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Episode 5: Personal Bible Study
35 Plays5 months ago
Listen in as we discuss the why and how of personal Bible study time for teens and tweens!
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Transcript
Introduction to The Bloom Wild Podcast
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Bloom Wild Girls
Welcome to the Bloom Wild podcast, a podcast for teen and tween girls, made by teen and tween girls to help you navigate the seasons that you're in through a biblical lens.
Importance of Personal Bible Study
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Bloom Wild Girls
I'm here today with Addie and Ellery to discuss the topic of personal Bible study. So as Christians, we know that we should be reading the Bible, studying God's Word, getting to know who God is, using the scriptures to apply it to our life. And sometimes that can be hard. It can be a difficult habit to create It can be confusing to know where to start um or where to go or how often and all these things can make it so that we just don't really do much personal Bible study.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So today we're going to talk about how can you do it even when you're younger? um How can you start to build these habits now?
Developing Lifelong Bible Study Habits
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Bloom Wild Girls
Because if you do, they will be awesome lifelong habits.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So I'm going to be asking the girls a little bit about their thoughts on it And we're also going to be using some scriptures to share some biblical principles to help us determine how she how should we look at personal Bible study time.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Okay, so the first big question is why Christian girls or Christian teens and tweens do we need to be doing personal Bible studies?
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Bloom Wild Girls
So Adi, why don't you share some thoughts with us about why? Well, as a Christian, we should meet with God every day. And God wants us to know about him and his promises and truths.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So he gives us the Bible. And so we should read that. hu Why specifically do you need to do it? Can't you just, you know, wait till you're older? No, because you need to get it embedded in you while you're young.
00:01:39
Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah. And I mean, if you're a believer now, if you're then you should be living as one. So um it doesn't really say in the Bible, like here's stage one. When you're this old of a believer, you only have to follow these requirements. And then when you get older, there's more requirements. It doesn't really say that anywhere.
Engaging Teens with Scripture
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Bloom Wild Girls
um So we know that anything that's in the scriptures that applies to believers applies at every age. And I have a verse for that too. Sure. What is it It's Proverbs 2, 6. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Awesome. Okay. um Ellery, do you have any thoughts on why it's important for you? um It's important for me because it helps a lot with you learning a lot more things about God and the Bible. Okay.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And also it can get you in good routines or habits. I am not the best at keeping myself steady on doing it, but I usually try to do it at least once a day.
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Bloom Wild Girls
That's great. Yeah. And I think the fact that it's hard to be steady on it shows why maybe starting when you're young is good. Because if you start working that muscle now, you can develop it over time.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And as you're getting older, hopefully it becomes easier, more of a habit, more of a routine, something you just naturally do pat the sooner you start working on it. I think that's great. Okay.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And what about, here's a question. So when I say why, um you were talking about doing it for yourself, Ellery. And I think that word yourself is important because if you are a believer, do you have to use your mom's Holy Spirit to help you?
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Bloom Wild Girls
No. No, you have your own, right? Which means God can use his word to speak to you. He can teach you things that apply to your life, what's going on in your heart, your personality, um the way you see things, the personal struggles.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And so it's important that you are going to God's word so that you can be taught what's necessary for your life and your faith. Okay. um What, did you have anything else in the why category?
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Bloom Wild Girls
addti Well, I might have another verse that kind of relates to that. Okay. It's James 1, 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproof.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Awesome. Great. Yeah, we can ask God for wisdom. And i think we've actually talked about this before. We don't say, God, give me wisdom and then just sit there and do nothing, right?
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Bloom Wild Girls
Because he's also given us a book full of his wisdom. So it would be kind of silly to ask God for wisdom and then never go read a Bible when you have access to a Bible. Yeah. um it It would kind of seem like maybe you don't actually want the wisdom or you don't want have to do any work to get it.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So the act of going to God's word, submitting to it is one way that we can acquire that wisdom. It's a means he's provided for us. am Okay, so we also talked in the past episodes about the difference between biblical principles and biblical commands.
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Bloom Wild Girls
I think there's both in scripture that apply to why. We need read the Bible. And I think some of the principles would be when you see Jesus on earth, and he's having personal times with the Lord. He's obviously in synagogues. He's in temples.
