What in the Bible?!
Have you ever read the Bible and wondered, "King David did what?!" Or, have you come across the passage where Lot's daughters get him drunk and then sleep with him? How about the story of the younger brother that makes himself more hairy in order to trick his dying father into blessing him over his older brother?! And, don't get us started on Revelations! Oh wait, it's Revelation! These are only a few of the examples written in scripture that will have any new reader asking, "What in the Bible?!" In this podcast, we are two sisters reading through the Bible for the first time. Our goal is to share this experience with our listeners and have a lighthearted discussion over some of these controversial but often comical questions. Our hope is for our listeners to realize that reading and understanding the Bible is hard especially when reading it for the first time. It's okay to have questions or struggle with passages that make your eyebrows raise and your mind wonder, "What did I just read?!" We hope you will join us in this journey of working through difficult questions and growing in our relationship with Christ as we read and seek to understand God's Word.
What in the Bible?!
Why Is the Bible So Hard? Let’s Figure It Out Together!
Dive into our inaugural episode as we embark on a transformative journey through the Bible. We are two sisters with unique faith histories, navigating the complexities of scripture and sharing personal stories that resonate deeply with listeners new to Christianity. From grappling with identity issues rooted in family dynamics to rediscovering our faith, we explore pivotal moments that have shaped our understanding of God.
Our candid discussions reveal the struggles and triumphs we’ve experienced—overcoming feelings of worthlessness, embracing accountability, and discovering the joy of serving in the church. We believe that every path is valid, and everyone deserves to find a connection with God through the word.
Join our adventure as we tackle questions many believers have, offering insights and advice to enhance your own journey with the Bible. Whether you’ve read the scriptures a hundred times or are just starting, our conversations are designed to assure you that you're not alone. We invite you to listen, reflect, and grow alongside us, as we discuss each chapter of the Bible with candor and faith. Subscribe now to become part of our community!
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Hello everyone and welcome to what in the Bible? We are two sisters reading through Genesis to Revelation for the first time and asking the question that every new believer is thinking what in the Bible? I'm one of your hosts, audrey and hey everyone, I'm Jenna.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for tuning in to our very first episode. In this episode, we want to provide an opportunity for you guys to get to know us, your hosts, who we are and why we started this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, awesome. We thought we would start off by just giving you guys a little bit of background, our testimony of our faith, what God has done in our lives. I have been back in the faith for about two years now. Growing up, we were, you know, taken to church by our father. I don't think I remember now as an adult like how much that did affect me as a kid and even though I was forced to go, I did have a really good relationship, I think, like in retrospect, with God, with Jesus. With that being said, it definitely was kind of, you know, church on Sunday and then living the rest of our lives like not really for God the rest of the week. And as a teenager I loved Jesus and I had a relationship with him, but I also was struggling with a lot of self-worth issues.
Speaker 2:So, long story short, high school was pretty hard. I think at that point I was already struggling with my identity in who I was as a person. I mean, what teenager knows who they are? But I think for me, like growing up in a household where I had a mom and dad but my dad was my stepdad and even though I have no doubt in my heart that he loves me as his own and you know, he's always made me feel like his child and we had a great childhood growing up Like I'm very grateful and I love him so much. But I think there were definitely moments where I didn't really connect with him as a dad and I think that affected me growing up and affected my relationship with God. I couldn't relate to God, the Father, because I think that there was always an awareness that you know he wasn't my real dad. And then I did have, you know, kind of a broken relationship with my real dad. He was kind of in and out my whole life and got to the point where it's just kind of like random calls. So anyway, all of that to say, after high school I kind of like prodigal daughter, I wound up making a really terrible decision and that you know decision was enough for me to be like I need to get out of here, and I mean hence the way that I've coped as an adult for pretty much the next like 15 years. So I went to Texas, was in Texas for nine years, wasn't walking with the Lord, was drinking heavily, experimented with drugs Thankfully never really got into like a bad drug habit, thank God. Thank you, lord. However, alcohol was definitely still a vice in my life and continued to be, you know, pretty much until recently. So I moved back to Arizona in 2016.
