{"id":586,"date":"2013-01-07T16:17:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T16:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2013-01-07T16:17:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-07T16:17:39","slug":"pick-your-sword","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=586","title":{"rendered":"Pick your sword"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/a>

My real Bible and our family sword placed on my grandmother’s quilt.<\/p><\/div>\n

So a new year and a new adventure begin for all of us.\u00a0 I have had a few weeks to reflect and to ponder on what direction I feel God pulling my heart.\u00a0 One thing is for sure, I am glad that we are embarking on a new year.\u00a0 This past year, 2012, wasn\u2019t my best year.\u00a0 I spent 9 months very ill (albeit not letting on to most people), 7 months planning, executing, and wrapping up Reed\u2019s Run, and one month in deep grief over my grandmother and the Newtown tragedy.<\/p>\n

Desperately, I needed a new start and a new direction. After much prayer, I know that God is calling me to spend more time with my writing (particularly on finishing a couple books I have started) and with kids \u2013 simply basking in the joy of being their momma (which He knows has been my lifelong heart\u2019s desire). Secondarily, God is asking me to answer his call to the various churches that have invited me to come and speak.\u00a0 So there you go \u2013 my spiritual goals for the New Year.<\/p>\n

In order to achieve those goals, I need to be firmly rooted in God\u2019s word.\u00a0 I achieved my goal of reading through the Bible (cover to cover) last year.\u00a0 It took me several years to do it, but I ruminated over what God was telling me and then digested it.\u00a0 That is where I want to start my writing for this year.\u00a0 I want to implore all who read this blog to really consider carving out a time to connect with God through his Word.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let your Bible be something that you dust!<\/p>\n

Where do you begin?\u00a0 Wherever your heart leads you is the answer I would give you.\u00a0 There are wonderful daily devotionals (in print and online) as well as pacing schedules if you want to tackle reading the whole Bible in a period of time.<\/p>\n

But wait! Before you begin, I want to share a little story with you.\u00a0 A few years back I was at a get-away and I was busy working on some baby quilts.\u00a0 A new friend that I had met earlier in the week stopped into the room I was in.\u00a0 We visited for quite some time about our lives, our families and our faiths.\u00a0 Eventually, she asked me, \u201cWhat Bible does your church use?\u201d I was a little bit taken aback.\u00a0 I asked a clarifying question to make sure she was asking about what version\/revision\/translation that we used.\u00a0 I answered that our pew Bibles were NIV, but that each person uses the version that spoke most to his\/her heart.\u00a0 Her response felt like someone sucker punched me. \u201cOh, I guess you aren\u2019t really Christians because you don\u2019t use the original King James.\u201d DO WHAT????<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 I wanted to argue about how King James wasn\u2019t around at the time the Bible was written in the original Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, but I decided that it was wasted breath.<\/p>\n

Her comment reminds me so much of a Ghandi quote, \u201cI like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so much unlike your Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Wow! With the fighting and bickering among Christian denominations, it is no wonder that we who follow Christ are getting a bad reputation.\u00a0 (On a side note, I found a really great blog on that topic http:\/\/www.mongoosemom.com\/?p=27<\/a> so I won\u2019t go into that, but please read it if you get a chance.)\u00a0 My concern here is to talk about the only sure way we know what God is trying to tell us.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago in church, we had a guest missionary who spoke during the sermon time on his work with Wycliffe Bible Translators.\u00a0 He spoke something that soothed over that wound in my heart and affirmed what I already believed.\u00a0 He talked about our church\u2019s initiative to read through the Bible in a year (which I tried and failed miserably at doing previously). He asked us to pick our swords.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did he just say?\u201d My ears perked up.<\/strong>\u00a0 He clarified, \u201cPick your sword \u2013 whatever translation of the Bible pierces your heart the deepest.\u201d\u00a0 Now that has stuck with me<\/em>.\u00a0 My first go round with the reading the Bible through was with a study companion that was over my head.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t understand it, and thus it was doomed from the start.\u00a0 Later, I found a study Bible by one of my favorite authors and then it clicked.\u00a0 God\u2019s word literally pierced my heart and my soul and I found that I couldn\u2019t put it down.<\/p>\n

I know the direction God is calling me for the time being. Trust me, I have failed miserably and will fail again.\u00a0 But I know that God is for me; so, I get up and keep going. \u00a0If you are hearing your name being whispered, follow the source to his written word.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know your sword yet, pick out a couple to try. \u00a0When you find the right one (or ones \u2013 I have several translations that I like), then my prayer for you is that you find the greatest love story ever written to you!<\/p>\n

Last thought for today: God was smiling on me when I researched today.\u00a0 For those that take the time to read the blog by Mongoose Mom, look at the date that she originally posted that blog.\u00a0 Just know that God prompted her heart on the day of my darkest hour, fully knowing that someday I would stumble across a message that resonated with me.\u00a0 Simply put, GOD is AMAZING!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So a new year and a new adventure begin for all of us.\u00a0 I have had a few weeks to reflect and to ponder on what direction I feel God pulling my heart.\u00a0 One thing is for sure, I am glad that we are embarking on a new year.\u00a0 This past year, 2012, wasn\u2019t my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[103,104,197,245,261,473,479,608],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}