Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Adieu To 2008... Moving Forward To 2009!

I had to laugh when I read this post that Amy linked to. Apparently I'm not the only one who is reading through the Bible "in a year." One of my friends was pretty surprised I had never read through the Bible, so I suppose I should qualify that with the fact I've never read it straight from Genesis to Revelation. After spending years in Bible Institute (where the main textbook is the Bible - who would have thought?!?), I know I've read the Bible through. My Old and New Testament classes come to mind, especially having to give a chapter heading for each chapter of each book in the Old Testament. :)

But even still, in my personal devotions I've always wanted to read the Bible the whole way through. Every January I would start off in Genesis - never mind the fact that by the time December rolled around I was only in Isaiah or Jeremiah.

So January of 2007 I decided to (once again!) read through the Bible and started off in Genesis, like I usually do. Only this time, I continued on in January of 2008! Now as we approach January of 2009, I am happy to report that I am in the book of Acts - chapter 14. My goal is to be finished by April. :)

It has always been easy for me to get caught up on one or two verses and spend a big chunk of time on them. It's been said before: "it's a marathon, not a sprint!" and I'm applying that to my Bible reading:). There are too many gems and diamonds in the Word of God, and I don't want to miss them!

A new year is always a time of goal-setting and resolutions. My pastor preached an amazing message on Sunday night (Monday morning my time - thank you internet!). I've probably heard this message a half dozen times over the course of 11 years, and yet this is the first time I'm actually applying it. He calls it "year-end inventory." Since I didn't really set any goals for this year outside of this missions trip to Thailand, I really don't have anything to inventory from this last year. But this new year - what an opportunity!

Here in Thailand, it's already New Year's Eve. I'm really excited about 2009 and all that the Lord is going to do!

Happy New Year!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your previous plans of reading through the Bible sound like me! My big idea a few years ago of reading through the NT during the summer turned into nine months of daily devotions in Matthew! lol Happy 2009!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year Anne!!!!!!!
~ Katie S

Paula @ Organizing Tips For Moms said...

Happy New Year!

For the first time this year, I looked back through 2008. It really helped me to see what I did accomplish, even if they weren't goals I had previously set. It also gave me a perspective of where God has brought me. Talk about gratitude!