Speaker 2:I met my daughter's dad in 2018, I want to say, and that relationship was I mean to say that I didn't know who I was. I mean, I was searching for fulfillment in everything but God. I had this void in my life and I was trying to fill it with alcohol. I was trying to fill it with relationships with men. I was trying to get my self-worth from being loved and wanted by men, and so when my daughter's dad came along and he was interested, it's like I mean it sounds pathetic, but I mean that's just how little I loved myself. I mean I really truly hated myself. I'll be real honest, like there were times that I mean I would talk down to myself for no reason, like in the mirror, like out loud, and I think that you know when you and that's the enemy right. I mean he wants to keep you depressed and and not know who you are. And so you know, I'm just wandering aimlessly through the dark and being in that relationship with my daughter's dad.
Speaker 2:You know that went on for a good two years but it was awful on both sides. I mean, neither one of us were perfect, but I definitely, you know, at the end of all of that, like in retrospect, I think that I look back and I'm like, how did I put up with so much? And I'm like, how did I put up with so much? And you know, at the time I think I had this excuse, like, oh, it's for my daughter. Or, you know, I had this hope for the man that he could be, and I'm a nurse. So it's like this part of me wants to heal him and fix him and like you know all these things, when you know obviously you can't help someone that A won't take accountability but also doesn't want to help themselves, while also not realizing how much I was broken, like I think that was the biggest realization that God has given me since that time is like looking back and realizing how broken I truly was to even allow all of that, to even allow all of that.
Speaker 2:So two years ago he was living with me but we weren't together. I was trying to help him out and we had a fight and things got pretty bad to the point where I just kind of I kind of just like looked up and thought what am I doing, like, what am I? I'm 35 years old. Like I need God, for I mean truly like in that moment that was God being like are you done? Yet he's like I am here, yes, like I'm here. You're not here, I am here, but I am here. So I finally was just like okay, god, like threw my hands in the air and surrendered and was like I clearly am not, like my way's not working. You know, I was just tired. I was just tired of constantly trying to just be in control of my life, trying to control other people in my life, because you know, if they, if they just got fixed or if they just dealt with their stuff, we would be fine. Like not even really understanding again like how much was like broken with me and how I was using everything in the world to try and fill this void.
Speaker 2:So I went back to church and I went to a church for two weeks and just you know that first Sunday I just raised my hand and rededicated my life to Jesus and realized really quickly, like yes, I wanted and needed God. But if you guys have ever, you know, tried to go to certain churches and you're like man, yeah, I know I need this, but there's something about it. It doesn't quite feel right. And I went to another church where I had heard of from several people I was working with someone who went there, I had taken care of someone whose family went there, so I checked it out and it was just one of those like the minute you walk into the door it just kind of feels like home. You know, like the Holy Spirit was like, yes, like this is where you're meant to be.
Speaker 2:And I think I went two more times and I remember like it felt right. But I think a part of me and maybe this was the enemy, I think a part of me was still thinking, well, maybe there's something still better out there. Like isn't that crazy? Like how the enemy is so crafty and he's like, yeah, this is good, but it could be better elsewhere. I can't even imagine if I had gone somewhere else. I mean, god works for the good of His children. But I remember that second time I went the pastor he delivered a sermon on not church shopping.
Speaker 1:God's like, this one's for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I was still kind of like, oh yeah, no, I really like it here. But I was still a part of me was like, oh, but what if? What, if, what, if? So, yeah, after that sermon I was like, okay, God, I hear you Like this is where I'm meant to be. And so that was two years ago and I've been at the same church ever since, Got baptized that same year on Easter in the lake when it was freezing cold, but my daughter was there and my stepdad was there and that meant a lot to me that he was there for that.
Speaker 2:That was awesome. And then started getting plugged to me that he was there for that. That was awesome. And then I started getting plugged in dipping my toes in serving. Actually, it took me a year. I was going to church for a year and I started to feel God saying, okay, you've been going for a year now and I had developed relationships with people in the congregation and close friendships and everything. But I felt God saying it's time, it's time for you to serve, it's time for you to give back, it's time for you to continue growing, Because I think that you know, you do kind of get not stagnant, but you get comfortable.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just kind of going and attending and then going home and like, yeah, you're reading your Bible every day and you know praying and having relationship with God, but there's something about serving that really opens you up and helps you grow in the faith that much more. It's really rewarding. It feels like you're giving back to a church that's given you so much and I mean, you know God doesn't demand that you serve like he doesn't. It's not like you're buying salvation, You're buying his love. You know.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of pastors will say that all comes secondary to the love of God and you loving God and wanting to serve God like that need, that desire to serve, comes as a result of living with Christ. Yeah, God has done so much in my life over the last two years. I mean from healing me from past hurts and bitterness and anger and resentment with multiple people, not just my daughter's dad, but our parents and my father. He passed away in 2013, and I think there was a lot of anger and bitterness towards him that God's allowed me to release. I think a lot of times we just stuff things down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Don't look at it.
