Weekly Bible Notes, January 7th through 13th!

This idea came to mind a couple of times! First time was actually when I first talked to my Aunt Rachel about the blog, she mentioned that since I journal everyday while doing my devotion and in the Word, I could share what I'm comfortable from what I journaled that week! Then, this week, I was spending time with God and laughing at myself while saying, "wow God this is good stuff!" and thought, "hmmm, how many people would this help like this helped me?".

One of the new blog series I want to incorporate is weekly bible notes! What I got from the devotion, the chapters the devotion has me reading, things I felt God had put on my heart, any convictions, all I'm willing to share! Now, I do want to preface this, I am NOT a preacher, priest, none of the above. I'm still learning so so much, as I look forward to doing the rest of my life! My relationship with God looks different today than it did 6 months ago, let alone a year ago, let alone 10 years ago! I feel like somehow this could truly be a blessing for someone, help someone, bring clarity or understanding to someone, and so on!

To start off, what bible and devotion I use and am currently in? I used Joyce Meyer's amplified everyday life bible and the Pursuit of His Presence devotion by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, which has been such a game changer for reading the Bible and understanding it so much more! What I truly love about Mama Joyce's bible is she offers a lot of "life points", "putting the Word to work", and so many explanations which I've needed! I also do a LOT of journaling, like everyday when I'm reading, what I got from it, any thoughts about life or anything, questions, concerns, I journal/write like I'm writing and talking to God!

This past week, I was reminded of the gift of Jesus, and what He truly did for us, in more and more details. It's so beautiful how He loved me (and you) so much that He was willing, willing to die, to save us, to die for our sins, for our wrongdoings, to give us back authority, so we can live and have life. Just so much love. One of the devotions had me thinking and reflecting how the words "peace" and "easy". I'm a definition girl so I even looked it up! With God, I feel like at times I've thought "if this is something sent from God, it would be easy" or even "if this is my calling, it should be easy". I actually believe if something seems hard, that's a sign to go for it. That's an opportunity for God to show up and be the strength to our weaknesses. One question I had for God this week was: "God, as much as I desire to be married and to find my future husband in Your perfect timing, You and Jesus just love me so much and so unconditionally, is there really a man out there who'll love me even remotely close or aim to love like that?" Then decided to roll those thoughts over to God! I also read Mark 4: 36-41, and Mama Joyce told me "You cannot rebuke the storms in your life if you have a storm on the inside of you", and with that can definitely reflect and look back at storms in my life that truly I tried to handle on my own, that I didn't involve God at all or let God be God in that moment. This year I'm aiming to let God be God in my life; He's in control, I'm simply trusting Him and taking the steps I need to take! Psalms has become a top favorite for me to read more and more, and this week it confirmed more and more how God redeems your life (Psalms 103:4), that He's a redeemer and a restorer, and turns the "ugly" into something beautiful. I read that "The Lord is mericiful and gracious" (Psalms 103:8), which confirms that God's grace and mercy is renewed everyday! The biggest thing of all, is that we are God's handiwork (Ephesians 2:10). He created us, designed us, put thought into how He wanted us to be, how He knew us before we were even born! He's got a great life planned, not just for me, but for YOU as well! One of my new sayings and thoughts is "well if God said it, I choose to believe it and stand on His Word!"

"Blessing I will certainly bless you and multiplying I will multiply you" Hebrews 6:14