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Bloom Wild Girls
He's with lots of other Christians. He's going out into the desert are sometimes or into the wilderness a lot. Yes, he goes out by himself to have one-on-one time. with
Personal vs. Communal Bible Study
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Bloom Wild Girls
God. So that's an example.
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Bloom Wild Girls
We also have a lot of scripture that talks about meditating on God's word. There's references to morning and evening. So that would suggest that we're supposed to be doing that as well. And a lot of scripture about hiding God's word in our heart, and you can't really memorize something without reading it or listening to it. So all of those show us that it's something we're supposed to do.
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Bloom Wild Girls
um I have a verse that kind of goes with mom what Mom was saying about Jesus being with God. It's Mark 1, 35. It says, early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So he was basically having Bible time on with God. You are right. Yeah, he he was. um His personal devotion time, which is one of the ways we describe it.
00:06:06
Bloom Wild Girls
Okay, so we're going to move on to another question. um and we're going to actually talk about what counts. And then we're going to go into kind of some more detailed how and we're going to start with because i want to make sure we're clear on what it means by devotion or personal bible study so can you count um well i went to church today or while we did family worship tonight or while i was at youth group or maybe i um listened to that podcast in the car or
00:06:42
Bloom Wild Girls
You know, my mom did did Bible time for us kids. Does that count? but What do you think? What do your guys' thoughts? Adi, why don't you share? Like, those kinds of things are really great, but they can't really replace personal time with God. Like, you should always find time to just be personal, like, a alone with God.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah. What do you think, Ellery? I was going to say, adding on to Adi, like, even if you just do a simple prayer, even if you just pray, and that's all you have time for. It's still solitary time with God.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah, and it's still you living out your faith in your relationship with the Lord rather than relying on someone else's relationship with the Lord. Yeah, Adi, you're right. All those things are good, and I would encourage everyone to do those things for sure.
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Bloom Wild Girls
um But I would say one reason we need to continue in our personal devotion time is because we also should be testing everything we hear against God's word. um And by the same token, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to read God's word just by yourself and never talk with other believers to see if maybe you're interpreting it correctly or not.
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Bloom Wild Girls
So both those things are great. But I definitely think it would be ah bad idea to rely only on other people and outside sources and never create the habit for yourself. um Otherwise, you could kind of start to just go through the motions a little more, i think.
00:08:02
Bloom Wild Girls
And I think that every day is new, just kind of like God's mercies are new every morning, the Bible tells us. And one way we can get those mercies is through going to his word. And, um you know, your day, Adi, is going to be different than my day, which is going to be different than Ellery's day. So what I need from the Lord is maybe going to be different than what you need. And if you meet with him in the morning, you can get fed with scriptures and by talking to him and in ways that can help you with what you're going to be facing each day. So I think that's just a good side note to add in there that um personal devotion is really you creating the habit of reading, like Ellery's saying, maybe just you pray one time because there are days that are crazy, it's busy, and maybe that's a great day to throw on, you know, some Bible in the car or something different.
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Bloom Wild Girls
um But even if you just read one verse or something for yourself, just starting to develop that habit of making sure you are creating a life that's centered around Christ and developing a habit of studying God's word and going to him.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Okay, so I think that's a pretty good start for why we need to do it. What kind of counts? What does the Bible say about it? What are some examples?
Establishing a Routine for Bible Study
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Bloom Wild Girls
um And now we're going to talk about how, what are some ways that we can do it?
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Bloom Wild Girls
Well, so usually every morning after I wake up, I'll go get my Bible and devotions, and I can just sit my bed and read. And you don't really have to, like, get dressed before you do it, because sometimes that would slow you down. Like, your oh, and need to get dressed first. Oh, i need to do this first.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And then you might never get to it. so I usually just try and do it first thing so I don't get distracted, because I get distracted pretty easily. And that's a good tip. Some people might actually feel motivated by getting up and getting dressed. I don't know. But I think that is a good tip that it can be very easy to get distracted if you don't do it first. That's normally what happens with me. i'm like Oh, I'll do it. I just need like do my morning chores first. And by the time I'm done with my morning chores, I'm like, oh, it's school time. I'll just do school first.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah. And when finish with that, I'm like, oh, I'll just go outside and play first. I'm like, oh, I'll do this first. then eventually I just never do it in a day. That's why there's that common phrase about putting first things first, right? because we all know what happens if we don't. ah there There are plenty of things waiting to crowd in and take our time. So that's a great tip.
