A Force To Be Reckoned With

207. Struggling to Read Your Bible? Listen to This

• Bethany and Corey Adkins / Adkins Media Co.

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Do you ever struggle to find time to read the Bible? Have you ever felt intimidated by it or like you don't know where to start?

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Kristin Nave, a powerful voice on social media dedicated to studying God's Word. Kristin shares her journey from a childhood enriched by her mother's persistent teachings to a slightly distant relationship with Christianity in her early adulthood. A life-changing moment at a conference revealed to her that a Christian life is about experiencing an abundant life, sparking her profound and fulfilling relationship with God.

This episode is packed with practical insights for busy parents to integrate scripture into their daily lives. From giving ourselves grace to accept that our time with God may look different across various seasons to creative ways of consuming scripture, we explore how to stay connected to God's Word even when life gets hectic.

We discuss practical tips like using a study Bible, studying in a community, and taking the journey slowly. Plus, don’t miss the exciting announcement about Kristin’s upcoming "Love the Bible" podcast and the new, vibrant Bible journaling kit created in collaboration with Mr. Pen. Tune in for a fresh, engaging approach to deepening your relationship with God.


Episode Highlights: 

  • Kristin’s background of faith.
  • Making time for God’s Word.
  • Understanding God’s Word.


Find More on Kristin:


Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:

This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.


Speaker 1:

We are at war and it's not against our neighbors, spouses, children, politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against.

Speaker 2:

So the questions are who's the fight against, and are we winning or losing? We're the Adkins, and we are a force to be reckoned with.

Speaker 1:

Are you ready to?

Speaker 2:

join the force. All right, welcome back everyone. We hope that you are doing well and, if you're listening to this in present time, having a great summer. I'm really excited about this conversation today. I have a dear friend who I actually have never met in real life, but we've been friends. For what has it been? Three years now?

Speaker 1:

I think so. Yeah, I feel like we've met in real life. I know it's so weird, even when you say that, because I think the same thing. I think, of course, I've met her, I know.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, it's so weird, even when you say that, because I think the same thing. I think, of course, I met her, I know. Anyway, I have Kristen Knave here. Many of you may know her. She has an incredible social media presence talking all about studying God's Word, and I'm just really excited to share this conversation today. So welcome Kristen. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 1:

Oh, Bethany, it's such a pleasure and honor. It's so good to talk with you today. I'm so excited.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so let's just dive right in One of my favorite parts, and, honestly, one of the main reasons that I started this podcast was I just am so intrigued by stories and people's journeys. I love memoirs and I just love seeing. It's so easy to look at someone's life and think, wow, they've made it or they're you know exactly where God has them. But often we forget to look at the path that got them there, and so I. Obviously social media makes it very easy for us to just draw those conclusions as well. But I would just love for you to dive into your background, share a little bit about who you are. So many people know you now as an incredible teacher and how to study and develop a love for the Bible, but has that always been a part of who you were?

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, not exactly. Thanks for that's a great question. I love stories too and, you know, in some way it was, as far as you know, growing up, I had a mom who would teach us, my brothers and I. So I grew up with two older brothers and we would. My mom would sit us down in our doorways of our bedrooms and she would just open up the Bible, which was the King James version. That's all she had. She didn't have, you know, fun kids Bibles or any other resources, and so she would just read from the King James version of the Bible and you know, we would fight, we would get in trouble.

Speaker 1:

But I would say, in that sense, yes, the Bible has been a part of my life since I was a little, you know, thankfully to my mom, and she wouldn't give up, she would just, every night she would just sit us down, read the Bible. She would have to discipline us because we were just naughty at times, but in that sense, yes, it has been a part of my life. We were, we would go to church, you know, growing up, but to, but the other side of that is I really didn't understand what it meant to have a personal relationship with God, and so it really just became this kind of like part of my life. Like you know, we have all these little boxes of our life and that was like one part of my life, this box of you know, church and my mom reading us the Bible. But growing into my teens and early adulthood, that kind of came, you know, crashing down because you kind of come to, I think, a tension where at least I did, where you know I was living a life at college, I was partying, I was having fun. You know some stories, beautiful stories, have you know a point where they kind of just hit rock bottom. And for me, Bethany, I was actually doing pretty well, like circumstances were actually pretty good, but the tension inside of me was okay, I'm having fun, but I have this like lingering emptiness that just kind of is like marinating there in my heart and I didn't really know how to define it.

