would be Genesis.  I realize that most people that are going to read their Bibles begin at the beginning and try and read it through.  But if you are anything like me, you don’t make it very far.  The same could be said for the Gospels.  I’ve read the four Gospels so many times because I go into it with good intentions, but for some reason, I never could finish through John.  I also know how important a sense of accomplishment is for our desire to continue something.  So I am starting with the first book I did.  Philippians. I attended the Enjoy God’s Word Conference by Katie Orr, and her keynote messages were on Philippians.  I felt like it was a good time to read the book before going into the messages.  I also did the summer study she had through Facebook.  According to Crossway, it takes 14 minutes to read the four chapters in Philippians.

Just a reminder, it’s best to let scripture interpret scripture. I like these resources because they help me better understand scripture, but I may not agree with everything they say. As in all things, pray and invite God to help you in your time of reading and studying. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and use discernment when using resources outside of the Bible itself. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NIV)

Here are some additional resources I recommend looking into after you read Philippians through on your own:

The Bible Project

One of the first resources I found a couple of years ago, The Bible Project, provides visuals for each book of the Bible. They have playlists on so many topics, including How to Read the Bible, Word Studies, and themes.

Precept For Life/Inductive Bible Study

I found the Inductive Bible Study method on Pinterest, and my research led me to Kay Arthur.  The videos are a little aged, but the information is still excellent.  Art Journaling in the Bible is all the rave nowadays, but as someone with no artistic bone in my body, I enjoy the simplicity of the symbols she uses.

Philippians/Count It All Joy Kay Arthur Study (I can’t embed the videos but here is a link to all of them)

BibleTalk.TV

BibleTalk.TV is another source that goes deeper into each book of the Bible, verse by verse.  Mike Mazzalongo is easy to understand in his descriptions yet detailed enough to be an accurate deep-dive study for beginners.

Leave me a comment below if you have taken the 14 minutes to read Philippians.  Do you know any other great resources for this book?  Leave them below!

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.

Categories
Book Review Family Book Review Finance Book Review

Book Review: The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma

Title: The 5 AM Club

Author: Robin Sharma

Genre: Fiction/Self Help/Business

Publisher: Harper Collins

Rating: Related imageRelated imageRelated imageRelated imageRelated image

 

This post was originally posted as a guest post on TwentyFourDoors.com.  Check them out as they connect Millenials to information from homeownership to starting an Airbnb.  Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

This review has taken me a long time to write mostly because I just wanted to sit with the lessons I learned from this book forever.  Without a doubt, this is my favorite book that I have read.  Ever.  This book makes me meditate for long moments and reflect and plan.  This book has sparked ideas.  This book helped me revive some things that I thought were dead.  This book has made me emotional.  This book has just done so much for me. Initially, I read it during my Sabbatical earlier this year via Libby (available to read via Kindle app).  At that time, I knew it had the potential to be life-changing, and I decided to order a physical copy to read again.  Which I did at the end of the summer.  A chapter a day.  Taking my time and highlighting.  Writing out my thoughts as I journaled.  I did not want to finish this book ever.  I’ve never been one to re-read books, and I’ve found a handful this year that I wouldn’t mind reading twice.  But this is the first book that I knew there was a high probability that I would be reading it yearly.

My Thoughts:

The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma is the first and only book of his that I read.  I don’t even remember how I came across it.  I’ve never heard of him before and didn’t even have this book on my radar.  But something made me borrow it on Libby when I saw it.  While this is every bit of a self-help and business book, the story is told as fiction.  Sharma uses the story of the Spellbinder, the Billionaire, the Entrepreneur, and the Artist to share with his readers the way to Own Your Morning and Elevate Your Life by joining the 5 AM Club.  Warning…I can’t help but include spoilers in this review, and I include a trigger warning for a brief mention of suicidal thoughts.

We are introduced to the Entrepreneur who is currently going through a crisis with her business.  She is being pushed out of the company that she started by her investors, and it has her contemplating suicide. As she is doing this, she catches a glance of a conference ticket that she was gifted for the Spellbinder.  She decides that even though she doesn’t believe in these types of conferences, that this is her last chance.  She goes and starts to listen to the Spellbinder, an older, well-dressed man who is a master of his trade in leadership and inspiration.  While speaking, you can tell that he isn’t looking too well, and he eventually collapses on stage, bringing the conference to an end.

