Trying to Come Back

Last year I initiated a Bible-reading challenge on my main website. We called it Read with Me. The goal was to read the entire Bible, front to back, within one year. About forty readers joined in the fun with weekly accountability check-ins. It all went along swimmingly until my husband and I decided to sell our house. That was the beginning of the end.

As we entered the stress of selling a house, buying a new one and moving to a new community, I got further and further behind my goals in the challenge. Prioritizing the Bible over all other writings, I decided to stop reading anything else until I caught up. I also stopped doing book blog tours and posting reviews. Well, then my mom had a stroke and the 90-year-old house we bought required way more immediate attention than we had planned. The kids struggled with their transition to a new school and I ... well, I never caught up.

I wasn't the only one.

Not only did I not catch up, I realized that I wasn't myself in trying to catch up. I found myself feeling burdened by the challenge and the Bible because I really wanted to be reading other things, too, and I couldn't and all these self-imposed regulations were stripping my joy. They stripped by joy of God's Word and they stripped my joy of simply reading.

This year I've initiated The Sequel. It's for those of us who simply couldn't do it in one year, but who want to stick to the goal of consistently reading the Bible. We are a smaller, but faithful crew. Feel free to join us, if you want some accountability!

And this time I've given myself permission to read other stuff, too, and to reignite my love of reading. It's so refreshing! I've found that when I allow myself "pleasure reading" I am far more consistent in my "edification reading." I enjoy reading my Bible more when it is something I want to do rather than something I have to do! I know. Profound - right? (Please note the sarcasm here.)

So, all that said, I'm trying to come back. I'll begin (again) to post reviews next week. Some of the upcoming posts are for brand new books, and some of them will be for books I read last year, but never posted. Remember, if you're looking for reviews of Christian children's books (Age Range: 0-18), you can find me and friends offering just that at CCBR. You can also check out my reviews on Amazon.com.