A few years ago, my personal Bible study, if I can call it that, had grown stale. I was reading a couple chapters and calling it a day, not very concerned about digging deeper. As a pseudo New Year’s resolution for 2012, I was determined to make my time with God more meaningful, and so I got a notebook and a pen and opened my Bible that first January day seeking what God would share with me. I wrote down questions and thoughts about what I was reading instead of simply skimming the words without pausing to process them. And as I dug deeper, I found that God would show me more and more. From that came a desire to write short devotionals. As I did that, I was amazed at the kinds of things God revealed to me from His Word—not just things about myself, but things about who He is and how He works. It was sometimes a painful process as God dug around in my own heart and revealed things there I was ashamed for Him to find. As a result, many of my devotionals are very personal, as they are lessons God was teaching me and, in most cases, lessons I am still learning. Through this process, God placed a desire in my heart to share these writings in the hopes that they will encourage others in the ways I was encouraged and ignite a passion for God and His Word that was ignited in me. It is kind of scary to share my heart in this way, but my desire is that these will be used for His glory alone and reach deep into the hearts of others by the unmistakable prodding of His Holy Spirit.

–Rachel