Staying for a while after the collapse, the Entrepreneur is sitting next to the Artist. They strike up a conversation and are soon interrupted by a homeless guy.  They start talking about the memorable moments of the session.  The homeless guy starts to go into in-depth details about how the Spellbinder has inspired him and gives hints to what he has been able to accomplish.  The Entrepreneur almost immediately starts judging and doubting him based on how he looks.  Eventually, he offers them an opportunity to come to his beachside place the next morning to begin to discuss the ideas that he has learned to help own his morning and elevate his life.  They both take him up on his offer to meet him back at 5 AM, but they doubt seriously that he will show up, let alone that they will be getting on a jet.

But the next morning, when they go to meet him, they are greeted by a car that indeed, takes them to a jet, and sure enough, they are taken away to this beachside residence.  They see who they think is the Homeless man standing on the beach and go to him, only to find out it is the Spellbinder, who happens to be Mr. Riley’s (the Homeless man who will now be called the Billionaire) friend and mentor.  He is at the residence to refresh and vacation after passing out from exhaustion on stage. Mr. Riley meets them and then explains he will teach them different lessons each morning they meet at 5 AM.  While the Spellbinder is an older gentleman who is calm and pushing the later part of life, Mr. Riley is an eccentric middle-aged man who is quirky enough to bust out in pushups or start yodeling mid-conversation.  He keeps both the Entrepreneur and the Artist on their toes and laughing throughout the whole adventure. They travel to different places to get some of the lessons and are quickly becoming members of the 5 AM Club.

The Entrepreneur is almost the main character.  The storyline follows her from her potential suicide attempt to being threatened by her investors that are trying to take over her company.  Her goals go from preventing the takeover to truly living a happy life so she can be the best entrepreneur there is.  The Artist seems to want to be understood. He follows the typical artist lifestyle where he wants to create what he wants and have others love it.  Unexpectedly, the two end up starting a relationship and falling in love.  While this story isn’t a major theme in the book, it is still there and, in my opinion, not necessary to teach us any of the lessons.  But I am sure the purpose is to remember that becoming better at your business or craft, isn’t what life is all about.  It’s important to enjoy life and enjoy it with those around us.  Eventually, they get married, and the vacation has to come to an end.  But they are officially members of the 5 AM Club.  The epilogue gives you an update on everyone five years later (and be prepared to cry).

This is one of those books where you have to wait to get most of the information.  While the text was full of amazing quotes (and hard not to highlight whole pages), some chapters didn’t actually “teach” me anything towards the 5 AM Club.  Plus, I found myself asking when will we get to the part that shows us WHAT to do at 5 AM quite a bit.  Even the Artist asked it a couple of times in the book.  One thing that came out of this book for me was a list of people I wanted to learn more about.  Lately, it seems to be a theme for me to encounter books that talk a lot about or quote a lot of other people.  Some of the people I am familiar with like Rose Parks, Picasso, Albert Einstein, and Nelson Mandela.  Others I have either never heard of or heard of them in passing like Rumi, Charles Bukowski, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Since I am always interested in learning, I realized that I could learn more about these people and their practices since they were significant enough to get mentioned in some of the books I am loving.  I created a list in Evernote “People to Look Up” and am adding a goal to my Year of Healthy to try and learn about someone new once a week.  I imagine this will open up a wealth of resources to me.

While reading this book, I had no choice but to think of each stage of my life.  I can see clearly where I made mistakes, and I better understand how they happened.  I see ways that I self-sabotaged myself when I was doing great.  This book is going to be a major part of my Year of Healthy with all of the nuggets on goal setting and habit building.  And it’s not just the getting up at 5 AM.  It’s what you do during what Sharma calls your Victory Hour that makes a difference.  Here are some things that I will be trying from the book:

~ The Victory Hour – Investing sixty minutes in developing my best self and my greatest skills

~ Intense Visualization – envision what your perfect day should look like and then go out and try to live that day

~ Eliminate distractions, especially during your Victory Hour

~ Morning Routine: Move, Reflect, Grow (the 20/20/20 Formula)

~ Exercise and sweat hard, journal/meditate/plan/pray, read/listen/study

~ Evening Routine: No technology, time with family, reading, winding down, prepare for the morning

~ For 90 days, invest the first 90 minutes of your workday on just one activity (the 90/90/1 Rule)

~ Work for 60 minutes without moving, then spend 10 minutes refueling (the 60/10 Method)

Here are some great lessons and quotes from the book

~ All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.

