Making A Legacy Bible

As my husband and I make our way through the Old Testament in reading our Bibles chronologically, I marvel that there is still something new to be learned even though this is our third trip with this. God’s Word is new every morning, just like His mercies.

We use journaling Bibles now with plenty of space to write notes. Our first time through, I only used my old personal Bible with narrow margins. Not so good for making notes. As I compare the notes I made in the first two Bibles with the ones I’m making now, I can’t help but notice how much more I have to say than in the past two times.

Has God’s Word changed?

No. Absolutely not.

But I’ve changed in the past two and a half years. Thankfully so. I see more of God’s message to me and for my children.

CREATING LEGACY BIBLES

We’re making legacy Bibles to leave to each of our children. As I look at the third Bible I’ve marked and written notes in, I realize I have a lot of work to do on the first two. I try to make these legacy Bibles personal, but the first one has very little of my motherly words of wisdom and encouragement. The second has a bit more, but the third one is filled with very personal notes aimed at the son for whom it is intended. Let me stop and remind you that we have four sons.

Here’s an example. I opened to Psalm 39 because it contains one of my favorite verses. It’s very short, but it says so much. Psalm 39: 7b. My hope is in Thee. (NASB)

MAKING IT PERSONAL

In the first Bible I marked and notated, I simply said that verse was my life verse and was from my favorite melodic line in Brahams’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). There is another note a bit farther down which includes the names of all our children and grandchildren. The second time through, I said even less, which surprised me when I turned to that page. It makes me wonder where my thoughts were on that day of reading.

The third Bible has a long and very personal note. This is likely because I’ve gained so much wisdom from reading God’s Word from beginning to end, twice before. When we decided to read chronologically, we couldn’t imagine how much sense it all makes. We’d never read our Bibles this way. Let me challenge you to do so if you haven’t. It all falls into place perfectly and beautifully. One story. Beginning to end. Genesis to The Revelation.

As I thumb through other books and chapters, I find much the same pattern. By my third one, I’ve become more intimately acquainted with my God. The notes are lengthy and far deeper.

I got the idea for a legacy Bible from my friend, author, DiAnn Mills. She shared with us at a conference in early 2020, before Covid, how she is doing them for her grandchildren. We loved that idea and are determined to finish Bibles for each of our 5 children (I’m including our daughter-in-love as she truly is ours), and for each of our two granddaughters. The Bible’s I’ll use for our granddaughters are gorgeous. Ones they may color in as they read God’s Word and DD’s  messages to them.

We pray they won’t get thrown into a closet, or deep within a bookcase. That they won’t be left on a bedside table collecting dust. We can only do our part, underline, mark, comment, and then pray for the salvation of all of them. The rest is up to God, in Whom we put all our trust and our hope.

YOU CAN DO THIS, TOO

Do you like the idea of a legacy Bible? You don’t have to follow our plan, but it’s the same one we’ve done for the third year now. Tara Leigh Cobble and her The Bible Recap have a printable plan for daily reading. You will get through the entire Bible in just one year. We also use The Bible Project to tell us about each book before we begin it. You don’t have to use these two resources. There are many others out there. Just look for a one-year Bible reading plan. Let us know if you do this and how you did it.

Blessings, y’all!

I’ve never heard this group. They’re good. Love the lyrics. I can’t put them here, but you may Google them. Great words!