Speaker 1:

And not only that, but I was, ironically, I was still going to church, like every Sunday, because that was a box that I checked Right and so I would go, but I would go hungover. I you know I went just so I could say I was going to church. I had two older brothers that were protective, they were believers, and they would call me, you know, on a Monday morning in college and they'd be like so did you go to church? And I could say I did, because you know I got to check the box, and so again. And I could say I did because you know, I got to check the box, and so again, this part of my life was just this kind of box where I put everything else in but I knew that something was off, that something wasn't right, I was missing something. And it's ironically, I went to this big conference, christian conference, and you know, he gave, he gave this message and one thing he said in the message.

Speaker 1:

He said, you know, being a Christian is not just going to heaven one day, it's living in a bun, it's living abundantly. And hearing that word abundantly really struck a chord because you know he was saying it's a full life. And that's what I realized is I really did see, being a Christian is like going to church and then getting to go to heaven one day. But he was talking about a life now of abundance and fullness. And I was not living a full life, I was living kind of this scattered, you know, different boxes and living really for myself, which turns out is not fulfilling. It is in moments, it is in present moments, but I was short-lived.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. You're always seeking the next adrenaline rush or the next like momentary fill to fill that God's eyes hole.

Speaker 1:

Yes, exactly. And so I. That night I got, I just got on my knees and nothing fancy. I just got on my knees and I said Jesus, I know a lot about you because I did. I'd been going to church, I you know, I'd had Bible stories for a long time, but I do not know you, and there's a big difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing him personally. And that started the journey. The next day, literally I dusted off the only Bible I had, literally dusted off because I never read it myself. And I just started reading I didn't know where to start. So I started Genesis, because, right, that's the beginning of a book. And I got to Leviticus. I was like.

Speaker 1:

Leviticus I was like, oh yeah, which is a whole story. But but, needless to say, that's kind of where my journey began and I just I started devouring the Bible, I got in fellowship in a church and God just changed my life and I started living that abundant life that Jesus talks about, that I wanted. So that's where. That's where my story, I would say, with God, kind of progressed and eventually really started.

Speaker 2:

Personally, yeah, that is incredible and I can relate to that so much. I feel like many people can. I think that sometimes we look for like these big moments, these big God moments, and so many Americans are raised in the church or raised in a Christian, or at least having Christian principles, like having the knowledge of it. And mine was so similar where I was raised in the church, my grandfather was a pastor, I went to BBS and then same thing, you know, partying and all that. And I think we can choose to view God's word as a rule book, where it's just like I mean, especially if you're looking at Leviticus, you know like where it's just all of these sets of rules. I almost compare it to like when you're going on a diet and you're like I'll start on Monday, I'll start on Monday, and then you mess up and you're like you know, I'll start next week, and same thing. We can do that with our faith and we can view it as a rule book. Or when you flip the lens and that was the big thing for me, I would say like in my mid to, yeah, my mid-20s, I switched that and started viewing God's word as a roadmap, and that is where the abundance comes in, where it's like God is directing us. We get to live this full, beautiful, abundant life that you were mentioning and that the pastor said at that conference, and we get to just be along for the ride and God's word is guiding us and his spirit is in us and leading us, and it's just is guiding us and his spirit is in us and leading us, and it's just. It's such a cool perspective shift.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I just wanted to say that because I can really relate and I think many people can. We look around and we see a lot of sleeping Christians and that was me for so long Like we think that going to church is enough, but there's more to it. So that's kind of what I want to dive into today, because getting into God's word can be it's a discipline at first if it's not a habit and if you don't have the relationship there. So I want to shift gears just a little bit. We speak primarily to parents and families who are in the thick of raising kids.