~ To have the results the top 5% of producers have, you must start doing what 95% of people are unwilling to do.

~ When you feel like surrendering, continue.

~ To double your income and impact, tripe your investment in two core areas – your personal mastery and your professional capability. (the 2x3x Mindset)

~ With better daily awareness you can make better daily choices, and with better daily choices you’ll start seeing better daily results. (the 3 Step Success Formula)

~ …if you want to be the best in the world…you need to put in enormous amounts of practice time to advance your expertise.  Specifically, a performer must invest at least two hours and forty-four minutes of daily improvement on their chosen skill for ten years.

~ Enhancing anything in your day, ranging from your morning routine to a thought pattern to a business skill to a personal relationship, by only 1% delivers at least 30% elevation only a month from starting.  Stay with the program and, in just one year, the pursuit you’ve been focusing on has elevated 365% at least.

~ Personal discipline is a muscle.  The more you stretch it, the stronger it grows.

~ Increasing self-control in one area of your life elevates self-control in all areas of your life.

~ The way you practice in private is precisely the way you’ll perform once you’re in public.

I could list so many more great lessons and things that I want to start implementing, but you would be reading forever, and I want you to grab a copy of the book and read it for yourself.  I couldn’t help but give this book a 5-star rating.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  If you have read it already, let me know some of your favorite parts in the comments below.

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.

 

Categories
All 66 Books

All 66 Books: Getting Started

Need to catch up? Read here.

Resources

While on my Sabbatical, I decided to retake a look at the resources; the ones I previously found (The Bible Project, BibleTalk.TV, and Precepts For Life) and ones that I recently discovered.  The first resource I looked into was some free classes offered by Dallas Theological Seminary.  I remembered how much I loved the overall Bible class that I took in college, so I decided to start with “Can You Trust The Bible.”  The course gives a breakdown of how we got the Bible and how it was canonized.  Then I took “How to Read the Bible Like A Seminary Professor.” I felt like it was time to dive into their classes on the books of the Bible and randomly picked Romans.  It only covered the first eight chapters, but I read those chapters while completing the course, and it was what I used to do a more in-depth study.  At this time, I also realized that if I wanted to connect with God, I needed to do a better job of reading His Word daily.  Somewhere in all my searching, I came across the fact that Psalm 119 was the longest chapter in the Bible, and it also happened to be all about God’s Word.  I started to read this chapter as part of my daily reading slowly.  The next resource, while not typical, was Letters To The Church by Francis Chan. This book was eye-opening for me.  It explained how different our churches today (specifically western churches) are from the first-century churches and what Jesus wanted.  I couldn’t tell you anything about what the church should look like because I barely made it past the Gospels when it came to reading the New Testament.

Around the same time, I found this fantastic infographic from Crossway on Thankful Homemakers Podcast that outlined the amount of time it took to read each of the books and the major sections of the Bible.  I could spend anywhere between 2 minutes and a little less than 5 hours and read whole books of the Bible. I realized that one thing the resources had in common is they made me want to jump in and read the Bible.  Full passages, whole chapters, entire books.  I no longer wanted to read one verse and then read someone else’s thoughts about that verse.  I wanted to see what the Word of God said for itself.  And this infographic made me realize that it wasn’t as daunting as I thought.  Especially if I just dive in and start reading. So I began to do just that.  I sat a goal for myself to sit and read a book of the Bible in as few sessions as possible.  And I started with the New Testament.  I wanted to know what Jesus said His church should look like.  What are things I should be doing as a Christian?