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Bloom Wild Girls
and just an idea for where you can maybe do something link to make you make it fun. You could maybe, like, take an area of your house and make it all nice and read your Bible and stuff in there.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And you could get motivated if you wanted to. Okay. So um does it really matter where you do it? No, it does not.
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Bloom Wild Girls
But it could if you, like, didn't have anywhere to do it. Oh, like maybe if it was really loud or something, it might be hard. Maybe picking a quiet place. Yeah. I can't really focus when it's loud.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah. So that's why you like to do your room. Yeah. For me over the years, I've done it so many different ways because, uh, the last, you know, 13 years I've been a mom. There've been times when I've done it when kids are out running around and, um, it has been loud. There's been times where I've read it aloud and that kind of had to suffice because,
00:11:18
Bloom Wild Girls
Otherwise, you kids would be asking questions or needing things. And then now I'm in a season where ah usually have time to do it quietly in the morning before you guys wake up because you don't wake up as early and I'm able to get up earlier. I don't have tiny babies, but I've tried to always do it and I've done better in different seasons, but I've tried to always do it. I think it's very easy to come up with excuses of why we can't like, oh, it's too loud. There's too many people or i don't have it all perfectly set up with my perfect pens and my candle and you all of that stuff. So I think the most important thing is that we do it, but all of these tips are definitely excellent ones for ways to make it maybe more enjoyable or more enticing. It's nice to have a candle when it all set up.
00:11:59
Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah, or some coffee. For me, it's coffee. It's all you need. Yeah, every once in a while, how do you do tea, don't you? Yeah. <unk> Or I bring you like a little extra. leftover coffee or something of mom's and bring it to you while you're still in bed and then say, why don't you read your Bible or why don't you read your devotion book right now while you drink this? I feel like that always motivates me. Yeah. So there are definitely things that we can do kind of make the habit more pleasant or something we start to look forward to. We associate it with something else that we know is good.
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Bloom Wild Girls
And hopefully eventually just the desire to read God's word or the joy we get out of reading God's word is what entices us so that even if the circumstances aren't perfect, we'll still do it. So any other tips you have?
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Bloom Wild Girls
i'm Not really. Not really. um Have you ever used like ah a tracker or checked it off? A checklist? to Yes. Yeah. Once my youth group was going through the Psalms and they gave everybody like a checklist.
00:12:58
Bloom Wild Girls
Okay. That was fun. Yeah. So having a reading plan can sometimes help because maybe one hindrance I've heard people have is that they don't know what to read. They don't know what to do. Like the Bible is pretty big. Where do I start? Do I just start in the middle? Do I start at the beginning? Do I start at the end?
00:13:12
Bloom Wild Girls
Do I read the Old Testament or the New Testament? What do I do? So having a reading plan could be a great tip. Well, one thing that actually I think you do, Mom, is read maybe a psalm, something from the New Testament or something from the Old Testament. So you get a little of each.
00:13:28
Bloom Wild Girls
Yeah, and that a lot of reading plans do that. Currently, I'm doing psalm. I was doing a proverb, and currently I'm doing a psalm, and then I'm reading one of the Gospels, so and then I'm reading a minor prophet.
00:13:43
Bloom Wild Girls
Why are reading so many at same time? I just kind of split it up. And there are times where I might deep dive into something a little more. And then on top of that, I have books because we should always go to God's word first.
00:13:56
Bloom Wild Girls
That's most important. And then after that, I will try to have a book that's maybe on a helpful topic that digs deeper into a topic that is interesting to me or that I think I need to work on even. It's not an area of my life i need to work on. I've done ones on being a wife or being a mom or just general ones on Christianity.
00:14:13
Bloom Wild Girls
Um, and I enjoy those as well. Every once a while get one that is maybe more fun or it kind of as a gardening theme or something. And that's kind of a bonus at the end that I look forward to after I'm done with my scripture reading.
00:14:27
Bloom Wild Girls
Right now I'm reading through Job and Leviticus. Wow. Those are both Old Testament. Old Testament. might mix in some other books. I am only reading through Leviticus.
