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How are we today? Crazy? Hectic? Same here friends. Let’s take a deep breath together. Come on, in….and out. Let’s start today with resting in the fact that God cares about our crazy, hectic, and stressful days. He cares so much for you, and deeply yearns for you to call out to Him and ask for help.

How about a little prayer?

Dear Lord, thank you for caring about me. You care about me on the days that go great, and You care about me on the days that are full of crazy “life”. Please help me to focus on You if only for a moment today, and to be grateful for this life You have given me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Alright, feeling better? Good, me too.

Today I am reviewing Angie Smith’s Bible study called Seamless. She teaches us how to Understand the Bible as One Complete Story in just 7 weeks. Yes, you read that right! 7 weeks! (I know, I didn’t believe it at first either)

A friend of mine (Hi Janaye!) decided to lead this study at our church (shout out to First Baptist Nederland!) right when we were preparing to move 3.5 hours to relocate for the Husband’s job. I knew I most likely wouldn’t be able to attend the weekly discussion sessions, but I bought the Study Guide anyway so I could do it on my own. Mercy, am I glad I did.

I have been doing BSF (Bible Study Fellowship; a school-year long study that focuses on one book (with the exception of Moses-see below) each year for 5 years now and the books I have currently intensely studied are (in order from my first year) Acts, Genesis, Matthew, Study of Moses (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and last year Revelation.

Husband (Kason) and I also read through the entire Bible together in a year a couple years ago. However, to be totally honest a lot of those days our reading ended up being just another task to mark off our to-do list.

I will probably never feel like a Bible scholar, and that’s ok, but I do feel like I have a grasp of a good amount of God’s Word. But, there’s always been so many holes that just didn’t make sense. All the kings, the battles, the prophets, when the Babylonians exiled the Israelites all seemed like such a blur, and it blew my mind every time K rattled off a fact from the Old Testament.

That has sensed changed in the last 7 weeks. Thanks to a sweet southern girl named Angie.

At our first session for the Seamless study, we watched an introduction video from Angie, and my heart felt such a pull towards her and her story. She didn’t grow up immersed in the Bible, it wasn’t until she was an adult when she learned the good news that is Jesus. She mentions for her first trip to Lifeway Christian Store she couldn’t go in the store. She looked in through the windows and felt like she could never fit in, that the women she saw in there portrayed a life that was unattainable for her.

My heart ached for her, and for others who see us “Christians” and feel unwelcome.

Does my life turn others away? Scare others from thinking they could never be good enough for Christ? These questions still shake me to my core so many weeks later.  I try to be transparent with my struggles (for whatever reason it’s easier for me to do so online via social media or right here on the blog.)

But, am I doing enough? Am I living in way that makes others want to know who this Jesus guy is and why He makes me so happy, but still courageous enough to tell others about my struggles and sins? I hate to say that I really have no idea, but I fear the answer is most likely probably not.

Because of Angie’s background she shares a fresh perspective that is so incredibly accessible, easy to understand, down to earth, sometimes a little sarcastic, hilarious, but most importantly simple to follow along with and really understand how the Bible is one complete story.

She also mentions how when she first started learning the Bible she used a children’s Bible to do so. Genius y’all! Genius! How have I never thought of this before? Even growing up in church, I still learn new things when we read to Kerrington from her Bible at bedtime.

The first few weeks, I thought for sure there was no way she would get the whole Bible in there, but she did! Every single book in the Bible is touched on. She even has one-line explanation throughout the study guide for each book that is discussed with each lesson.

Being a new mama with a baby who hasn’t napped longer than 30 minutes at a time since she was 4 months old, nap times were sacred time to literally do nothing. I wanted to scroll mindlessly on my phone, or watch something on Netflix (we don’t have cable), but I also knew that I needed to put the Lord first so I would hurry through my Bible study so I could then “rest”, when in reality the only rest I needed was in Him.

But something changed when I started this particular study. I began to get excited about spending more time with Him, it was thrilling how so much of the puzzle began to be pieced together with each lesson. Some days I even had to stop myself from doing multiple lessons, so I would make sure to have more to learn the next day.

I began to also pray that I would find real rest through His Word, learning and growing closer to Him. I am now feeling the effects of a heart shift where I just want to keep diving deeper into His Word.

Angie’s study guide is full of fun details that further cement knowledge of God’s Word in your heart and mind.

I mentioned the one-line overall topic for each book earlier. She also has this super cool (you can tell I was a 90’s kid huh? How about #totesadorbs, thats what the kids say now right?) roadmap with fun icons that takes you all the way from Genesis to Revelation, and she challenges you throughout the study to go over the icons covered to ensure your grasp on everything.

Through each lesson she includes fill in the blanks and verses to read to answer questions, but they are never very long passages. Just simple and easy to read which in turn means easy to understand Biblical references. Because you are obviously doing a Bible study, so you #obvi (am I a cool kid yet?) want to make sure you are actually studying scripture.

Then in the back she has 3 pages dedicated to further learning. One for continuing in Bible study, starting a toolbox, and memorizing scripture; which if you caught THIS POST, you know how big I am on that!

Now who’s up for winning a copy of this heart-shifting, light-bulb turning on, puzzle piecing together seven week study?!

All you have to do is comment below with your favorite verse and why, and I will put everyone’s name in a bowl and draw for a winner after 5 days of this post being live!

In His love,

xoxo, Tamara