Speaker 2:

That's who our primary audience is, and so the heart behind A Force to be Reckoned With is to encourage families to rise up and live the life that God is calling them to and, speaking from experience, I know this can be hard and confusing when you are not continuously plugged into the word because, like I said, it can be. It's a roadmap truly, but for many parents finding that quiet time or building that habit, it can feel nearly impossible. So can you just share some encouragement or tips, or even just talk about the practice of how we view the Bible? Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1:

Well, this is such a great question, bethany, because I think, whether you're a parent, whether whoever you are, I find that this is such a common struggle is, yeah, finding the time, finding you know, when we feel overwhelmed or, honestly, the Bible can be intimidating, and so, whether it's time or just approaching the Bible, it can be a struggle. And what I always kind of say when I answer this question is there's kind of like three words I like to think of when I'm facing this, whether I'm overwhelmed in my life or it's busy, or I'm just not motivated with it, or I'm not. You know, I'm not understanding. It is grace, creativity and honesty, and so, just to break those down, I think grace, I think what's happening right now is, you know and I'm speaking as someone who does this is is we're seeing people's quiet times or we're seeing people's Bible studies online, which is hopefully an encouraging thing. That's why I do it. But, at the same time, we've never faced this before.

Speaker 1:

When I started reading the Bible, I didn't have the internet at my fingertips to just kind of like compare and to see what others, and so I think what's really important is having the grace to know that, you know, not letting our time with God be bound by maybe what it was in a different season and also giving ourselves grace to know it's going to look different in different. You know different parts of our journey and right now I'm in a unique season as my daughter is older. I just have a 13-year-old. I don't have a special needs child or a child with health needs or little little kids. But when I have been in those seasons I think I first have to have grace for myself and knowing it's going to look different. It doesn't make me a bad Christian because it looks completely different than it did in different season.

Speaker 1:

And then the second thing is creativity. We have to get creative. You know I'm a visual learner. I want to sit down on my couch with my cup of coffee, but in those seasons I've had to be an audit auditory learner. You know whether it's just playing it in my car or whatever it is listening to someone else read scripture. And I think the other thing is creativity might mean and grace both of those in partnership might mean that we read like for 10 minutes.

Speaker 1:

And you know I always just think about if Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied it and fed 5,000. Can he not take just one verse? Maybe that we get in the day and multiply it as a harvest of righteousness in our heart? I just always think about that. He's the God of reproduction, reproducing growth.

Speaker 1:

And so I recently was studying Psalm 119 and I read about this commentary who said this guy named Matthew Henry he writes great Bible commentary and when he was a kid his dad said to take one verse in Psalm 119 and there's 119 verses, it's the longest chapter in the Bible and he encouraged them to take one verse every day and just meditate on it each day. And he said if you do that every day, you'll go through this Psalm two times because it's 119 verses, so 365 days. And I just thought about that, as I'm actually going to start doing that, because sometimes what happens and I don't know if anyone can relate to this, but if I'm in a season at one point where, like I get 45 minutes or I get an hour in the Bible, if there's a different season, I almost feel like it's not enough if I only have 10 minutes, or I get overwhelmed by even that feeling, and so to have something in my mind that God can use just one verse, and so that's going to be my go-to when I'm in a hurry. I'm going to take one verse from Psalm 119. It's all about loving the word of God and also struggling to understand and obey it, and so that's going to be just something I do in busy seasons. And there's lots of other ideas, but again, I just want to encourage that one God can take one verse, and I think just the last word you know, honesty is we have to really ask ourselves if busyness is the real problem and I know this isn't going to be super popular, but you know, I think this doesn't just go for parents, but for all of us is it? Is it truly a lack of time? And sometimes it is. That's the grace. Sometimes we literally are so overwhelmed in life. You know we, we cannot get into God's word. It's just so hard. But I think one thing that I do is I open my phone and I look at my time spent on my phone, and that always tells me usually that I have a lot more time than I think I had.

