I just started my journey through the Bible for this year. I have been doing this for the last 30 plus years. Sometimes I have read it quickly. Sometimes I have read it slowly. Some years I have read commentaries on the text and one year I took notes on every verse. But the one thing that I need to remind myself is that reading the bible is not supposed to be an academic exercise. It is a spiritual journey. I read the bible to get to know Jesus. He speaks to us through His Word. With that in mind, I need to approach the bible expectantly and prayerfully. I encourage you as you walk through the Scripture this year to read it with a prayerful heart that is expecting to meet the God who loves you enough to reveal himself to you.
Dear Jesus, open my heart and mind to hear you as I read your word. Fill me with your Spirit so that what I read draws me closer to you and I become more and more the person that you have created me to be! Amen.
With stress in mind, if someone feel helpless for as long as they can remember, it can show that their early years were not very nurturing. When they were a child and then a baby child, they may have often been leave.