I want to be very clear; this is not my Bible study.  That is something that I do only after I read the books as a part of what I’m affectionately calling #All66Books. Reading each book in as few sittings as possible helps you grasp a better understanding of the theme of the book and how it fits into the whole narrative of the biblical story.  Which then makes it easier to know which book God may be leading you to study later.

A few things I’ve noticed:

  • The more I prioritized God’s Word, the more time He gave me for other things.
  • I do actually have time to read the Bible.
  • My vision became clear.  Things I wasn’t sure of, I was able to hear from God more clearly on.
  • I can easily recognize when someone is saying something that isn’t biblical truth.

 

The reverse is true, as well.  When I walk away from my Bible for a few days, maybe only looking at 1-2 verses, I feel like I am losing time, and I am not listening to God as well.  My days don’t flow right.  Remember in the last post when I was talking about it was the church that was teaching me how to be a “good Christian”?  By reading the Bible for myself, I learned how wrong I was in that way of thinking.  The fruit of my obedience comes from my relationship with Christ that grows the more I am reading and understanding His Word.  My prayers, my worship, my generosity, my relationships all grow from my connection to God through His Word.

But overall, I know how overwhelming and daunting it was to simply just start reading the Bible.  My first recommendation is to grab a regular Bible and read a book through.  You don’t NEED any of the additional resources to start reading the Bible.  What I found is, sometimes having all of those extra resources was actually preventing me from merely reading God’s Word.  I felt I didn’t have time. I thought it was too much work. I felt like I didn’t understand any of it.  It wasn’t until I just simply read what God’s Word said that I began to see the bigger picture. Then and only then, did I start using additional resources.  I want to share what I have found that now helps me after I have read each book.  Whether it’s me just trying to get more of the Word in my day or if I’m ready to dive a little deeper into each book.  I’ll share what I’ve tried, what stuck, and what didn’t.  There are so many resources and different ways to study the Bible.  If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to try something else.

I hope you can join me on this journey.  Leave me a comment if you are getting started with reading the Bible and what you feel like your biggest challenges are.  Stay tuned for next week, where we jump into the book of the Bible that I read first.

*Come back to this post where I will link future post for each book/section of the Bible*

Old Testament | Genesis | Exodus | Leviticus | Numbers | Deuteronomy | Joshua | Judges | Ruth | 1st Samuel | 2nd Samuel | 1st Kings | 2nd Kings | 1st Chronicles | 2nd Chronicles | Ezra | Nehemiah | Esther | Job | Psalms | Proverbs | Ecclesiastes | Song of Songs | Isaiah | Jeremiah | Lamentations | Ezekiel | Daniel | Hosea | Joel | Amos | Obadiah | Jonah | Micah | Nahum | Habakkuk | Zephaniah | Haggai | Zechariah | Malachi

New Testament | Matthew | Mark | Luke | John | Acts | Romans | 1st Corinthians | 2nd Corinthians | Galatians | Ephesians | Philippians | Colossians | 1st Thessalonians | 2nd Thessalonians | 1st Timothy | 2nd Timothy | Titus | Philemon | Hebrews | James | 1st Peter | 2nd Peter | 1st John | 2nd John | 3rd John | Jude | Revelation

Categories
Down The TBR Hole

Down The TBR Hole #161-180

Welcome to Down the TBR Hole #161-180!  What is Down the TBR Hole?  It is where I grab 20 books from my crazy long TBR list on Goodreads and decide if I am keeping or removing the books.  Need to catch up?  Click here to go to the previous post.  As a reminder, here are the rules:

I’ve been neglecting my Goodreads account lately, which means I haven’t added too many books, but I’m starting this week off with 4,669 books.  Let’s get started!

1. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Romance is my go-to when I need a break from all of the heavy self-help and Christian books I’ve been favoring for the last few years.  I tend to read them very quickly, so it helps when I want to clear my mind and not have to “think” too much.  This plot seems to have plenty of twists and turns and looks like an exciting read, so I am keeping this one.

 

2. One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

A standalone book, but second in the Ten Tiny Breaths series, this one follows the other sister and seems just as interesting as the first.  I go through my spurts with series.  Sometimes I love following the characters and don’t mind reading 2-3 books, and other times I hate the story didn’t finish in the first book.  But my favorite is when each novel can be standalone and follows a character individually.  I am keeping this one.

