A Method For Book Study

just some of our books

Today I am sharing with you a book report and some of my methods for Bible and book study. 

I read a lot of scripture (the Holy Bible), and faith-based motivational and psychology publications. Occasionally I'll read historical books, and biographies, or fiction; but mostly I just want to know what life is about, what God wants me to be doing, and how to best get it done.

Gary reads a great deal, too. He leans toward war stories, particularly WWII, the Korean War, and Viet Nam (the latter of which he is a veteran, by the way, serving in Thailand). 

I have followed him in some of those books because lots of practical wisdom comes out of those accounts. It has been accurately said that we can't make all the mistakes, so if we read the accounts of others, we should spare ourselves some anguish and terrible consequences.

It's nearly impossible for me to read without at least a pen in hand to make margin notes. The most salient points are often very personal to me. I do not lend my books to anyone because my notes come across as a private journal (much more personal than this blog, I assure you).

To illustrate my methods, I'll use a recently-completed book by one of my favorite authors, Dr. Robert Jeffress. He is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, We watch his half-hour program on TV every Sunday, Pathway to Victory.

He is a prolific author. In the two years since I've been following him, I've read several of his books (maybe 6) with another one having arrived just yesterday. His topics have been (for me) addressing the very subjects that my state of spirit and mind have needed. Here is a list of the chapters in the above book:

How Can I Know There is a God?

How Can I Know the Bible Is True?

How Can I Know Christianity Is The Right Religion?

How Can I Know God is Good with All the Suffering in the World?

How Can I Know I'm Going to Heaven When I Die?

How Can I Know How to Forgive Someone Who Has Hurt Me?

How Can I Know How to Start Oven When I've Blown It?

Since I was raised in a deeply devoted and conservative Christian home, before reading this book I was already well-versed in the answers to many of the questions addressed. But as life progressed and blind-sided me with the unexpected, reading this book was instructive, encouraging and validating. 

That is all I will say specifically about the book's content and its personal application. But I do want to share a study method that I've been using over the past 5+ years that has benefitted me greatly.

image created with chatgpt

The practice all began when I was about Kindergarten age, sitting beside my Daddy in church with his Bible open on his lap. I saw that he had underlined or hi-lited sentences with a red pencil. When I asked him why he was coloring in his Bible, he said those were things he wanted to remember. Years later, when I was given my first Bible, I used a red pencil to do the same.

Then much later into my adult years, I was introduced to the Precept method of Bible studies created by the late Kay Arthur. For those of you who are familiar with her, the practice of writing/marking in our Bibles was a dominant study practice. This fascinated me to the point that one weekend in 1992 I flew by myself to her ministry headquarters in Chattanooga, TN to attend a training seminar.

While her methods were a little too detailed for me, I did come away with a stronger desire to capture what God is saying to me in His Word and how to help myself to retain the information, or at least how to find it again within the 66 books of the Bible. 

Then in 2021 while attending a GriefShare support group at church, one of the leaders made a comment about the many times scripture mentions widows. I decided to start hi-liting the word, "widow," every time I came across it in my Bible because I wanted to know what God has to say about and to widows -- now that I was one.

Shortly after that I made up a habit with specific colored pencils and began using this same procedure with other books in addition to my Bible. 

Green pencil used for anything directed to me, as in "do this"

Purple pencil for who God is, what He does, what He desires, and what He says

Blue pencil with a squiggly line for sin, things to avoid

Red pencil for general statements of fact and history

Gold for making a star with something especially meaningful, applicable or that really touches me

Then in this past year or so, I added one more habit. When I finish reading a book, such as the one featured today, I find a blank area where I make a list of all the pages where I had drawn a gold star of the most meaningful points. It's a summation of what meant the most to me as a result of reading that book. 

After making that list, if there is one single point out of all of them that REALLY stands out to me, I add a gold star to that one. Later, if I want to be reminded what helped me the most in a book (and my Bible), this color-coded method with occasional gold stars is a big help.

In closing I'm sharing a verse that's shown up on this blog many times, Jeremiah 33:3. But this time I'm quoting only part of it, a phrase that really stood out to me this week and lifted my heart:

Call unto Me

and I will answer thee...

How wonderful it is to be reminded that when we call out to God, He answers. 

