I was born and raised in a Christian family, so Jesus has been in my life as long as I can remember. We went to church regularly, and I attended a Catholic school until we moved to Texas in 1998. I grew up going to all of the church functions: Vacation Bible School, Wednesday Night bible studies, church retreats, etc. My participation in church and related activities helped me grow and maintain my relationship with God.
Then came college. All of a sudden, I was solely responsible for attending church and getting into His word. Let’s just say … that didn’t happen. I could give you a million and one reasons why, but ultimately, I did not make my relationship with God a priority.
After we got married, my husband and I started attending local churches. It took a while, but we eventually found a church home. We made our faith our top priority like it always should have been! I wanted to continue growing closer to God. I knew my next step was to read my bible and study his Word.
Knowing you should and actually doing it are two VERY different things. It’s like knowing you should brush your teeth 3 times a day and floss every day. What you actually do is brush your teeth twice a day and floss every day for the week leading up to your dentist appointment. I found myself taking care of my spiritual health like my oral health: I’d show up for routine visits and put in extra effort during times of need.
Reasons I Did Not Read My Bible
- Reading is work: Reading does not come easily for me. It requires extra effort and energy to get through the text. I get bogged down with complicated names of people and places. I get lost in complex sentences and story structures.
- The Bible is Overwhelming: For a struggling reader, the Bible can be intimidating. It is thick, with the thinnest pages, and columns upon columns of text. Once you get past that, you have to decide where to begin. Old testament? New testament? One of the 65+ books in the Bible?
- Trouble finding the message: Our pastors do a great job of pulling out meaningful verses, putting them into context, and sharing how they apply to our lives today. I lack the background knowledge and overall big picture to get valuable insight when reading the bible on my own.
Ways I Tried to Get into Scripture
- Reading on my own: It was suggested that I start in the book of Proverbs, and I had a lot of success! The verses could be broken down into manageable chunks, there weren’t a bunch of complicated names, and the message was straight forward. I did not experience the same success when reading other books of the bible.
- In-person bible study: I attribute the success of group bible studies to the accountability factor and the time commitment. However, studying the word in this setting, multiple times a week is not feasible with my schedule.
- Purchasing study guides: This format did not alleviate the challenges of reading the bible, and the study guide did not come with a community of people to have a discussion. It was also difficult for me to carve out quiet time to focus my energy on His word.
I found myself going through the same cycle over and over again. Go to church or bible study – be inspired – read my Bible a couple days in a row – stop – repeat every 2 or 3 months. This cycle left me feeling frustrated and defeated. Then I found The Daily Audio Bible (DAB), and my relationship with scripture was changed forever!
Things to Know About “The Daily Audio Bible”
- Audio version of the Bible: It’s a free app that reads the bible to you! It has multiple languages to choose from, and rotates through several versions of the bible (ESV, King James, etc.).
- Listening options: You can listen to the Bible in chronological order. Or you can choose to hear from the old testament, new testament, the book of Psalms, and the book of Proverbs each day.
- Start any time: If you tune in every day, you will have read the Bible in a year! You can go back and start at January 1st or start in the middle of the year. I started in the middle of the year, and everything worked out just fine!
Reasons The DAB Works for Me:
- Listening vs. Reading: Listening to the bible eliminates the challenge of reading difficult names and helps lighten the load of the amount of text in the Bible.
- Easier to fit into my day: I have made listening to the Bible part of my morning routine. I play the app while I get ready for work in the mornings. It is a great way to start my day!
- Recap to connect the pieces: Brian Hardin, the voice of The Daily Audio Bible, ends the day’s reading with a recap. He does a great job providing context, making big picture connections, and helping listeners apply scripture to their lives.
As I reflect on my first year of listening to The Daily Audio Bible, I can say that the wisdom I’ve gained from “reading” scripture on a regular basis is priceless. I get more out of the messages from church, I’m more comfortable engaging in faith-based conversations, and my overall attitude going into each day is much more positive than before.
Going into my second year of listening to the DAB, I am going to start journaling about scripture. Writing about what I’m learning will help keep me focused, improve my memory of what I read, and be something that I can reflect on throughout the year.
How do you get into scripture? I would love to hear how you make time in the day to read His word, and what resources you use!
