My First Venture...

I was 13.

I'd done so many awful things, especially to my cousin Hannah.

And I'd been forgiven. I thought that there couldn't be any rational way that I would be forgiven after being such a brat {And girls, trust me when I say this, I was a brat. Much worse, actually...}. But I apologized, and everyone forgave me. I was absolutely blown away, but I knew it wasn't my small, weak words that had accomplished such a feat. It must have been an act of... Well, that guy I didn't believe in {God}.

I was so thankful for the way things worked out, the way I'd been forgiven for all of my awful sins, that I started believing. 

Yup, the girl who cut Christ out of her life at the ripe old age of 8, came back to Him on her knees 5 long years later, at age 13.

I didn't know anything, girls. I didn't know where to start. My family had already stopped going to church 5 years ago because I hated it so much and I used to cry and scream whenever they made me go {I wasn't lying when I said I was a major brat.}

How do I get close to God? I wondered.

I craved Him. I was new, and of course confused, but I had this strong desire to develop a relationship with God. I did the only thing I knew to do. I grabbed my tiny little mini-light blue NIV New Testament, which I only had because it had come in a Christmas stocking from this group that brought Christmas gifts for inmates children at the prison where my dad worked (there were always extra stockings, so the employees of the prison always took some home for their kids.) and started reading.

I read 5 minutes a night. It was like a page and a half of my mini-Bible. Some night I even read 10 minutes {Wow}! I know now what a slow pace, but for me, I got to really absorb the meaning of everything. It was my first time reading any of the Bible. Ever.

I would write pages and pages in my journal every night, reflecting on the whole 5 minutes of the Bible I read, my day, the other things I was reading and watching to help feed my new hunger for faith.

In November, I kind of stopped reading for a while, but when I realized it was the week of Thanksgiving, I started back up, this time reading more than I had been each night. I had a goal, and I was determined to accomplish it on time.

So on December 2nd. which was my 14th birthday, I finally finished. After about 4 months, I was finally done reading the New Testament. And that was one of the best birthdays I've ever had, even now.

I felt so accomplished. I was so proud of myself. I was so amazed at the grace of God to help me complete such a thing! It was an awesome feeling.

I didn't really even know about the Old Testament back then. Seriously, and I didn't really care. The New Testament was what I had, and that was what I read/studied. Life was good.

That was my very first experience with the Bible. Now, I'm taking the challenge to read the whole thing in just 90 days. I'm very familiar with the New  Testament, but I don't know much of the Old at all! It's day 4 of the challenge, and it's awesome. I can't believe that in 86 days, I'll be able to say I've read the entire Bible, cover to cover. God is so good, friends, He really is!