Speaker 1:

My yeah, my best friend had has five kids and they were all under the age of I think like eight at one point, and I remember asking her one time Kimmy, how do you cause she? She got in the word like all the time, like you know, maybe not every single day, but it was she always. She managed to do it and she was overwhelmed. She's a pastor's wife or they were leading a church and she looked at me and you know I, I asked her, like how do you even do that? And she said, kristen, it's survival. And you know, whereas I was coming to it as a luxury, like in a way, like that was my mindset, she saw it as her daily food, like she couldn't imagine, not she, she, she didn't have the time, she didn't have the energy not to have. You know time in the word, and so I just love that perspective of just seeing it as survival. You know time in the word, and so I just love that perspective of just seeing it as survival.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, my goodness, that is such good wisdom right there, everything from. First of all, I love the idea of just reading through Psalms and and just chewing on even one verse for the day, and that is so good for someone like me, who I'm such an all or nothing person, and also not only that, but like I want to read through and I want to know the context and I want to know where it is on a map and I want to go deep and and that's great and that's wonderful. But also, as a mom of three and a business owner, it's, it's sometimes it's just not possible and I find myself then being like, well, I'll just, you know, do it tomorrow, but then the daily food piece where that comes in, there is such a difference in my days and my weeks and my months when I'm getting up early, even though I'm tired, and choosing to put God's word first. It's a mental shift, it's a. I mean, it truly changes everything. So I love that so much.

Speaker 2:

So the beginning of our podcast intro states that we are at war and we're basing this off of Ephesians 6, which, by the way, ephesians is incredible. I don't we might need to have another episode about your Leviticus comment, because I wouldn't recommend starting there, maybe like Ephesians, might be better, but there's a lot of good ones but Ephesians 6, where Paul wrote about the spiritual forces that we're up against, and we want to remind families that the war that we're fighting it's not against those that we think it's against, but it's a spiritual battle, and we were even talking about that this morning, as we've had to reschedule this multiple times due to sickness and life, and no wonder, because we're sitting here talking about getting into the Word of God and that is the most powerful thing that we can do. As we're talking about so later in Ephesians we can then read about the armor of God. So from a new believer or even someone who's just been going through the motions, it might seem like an overstatement to hear what I was just saying, that everything we need to get us through life and when this work can be found in God's word.

Speaker 2:

But it really is that powerful and I know that you were already kind of talking about that, but is there anything more that you can elaborate on? So somebody who's just saying I get it Like I've gone to church even the you when you were in college and your brothers were encouraging you to go, and they're just. Their heart isn't there yet. They're going through the motions, but their heart's not there yet.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that's just such a real question and I love that question and I love that you brought up the war, because I think that's just such a real question and I love that question and I love that you brought up the war, because I think sometimes we're looking at the wrong thing as the problem. Even when let's say we want to pick up the Bible and we feel unmotivated or whatever it is, my unmotivation can often feel like that's like the strongest thing, the strongest element. But to your point in Ephesians, it's not flesh and blood, it's even and I think about that the flesh and blood is even me, so even I'm not the ultimate one that's getting in the way of, you know, getting to church or getting in God's word, it's this spiritual battle, this is war. I tell people that all the time. Let's not forget, you know, getting to church or getting in God's word, it's, it's this spiritual battle, this is war. I tell people that all the time. Let's not forget, you know this is war. And so, yeah, I think, just as we approach the Bible, there's just like a few things is.

Speaker 1:

You know one thing I would encourage people with um, because it is that you're, it is overwhelming. It can be overwhelming. The Bible can be complicated and intimidating. It can seem that way. It's a book that was written thousands of years ago by 40 different authors over this big time span. It's in different languages and cultures, so on that side it can seem complicated, it can be intimidating, but the encouragement is like no other book. We have the God of the universe. That's not just going to help us, he's literally living inside of us.

Speaker 1:

I was just studying first Corinthians this month and just was reminded by that. It says that we have the mind of Christ. So I know this sounds silly. I pray really simple prayers, so this is not intellectual. But sometimes I literally pray like God take my brain out and remind me that I have the mind of Christ, even in understanding the Bible. Like we need help and we have it. We have it at like, literally within us, not just at our fingertips. It's easy to say, oh, I have it at my fingertips. No, I actually have it within me and I just.

Speaker 1:

The other encouragement as far as, like our heart posture Psalm 19, seven it's. We just went through this Psalm at our church and it always is such an encouragement to me because it says that the law of the Lord. The Bible, basically, is for the simple. Well, I'm, you know, simple that that's incredible. It's not.

