A sample of the notes, highlights & markings
after years of Bible Study!
This is my favorite Bible of all times...an NIV Life Application Bible. It has been my faithful friend through the years...in study after study,...in attendance at all the MOMS In Touch meetings I went to over the years. It has been my constant companion! Last night I finally sat down and did a bit of Spring cleaning in my Bible. It was stuffed to capacity and beyond with slips of paper, notes, pictures of children I have prayed for, bookmarks, 3 small rulers, 1 pentel Bible marking pen (purchased in Chattanooga at Precept Ministries), two mechanical pencils, and 1 ink pen. I am sorry now that I didn't take a picture of the stack of things I removed from the pages of this trusted friend. The stack was about 3 1/2 inches thick! No kidding!!! As I leafed through the pages and read some of the margin notes and prayers my heart was flooded with memories of my children when they were younger. Many a heartfelt prayer for their spiritual lives was written in the margins. I also had jotted prayers for myself and for my husband on these pages.
I flipped pages to the book of Psalms and really had to chuckle over the many notes I had taken and the passages I had underlined and highlighted. It made me think of a time when my son, who is now 20, screamed out in the middle of church that he was going to call the Bible police on me because I had written on the pages. Such sweet innocence! Both of my children love books and they were taught early not to scribble or draw in their books. It was hard to make 4 year old Boomer understand that God was not going to be angry at me for marking in the Holy Bible. He was quite dogmatic at the time. Even now at age 20 he despairs because of my note-taking. My daughter moved past that years ago. I noticed in her MacArthur Study Bible an abundance of notes and highlights.
This Bible will probably always be my favorite. This beautiful book comforted me through widowhood and the rearing of my children and then through marrying again to a wonderful godly man. But, God laid it on my heart that it is time to start afresh. So, I now have a new Bible, a MacArthur Study Bible - NKJV, to use when I study and pray. I know this is a good thing. I will see the Scriptures in a new way and I know the Holy Spirit will reveal things in a new translation that I missed in the my trusty NIV. And, as I put pen and highlighter to the pages of my new Bible I am certain that Boomer's pitiful wailing for the Bible Police will echo in my ears. Alas, one day he will understand that in order for me to write God's Word on my heart that I need to write my impressions within its margins. It is a process that I cherish.
Blessings!
"I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you."
Psalm 119:11
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