Speaker 2:So being able to look at that in a safe space and just release that. I remember my pastor gave a sermon on tithing. I really wish that you could have seen him and heard him, but he gave me the Father's blessing. I've never connected with a pastor like I have with him, or even maybe another man who wasn't like family, you know, and it was so like just acceptance, supportive, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. I mean very emotional guy, but endearing, like not overly, you know, like not bawling like a baby up there on the platform, but like you know, when it was something that God was speaking to his heart, he would definitely make it known like please hear my heart, know that I'm not just trying to get money from you. This is something God wants to bless you in this way. And he's like I just not just trying to get money from you, this is something God wants to bless you in this way. And he's like I just I want to challenge you over the next. What did he say? I think it was 90 days.
Speaker 2:He's like give 10% of your earnings for 90 days and see how God works in your life and I'm not kidding Like before that I was maybe tithing, maybe like 10, no, before that I was maybe tithing, maybe like 10, no, 1%, maybe not even 1%, maybe like 0.25%. It was not much at all. So after that I was like okay, all right, and I felt convicted by it. I did, I was like you know, and I made every excuse in the book. But finally, I think one morning it was like God was saying okay, so you're saying that you trust me in everything You're surrendered. Okay, so you're saying that you trust me in everything You're you're surrendered, you're wholly surrendered to me. I mean, I had been on my face at the altar, like doing things that I didn't want to do, and then all of a sudden I was like hard stop on the finances.
Speaker 2:God, sorry You're like I'm doing all of this other stuff though, yeah. But see, and I and see like X, y, z excuse you know, I have these bills and I have them on like I have all this stuff. And God was just like in that moment he was like, okay, so you're going to surrender everything to me but your finances. And in that moment I was like okay, this is clearly an idol in my life. Like I need to let go and just trust God.
Speaker 2:So I did, literally started tithing 10% and I'm not kidding you, within 30 days I had the highest paycheck that I had ever had in my career and it was like four times the amount of what I've ever had. And I mean I worked for it. But the opportunity to work but I didn't have to work extra, it wasn't like overtime, it was just an opportunity to make more money in the same amount of time. And then I got a promotion. This job just fell into my lap and it came with a raise. And here I am a year later, just got another raise and another promotion. So just a few of the things. Like God has done so much more. But if I keep talking about it, we will be here forever and I've already talked too much, so I am going to hand it over to you.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I just love it. I love hearing your story because you, honestly, are kind of what started me getting back to church and getting back to God and getting back to my faith and you've really kind of just, I think, done that for everybody in our family. And that's kind of like a thing that I don't know if we've told you or that we've really talked about a whole lot, but truly, like I think, that if you hadn't started going to church and gotten back to your faith and were really building on this relationship with God, you know, because I mean, so many great things came out of it, like you said, and so many wounds were healed and relationships mended you and I mended and it really just jump-started, I think, all of us because we're like wow, oh, my goodness. You know, at first we're like dang, like Audrey's really getting with it, Like that's awesome, yeah, praise God, Woo-hoo, Like we're kind of living how we're living and just, you know, good job, Audrey.
Speaker 1:And then it's like, well, wait a minute. Like Audrey's like just on fire, Like what does that feel? Like, you know, so it really did. It jumpstarted our entire family and it's just, it's one of those things where, like, God just works in everybody's life for his good. You know, and you don't even really know it because you didn't know your impact on us and what your walk with God would do to change us. So I think that's really neat.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks, sis, it means a lot to hear that. I mean glory to God, absolutely. You know, I definitely didn't know when I started this journey what would come of it at all, and I mean, I, selfishly, was going for me, you know.
Speaker 1:Right, right, as we all do, you know at first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that though, because your testimony is, I mean, one that I love to share, and it's never mine, sorry, who are?
Speaker 1:you sharing it with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not everybody that will listen.
Speaker 1:It really is amazing, yeah like Audrey said, we grew up going to church. She's a little bit older than me. I'm just going to throw that out there. Just a little bit, just a little bit. She is older than me, more wise, yes, definitely more wise. More wise, more older.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny. You say that because for the majority of my life I feel like you're my little big sister.
