I wrote about reading books and the benefits it had contributed in my life and one day I will be sharing some ladies books too that mentored me on how to be a woman God’s way. However, I have one book that I hold so dear in my life, and that’s the Bible.
The Bible was a familiar book when I was growing up. I saw how bulky and thick it was in my grandparents shelf. I read it but I did not understand it at all. Then I was invited to attend a Baptist Church rally in one of the basketball courts, I raised my hand to accept Jesus, and filled in the information sheet and on the next day, I was visited by the pastor and his wife, and then they gave me a small Gideon blue Bible. I can still remember how poised and gracious they were, how they prayed for me that day, and when they left, I looked at them and said to my heart that one day, I will have a gracious and peaceful marriage like them and I will be serving the Lord. They gave me a picture of a marriage that is rooted in Christ and that picture of them really makes me cry right now as I am writing this.
Fast forward, the Lord led me to Cebu, to a City that was too unfamiliar for me. To a City that will separate me from my brother and sisters. To a City that I believed will accomodate my dreams to do the impossible, and that was to study and finish college and on the inside of my old dirty pink bag was that old Gideon blue bible, my companion in my long battle of homesickness.
One verse that sustained me through College despite how hard it was as a working student was James 1:12. It says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which is God’s promise to those who loves him.” That word ‘PERSEVERES UNDER TRIAL” jumped out from the page of the Bible and took residence in my heart. When one of the teachers humiliated me in front of people, I clung to those words. When a relative accused me of stealing, I held on to those words. When I failed on our long examinations and flunked Math, I thought of those words. When I walked from home to school because I didn’t have money for fare, I meditated on those words. There were days that I cried and cried and cried but those words comforted my heart. With God’s help, I graduated college and with God’s grace, Sir Paja gave me favor by giving me 3 for my Math subject. I rejoiced in my heart because I had a hard time understanding numbers and still do now.
Eleven years later, the Lord spoke to my heart again while I was on my way home from my work in church and whispered, I will finish what I have started in you (Philippians 1:6) and when I asked what, I heard “BOARD EXAM.” I kept that Word and processed my papers and because I had no time to review, I just read through some materials, took the Board and Ipassed. Indeed, He who promise is faithful. It could have been impossible apart from Him.
Two years after I took the board, I had a crisis in my faith, I AWOL from church were I worked for 14 years and isolated myself from people. I stayed home crushed, broken, feeling betrayed, jobless, lost, and it was at that time that I was taught to read through the Bible. The Lord led me to Marilyn Hickey Ministries whose passion is to get hook on the Book. I was hooked and still is. It was by reading through the Bible that I learned that I am His Beloved. That He knew me. That I am forgiven. That I am healed. That I am redeemed. That He has good plans for me. That I am not separated from His love. In fact, Romans 8:38-39 says this: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (NIV). To have a revelation of His love is so liberating. It is so freeing. It makes me hopeful of my future while remaining joyful in my present. In Christ, I am loved by the Father and that’s ENOUGH!!!
And this year, the Lord impressed Deuteronomy 32:46-47 in my heart. It says, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. THEY ARE NOT JUST IDLE WORDS FOR YOU. THEY ARE YOUR LIFE. BY THEM YOU WILL LIVE IN THE LAND YOU ARE CROSSING THE JORDAN TO POSSESS.”
Those verses are reminders to me that meditating on His Word, saying it, declaring it, and taking hold of it every day is valuable. That His Words are powerful seeds that will bear fruit in my life and hopefully others will benefit from it in the future. That His Words are my life. That His Words are healing to my body and wisdom for my soul. That His Words washes away the lies that I believed as truth and that His Words are truths that’s worth believing for. After all, GOD IS HIS WORD.
If you have not tried reading God’s Word then I pray that you will give it a try. Try one chapter a day or if it is too much, one verse for a week. Meditate on it. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth of His Word and ask Him to help you on how you can live the Word in your everyday life. He did it for me. He will do it for you too.
Have a great day everyone and know that God loves you just as you are!!!
The Glorious Figs 