 

 

3. Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

Still in the same series as the two books above, I don’t feel the need to have every book in this series on my TBR list.  If I love the previous two, I will add this one and read it.  With that said, I am removing this one.

 

 

4. Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker

Book four in the above series.  I am removing this one and will add it back if I like the other ones enough.

 

 

5. In Her Wake by K.A. Tucker

This book looks like a prequel to book 1 in the above series.  Here are my thoughts on prequel books.  Most of the time, I don’t like them.  If I read them before book one, I feel like I know too much of the story to enjoy book one since most of the time, the author wrote the prequel afterward.  If I read it after book 1, things tend to start making sense (and this is my preference) but also feels like the author may have just thrown together a quick story from deleted scenes.  My experience has been very hit and miss with prequels.  So I am removing this one.

 

6. Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Another romance that could help break up some of my more substantial reading.  I first heard about Colleen Hoover from her book Verity that was all over the internet this year.  And although I haven’t read it yet (it’s sitting on my Kindle), I heard good things about it.  I also tend to like romances that future music, so I’m keeping this one.

 

7. Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Ahhh, the love story where two people think they can be friends with benefits without catching feelings.  These books tend to be very predictable. After all, they will probably fall in love.  And I always find myself yelling at one of the characters, “JUST TELL HIM/HER YOU LIKE HER/HIM ALREADY.”  But it doesn’t stop me from reading them.  I am keeping this one.

 

 

8. November 9 by Colleen Hoover

A romance book about an author? Yes, please.  Keeping this one! (If I finish this tonight, this will be posted on November 9th.  Is that a sign that I should buy and read this book???)

 

9. Confess by Colleen Hoover

Clearly, on this particular day, I was either on a Colleen Hoover kick or working off a recommendation list that had all her books.  A woman looking for a job, finds a guy, and falls in love, but he has a secret.  Can I be honest?  I hate it when someone has a secret and hides it.  It is the same as a lie in my book, and I can’t handle it.  And I will stop reading a book if this happens at times.  It’s just not something I am willing to deal with in my fictional world.  So I am removing this one.

 

10. Collide by Gail McHugh

A girl who seems to overlook the guy who has helped her through her grief and falls for the apparent bad boy.  This always makes me feel bad for the guy ignored.  I am removing this one.

 

 

11. Pulse by Gail McHugh

Welp, now that I read this plot, I know what happens in the first book.  Thank goodness I removed it or that spoiler would suck.  I am removing this one.

 

 

 

12. Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino

Another romance featuring music story.  I will keep this one.

 

 

 

13. Boundaries by Henry Cloud

I touched on my thoughts on this book in a previous Down the TBR Hole post (the marriage one came up).  Someone let me borrow this book and the videos to go with, and I couldn’t get into them.  I am removing this one.

 

 

14. Let’s All Be Brave by Annie F. Downs

Fear is a huge factor in my life.  Add in my obsessive need to worry about the worst-case scenario, and it’s really shocking that I have done anything with my life.  It is something I would like to overcome, so I am keeping this one.

 

 

15. First Comes Love by Emily Griffin

A contemporary fiction book about the choices in life made by the characters and their struggle with where their life is currently and if they made the right decisions.  I am keeping this one.

 

16. I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi

I had to have this book on my list because it just seemed that she was judging all of the things we judge others for in a comedic way.  I always said I was going to check out her blog since it was so popular, but I never got around to it.  Actually, let me do that now since I will want to link it anyway.  I use to follow her on IG, but I remember having to unfollow her because I didn’t agree with her opinion on something, and it was all she talked about for a while (and no, I have no clue what it was about now).  Either way, I am still interested in the book, so I am keeping it.

17. A Book of Prayer: 365 Prayers for Victorious Living by Stormie Omartian

The Pastor that married Chris and I gifted us with the military edition of Stormie Omartian books, Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Husband, for our first anniversary.  And although they probably collect more dust than they should, I enjoyed reading and highlighting mine all up.  They are pretty popular books, and I can see why.  I don’t really hear many people talk about her other books, but I am interested in reading more by her.  I am keeping this one.

