“Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations. You established the earth, and it endures.” Psalm 119: 89-90
I have always had a love for reading the Bible. Around the summer of 2017 I started
feeling the Lord calling me to take on more of a leadership role in teaching and studying
Scripture. At the time, I wasn’t sure what form this was going to take. All I knew is that I
was longing for a group of like-minded people who were passionate about reading and
studying Scripture together, and invested in building a community around that shared
love.
This feeling of being called to go deeper in a study of the Bible was a persistent one.
I felt that this calling would be played out in the context of a small group. I had been
following a Bible reading plan called She Reads Truth. My vision was to start a women’s
Bible study group where we would read and discuss the She Reads Truth readings and
devotions together.
In January 2020 I started attending a new church, one that is strong
in the area of small groups ministry. Then, of course, two months later Covid-19
happened and the whole world shut down. I was discouraged because I felt I had taken
these steps toward what the Lord was calling me to do – getting involved in small
groups ministry – and then we couldn’t meet in person anymore.
Still, I was strengthened and encouraged by the many ways that this church kept the community
engaged and connected during this trying time, including daily worship on Facebook
Live. It was in a comment on one of these Facebook Live posts that another member of
this church posted about her online group where they meet every weekday morning via
Zoom to read and discuss the She Reads Truth readings! I messaged her immediately
and joined her group. Being single and living alone, this small community was a huge
blessing during the isolating days of quarantine. I met with this group every weekday morning for two and a half years.
She Reads Truth consists of a series of themed reading plans throughout the year. It
had also been my goal to complete a whole Bible-in-a-year reading plan. I have
attempted this several times. I would start out with the best of intentions and then totally
run out of steam, usually around Leviticus. (Let’s face it. Leviticus is where Bible reading plans go to die.) I confess that despite how much I wanted to
read and learn, many days I closed my Bible and was just confounded by what I read.
In November of 2020, I learned about The Bible Recap, a chronological one-year reading
plan. The daily readings have an accompanying podcast, which recaps that day’s
content and puts it in historical and cultural context. Also, reading the Bible
chronologically in the order in which events happened rather than cover to cover helps
to better understand the overall metanarrative arc of Scripture. This, too, has been a
blessing.
Through the Bible Recap I learned about D-Group, discipleship and Bible study
groups that meet weekly in homes and churches all over the world. D-Group was
founded by The Bible Recap host Tara Leigh Cobble. D-Group has been described as
the CrossFit of Bible studies, and this was exactly what I was looking for. something that would be challenging and encourage accountability.
There wasn’t a D-Group in my area, so I joined an online group in January 2021. I have been incredibly blessed by this group of individuals. The bonds between us grew quickly and deeply. In
fact, we have gotten together for weekend
retreats. The first time we were all together in person, it felt like we had known each other our whole lives.
My hope for this blog is to share what the Lord is teaching me through my
study of Scripture. I pray that it will be an encouragement to you, and inspire your own love of God’s Word.
Delighting in the Word 