I enjoyed Deborah Haddix‘s Journaling for the Soul so much, I bought her new Engaging the Scripture: Encountering God in the Pages of His Word not long after I first saw it.
I love that Deborah emphasized engaging the Scripture—not just reading an assignment, not just searching for information. Rather, “we are to read intentionally with the purpose of hearing from God, knowing Him, deepening our relationship, and nourishing our soul” (p. 28).
Deborah has chapters on the importance of God’s gift of His Word, dealing with distractions, further explanation about what’s involved in engaging the Scripture. Then she has a chapter for each aspect of engaging Scripture: reading, writing, meditating, memorizing, and praying it. A later chapter shares ways to interweave these practices (meditating while memorizing, praying verses while writing them, etc,)
Each chapter is fairly short: three to six pages of text, a page of personal reflection about the chapter, a section on resources for implementing the chapter, and a practice page or two.
Each chapter includes multiple ideas for engaging, with the encouragement to chose which works best with your wiring, schedule, and season of life. Tidbits of advice, encouragement, and wisdom are interspersed throughout the pages. Just a few:
Experiencing distractions during our quiet time does NOT make us a failure (p. 34).
Overwhelm often results in total abandonment. Start small. Experience success. Then incorporate additional ideas as you move forward (p. 39).
The physical food we take into our physical body does not nourish us unless we properly digest it and take it into our cells. Just as physical food is needed for physical strength, spiritual food is necessary for spiritual strength. The Word you read (the spiritual food) must be chewed, digested, taken into your being, and one way to chew your food is by memorization (p. 100).
Deborah has mastered the art of writing the way writers for the Internet are advised to: short paragraphs and lots of white space. The book isn’t long, but its style makes it seem even more manageable.
This is a wonderful resource that I highly recommend.
(Sharing with Carole’s Books You Loved, Recharge Wednesday, Booknificent,
Grace and Truth, Senior Salon, Global Blogging, Inspire Me Monday,
InstaEncouragment, Worth Beyond Rubies, Heart Encouragement)
Stray Thoughts 
This book sounds like a wonderful read. Engagingand applying the scripture is something I want to focus on. This book is now on my want to read list.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, Jolene! It’s full of good stuff.
I like the sound of this, and I love the bits you’ve included — short chapters are almost always a “win” for me, and I find it encouraging that distractions don’t make us a failure.
I loved that point, too. Even Jesus was distracted by people clamoring for His attention, and He had made every effort to get up early and find a place alone.
Thank you for sharing this book review!
You’re very welcome. 🙂
🙂
I do love Deborah’s ministry.
And I thought it was interesting that you mentioned her internet friendly style of writing. (Sigh) I’m trying to get into the short paragraphs, multiple headings, and plenty of white space way of thinking and writing. I wonder if all books will eventually incorporate that style??
I don’t know–I still see most blogs and almost all books written in the conventional style. And I keep reading that blogs are passé, yet there are scores (hundreds?) of successful blogs out there. So I don’t know if “they” know what they’re talking about or not. 🙂
Sounds like an excellent book!
Sounds like a really helpful book that will lead many to God’s Word in a new way!
Thank you for giving us an idea of what’s inside the covers!
Thank you for this book review, Barbara. I had not heard of this and plan to check it out. Sounds good! Thanks!
Thanks for linking up at InstaEncouragements!
Loved the sharing of ideas here – and the encouragement about distractions … something I struggle with a lot.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful review. I especially like the concept of “engaging”, not just reading.
Thanks for sharing this book review! Sounds like an excellent resource for helping to study the Scriptures in a manner that penetrates the heart.
Thank you so much for sharing your book review with #globalblogging! These days I rarely read which is such a shame but with two young children and twins on the way I get pretty tired these nights so I don’t have the energy for books. Maybe some day when things are not so hectic!
Thanks so much, Tracey. It was hardest for me to read when my children were small, too. I wrote a post about that a few years ago–maybe it will have some encouragement for you: https://barbarah.wordpress.com/2006/09/06/encouragement-for-mothers-of-young-children/.
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