Bible in 90 Days - Monday Update (Day 25)

So I am past the three week mark, and almost one third of the way through my challenge to read through the Bible in 90 days!! I'm so excited!!

My personal weak point with sticking at ANYTHING comes somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks, usually more towards 3 weeks. But this past week has been steady and my motivation high. I have not fallen behind at all this week, and several days have finished a chapter or so ahead because I have just been too caught up in the story to want to stop at the place I'm supposed to. I now do at least half of my reading every day in bits and pieces as I rock Benjamin to sleep for his naps (he takes 3 (occasionally 4) per day, plus bedtime), and then read the rest as soon as I go downstairs after tucking the boys into bed. I don't let myself do a thing until I've finished my Bible reading - except get a drink and a snack sometimes. I pick up my Bible from the bedroom on the way downstairs from the boys' bedroom at bedtime, and then take it straight to the sofa, sit down and open it. Keeping that as a habit is the solution, for me. I go straight to it, the same every evening, and just keep going until I have finished. It is MUCH easier to do now that I'm diving into the Bible throughout the day when Benjamin goes to sleep.

I'm so enjoying it!!!! I'm really excited that I'm finding it so straightfoward, because I was REALLY nervous about starting. I was worried I would not be able to stick to it, and would get behind and not have the self-discipline to continue and complete the challenge. I wasn't sure I could do it. I know I am not even a third of the way through it yet, but I am 100% confident that I can do it! :)

This week none of the reading has been hard to take in, and I have been really caught up in parts of the story. There has been more gruesomeness with all the war in David's reign and the time of the judges, and I'm pretty glad to be past that part! But it's all so fascinating. I'm not supposed to do anything but just attentively read the verses. But these last few days I have also been reading some of the notes in my Bible (it's a Life Application Bible), and looking with interest at some of the maps and things relevant to the stages of the story I'm reading, in my Bible. Yesterday I broke down and put the laptop on halfway through my evening's Bible reading, because I just HAD to see a model of Solomon's temple and palace as I was reading about them. I was reading the measurements and not really being able to picture it in my mind's eye. I didn't think it would pull me off track from reading, because I was just so enthusiastic about reading it, and having some pictures to make it come to life a bit more.

There are zillions of links out there (I googled), but here's one that I found:

www.bible-architecture.info/Jerusalem.htm

It was helpful to see the pictures, and I did get slightly side-tracked reading another site that I can't find now I've googled again, about archaeological finds in Jerusalem. I'm so fascinated by archaeology, and have been since childhood, so I couldn't help myself! :) I did finish my reading right after that though!

So I am now at the end of 1 Kings. I find myself wanting map and pictures and time-lines to look at, just because I'm eager for more to learn about it as I go along, but I am trying to remember that I'm here to just READ the Bible for this challenge. What I'm a bit worried about is that once I've finished, it will be all "over and done with", sort of, and I won't actually keep up the habit of reading my Bible. I really want to get some tips well in advance, of the next thing I need to do. I think I will be better following another plan, or a Bible study of some sort - a structure that I can follow and be accountable for, because it is working so well for me at the moment. I think if I just randomly attempt to keep reading bits of it once I've finished reading the whole thing, I will simply not keep it up, and probably pretty quickly too. I think at the end, I will feel like I'm sort of wandering aimlessly about without a clue what to do next with my Bible! And I don't want to be in that position, so I'm thinking about the next step already (hoping for some advice!).

Well that is all for this week's update! I am on track and loving the challenge! I feel closer to God and uninterested in more "worldly" stuff at the moment, which is always a good place to be! :) Hope to be able to say the same thing next Monday! I hope anyone reading who is on the challenge has had a good week, and that God will reveal Himself to you through your reading over the next week too!