 

18. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes

I’m more wary about books like this nowadays because I’ve learned that looking for a list of things that will make me a Godly woman will get me nowhere.  But seeing that this book actually points you in the direction of first and foremost having a relationship with God and then the outcome of that relationship is your desire to be Godly makes me feel better.  I am going to keep this one on the list for now.

 

19. Breaking Intimidation: Saying “No” Without Feeling Guilty.  Be Secure Without the Approval of Man. by John Bevere

I read his Bait of Satan book, which came highly recommended by so many people, and I didn’t really like it.  I can’t pinpoint if it was just the season I was in, the fact that he was blaming offense on the person who feels the offense or if it was just a bad book.  But I said I would give him one more chance.  I think I have mastered the art of saying no pretty well, though.  So I am removing this one.

 

20. Spurgeon’s Commentary on the Bible by Charles Spurgeon

This isn’t really a book to read but more of a book I would be interested in having amongst my Bible study materials.  I hear so much about Charles Spurgeon that he is a person I want to learn more about.  For now, I am removing this from my list.

 

Final Count: Removing 9; Keeping 11

TBR Down to 4,660

I feel like it took me no time to power through these 20 books! With so many romances, this list is a little different from my usual Down the TBR Hole post.  But that goes to show you, my TBR list is so grand and covers so many different genres.  I am sure you will find plenty of books that may interest you.  Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these books.  Do you think I made a mistake? Let’s chat about it!

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.

 

Categories
All 66 Books

All 66 Books: Background

If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed I am doing something called #All66Books.  It’s where I am taking the time to just read each book of the Bible in as few sittings as possible.  I felt led to share that journey with you, especially if you struggle with getting into the Bible.  I plan on making this a series as I have a lot to share, including the resources that helped me go deeper after I did my first run through. Let’s start with some background information.

Baby Christian

The early days of my Christian journey are kind of murky for me.  I remember going to church with my aunt when I would visit my family in North Carolina.  I remember my mom dressing my sister and me up for Easter and us driving to the church she grew up in and then having dinner with family afterward.  But it wasn’t until my senior year of high school that my mom began going to church regularly, and by default, I started to as well.  But partway through the year, I moved in with my dad, and I didn’t keep up the habit.  I don’t remember going back until after I graduated, and even then it was maybe only once or twice a month if that.  One thing that came out of my short stint at church was I bought my first Bible.  I felt like I needed one to keep up with them at church, even though I would feel embarrassed when I couldn’t find the book they wanted us to flip to.  I also tried to read it through.  I started in Genesis and gave up around Leviticus.  Throughout the next ten years, even though I wasn’t big into going to church, I would pick up my Bible, time and time again, to try and see what the big fuss was about.  But I didn’t understand it, so the habit didn’t stick.

Searching For More

Fast forward to 2016/2017, where I seriously rededicated my life to Christ and decided to find a church home. After realizing that the Bible was a story about God, I wanted to try again to read it, but I still didn’t know how.  At this time, I felt an impression that God wanted me in His Word, but I didn’t see anyone in my life doing this.  Even when I found a church home, I rarely saw people with Bibles.  Even in the church, most people relied on the scripture on the screen or their phones.  During this time, I started to take some Bible classes in college.  I felt like I needed help to read the Bible.  The classes were terrific, and they taught me some things that I wasn’t learning anywhere else.  I learned about how many books there were, how it came about, and the different parts.  It fed my need for knowledge, but I still wasn’t actually reading the Bible. At most, I was doing one or two verses a day via devotionals.

