The Bible Journal team has been discussing and praying over what our approach to this site will be in 2017. Spending time thinking about this brings several realities to the forefront of my mind:
- Authoring blog posts is hard. Publishing every week is really hard.
- Writing with the intent to glorify the one who created the heavens and the earth comes with great joy and great responsibility.
- Without a strong commitment to this project, there is no way I would do this.
- I’m not a naturally gifted writer. For me personally, each week I struggle immensely with what to write.
- Authoring for Bible Journal has been my single most impactful spiritual habit of 2016, perhaps lifetime.
When writing these journals each week I come to a place where I feel extremely weak and helpless and pray these words, sometimes aloud, “I have nothing to say; I have nothing. Please help me God.” It is almost as though I am in a dark place, and sometimes fear and panic start to set in, but when I am at my very lowest and acknowledge my weakness and God’s tender mercy, that’s when I feel His strength. It has happened with each post, and I can only say this is a miracle.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
This is teaching me to humbly turn toward Christ, where his power is made perfect in weakness. That verse so aptly fits because at the end of our own strength which is lacking, that’s where Christ wants us. Our strengths can often keep us from being in God’s will because we think we can do it all on our own. The faster we acknowledge him as the source or our strength, the faster we will align with his will and be able to glorify him, and that is a beautiful thing.
Dear readers, would you consider praying over writing for Bible Journal on a regular basis next year (or sooner as a guest author)? Do you think you’re weak? Good, you’re already on your way. Look around you, think about all of the stories in your life right now that can be used to glorify God. Observing these stories takes practice, but it also brings us closer to our maker and closer to our purpose for being on this earth, which is to glorify Him so that others may know his son Jesus Christ and be saved.
And finally, if you happen to have a birthday today then I double-dog dare you to consider this commitment to journaling… nudge nudge… (happy birthday to my sister Katie!).