Speaker 1:

The Bible is not for the Bible teachers, only the, you know, intellectuals. Now they help us understand it. But the Bible's for me, the Bible's for you, it's now, it's, it's written, it's about God, but it's written for us. And then, just like a few, I would say a few, just very practical, that's more of the heart posture, I think, is to just remember that we have the God of the universe that wants to help us. But the heart posture, some of the practical things I would encourage, is get yourself a study Bible if you can afford it. I always recommend the NIV study Bible. When I started reading the Bible I didn't have any commentaries. I didn't have anything other than my Bible and a journal, and I still miss those days. I think sometimes we're oversaturated with resources and that makes us overwhelmed too.

Speaker 1:

And I'm one who's written a resource, so obviously I love resources, and I'm one who's written a resource, so obviously I love resources. But we're just oversaturated. I think we're making ourselves overwhelmed and then just don't study alone. There have been very little times in my life where I'm not in a small group meeting with someone once a week to talk through scripture, of course every day, like I am by myself. But I think people get confused with we're meant to have a personal relationship with God, but we aren't meant to study the Bible just alone.

Speaker 1:

And if you look in scripture all over, when people would get the scriptures they would study in community. You know every time in the New Testament a letter was brought to the church. So Paul wrote a bunch of letters to the New Testament churches and they would not only read it, they would read it out loud and then they would actually expound upon it and they would actually go through it together. And I think that's just like a really overlooked part is people feel this pressure that they're supposed to be getting all this great insight by themselves and that's just not true, like we have to rely on each other even for our Bible study. So I would say those are kind of my two and then my I would say just my last couple of things is go slow.

Speaker 1:

I think one of the greatest obstacles in our Bible study time is we are not willing to go slow. It's actually not that we can't understand it, it's that we're not willing to go slow to get the answer or to seek it out. And so you know, we live in this culture of immediacy and again, that's where God can help us slow down. And you know, a treasure, like treasure hunters, even in the silly movies, it takes them. God can help us slow down. And a treasure, like treasure hunters, even in the silly movies, it takes them a while to find the treasure sometimes. And so, and we need help.

Speaker 1:

And then I think, just lastly, my encouragement to remember that the goal isn't to master the Bible, it's not to understand every aspect of it, it's to know Jesus. It's not to understand every aspect of it, it's to know Jesus, it's a journey. And so I just always encourage people that knowing Jesus may be understanding the Bible less than you imagined, and I know that sounds weird to say, but again, the goal is not to master the Bible, it's to know Jesus. So, even if it's just one verse that hits you. And it's a simple verse. Well, the Bible is made for the simple yeah.

Speaker 2:

And we're called to walk by faith, and faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And so so much of our walk with Christ like it's not meant to be fully understood. It's not meant to have, we're not meant to have, all of the answers. We'll never have all the answers on this side of heaven, and we can study and learn and grow to be, but the goal isn't to know everything, it's just to be drawn closer to Jesus, which that's exactly what studying does. So I feel like I've read notes more this episode than ever before because I, just as I'm listening, I'm like, I'm like I want to ask her this, I want to ask her this, I want to ask her this. So, okay, I have some like more practical questions I want to ask as we wrap up the episode.

Speaker 2:

But I want to go back just a little bit because I feel like I skipped over it just a tiny part, as you were talking about your story when and then I just heard you allude to it again. When you started, you just had your Bible and a journal and so and now you're right Like there's so many resources we have, you know just all of these apps and commentaries and studies and so many wonderful. I mean, it's so exciting to see, but it is very overwhelming. So what did that look like? Let's just say, somebody out there just has their Bible and a journal and they just don't know where to begin. What did that look like for you when you first started?

Speaker 1:

Well, that's a great question again. And yes, I basically I had. I did have the NIV study Bible, I think, life application Bible. So I did have some help, but it was very small. I mean, it would be just like one, one sentence, which I think was good. It was so good for it to be simple and I would just sit in a coffee shop and I had my journal and Bible out and I would just read and I would just journal what God was teaching me or maybe questions that I had.

