First and Foremost

Finding Sanctuary ~ Day 14

If all the words I’ve ever written could be distilled into one simple message, it would be this: Read the Bible.

Read all of it too. Not just a verse here and there. But whole chunks of it at a time. Sequentially. Repetitively.

Read it out loud. Read it quietly inside your mind. Read it alone, daily. Read it with others, weekly.

Don’t skip the hard parts either. Power through with a pen in hand. Write out your questions, either in the margins or in a journal.

Trace the “scarlet thread” from the Old Testament to the New. Memorize the passages that stand out to you. Then share those passages with others.

And, of course, write it out. Verse by verse. A simple notebook will do. Meditate on it. Regularly.

Most importantly, talk to God about what you’ve read.

Day 14 in Sanctuary asks this question: Who has ultimate authority in your life? For me, it’s God’s Word. Because God has proven himself faithful, time and again. I’ve written about this here.

A lot of people are writing on the internet. I’m still one of them, and if there is one thing you can count on here in this space, it’s this: God’s Word is first and foremost in everything. Absolutely everything.

I pray it is for you too.

Shalom.

Denise

A Few Notes…

*You can access the 31-day journal for free as a PDF at this link:

*Join me each day in July as I reflect on the book Sanctuary — a 31-day devotional to cultivate a quiet heart in a noisy and demanding world. You can grab your own copy at this link:

*And as always, no part of this newsletter — nor anything I have ever published — has been made with Artificial Intelligence (AI) or ghostwriters. All of my words, including any accidental typos, are my own, except for when I quote others with appropriate citations and links.