…or the Bible App, there was My Little Scripture Book. Seventeen years ago, I was finishing graduate school, studying for my state board exam, and trying to convince myself that I knew what I was doing. As a Christian counselor, I recognized that the bible has a lot to say about depression and anxiety and relationships and… well… being a human, in general. It doesn’t give the answer to all of life’s troubles, but it does give solace and understanding.
But, the bible, it turns out, is pretty darn big, and dense and full of tiny writing, so sometimes it’s hard to find stuff.
Unless you have a mind like a steel trap and you can memorize bible addresses, in which case, you should be on the Bible Jeopardy show, if there was such a thing. But my mind has never been of the steel trap variety.
So I set out to create a handy dandy bible reference for easy topical look up. It was like a mini concordance, but for counselors. It was my home grown search engine. I’m not sure why Bible Gateway didn’t call me when they were creating their software, but anyway, their loss.
It turns out that I used it for ME, much more than I ever used it in a counseling session. My hours of work squished between those thin pages were a labor of love… to myself. When anxious, or depressed, or confused about parenting, those scriptures brought me peace and direction. When words meet you at a deep place of pain, they sprout and grow and root. Those words never go away. They are written on the walls of the heart, and there they stay permanently.
So here is my little book. I just want to give my 27 year old self a hug, and say, “Thank you, 27 year old Michelle, for making that little book. You are a good gardener. You’ll be happy to know, that what you planted is still growing!” Then, I would take a styling brush and change the way she did her hair. 90’s hair was so weird.
What little gems have you given yourself over the years- gifts you’re thankful for? How have you seen God’s love intervene on the scene and give you just what you needed?