Speaker 1:I think it was like that for the longest time. I don't think it's like that anymore, but for a while it might have been that way, but I think you definitely do fill that role of like big sister. Oh, thanks For sure, yay. Yeah, you're kind of something right, yeah, and just the way that you talk and the way that you have conversations like you're very soft spoken and just very motherly in a way, you know, which kind of seems like big sisterly to me. Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, keep going.
Speaker 1:Like go on. Yeah. So we grew up in church. I didn't have quite the same experience as you did. I don't think that I really had a real relationship with God. I mean, I knew that Jesus loved me and I knew that I believed in him and that I loved him. And it's kind of ironic because my best friend growing up was our pastor's daughter and it kind of always just went right over my head Like I'd go over to their house a lot, I'd go to Sunday school with them sometimes and she would talk to me about things and talk to me about God and it just was kind of like yeah, okay, yeah, that's great, like I know that God loves me. But it never went any further than that. And it's funny because we kind of had a conversation as adults a year or two ago and I told her that and she was like, oh my gosh, she didn't know that I didn't know things, she didn't know that I hadn't read the Bible. She's like, oh my gosh, that should have been my job as your best friend, I should have been on that. So I didn't really have that relationship. I didn't have the knowledge I wasn't reading the Bible. Like Audrey touched on, we went to church but then it pretty much stopped there. So we didn't really know what living for God really looked like and living that in the day to day. So very similarly to you, audrey, I had a very rough high school.
Speaker 1:It was a really hard time in my life. Again very similar, like no identity, didn't know who I was. That led to a plethora of problems. That led to a lot of mistakes and a lot of things that I carried shame for for a really long time. I don't like who I was then and that's something that I still, even to this day.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I will start to think about it and overanalyze and let it creep back in, even though I've given it to God over and over and over again and I think our pastor said it, maybe it was a guest speaker, but they were like give it to God and don't take it back, and that's something that I struggle with it just kind of creeps back in. I'm like, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm supposed to no, take this back. Take this back because I start to dwell on it. But I mean, I made a lot of mistakes as a teenager. I made a lot of mistakes as a young adult. I hurt people, I let people hurt me.
Speaker 1:You know, becoming a young adult still very lost. And miraculously I met my husband during this time of my life and I really believe that God placed him in my life for a reason. I was just not who God wanted me to be and I still had a very, very long way. From that point on, I've been with my husband 10 years now and and even thinking about who I was when we met, it can be really challenging just because I've come so far. We've come so far as a married couple. But I really think that it was all God's plan for me to meet him and for us to be together, and so we had our oldest son when we weren't married yet. Obviously that is not what God wants, but I firmly believe that God, if we let him, he uses our mistakes for his good and our son is not a mistake. But we were not doing it God's way and God was still able to glorify him through that.
Speaker 1:So then we had our second son kind of kept doing life our way and nothing really bad, just not living for God, not inviting him in Again. I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't really know how to do that. I don't know if it would be like I was naive or I was ignorant to just believing like, well, if I believe in God, that's enough. Again, I was so little for most of our church days and then I mean, even as a teenager it kind of just went over my head, but I didn't realize that it had to be more than that. My husband always prayed every night. We had my aunt say a prayer for our wedding, you know. So like to me, that was enough, because that's what we were raised believing and doing. We did life our own way. We moved around a lot. I think we lived in, oh my goodness, six houses in four years across three different states and four or five different cities. I can't even tell you. I mean, we lived somewhere for like four months and we're like, yeah, not for us Sell the house we just bought, we're going to move again, we're going to go here this time. So I really think we were just chasing happiness for a long time, even though we were happy together, I think we didn't know how to be happy in general. You know, we didn't know how to be happy in life and we did what everybody else does when they're searching for happiness in the wrong places, and for us that was moving around a ton and being like, well, if we just find our happy place, we're going to be happy and everything's going to be great. So we actually thought that we found that in Idaho and we were there for a few years.