P.S. It is my opinion and experience that even though God may seem to be silent at times, what He is actually saying is one of these:

Yes

No

Not yet; wait

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

Flying High With Gratitude

 

Japanese Tea Garden jigsaw puzzle

In the week since my last post, life has been good for us. Yes, the oppressive heat continues, but we are blessed with excellent air conditioning and our retired lifestyle does not require us to be outside much.

We are working on one jigsaw puzzle after another. I think Gary spends more time on them than me, but then, I have my blog community to occupy a lot of my time. Per the snapshot above, I baked chocolate chip cookies one afternoon while Gary "puzzled."

We have special news to report: Gary's 5th great-grandchild was born the other day. He's now got 3 boys and 2 girls, all under the age of 4. I'm not sharing pictures since the parents prefer it that way, and in this day and age, we all understand that. But take it from me (the step-great grandmother) that they're all cute cute cute!

Moving on to the Hodgepodge questions for this week, if you want to participate with your blog, click on this link:

http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/2026/08/hodgepodge-questions-volume-667.html

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly?

Flying itself is fine with me as long as it's in a pressurized jet. All of my life I've had a strong tendency to get air sick in small 4-seater-type airplanes. 

As far as travel via flying these days, no, I don't enjoy air travel any more. I'm a small person, so even though the seats are big enough for me, larger people on either side of me often think they can take up some of my space.

Using techie apps, my cell phone, and such to get a reservation, to sign in, etc -- all of that is fast becoming a mystery to me that I do not enjoy, especially if I'm flying by myself.

I will add that I come from an aviation family. My father was a career pilot, and one of my sons is, too, traveling all over the world as a Senior First Officer. 

Last time you were on an airplane? 2021

The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

I have not been to Kitty Hawk or Dayton.

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging? 

I can "wing it" very well with preparing salads, pasta meals, and putting stuff between 2 flour tortillas with melted cheese to "glue it together." Should I be winging it? There've been no complaints, so all is good.

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?  

click here  for movie trailer

My family watched the first Top Gun movie, the one that came out 40 years ago, many times. (I teared up when Goose died). The more recent sequel is okay but I prefer the first one. 

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge? 

Nothing can beat simple soft serve vanilla ice cream, but I also like sherbet.

5. I never get tired of______________________. 

I never get tired of a lot of things (the Lord's blessings are everywhere), but for the sake of brevity, I'll say I never get tired of my recliner. Right now I'm sitting where the little pillow is with my MacBook Air on my lap. The "feels like" temperature outside is about 112 degrees today (aughhhh!) but here in my chair, blogging with my friends in air conditioning -- it's really good!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This thought has been turning over in my mind a lot lately. Every thought, word, and behavior is a seed for our future. If we are smart, we will sow [plant] the best seeds we can as much as possible.

Quoting the late Dr. Charles Stanley, "We reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow." 

The older I get, the more clearly I recognize that truth. I've seen it in my life with both the good and the bad seeds I've planted. For me, youthful impulses are pretty much a thing of the past (I hope!). My focus is setting myself up for more positive outcomes.

A simple morning prayer I learned as an adolescent goes like this:

Lord, I wake to a brand new day

in which to show my love for You.

In all I think, and do, and say,

help me to be good, and kind, and true."

On a light note, my parents taught both Sister and me to pray. The above photo (from the Internet) could easily have been both of us, back in the day. (smile)

And here is a "prayer" that circulated a few years ago. It  makes me smile but is also heavily weighted with truth:

"Lord, I've tried to live an honest life. I have not lied, gossiped, overeaten, been lazy, stole anything, or otherwise misbehaved. But now I'm getting ready to pull back the covers and put my feet on the floor, so I'm really going to need Your strength, protection, and guidance to get me through this day."

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

Peace on a Hot Summer Day

 

Summer is nowhere near the finish line here in Florida. August is when we continue to run the AC at full blast while leaning closer to the TV weather forecasts regarding tropical storms (hurricanes). Although storm surge and flooding are not the biggest concern for us. We are far enough inland (about 90 minutes both east and west from the oceans) so that wind, rain, and lightning are the bigger threats.

The following are my responses to Joyce's Hodgepodge meme for this week, and then a summary of my current thoughts. If you want to link your answers to your blog, click here.