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Bloom Wild Girls
weren you Weren't you reading through John before that? I was reading through Proverbs before that, but then I stopped on Proverbs and started on Leviticus, and I'm also doing, like, a Bible book, like a devotional.
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Bloom Wild Girls
Mm-hmm. And do you have some devotionals, Addy, as well? Yeah, I have a few. you and Right now I'm reading A Young Woman After God's Own Heart. Who's that by? Do you know? It's by Dana Gresham, so I'm a lady whose name I can't pronounce. Elizabeth.
00:15:08
Bloom Wild Girls
Oh, it's not Elizabeth with George. no it's nancy oh nancy lee de moss or walgamoof yes she was nancy at lee de moss when i was growing up and then she got married so now it's she has another last name but that's a very good book yes i have the like adult version of that okay what else and i'm also reading lies lies young woman believe okay Wait, actually, A Young Woman After God's Own Heart is by Elizabeth George, and Lai Jingle and Belief is by two ladies. Oh, yes, yes, you're right. That's fine, yeah. Elizabeth George has a lot of books for young girls. We would highly recommend those. There's A Girl After God's Own Heart. I'm reading A Girl's Guide to Making Really Good Choices. There we go, yeah. Girl's Guide to Making Really Good Choices, A Girl After God's Own Heart, A Young Woman After God's Own Heart. Is there a teen after God's Own Heart or tween?
00:15:58
Bloom Wild Girls
There might be one that's like – There's another one in there. Yeah, there's like four or five of them. So we would definitely recommend those for girls. It's a great way to get started into diving deeper into scriptures or just um finding scripture that really applies to your seasons of life and topics that you might be interested in or be facing every day.
Challenges and Benefits of Bible Study
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Bloom Wild Girls
So those are great. yeah there's also Lou Priolo. Mm-hmm. Mom, you want to explain a little bit about that? Okay, so Lou Priolo is a biblical counselor. um he's i think he's really great. And he has some books for parents and also for teens.
00:16:35
Bloom Wild Girls
He has books on many different topics, biblical topics, but he has some specifically about anger. And even though you might think like, oh, I'm not angry, it kind of deals with maybe having conflict with between parents and and kids.
00:16:47
Bloom Wild Girls
um And so I read one and then I bought the teen one for the kids and Addie and I have gone through some of the chapters together and then gone out to coffee to discuss and yeah work through it because we both have things we need to work on in that area. And so it's been good for us to to do that together.
00:17:05
Bloom Wild Girls
um which is another way to do Bible studies. is You know, we're doing it personally. It's part of our personal Bible study, but then we're also meeting together to discuss it. who And the teen one is called getting a grip.
00:17:16
Bloom Wild Girls
Getting a grip. Yeah. I think that's kind of a funny time. Yeah. Get a grip. ah Okay. So what else would you guys like to say or to encourage people? I'll um share something maybe that would hopefully encourage you guys. I remember being young, being your guys' age and wanting so much to have a really good devotion time. And I didn't really know how or what to do and I would get really fired up and I would try and then I just would not stick with it. And um and then I'd go to camp or something and I'd
00:17:48
Bloom Wild Girls
have these amazing opportunities to sit outside under the redwoods and read my Bible and i would love it. I would feel so good. And then I'd come home and um life was busy and i just was getting up, going to school. And like you guys said, other things were crowding in first and i really, really struggled to make it a habit. So it's been something I've had to do in my adult life, which you think you're busy as a kid, but man, when you get older and then you start having kids and all these responsibilities, it, I would say it becomes more challenging. So if you can develop it, um, the habit at young age and start to see the fruit at a young age too, and realize it's worth it, even if it's not always, um, convenient or your first choice, you see the fruit in it. Then I think that it will really help you in your adult life. If you already kind of
00:18:34
Bloom Wild Girls
have that as a habit because there's definitely always going to be excuses or reasons that you can come up with to avoid doing it. and So that's just a little something from growing
Involving Young Children in Bible Study
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up myself. I also remember being a little shy about it. I didn't want to talk with other people about it, which I think didn't help because maybe if I had been willing to talk to other people about it or ask advice, then um it might have helped me to be able to do the habit. Maybe somebody would have come alongside and done it with me or asked me, Hey, are you still doing it or something like that?