Speaker 1:Quick little backstory my husband's a firefighter and he started his career in Arizona and as a firefighter you put into like retirement pool. Now, if you move out of state, it doesn't go with you. You can either choose to cash it out or you can leave it and then come back to it. You, you can either choose to cash it out or you can leave it and then come back to it. So we left that alone, didn't touch it. We get to Idaho after however many moves that we did prior to that, and I was pushing my husband to cash that money out because I'm like, hey, like we're, we're here. We've been here for a couple of years. We love it here. This is our happy place, this is where we're staying. We need to leave Arizona behind, and he never would. He was always like I don't know. I just have this feeling. I don't want to touch that. I don't want to touch that. I know Audrey's giving me the look right now. Yeah, we didn't know at the time.
Speaker 2:We know now clearly that that was God all along Working in your husband. Yes, yes. So last year, last school, and I don't know, it was just something heavy on my heart, like just thinking about the boys and thinking about them all being together and growing up together. And we had already kind of started talking and, like you know, you knew I was going to church and we were mending our relationship and and I was driving to work and I just I was bawling in the car, just bawling, crying Cause I was like this doesn't feel right. We'd already gone and visited, you know, the summer before and we saw how much you guys thrived there. I mean you, you had a beautiful house, you guys loved the lifestyle what more could you want? Right? But like, obviously, family not being there and especially with us mending.
Speaker 2:So anyway, yeah, I was driving to work and God, just in that moment I just felt like I prayed out loud, I was crying, I was like God I know that they're so happy and I'll be real honest with you, like I don't know that I had faith that he was going to answer that prayer. I really didn't, because I was thinking to myself like there's no way they're going to leave Idaho, like they love it there, they're thriving. Like why? Why would they come back to Arizona? So I'm like in my head, I'm thinking this, but I'm still praying out loud and just almost like if I could be on my knees I would have, but I was driving my car, so not possible.
Speaker 2:But I was in my heart, my heart, posture was definitely on my knees and just I was like God, if there is a way I know that they're happy, if it is your will that they should come back, that they could be happy here with us with family. Lord, please make a way, just open doors, just make a way, lord, please. And then, as quickly as it came, that thought honestly went away, even after, like you said, like after you went back. And then it was just like. It was like God was like hey, I did that, don't forget, I did. Hey, look at me.
Speaker 2:Hey did you forget?
Speaker 1:Yes, lord, I'm sorry, oh goodness, yeah, oh my gosh. It's just so crazy because just that same morning that you had could have been the same morning where I was like telling my husband, like let it go, let even a month later. I'm like we need to go back. I'm just kidding, I was just kidding a month ago.
Speaker 1:Like we need to go back. And he was like, I agree, and it's just crazy, coming full circle where that was God all along. I mean that was in the whole time, because if I truly believe that if we didn't have his friar career to come back to in Arizona, we wouldn't have came back, well, I guess I can't really say that, because if God wants it to happen, it's going to happen one way or another. I just can't say when or how or you know anything like that. So I think that for the first time we were listening to God's voice, and especially for me personally, whenever I would pray to God, it was just a one-way conversation and it was so heavily on our hearts that we were like, okay, it's happening.
Speaker 1:So I mean, we had to sell our home, my husband had to get hired but it can be really hard to get hired with fire and actually when we started looking, noah was hiring. And then when we were like, well, we're just going to do it, we're just going to go, we're going to trust that God's sending us, we don't have a plan, we don't know how, we don't know why, we're just going to do it. Boom, job open up. He applied, he gets it and I'm just sitting there like in tears Like I can't believe it.
Speaker 1:Lord, you really, oh my goodness, you really pulled through. Okay, thank you, jesus. See what you did there, right, yeah, because there's. I mean, there was just no way. And then our house, you know, no-transcript. The truth of the matter is that we have had nothing but God's blessings and have felt His love and felt His connection and just known without a doubt that we're where he wants us to be right now, and as much as we can say that we loved Idaho and that we didn't choose to be here, god chose for us to be here, and that's enough for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love, I just love it. I literally like it's not even my testimony but I tell it. Tell it like it's mine, because I just love that part where you know you were kind of fighting with that uncertainty of not having a job and knowing that this is where you needed to be and wanted to be and but how? How? You know how is this going to happen and you know the minute that you let go untrusted is when God opened and, you know, made a way.
Speaker 2:And I think that happens so much, so much more than we probably even realize or want to admit. Have we passed up where God was probably trying to bless us and we fought it because we were scared or didn't know what it was going to look like or you know whatever. Insert the excuse, but when you truly let go and you just trust in God's plan, I mean, my goodness, things just fall into place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, I love that so good. Yeah, that is so good.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a little bit about us, just a little bit, a little bit Only like an hour's worth.