The more I was getting plugged into the church, the more I was coming into contact with people who seemed to have the same hunger for learning and wanting to read the Bible, that I did.  They didn’t know how and didn’t know where to start.  Unfortunately, at that time, our church wasn’t helping.  You see, I felt like I needed someone else to guide me through the Bible for me to understand it.  I figured since I didn’t see everyday Christians in their Bibles, maybe it wasn’t meant for us to understand it truly.  That’s what Pastors were for.  To teach us what the Bible says.  But I would go to leadership and ask questions about the Bible, and I was always told they would get back to me, and they never did.  I was a group leader at the time and asked if I could start a small group to study the Bible.  I was heartbroken when I was told no, we couldn’t study the Bible.  I did what any millennial would do.  I headed to the internet and found some resources like The Bible Project and Bible Talk.TV.  I slowly started to dive into those resources, but I felt alone, and like I couldn’t talk to anyone about what I was reading.  I felt like our leaders were pushing going to church, serving in the church, and talking about different topics that would be supported by one or two Bible verses but not actually to read the Bible itself.  So I got wrapped up in doing all of those things to be, what I thought looked like, a good Christian.

But my thirst for the Word didn’t go away.  And the more I tried to be a good Christian, the more I felt like I was failing.  I was getting all of my “how to be a good Christian” from church and still wasn’t reading the Bible for myself.  Everything felt like it was falling apart, and things were honestly not sitting well with my spirit.  I was having more questions and getting more of the runaround.  Even going to people who I thought were my wise counsel and people who I looked up to, I realized they were doing what I was doing.  They weren’t really in the Bible.  They were doing things for appearances.  They took the time to memorize the most popular Bible verses, but they couldn’t tell you anything more than that.  (I don’t want to discount the couple of people that I knew that were indeed in their Bible daily, reading and studying.  But they weren’t always in a season where they were available to help.)   I realized that this didn’t feel right and I didn’t want to go down that path.  A turning point for me was when our Senior Pastor talked about the Book of Enoch in one of his sermons, and almost everyone in my local campus opened their Bible and started looking for the passage.  Including some of the pastors.  Just in case you didn’t know (because I wouldn’t have before my class), the Book of Enoch is not in the Christian Bible.  (Full disclosure here: I see now that my old church home has developed a new approach to getting the congregation to read the Bible.  To be fair, I never thought the no I was being told came from our main campus, but the satellite location I belonged to.  I pray that all of the new programs they have launched succeed to bring the members closer to Christ and His Word.)

Time Out For A Sabbatical

At the beginning of this year, with everything going on around me, I decided to take a Sabbatical.  During that time, I knew it was time to finally dive into my Bible the way I felt like God had been instructing me for a few years now. I knew that there had to be more to being a Christian outside of going to church each week, servicing at church, and being able to quote a few of the famous Bible verses.  And I had a feeling that the Bible would help me understand what it was really about.   I sat down with God and poured out my heart’s desire for His Word and explained I was really confused.  Then I felt like I knew what God wanted me to do.  I needed to get into His Word and make it a habit. I started by doing a few YouVersion Bible Plans to try and read the Bible in a year or to focus on specific books. For the next few weeks, I found more of what appeared to be random resources.  And I honestly feel like He was guiding me with my next steps to prepare me for this journey. This series, #All66Books, is going to document that journey in hopes that if there is someone else out there that is struggling like I was, they can see all that I tried only to find that the answer was quite simple.  Just start.  Join me next week, where I talk about how I was able to do just that.

Categories
Family Productivity

Year of Healthy: November

If you read my Goodbye October post, you will see October’s goals did not go as planned.  I felt like they were all over the place, and when things shifted in my life, the habits I was trying to build quickly went out the window.  I decided to make a change with how I was going to do my monthly goals going forward.  I’m taking a page out of Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project, and selecting themes for each month, and that area is where I will focus on setting goals and building habits.  For November, I will focus on creating a nighttime routine.

A Great Morning Routine Starts The Night Before

One of my goals last month was to wake up at 4:30 AM at least five days a week.  My husband and I agreed on that time so he would stop hitting the snooze button, and I could get up a bit earlier.  The plan was that I would cook his breakfast, see him off for the day, and get my day started.  And while most days I was able to wake up, I spent way too many days going to sleep after my husband left.  Or some days just turning the alarm off and going back to sleep immediately.  But what I do remember is the days that I was able to get up and stay up, were some of my most productive days.  So why wasn’t I able to wake up and stay up?  Most of the time, it was because I didn’t go to sleep at a reasonable time the night before.  Actually going to bed and getting to sleep was such a challenge.  I realized that for me to wake up early, I needed to figure out how to get to sleep early.  Looking at my nights, I really didn’t have a plan.  I cooked dinner, hung out with my husband, and then went to bed.  But once I was in bed, most likely I was watching whatever Chris had on T.V. or on my phone or my thoughts were racing so much I was writing.  I need to figure out how to wind down, so when I got in the bed, I went to sleep.  So I did what I do best, I started to research and look on Pinterest and YouTube to see what others have done.  And while it was hard to find nighttime routines (there is an abundance of morning routines and a ton of kid nighttime routines), I was able to narrow down what I want to try at night that might be able to help me.