00:19:08
Bloom Wild Girls
So I think the fact that we're talking about it, um, is good. Sometimes I don't always do this and i I should do it more, but sometimes when we sit down to do our Bible time together before school, I will ask what everybody read.
00:19:20
Bloom Wild Girls
in their personal Bible time. Like what's something that you've been reading or something that you've been learning. um And that can be a motivator because we know we're going to be asked and it can also just be a way for us to kind of think more deeply about what we were reading. And cause they say, you know, when you teach something, you'll remember it more.
00:19:36
Bloom Wild Girls
So I think that that could be cool. ah Last thing I want to add to this, maybe you guys can talk about too, because you might remember doing it is mom and dad aren't always good at being consistent and reminding everybody, but we've tried from when you guys were little,
00:19:50
Bloom Wild Girls
When you would come out in the mornings and maybe we were reading our Bibles, we would try to say, even if you couldn't read, you would say, go grab a Bible. um And you could even just look through the pictures. And sometimes with the girls who couldn't read, I would say, grab a Bible, look through the pictures and try to see if you recognize the stories and just remember what happened.
00:20:09
Bloom Wild Girls
um There's also some great Bibles that come with CDs or even online resources to be able to listen to what the story is saying. So you can definitely start this with pretty young kids just creating the habit um and just getting them used to doing it, even looking through a picture Bible while you're sitting there looking through one. So I would just encourage if there's parents listening with their kids that those are some tips for younger kids.
Emotional and Spiritual Impact of Bible Study
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Bloom Wild Girls
her Well, a tip I'd say maybe for me would be Like before you grab like a normal book or like a book you're reading through, like start with your Bible or start with your Bible instead of a devotion. Because there's been times where I started with a devotion and then like I ran out of time. We had to start school and I didn't have time for my Bible and I never got to it.
00:20:56
Bloom Wild Girls
and So I always start my Bible. So in case I ran out of time, i will have gotten that in anyways. That's a great idea. Now, last question I want to ask you guys is when you take the time to have personal Bible study devotions, how do you feel or how do you feel like your day goes?
00:21:12
Bloom Wild Girls
I mean, I feel really accomplished and like I just feel happier and my day usually goes a lot better. i normally... I feel like there's more order in the day because I've finished that and then I can move on to my next things. And also I do feel accomplished and kind of just like, yeah, my day goes a lot better if you've read something.
00:21:41
Bloom Wild Girls
That's interesting. um And I think that God will bless and when we do that. So maybe that's part of it. do Have you ever noticed or had it happen where you've read something in the scriptures or in your Bible time and something came up during the day where what you had read applied to it?
00:22:02
Bloom Wild Girls
Well, like, not if, like, maybe it has, but I don't really remember that. can't remember. But I feel like there's been times where something from the Bible, like I come remember a scripture, like sometimes my sisters are, like, fighting, and I'm like, do not repent you for evil, guys, or something from the Bible. Yeah. And I'm like, it's kind of nice because the Bible can help you real life. So just in general, you mean, like, in general, the fact that you're in the Word more, it's starting to stick in your brain more, then you have it handy to meet real life.
00:22:32
Bloom Wild Girls
situations. Yeah, which are going to be happening all the time because we live in the real world. So the more Bible we can get in us, even if you don't have it memorized word for word or you didn't think you memorized, you'll realize it it starts to come back to you and you can start to live it out, which is really cool.
00:22:47
Bloom Wild Girls
All right. Well, I think that that was a good discussion and I hope that people are encouraged to start coming up with some habits for reading the Bible on their own, even if it's just once a week or maybe you want to say, hey, mom, I know
Call to Action: Start Your Bible Study Journey
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Bloom Wild Girls
you read your Bible. Can I come out and sit with you while you do it so I can kind of make my own habit? You could talk to somebody else to get ideas for how you could start.
00:23:08
Bloom Wild Girls
You could make yourself a little star chart or checklist or something like that added on there. Lots of good tips, but no matter how you start, we would encourage you to start reading the Bible on your own and to study God's word on your own. Maybe find a book or something as well that you think would benefit you.
00:23:25
Bloom Wild Girls
um And anne just jump into God's word and see what kind of fruit it will bear in your life. So thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Bye.
00:23:36
Bloom Wild Girls
Bye.