Speaker 2:I hope you guys aren't bored.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think that for us, even though you know both of us have had a history in the church, you know we both had varying levels of understanding of you know what a relationship with God looks like and what that entails, and so we both have not read the Bible.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've read, you know, parts of it, parts of it like certain scriptures, or you know the gospels, like I think a lot of people have probably, you know, read the gospels, but we haven't read it from like start to finish. And there's been a lot of books like in between that we haven't read. So it was really fun. You know both of us like reading the Bible, starting this journey, and like having these epiphanies and these revelation from God and like get on the phone and having these four hour conversations on and on, and on and on. So you know we thought, man, a lot of what we're experiencing and the questions that we're having that are coming up in our reading. We you know there's probably a lot of other people that have the same questions or thoughts and it's just kind of like what in the Bible?
Speaker 2:I mean like there's some pretty hard things to digest in there and then there's a lot of hard things to understand. I still consider myself a pretty green Christian because, yeah, I had my you know my experience as a teenager. But like spending the next 15 years as I did in the world and then coming back as an adult and really, like you said, being on fire for God and reading the Bible with like new eyes, it's definitely like I feel like I'm learning it for the first time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, if you're green, you're like medium green.
Speaker 2:I'm light green, you're like medium green.
Speaker 1:Because there's various shades of green. You know there are, that is true. I'm greener than you are, which I think that we're hoping that that will be useful. Audrey is much better at digesting things. I think you understand a little bit more faster, I think, than I do. Okay, audrey, what does this mean? And you're like? Well, this is how I got out of it. I'm just staring at you like a deer in the headlights. That's what I should have gotten out of this.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, mom will tell you, I've always been textbook smart, quote unquote, book smart and book smart, and not very what does she call it Street smart?
Speaker 1:She says that straight up too, so.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say you got all the street smart jeans and I got all the bookworm jeans, book smart jeans. Yeah, no, I think it's going to be really good. You know us doing this together. So that's this podcast. This is why we decided to do this podcast, just really to kind of have conversation about what we're reading and yeah. So before we get into kind of the logistics, we thought we would just kind of do like a short Q&A to kind of see what we've struggled with, you know, in reading the Bible and maybe, if this is something that you know, other people also struggle with. So what would you say is the most difficult thing about reading and understanding the Bible?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, the most difficult thing. What I still struggle with is definitely staying consistent in my reading and not becoming discouraged, because, again, I mean, the whole reason that we're starting this podcast is because it can be hard to understand. The wordage is different. It was written to a different audience, obviously for everybody, but written to a very different audience.
Speaker 2:Like 2,000 years ago Right.
Speaker 1:So I think that that can be very challenging. Sometimes I have to read something over and over and over again and I have to just stop and you know, god like reveal what you want to reveal to me in this. Help me understand it, please, let me retain it. I think that it becomes overwhelming and it can be discouraging because you're like how am I going to get through this whole book and how am I actually going to get anything truly out of it that I can actually remember? Because sometimes I'll read something and be like wow, that's so good, that's so good, lord, I'll like highlight it, you know, write it down, take a note all the things, and I couldn't tell you about it the next week. So I think that that's personally for me, that's where I struggle with consistency and not becoming discouraged when I'm inevitably not going to understand something that I read.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think it's so overwhelming looking at how big the Bible is, and you may have a friend in church or you know someone they're like. Oh yeah, I've read the whole Bible. I'm like you have. What is your secret? Do you remember it?
Speaker 2:all Like how many times Some of them have read it several times like Bible in a year, and I think that word consistency for sure, I think that is one that I definitely struggle with as well. There are days when I flat out don't want to. This morning was one of them and in those moments I think I just have to like surrender to God and be like Lord. I'm sorry, I'm going to be real. He knows.
Speaker 1:All right, he already knows yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm like Lord, please help me. Like I don't, and you know when it's that, like you said, like creating a habit. There's days, like today, where I don't want to, but I'm acknowledging it to God and God takes it and reveals things that I didn't realize. Again, just, it's so awesome to like you think you've learned everything about yourself and you think you've let go of everything. And then all of a sudden and it could be the same verse. You've read it 10 times, but in that moment you needed to hear it and the Holy Spirit reveals to you what you needed to learn from that verse. And it's so fun.
