Tag: Scripture writing

another update ~ writing, faith, life…

I’m still experimenting with updating each area in my blog’s tagline ( writing ~ faith ~ life ) and here’s how this past week went…

W R I T I N G

As I mentioned in my last update, I realized a couple of weeks ago that – at least in this moment of time – if I don’t write some fiction in the morning, the fiction doesn’t get written that day.

That realization, and admitting it to myself, led to making fiction writing part of my morning routine.

This is easier said than done, especially as I’ve been in the process of changing my night-time and morning routines to something that works for me… and something that’s different than anything my night and morning routines have been in a very-very-long time.

All of that is still very much “in process” and (for me) it can feel overwhelming to try to change lots of things at once… but I knew implementing a routine of morning-fiction-writing needed to be a priority.

So I made a plan and put it into place and it’s been working for me.

My overall morning routine is still something I’m trying to figure out, but I’m writing at least some fiction in the mornings – and that’s kept the writing momentum going.

F A I T H

With October over and my writing of Ephesians completed, this new month called for a new challenge. My writing of Ruth in September and Ephesians in October came about from a group I’m in – and this month, the group challenge consists of daily verses related to giving thanks.

I’m participating in the group challenge, but I’ve been so blessed by writing out complete books of Scripture, I decided to write the book of Philippians this month.

Philippians is very important to me personally, in large part because of how it helps with my anxiety.

So I’m writing verses and passages about gratitude and thanksgiving, and I’m also copying out the book of Philippians… spending time in the word of God.

L I F E

Last week, my husband and I celebrated 30 years of marriage.

And the overflow of that joy spread to everything else.

♥

 

writing Ruth…

Something I’ve always done is write out Bible verses and passages I want to remember and reference. Verses that are helpful, uplifting, comforting. Verses that remind me of God’s love and who Jesus is.

I have pages of those handwritten verses, some of the pages dating back decades, tucked away in Bibles and notebooks.

I’ve got stacks of index cards with a verse on each card. Some are placed around the house or in drawers where I’ll come upon them unexpectedly. Over time, I’ve filled two or three spiral-bound “index card journals” with verses.  Several years ago, I started keeping a large ring of index cards with verses, and I continue to add to it.

Copying verses by hand has been, and will continue to be, important and valuable to me.

But something I’d never done – until this month – is copy out an entire book of the Bible.

This month I wrote out the book of Ruth.

And what a blessing it has been!

Sometime last spring, as I was roaming around youtube looking at videos about Bible journaling, I came across Cat Woods’ channel. This month she’s had a challenge to write out, copy out, the entire book of Ruth.

Ruth isn’t a long book. It has only four chapters.

I figured I could manage four chapters in a month, so I decided to take on the challenge.

I gathered the journal and the Bible I wanted to use. I settled on the NLT, the New Living Translation, for my writing.

And I decided to use a purple pen… just because I love purple pens.

(The fact that the purple ink went along with the color theme of my journal was a happy plus.)

I chose to use a separate journal for writing down study notes, name meanings and word definitions, map notations, and various things like that.

At the beginning of this month I got started. I didn’t follow a plan of writing certain verses or a set number of verses each day. I wrote as much as I felt guided to write each time (and also going by how my eyes were doing, since that’s something I have to be mindful of).

I finished a few days ago.

The whole experience has blessed my life.

Writing out an entire book has helped me see the whole context, and receive the message of the book, in a deeper and richer way than ever before.

Over the decades, I’ve heard sermons and Sunday School lessons about Ruth, I’ve done Bible studies about this book of the Bible, and I already knew so much about the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz.

But this experience has taken the messages and meanings of this book to a whole new level for me.

Something about writing out all of Ruth has made it sink in more.

I’ll still be copying down individual verses and passages – that’s not going to stop.

I’m adding something else too, though – writing out entire books of the Bible… letting the Word flow into me in an even deeper way as the ink flows out of my pen, verse by verse and chapter by chapter, from the beginning of a book until the end.

I haven’t decided yet which book is next.

But I have the whole Bible to choose from.

♥