Speaker 1:

And, like I said, honestly, there are many moments I miss those days One because I just also didn't have the distraction of my cell phone. But also I miss not having all that there is to offer on a cell phone. I know that sounds strange because, yes, there's that side where it's such a gift that we have so much help, but I had the greatest help and that was the Holy Spirit and I really believe, like I think if somebody is new to the Bible, I would encourage starting in John. Probably you could start in Genesis, but I would recommend I always recommend starting in John and, yes, just get out a journal and just read and just ask the Holy Spirit to help you and I think you'll be surprised at what he might do also and have.

Speaker 1:

Ask him to help you. Slow down and go slow, and I think God will show up. He wants to help us. He wants like that's. What I remind myself is like he wants me to understand this book. He didn't write this book for himself. Like he wrote it for us and he wants us to understand it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's awesome, yeah, okay, so let's talk to somebody who has been reading the Bible for years and maybe they feel like they're in a stale season or something like that, or they feel, I don't know, like they just want to freshen the way that they study up. What's your favorite way to study right now?

Speaker 1:

Well, I love highlighting and I know not everybody is a highlighter. It's not necessary.

Speaker 2:

How do you do it, though? I love highlighting too, but it is paralyzing sometimes, so it's super funny.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I've gotten so many questions lately, I think, because I just did a little reel on highlighting but I didn't necessarily say how I did it. So my plan is to do an Instagram real on highlighting, but I didn't, I didn't necessarily say how I did it. So my plan is to do an Instagram live on it, my first Instagram live, because, yeah, I would love to help people with this and I use a highlighting guide. I offer it for free, you know, and the first I think what highlighting does is it honestly, part of it is it helps. It does helps me with two things. It helps me slow down, um, because I have to look at the passage you know more closely. And then, secondly, it just it.

Speaker 1:

The first thing it does is it reminds me to look for God first, and so my natural tendency I want to make it all about me. I want to look for me in the passage, and that's not bad. That's something we do get to in our study. But again, the irony is is when I look for God first, rather than okay, how is this passage telling me, talking about me and my life and how I'm loved first, when I study about God first in the passage, and I highlight yellow, which is what I highlight God for, because I want it to stand out the most. I feel more loved, bethany, I feel like more purposeful if I'm looking for God first.

Speaker 1:

And so, yeah, just really simply, I have, like I think, five different colors. I highlight God like God's character, I am his actions. Yellow, pink is man or me, or you know identity, like what our identity is, so anything that has to do with mankind or me or whatever. And then purple is prayers and petition. So, and there's tons of prayers and petition in scripture. Green is historical, I'm sorry. Green is promises. So anytime I see a promise in scripture, oranges commands and uh, let's see blue is historical context and so, um, you can find that all like on my Instagram page for free if you want to look that up, but I, if you are, if you have any inclination to highlight again, it's not necessary I highly recommend it. So, yeah, so that's kind of just like a very broad overview.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I do just want to encourage listeners go check out Kristen's page. It's been so fun, so like when we first were introduced to each other by Jenny so many years ago, like an eternity ago. I mean. Your page has significantly grown since then and I'm so weird how I remember numbers, especially from, like, prior clients of mine, but I think you had like 10 or 12,000 followers at that time and you are well over 100,000 followers and there is good reason for it and it is nothing about it's not edifying yourself, it's all God's word and it's. I will find myself some mornings and I'm like man, I'm paralyzed, or I don't know what direction to go, or I want to see what Kristen's studying and I go to your page. It's a wonderful, wonderful resource and the highlighting guide is beautiful and I downloaded it, doesn't it have it? It goes along with your Mr Pen Kit, right, and there's two different. There's like a brighter and then a pastel. Is that the one I was looking at?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, so I have, if you like, fluorescent highlighters. There's a fluorescent one and then there's a pastel one, which they're the same Essentially. I just made it in case. Yeah, if you prefer pastels, you know you can use pastels, if you can use fluorescence. But, um, that's so kind, bethany, thank you, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, so then my selfish question is just Bibles. I'm like I love notes, I love journals, I love Bibles. How many Bibles is too many Bibles? And do you have one that you like? Mark up the most, or like what is your method to your madness over there?

