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We all know I love to read. Last year (2018) alone I read 43 books. Well the ones I posted about on IG. I did reread some that I just like to refresh up on. Anyhoo, this year I decided to a 52 week Bible challenge. You would think 1 book wouldn’t take a year to complete but let me tell you, it really is THICK.

If you want to get the guide to read the Bible in 52 weeks, click here.

However, I being the overachiever noticed when I didn’t take days off during my 40 day spiritual fast I could actually finish early, so I pushed myself to do so.

And that’s how I finished the Bible in 11 months.

Could have been sooner if I wasn’t a slacker. Just sayin’. But January 3 to November 30, 2019 wasn’t bad.

Now let’s get into why I decided to challenge myself with this type of journey then we’ll talk about the emotional rollercoaster I experienced this year while having more than a dozen or so come to Jesus moments.

We all know 2018 was the year from HELL for me. It’s was pure purgatory. I really didn’t care for the experience and could have learned the lessons in a much less stressful way. But that’s not what happened to me.

Towards the end of 2018 I joined a group coaching program to help me get my ish together. Denika Carothers helped me to make major mindset shifts. But I was still feeling a little blue. Then the new year rolled around and I declared this was the year of my selfish sabbatical. Having no idea that reading the Bible would be the foundation of this year thus shaping my sabbatical.

So why did I decide to read the Bible?

I’ve read it off and on sporadically over my life. But never really dived deep into it. I did do Bible studies when I attended church but I only read the designated scriptures. And over time you realize the same passages are tossed around with most of the Bible never really taught. So curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to know what the Bible really said and were people misusing the Word of God for selfish reasons? Plus you realize who only posts what they hear and not what they actually know about the Bible. But I won’t get into that on this post.

Tip One:

I felt a deep void in my life. Reading the Bible and getting closer to God was one way I thought that would fill it. So when I saw the opportunity, I jumped on it without hesitating. Or thinking. Whew….I was not ready for the amount of reading until I saw the daily reading schedule. But if I can binge on Netflix or scroll hours on social media then I could make time to read the Bible. Those who asked for tips, that’s one major one right there. I prioritized reading over fun. Yet, I still was able to binge on Netflix and scroll on social media. Not including living life, running my blog and taking care of other responsibilities. There is time if you manage it well.

Tip Two:

No I didn’t have a rigid daily schedule. My days just aren’t setup like that. So I made it a point that when I had time during the day that’s when I would read for that day. So it could be morning, afternoon, evening or late at night. But I kept the pace of the reading schedule. I committed myself to this goal and I didn’t want to let myself down. That’s another tip you can use.

Me being the overanalyzer that I am journaled my way through. I felt it would help me take notes, reflect, see where I was at that moment in time. I usually recycle my journals as I don’t like rereading my past. But this one I will keep. This was a tilling year for me. God kept me hidden, isolated, shut my mouth and demoted in every aspect. Y’all that was so hard for me. I’m used to taking charge, doing things, fixing problems. But right now, God told me to shut it and allow myself to uproot toxicity and replenish as well as nourish my soul. So that’s what I did, reluctantly. I’m just going to be honest about that.

This brings me to the emotional rollercoaster this experience has taken me on. If you read my post about my fast then you know I had a few meltdowns. I was breaking. So much in my life was just being uprooted. I felt my life was being destroyed and I didn’t know what to do. At times I felt God was mocking me. It was brutally painful.

When I started I was depleted. I was using what I learned with Denika to build me back up but I was depleted. So I wasn’t feeling much. I was tired of reading about lineages when I couldn’t pronounce 9 out of 10 names. That was just, Lawd, too much.

When I finally got to some books that had some meat I noticed my journaling became specific. I was connecting the scriptures or what I took away with what had or was currently happening in my life. I also wrote a prayer for every day that I read. I will NOT be sharing those because alot of them were angry. I was so hurt and that’s where I felt safe to share.

For the record, Esther and Job were my FAV books of the Bible. I just really liked and felt connected to them.

Rereading in 2021, Galatians has stuck out with me so far.

People have said they felt or seen spirits being driven out of people. I thought that was weird, freaky and krazy to be honest. But lo and behold I felt spirits leaving my body this year. At least on 2 separate occasions I felt that experience. And after I just gave a big sigh of relief.

Doing a 52 week Bible challenge will put you in spiritual warfare. So be ready. We all fight them daily but never pay attention or aware. The moment you do anything to get closer to God, you’ll notice. You’ll notice every single thing that is coming to attack you. And it’s exhausting. The past 2 years I have been spiritually attacked and was unprepared. Reading the Bible helped me to process things and keep moving forward. Also my Pastor’s teachings has helped me to grasp more understanding as well.

There’s really no words to truly describe the spiritual and emotional experience I went through this year. Between the breakdowns, meltdowns, breakthroughs, spirits being driven out, crying out of the blue and mental exhaustion, I can only say that has helped to rebuild me into the woman I’m meant to be. People left me life. I dropped people. They don’t know it yet but I did. I deleted over 200 text chains. Some people tried to come back into my life. Only 1 has lasted so far. I cut myself off (or should I say God did it) from a lot of people, situations, things, interests, thinking, what I was or wanted to do.

What I learned from this experience?

The most important factor I learned during this entire experience is in order to be where you’re destined, you will have to go through a fire. That fire is meant to burn off everything not required, needed or expected to be part of your destiny. I never wanted to go through the fire. I had become comfortable being around mediocre people. It made me feel as if I was doing something because I was doing more than them. In reality, I was playing in a league well below where God wanted me to be for far too long. So HE literally dropped me to my knees to show me that I needed to stop doubting myself, regain my confidence and forget trying to impress people who can’t put two and two together.

Would I do this experience again?

Absolutely. Without a doubt. [I am in 2021 and doing a weekly video recap with it.] It was the most life-changing experience that I could have never planned for. The stripping away has made it easier for me to fly with the eagles and not continue to hang with the buzzards.

This was my transparent experience doing the 52 week Bible challenge. If you’re interested in taking your own journey, I created an ebook to guide you through. Get your copy today and in a year I pray that God transforms your life too.

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