1. I saw a meme on Instagram that went like this-'The movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987 and was set in 1963, so if remade in 2026 it would be set in 2002. Now I need a little lie down in a dark room for a while." 

Time is crazy isn't it? So...what were you up to in the year 2002? 

My current photo program doesn't allow me to readily retrieve many pictures from 2002. Here's one I took in 2018 that can illustrate the thought of "looking back."

a boardwalk along the Florida Atlantic coast

In the year 2002 my "nest" had been empty for 5 years. My second grandchild was born (out of an eventual total of eleven). We were living in Colorado in a two-story house with 2 cute Cocker Spaniels named Buddy and Pal. Most days I got my housework and other necessities of life done as early in the day as I could so the rest of the time until late afternoon could be devoted to sewing quilts. I kept very busy for years making baby quilts for all of my grandchildren, those of my sister, and for friends and baby showers. 

That was 7 years before I began writing a blog (I didn't even know what a blog was at that time).

2. "Me? I'm scared of everything..." What's something that scares you that you'd like to try anyway? 

I have a healthy fear of a lot of things and I can't think of a one that I'd like to try. 

3. Watermelon-yay or nay? Which melon is your favorite-watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew. 

Cantaloupe is my favorite of these listed, but it's hard to find a good one. You just never know how tasty it is until after you've brought it home and sliced into it.

Of the watermelon food/beverages listed which would you say yes to...

watermelon salsa~watermelon feta salad~watermelon sorbet~

a watermelon Jolly Rancher~a watermelon margarita 

me at the Watermelon Festival 2025
Chiefland, Florida

I prefer my watermelon plain, all by itself, leaning forward to bite off a juicy wedge while the sweet juice drips on my shoes the grass. Watermelon is said to be very nutrient-dense.

my Gary at the Watermelon Festival 2025
Chiefland, Florida

4. August 12th is National Middle Child Day. Are you a middle child? If not, where do you fall in the birth order in your family of origin? Do you think this has influenced your personality? Elaborate. 

I am the first born of two daughters, but I gave birth to a middle child. My husband is a middle child. 

Middle children are blessed to observe the mistakes and successes of the older siblings and to make good choices for themselves.

a recent photo of my middle child
who has officially entered "middle age" 

It has been said that the first-born tends to be bossy. (They are wrong, of course. 🤭)

click here for movie trailer

There is a line in the 2006 biblical movie, The Nativity Story, where the three wisemen have a lighthearted moment. While gazing at the night sky, one of them says, 

“..... if I’m right.. and I usually am....” 

I have quoted that to my family about myself on several occasions, but instead of agreement, I get raised eyebrows and wry smirks! 🥴

5. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time, or have a significant conversation with two people? Explain. 

I'm okay with attending a "sip 'n smile" (as Gary calls them) but during his career days, he had to attend too many and now avoids them if at all possible. 

I get along well enough at such occasions because I make friends easily. But short conversations at those parties are preferable. It's good to keep the topics light because many times the room is much too noisy to accurately hear everything that is being said. Even my $$$ hearing aids cannot really drown out enough of the background noise to catch all that is being said. 

A significant conversation with just one or two people is best done in a much quieter atmosphere, and yes, I definitely enjoy that, too. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

In 2017, when my late husband shocked me with the idea of a cross-country move from Colorado to Florida, I bought a sign that looked exactly like the arrow below. It was meant to be a rather tongue-in-cheek marquee of our late-in-life change in retirement plan.

However, as time moved on, the sign began to sort of taunt me every time I passed it on the wall in our new home. It reminded me of the multitude of changes, good, bad, and blended somewhere in-between that were building the story of my life.

I began to see the value in the popular term, "mindfulness," directing my mental attention to "right now" instead of mentally chewing on the past or worrying about the future. 

No matter which direction our lives go, our mental state has a huge bearing on our happiness and contentment. 

Since I am a devoted believer and follower of Jesus Christ, the Bible has been my rescue when my thoughts tend to spiral downward into dark places. This one is a favorite with me and covers a lot of ground:

Don't worry about anything;

instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need,

and thank Him for all He has done. 

Then you will experience God's peace,

which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds

as you live in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 New Living Translation

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara