Commitment

Yesterday we heard a fantastic sermon on commitment (Yes, it was from my father-in-law and yes, I am biased, but it was great).  I think it's a topic we hear about often, usually citing scripture about loving and living for God wholeheartedly.  This time it was different.  For some reason, it really struck something in me to be more committed.  Daniel and I have always done devotionals together and prayed together, but it didn't come easy when we were first married.. or during the second... or third year.  It took us a long time to figure it out, and I'm really not sure why.  For me, I am so busy during the day with work and caring for Daniel and our home that I flat out forget.  I like to tell myself that this isn't as bad as disobediently refusing to spend time in the Word, but I know it is.  I just didn't think to do it, which is scary.  How could I not think to spend time with the Creator of all things, the Savior of the world?
hellllllllllllllllllllo?!?!
Yeah, I don't get it either.
But I do/would forget.  Over the past year, Daniel and I have made a serious commitment to spend time daily in the Word, sometimes together and sometimes alone, but striving to pray together every night.  A few weeks ago, we committed to read through the entire bible.
Can I tell you how excited I am about this?  It's such a blessing to have a true yearning for truth and the Word God gave us.  I can tell you only one thing- it's not a desire I forced myself to have or obtained on my own.  I prayed for it for a long time- and not that I prayed hard enough or finally convinced God to work- but it just showed up and leaves me breathless.  When we read in the evenings to one another, I hate when we have to put it down and go to sleep.  It's like a movie that you have to pause and finish later.  What happens?  How does this work out?  What's next?  Awesome.

Our 3 commitments are:

• Read through the Bible, cover to cover.  Yes, this will take a very long time (unlike my idea fresh year at college that I could probably "knock out" an entire midge Gideon bible in one night.  Bahaha Ya right.), but I cannot wait to learn how everything wraps together into Christ.  The Majesty of God and His Plan blows my mind.  Love it.  We read each night for about 30 minutes, so maybe a year, maybe not.  We will see.  I don't like to follow an actual reading plan because it makes me feel like it's an assignment, and I won't do it.
• Pray together each night, preferably after reading.  However, if we feel like selfish human beings and feel too tired to read, we have to at least pray.  I hope it's always after reading, but I also know that last week we managed to only read 3 nights out of 7.  So much for starting out strong.  Anyway, I honestly have a hard time praying.  What do I say?  Who do I pray for?  What do I pray for?  Sad, I'm sure.  God probably hears me startin' up and thinks "Heeeeeeeere we go" (okay, He doesn't, but I deserve it!).  My prayers usually sounded like this:  "Dear Lord....... help...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" and I would fall asleep.  HORRIBLE.  SO, we pray with a list every night.  This helps me remember prayer requests I come along and stay on track.  Here is a printable we use, print off, and update/fill out a new one occasionally.  It helps so much!





Click to view it in its original size and print.


• Memorize Scripture.  Daniel and I did this a lot when we were in The Navigators at K-State.  We used The Topic Memory System.  However, we've gotten really bad about it, so much so that I can't think of a topic and a verse that would support it.  I have to google "supportive bible verses".  Really Katie?  Really?  It brings to mind James 2:19 (which I just had to google.  Pathetic):  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.  What makes me any better?  So, we are memorizing 2 scripture per week, as well as learning Bible Quizzing questions/answers with our teams each Sunday night/week (which is a blast, people!).  Here is a printable to cut up and put 'round town (aka house, office, or, in our case, bathroom mirror and work computer) to help keep the word on your heart.  There are 5 sections, A through E "pack".  This printable is A and B.  I will post the rest when we get there.



Click to view it in its original size and print.

 I love starting new journeys.  We are so thankful that, over the past year, the Lord has helped us "figure out" how to do this together.  I don't post this to make you think I'm boasting- just trying to share some resources that help us and let you know that, yes, there are other Christian couples out there that can't seem to get it together, like us.  Marriage is hard, living for Christ is hard, and doing it all at the same time was/is a struggle for us sometimes.


P.S. I learned yesterday that the Red Sea is not in fact Red and that Delilah cut off Samson's hair and it took away his strength.  Samson was a judge.  Judge of what, I don't know.  Haven't gotten there yet.  Thank you, Bible Quiz and little {genius} 4 year olds.