90 Day Challenge: Week 3

This has been a really difficult week to keep up with normal responsibilities, let alone reading challenges. I shared last week a little about my sciatica pain. This is a recurring problem. I have struggled with debilitating pain off and on for about 20 years, and this current episode has been extremely painful and long-lasting.

I saw the orthopedist on Tuesday. He gave me two Cortisone shots and a prescription for a muscle relaxer and a pain killer along with orders to stay off my feet for a few days.

You would think all that sitting would have provided ample opportunity for reading, but with the meds in my system, I have been sluggish and groggy. I have had to read in small increments and have struggled not to drift off while reading.

I should have finished all of Deuteronomy today; however, I have only read about 1/3 of it. I have decided to take one of my grace days, and not tax myself in trying to catch up completely.

Michael and Orville have stayed on schedule. The boys had to stay with my parents two days this week, and Orville took his Bible along and kept up with his assignments completely on his own. That was really encouraging and made his old, achy mom feel a little better. One of our goals with this challenge was to help him develop a daily reading habit. It seems to be working.

I found much comfort, conviction, and encouragement in my study this week. I have many things I would like to say but just cannot find all the words today. All of me is moving more slowly than normal, brain included. I have had to think much harder to organize my writing. Then, about the time I get a few sentences together, a zap of pain shoots through me and I forget where my writing was going. Lord willing, I will write more later. For now, I will just say that His grace is sufficient.

Blessings,
Dawn

You can read about how others are doing with the challenge at Raising Olives.

90 Day Challenge: Week 2

This was the second week of our reading challenge but the first week we had a reading assignment every day. Michael and Orville did great! They read every assignment on time. I was unable to read half of the assignment for the day twice this week, putting me essentially one day behind.

As I type this update, I am suffering from sciatica pain. I can only sit semi-comfortably in our recliner and have very limited mobility. It seems today that the Lord would have me literally be still and know that He is God, so here I sit doing a little typing in between reading. I am almost caught up.

We finished Genesis early in the week. The history of Joseph and his brothers, the reunion with Benjamin and Jacob, the reconciliation, the provision for God's people… it's just one of my favorite sections of the Bible. Reading about Joseph's life always causes me to reflect on God's sovereignty and on his providential care. What a loving, merciful, covenant-keeping, and great God we serve!

We also read all of Exodus. Michael and Orville finished yesterday, and I finished today. Once again, God's power, sovereignty, and providential care jump off the pages. He is holy. He is just. He is merciful. He deserves the richest of worship, as He has mandated and not as we see fit. He leads us by day and by night. He provides for our needs and gives us a day to rest, worship, and reflect on his mercies. He is good, and we are blessed to be His people.

I am about to begin my reading in Leviticus. By next Sunday, Lord willing, we will have completed Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I must admit these are books I find difficult to read thoroughly. I am praying for the grace to read attentively, for a mindset of valuing all of God's Word and not just the parts that "move" me, and that I will continue to see God's goodness and faithfulness as I finish the books of Moses.

Happy Reading!

Dawn

90 Day Challenge: Day 1

Today Michael, Orville, and I began The Bible in 90 Days Challenge.

You may have already heard of the challenge at Mom's Toolbox. I read about it at Kimberly's Raising Olives and will be linking in our updates there.

The official start date was Jan. 1. Because of my commitment to take two weeks off from blogging and because of our holiday travels, we just began today. If we keep our commitment we will have read the entire Bible by April 2.

Would you like to join us? If so, you can print the reading schedule here. We started late, so don't be discouraged that you missed the official start date.

Each Sunday, I will post an update on how we are progressing. Today we read Gen 1-16. We took a few notes and had a brief discussion afterward. We researched a couple questions we had which took about 1o minutes. If we come across any big questions along the way, we will seek out answers to them after the end date of the challenge. I hope that at the end of it all we will have a good list of questions for further study, but for now, we want to read for the big picture.

Today, Michael and I both recognized that our reading was influenced by our studies of Answers in Genesis publications. AIG's Ken Ham wrote Already Gone (with research conducted by Britt Beemer on the underlying causes of people straying from the church). He stresses the importance of teaching the Genesis account of creation and presenting the book of Genesis as history, not as a sequence of stories. It was interesting to approach the reading of this very familiar book with the renewed interest and perspective AIG has given us. Our children's faith is a gift, but sound understanding of the book of Genesis will equip them (and us) to defend that faith. It was refreshing to read together about our mighty Creator and His faithfulness to Adam, Noah and Abram, knowing that He remains faithful to His people today.

Lord willing, by next Sunday we will have read the rest of Genesis and all of Exodus. Join us if you like.

Happy Reading!

Dawn