Testing It Out

I plan to spend the month of November trying out all of the different routines that I found during my research. Habits that I am hoping will allow me to wind down and get into bed at a reasonable time.  I read in The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma that the ideal amount of sleep is 7 1/2 hours. With Chris having a recent change of schedule, we decided to push our wake up time to 5 AM, which means the best time for me to go to sleep would be about 9:30 PM. So when I was picking out routines that seemed interesting to me, I needed to make sure that I could do them in between when I usually cook dinner around 4 PM or 5 PM and 9:30 PM.  I still needed to eat dinner and spend time with my husband, all within 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 hours.  Let’s hope this is as easy as it sounds.  Here are the routines that interest me:

Quick Clean Up

Although my husband usually takes care of putting the dishes in the dishwasher, I still tend to clean and shut down the kitchen at night.  Doing a quick clean up of the other rooms that we’ve used throughout the day always makes me feel better but isn’t something I do enough.  Getting this done will hopefully prevent me from laying in bed, wishing I would have cleaned up a bit.

Stretching/Yoga/Walking

I started walking around my neighborhood in September, but last month I came up with more excuses, and I stopped.  One reason was, every time I came back from walking, I wanted to sleep for hours.  I don’t know where all those endorphins are that I should be feeling, but they were nowhere to be found.  But I figured a good way to flip this side effect into a positive would be to do it in the evenings.  On days where I don’t feel like walking, I could always stretch or do a yoga routine.

Relaxing Baths and Showers

Normally, fall and winter are when I switch to taking showers at night.  And as much as I love my bathtub and baths, I don’t take them enough.  Add in some essential oils, Epsom salt, dim the lights, light some candles, and turn on the music. I did this the other day for the first time in forever, and it was amazing.  I was more relaxed than I have been in a really long time.

Warm Drink

In addition to my bath, I also made me a warm drink.  I tried some Vanilla Chia tea but used milk instead of water, and it was so good.  I’ve also read that golden milk helps with sleep and inflammation so I would like to try it.  A few nights a week, I normally make some tea that is geared towards relaxing or sleeping.  They don’t always put me right to sleep, but they help relax me and act as a signal that it is time to wind down.

Skin Care Routine, Moisturize My Body, and Oral Hygiene

I want to add face masks and scrubs to my current routine of cleansing, toning, and moisturizing.  I’ve also been wanting to find a body cream to use instead of regular lotion for after my showers and baths.  And keeping up the habit of brushing my teeth and flossing after I finish eating and before bed.

Gratitude, Journal, and Plan The Next Day

I tend to write in my journal all day long, but I would love to be able to take the time to reflect on what I am grateful for at the end of the day.  I could journal about my day or things on my mind and spend a few minutes planning out what I want my tomorrow to look like.  I’m hoping this will help get some things off my mind so I can be at peace at night.

Reading/No Technology

I am horrible about being on my phone in bed.  For hours.  I try and stay off of social media, although I don’t always succeed at that.  But honestly, I am most of the time reading or researching something that pops into my head.  I want to make our bedroom a no technology zone (or at the very least not use the technology in the bed).  My husband was sweet enough to buy me a new reading light last month, so I can still read my physical books.

Let’s Do This

I’ll be spending more time this month researching these routines and finding what works best for me.  Is there a particular essential oil I like best in my baths?  Is tea better for me than warm milk? I believe it is always important to find what works for you so while certain routines may work for others, it is all about tailoring them to fit my needs best.  Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with what this will look like daily for me.  Do you have nighttime routines that help you get to sleep?  Share them in the comments below.  I hope you join me this month in setting nighttime routines!

 

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