Speaker 1:

I feel like I want to plead the fifth here and just what? I don't know what you're talking about. No, um, yeah, no, my husband like dies because like I get just for people to know I'm not sharing this at all to to boast it's just God's generosity is I get free bibles, like all the time and so, but it's kind of like I don't know if wives any wives can relate to this. There's so many funny videos on Instagram but you know, like the Amazon packages come and the husband's like what another package? That's literally like every time I get a new Bible, you know which, it's great. Because I can say to my husband I got it for free and he's like, okay, cause he's like, really, he's like another Bible, I'm like, but this one is different, it has smaller margins, or whatever he's like.

Speaker 1:

So I don't technically know how many Bibles I have. I think I have, I don't know 30 or 40, but I will say, by the grace of God, I've given away about that same amount. And that was a dream of mine. Actually, that was like somebody asked me like way back when I just started my page. I was kind of an accidental. I kind of am an accidental influencer. It wasn't something I intended. I just wanted to review and give away Bibles somehow and I didn't know how it all look and by God's grace he's allowed me to do that. And so, yeah, you know, and I just want to say, like I always tell people like you don't need this many Bibles, like one is great.

Speaker 1:

I, you know, part of what I do is actually advertising Bibles for companies, so that's something I just want to say, yeah, but I would say my favorite Bible right now, again, if you're new, I'll be honest, if you're new to the Bible, I wouldn't necessarily recommend a journaling Bible. I think you just really need to get to know the scriptures. You actually need more help. So that's why I recommend a study Bible. But if you're a little bit more seasoned and you like journaling and you like doing that, my favorite one right now is just a single column, which means, you know, a lot of Bibles have two columns. But I love the single column, I love really large print, um, and I love the margins on the side and so any sort of. Some of them are called note-taking, some are called journaling. So, um, I use a, I use a few because I have, like, some Bibles that are fluorescent highlighters and then others that are pastel. So it keeps me organized.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I just. I've wanted to ask you that for months really because I have like four Bibles not 40, but I have four and I love them all. And I'm like. Well also, I have three kids, so when I die, each of them should have a Bible.

Speaker 1:

But this one has really good notes, but this one. I'm like I just don't know. So yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2:

I guess there's just no hard rule, just have to figure it out.

Speaker 1:

It is, it's true. Yes.

Speaker 2:

Well, there's just like so much more that I wish that we had time for, but I just want to thank you so much for your wisdom and your encouragement today. I know that many people will be impacted by it, so before we go, I'd just like for you to share where people can find you. And then also, I just want to talk about your kit that you came out with. Has it been a year? It was last fall.

Speaker 1:

It was actually December, so it's been only about six months. I know yeah, six months.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so Kristen has a kit that can be found on Amazon. It's a collaboration with Mr Pen and I have one myself. I've given them as gifts. It's beautiful. It has the pastel highlighters like she talked about. It has bookmarks for the Bible and little sticky notes and it comes in like a super cute kit. Like I can talk about it forever. Maybe I'll have to show mine on our stories, but that can be found on Amazon. We'll link that below and if you could just share about what's coming up for you and where people could find you, I know that they would love to follow along with your journey.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thanks, bethany. Yeah, so, uh. Well, I continue just to enjoy writing Bible devotionals and about the Bible on Instagram, but the exciting um launch will be um in August, august of 2024. So whenever you're listening to this episode and that is with my podcast called Love, the Bible podcast, and I actually I'm just so pumped we have incredible Bible teachers and authors coming on this show. Along with that I'll be. You know we'll be offering, I'll be offering Bible study tips. We'll be talking about the Bible and teaching the Bible, but also I want to help people understand it themselves and study it themselves, and not just be taught, but also be able to approach the Bible themselves, and so that's coming up and, yeah, nobody knows this, so I'm going to share it for the first time. But Mr Penn and I are creating another Bible journaling kit and it's got a completely different theme, so that should be releasing. Yeah, nobody knows that yet, but that's releasing soon too, so look for that and it's, it's fun. It's like a totally different theme.

Speaker 2:

So, if you, don't like pastel as well. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So it's bold colors. We'll just leave it at that, but I won't say the theme Amazing.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you again, Kristen, so much. I so appreciate you. And yeah, go ahead and check out her pages.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, Bethany Bye.