Speaker 2:The Bible is alive, it is a living, breathing thing. Like the word of God will never die, you know, and that's in scripture and it's truth. But when you start to read it consistently every day, even on those days that you don't want to, it comes to life. It shows up in your life in ways that you never thought possible. It's not just sitting down and reading a book I mean, yeah, you could be a book lover and read a new novel, like every month but the Bible is one that, literally, the more you read it, the more you get to know God, and that's the other thing. Like you think you know God right, like you go to church and you're like OK yes, I wish they could have seen you right now.
Speaker 2:My attitude is to be but it's true, Like I feel like you go to church and you're hearing all these sermons about God and you're reading the word and people are telling you things about God, about who he is, like the president. People could tell you like you know everything about the president. You read every article about him and you hear what other people say about him, but until you meet him in person, you don't really know him. But when you're reading the word every day, you are literally getting to know our creator and he meets you where you're at. You know he meets you and he understands where you're at. And I think I'm kind of segwaying into this next question that we were going to ask, which was you know, if we could give our listeners a piece of advice and reading the Bible, what would it be? He meets you where you're at and he understands that you don't know everything yet and he understands your level of understanding and our frustrations. And I think the biggest thing that he's revealed to me is that it's okay to be patient, it's okay to not know what I don't know. It's okay to digest this one chapter at a time, one book at a time. It's okay to reread it many, many, many times, and we will.
Speaker 2:And when I start to get frustrated over, like, a specific passage because I'm not understanding or I feel like I'm never going to understand it, the most helpful thing that I have done is it's okay, I'm going to move on, I'm going to pray on it. Lord, please, I'm having a hard time with this one. Can you reveal your wisdom to me, Bless me with your insight, Holy Spirit? Every time before I read, I always invite the Holy Spirit into my reading time and to just open my eyes, my ears, my heart so that I can receive it. And you know, sometimes the answer is yes, and we get these amazing moments with God in our quiet time. And sometimes it's not right now, and that's okay. It's okay to move on and not understand that, because you know there will come a time where, in God's timing, Because you know there will come a time where, in God's timing, you know it will come back Right In ways that you were like didn't see that one coming, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about Lot's wife right now, that one, I think we talked about that one I'm like, oh my goodness, I got to read Genesis again.
Speaker 1:I got to read this hard, because that is, you know, like disclaimer, like we have, like we said, we have read a few books out of the Bible. Yeah, genesis is one that we have done. We got the first book Right. Yes, check, check Letters from Paul, some of them, not all of them. Yeah, it's just funny when you say that, because that does happen. I just rolling my eyes like how many times am I going to read this? But this time, when I read it, it hit me different. That time, and I had read it probably five or six times, that exact passage never hit me. I'm just like shouldn't have turned around, shouldn't have looked back. Hello, you know. And then, and then, like the fourth or fifth time I read it oh, I'm, oh me, oh, okay, yeah, giving it to you God.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you, lord, and thank you that he doesn't do that all at once. Right, right, can you imagine? Nope, oh goodness, Can't imagine. I think that would probably be the best advice that I could give is to you know, just give yourself grace in those moments when you're struggling. Like you said, definitely just keep doing it, and it's okay if you don't do it every day, like try your best to read every day, because you're prioritizing time with God and he should be number one in your life, you know, and the enemy will try and come in and shame you into thinking that you're neglecting other things, but I promise you, if you're prioritizing a relationship with God, everything else is going to just be taken care of, like God's going to provide. Pray, definitely pray.
Speaker 2:Yeah praying on it for sure, like we will not understand it with our own understanding, like we weren't meant to understand it by our own, by knowledge, by you know, thinking and analyzing. It's a heart understanding that only God can provide. So, definitely, pray first and just again, give yourself grace, yeah, it's okay if you, you know, miss a day or two. Just keep trying. Yeah, keep coming back to it. Grace, yeah, it's okay if you miss a day or two.
Speaker 1:Just keep trying. Yeah, keep coming back to it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:I really don't have anything to add to that, because that's what I would say for sure, just because of my answer with the last question, with reading and understanding it and just feeling discouraged and, like you said, give yourself grace and pray on it and make it a habit and you'll get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and come listen to our podcast, yeah.
