Elizabeth George - A Girls Guide to Discovering Her Bible

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Verses marked ASV are taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photos Empato, GlobalStock / iStock

A GIRLS GUIDE TO DISCOVERING HER BIBLE

Copyright 2015 Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944-

A girls guide to discovering her Bible / Elizabeth George.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-6256-8 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6257-5 (eBook)

1. BibleTextbooks. 2. GirlsReligious life. I. Title.

BS605.3.G55 2015

220.6'1 dc23

2014040398

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For my precious granddaughters,

Taylor Zaengle

Katie Seitz

Grace Seitz

Lily Seitz

May you

Study the Bible to be wise;

Believe it to be safe;

Practice it to be holy.

Study it through,

pray it in,

work it out,

note it down,

pass it on.

Contents

O h, how I wish I could meet you and see your room or your place! Nothing is as special as your personal space. If youre like most girls, youve probably got lots and lots of cool stuff in your space. And Im guessing that you have lots of colorful pens, pencils, and markers for drawing, making greeting cards, working on crafts, and writing in your journal.

Well, to this day, I still love and use colored pens and markers. And the M-O-S-T special way I use them is when I am reading my Bible. Heres how it all started.

When I was about your moms age, I purchased my very first Bible. As I was paying for it, I noticed a glass bowl filled with brightly colored highlighter pens on the checkout counter. On a whim, I reached into that bowl and picked out a gold marker. And I prayed! Maybe it was because I had been a Christian for only three days before buying a Bible, but in my heart I prayed and talked to God:

God, Im a new Christian, and I dont know anything about You. Im going to start reading my brand-new Bible tomorrow and mark everything I learn about You, God, with this shiny gold highlighter.

And then I spotted a pink highlightermy favorite color! So I picked it out of the bowl too, and I prayed again:

And God, I dont know anything about being a Christian woman, wife, or mom. When I start reading my new Bible tomorrow, Im going to mark everything I learn about women and being a woman with my super-special hot-pink highlighter.

And you know what? The next day, I opened up my crisp new Bible, laid out my two new marking pens, andI discovered treasure! Without knowing it, I was living what the Bible says: If you look for wisdom and understanding and search for it as for hidden treasure, you will find it (Proverbs 2:4).

Discovering Treasure

See for yourself what I found on my first day of reading my Bible, on the first page, in the first book of the Bible, in the first verse in the Bible! It was my first marking with my gold pen. If your Bible is handy, open it up to Genesis 1:1.

With your pen or pencil or maybe a highlighter pen, mark what you learn about God in this one verse.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth .

What solid fact does this verse reveal about God?

I kept reading and then I found a verse that called for my pink highlighter pen.

Genesis 1:27With your pen or pencil or highlighter pen (maybe pink?), mark in your Bible what you learn about yourself as a woman, as a female.

God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them .

What do you learn about God in this verse?

What do you learn about man and woman?

As a young woman, Im sure you hear a lot about self-image. But lets think about God-image instead. How does this verse help you with the way you can and should view yourself? Or, put another way, how would you complete this sentence?

I am created by

and in the image of

Got Problems?

Believe me, I know from my own years as a girl and from raising two daughters that the early years are challenging ones. Some days it seems like everything is new and you wonder, What happened while I was sleeping?! On other days, all you can think is, Im bored.

Ive heard the heart-cries of thousands of girls, and here are just a few of their questions and problems:

My brother and sister are driving me crazy!

Why do my parents set so many strict rules? I cant do anything fun.

Why is it so hard to find a friend? Is something wrong with me?

I wish Mom would let me choose my own clothes.

It seems like all my parents do is correct me and nag me about my chores and homework.

Well, heres some good news. No matter what your problem is, God has the help and answers you need. No matter how bad things seem or become, if you are faithful to look to Gods Word each day, He has help and answers for your problems. Every time you open your Bible, God gives you:

instructions on how to live and make right choices

encouragement and comfort when your heart hurts

guidelines and wisdom for handling your problems

strength for dealing with stressful situations

promises for whatever you worry about

And best of all, you have Himall of Himwhen you read Gods Word!

What do you learn about God in the following verses?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the L ORD your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).

Be

Do not

Do not

For/because

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me (Psalm 23:4).

When I

I will

For/because

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3).

God

God

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Do not

Do not

God will

God will

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).