I love books. One look at my bookshelves will convince you of that. Some of them are worn from the many times I have read them. Some still have the remains of 'handy' bookmarks stuck in them: a receipt from McDonalds, plane ticket, a grocery list, torn corners of pieces of paper, even a picture of Pete holding my daughter as a baby! Many of them I haven't read. Someday I will crack them open to browse thru their pages. Someday.
But I lost one.
Being restricted on the amount of weight I can carry reached places I would never have thought...my study Bible. Carrying it for any length of time is hard. So I started reading it while I was laying down. Flat of my back, holding it above my head, making notes or underlining verses while it is precariously wobbling over me...yes, more than once it hit me in the head or chest because my arms gave out while holding it up! (Warning: Wielding the double-edged sword above your head can be dangerous!)
Which bring me back to the lost one. I had a thin NIV Bible that was way more practical and I began to carry it instead of my study Bible. It has disappeared. Gone. Lost. Vanished. Missing. No where to be found!! I have looked everywhere! And I began my precarious study habit again in desperation!
My knight in shining armor saved me once again with the gift of all gifts! A new thin line Bible with LARGE print! Does he know me or what!?!?!! I love it! The smell! Opening it and finding pages still stuck together from the printers and not from my latest coffee spill! All the clean room along the sides for notes and thoughts!
A new beginning of sorts. But there was one other thing lost.
Over the past year of struggles, my assurance of His Spirit living in me has been challenged and taken some direct hits by satan. God has gently led me to recommit my life with a conscience choice and declaration of faith in Him, His Son and His kingdom thru baptism. My new birthday is today! A day of assurance of a life lived in Christ, for Christ and thru Christ!
The BEST new beginning ever!
1 Peter 3:21-22
..and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
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