Speaker 1:Exactly. If you're feeling confused, come and get more confused with us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, be confused with us, because I promise you we are going to be confused, and that's okay too, and it's okay to have questions, yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It's the intent behind having the questions. But if our intent of having questions is because we want a deeper knowledge, we want to seek a deeper understanding of who God is and what his word means, I think that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think our plan is to just take this you know, one book, probably even one chapter, at a time. Yes, I think there's going to be times when we can take it you know, more chapters at a time.
Speaker 1:Lamentations Because yeah, I've only heard about it. That will be totally new to me. So that's pretty interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm trying to think. What was the book that I got bold and decided to start reading? I think it was what's the one after Exodus?
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, leviticus, leviticus. Is that the one after Another one I've only heard about? Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 2:Yeah, leviticus. No, I think it's the one about sacrificing. I think it's Deuteronomy. See, you guys, we don't even know, like the order, that's the one right after Exodus, whichever one that one is, it's, it's the third book in the bible.
Speaker 2:Okay, the third book, they're all laid out the same. It's the third book, um, but yeah, I mean total confusion. So some of them I think we need to spend a little bit more time on. So you know, I think genesis will probably take more like one chapter at a time, but I think we're going to put out episodes every other week, so biweekly, each episode will cover, you know, a section of reading and our first episode. So this is kind of more of an introduction, just so you guys could get to know us and you know, hear what we're about, hear our hearts and what our intent was for this podcast. And then we're going to read Genesis, chapter one. We originally were going to do like one through four. Both of us came with like it was a bit overzealous five pages of notes.
Speaker 1:I'm like Audrey. We have a problem. The episode is going to be like three hours long. I am down, yeah, so it will be Genesis chapter one.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I think, you know, I think Genesis chapter one merits a good hearty discussion on, because it's you know, it kind of lays the foundation for a lot of things. So, yeah, genesis chapter one. But yeah, I proceed like that over the weeks and just you know, we'll let you know in advance what we're going to cover. Yeah, if you want to read along with us. Yeah, anything that you're struggling with. We figured we'd come and kind of just have a general discussion about the chapter and anything that came up for us.
Speaker 1:Any questions we have.
Speaker 2:Difficult. What in the Bible moments? Sure, there's going to be a lot of those. Oh yes, plenty, plenty to come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we thought it would be fun if we picked out our favorite scripture in that chapter and tried to memorize it, because I think, you know, when you first start reading the Bible, memorization is not at the forefront of your brain. But the Word of God is a sword and it's meant to be a sword in every sense of the word, like helping you to grow. And Jesus, when he was tempted in the desert, answered the devil every single time with scripture. And he was the son of God, like I mean, he is the word you know. He could have, like, said his own word and it would have been like new and like in the Bible. But he, he repeated scripture that had already been written during Moses's time, you know, when Moses wrote the Torah. So he had used scripture from that time to rebuke and basically repel the devil and deal with temptation.
Speaker 2:All that to say, I think it would be fun to, as we're reading new chapters, just also trying to memorize scriptures that we can, you know, recall it in times that we need it. Yeah, absolutely yeah. So we hope that you guys will join us for this exciting journey. We'll also put our links to our Facebook page and Instagram. I'm just going to say we have one because it's going to happen.
Speaker 1:She's looking at me like did you do that yet? Yes, yes, we will have an Instagram page as well. Awesome.
Speaker 2:So we'll have links to both of those pages and our website in the show notes.
Speaker 1:So we'd love to hear some of your experiences, either as a new believer, or what reading the Bible for the first time has been like for you, or what reading the Bible for the first time has been like for you. We hope that you guys are just as excited as we are to dive into God's Word and begin uncovering some of its mysteries as we learn and grow and pray and ask what in the Bible.
Speaker 2:Until next time, keep praying and stay fed by the Word of God.
Speaker 1:Bye, bye, you guys.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, it's Audrey. From what in the Bible? We just wanted to leave a quick disclaimer to emphasize that we are by no means experts in Bible theology or interpretation. We highly encourage any new believer or anyone struggling with understanding the Bible to get connected to your local church and seek guidance from your pastor or other believers that are more mature in the faith. Most importantly, we understand that prayer is an integral part of reading, learning and understanding scripture. We encourage you to spend some time with the Lord in prayer before diving into God's word. The Holy Spirit is the best teacher and counselor to provide insight, wisdom and true understanding of scripture. Thank you for listening and we hope you join us for our next episode.
