Reading Through the Bible in a Year (2014)

In 2014, I accomplished something that I haven't achieved since my college days. I completely read through my Bible in a year. I don't say that to brag, but merely to say that if I can do it, you can do it! :) Here are a few simple tips that helped me complete the job. 

1) Fail to plan and plan to fail. The first thing I needed was a schedule of what to read when. I followed along with our church's Bible reading schedule, which was simple and easy enough to do. There were a few things I didn't like about the plan though, so in 2015, I may have to adapt it a little to my personal perferences. I like to read the Christmas story and the reading of Christ's resurrection around those holidays, and this plan did not follow that. I also found it extremely challenging to be reading Isaiah and Revelation at the same time (maybe it's just me, but those are challenging books for me). However, that being said, this plan did give me some directions for reading and that is what I needed. 

2) Commitment...to read through the Bible in a year, you'll need this trait for sure! My nature tends to be a tad competitive (just ask my friends);  so once I decided to do this, I was determined to finish it out!  

3) Specific time, specific place. I find that my day always goes more smoothly, if I get up before my kids are awake. I usually tend to get up around 5:30am. during the school year. This gives me the opportunity to read my Bible, drink coffee, and pray before the kids are up. Of course, this is not always possible, so then I have to resort to other options...keep reading. :)

4) An app...the Bible.is. This is an app that I loaded onto my phone, and it will read the Bible to me. We live 1/2 hour from church, so often the way I would keep up with my Bible reading schedule would be to listen to it on the way into town. I don't grasp as much when it's reading to me, but I am hearing God's Word. 

5) You will fall behind the schedule at some point (unless you're not anything like me!) I am a goal oriented person, so I would usually only get behind by a few days. One of the disadvantages of the plan is that when you get behind, you have a lot of catching up to do! My encouragement is to just get back on the bandwagon and keep going. However, I found on the days that I was behind, and I had to speed read to catch up, I wasn't getting as much from my Bible reading. So, that being said it was a good motivation for me to stay caught up! :) 

6) I am happy to say that I completed the schedule, I have no regrets that I finished it. However, I'm not sure yet if I'll follow along on the schedule again this year. I do like to have time to stop and ponder what I'm reading, but I didn't always feel like I had the time to do that when staying with the Bible reading schedule. For now, I'm keeping up with the Bible reading schedule until I find a book or devotional I'd like to read with my Bible.

If you haven't ever read through the Bible in a year, I challenge you to do it. It's a great feeling of accomplishment and then you can say for yourself whether you liked the challenge or not. So, if you are in doubt, do it! :)