Elizabeth George - A Young Womans 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 ASV are taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

Cover photos crazypixels20 / Fotolia; Dugan Design Group

Cover illustration eugenia / Fotolia

A YOUNG WOMANS GUIDE TO DISCOVERING HER BIBLE

Copyright 2014 Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Elizabeth, 1944-

A young womans guide to discovering her Bible / Elizabeth George.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-1781-0 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4273-7 (eBook)

1. BibleTextbooks. 2. Christian teenagersReligious lifeTextbooks. 3 Teenage girlsReligious lifeTextbooks. I. Title.

BS605.3.G46 2014

220.6'1dc23

2014015595

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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

I will never, ever forget purchasing my first Bible. I was 28 years old and it was my first Sunday in church as a brand-new Christian. There I sat, in a Bible-teaching churchwithout a Bible! Every time the pastor said, Turn in your Bible to and gave a Scripture reference, the entire auditorium sounded as if each person were unwrapping a giftyou could hear the sound of paper crinkling as everyone sifted through the pages in their Bibles to locate the designated verse.

And then, after a brief pause to give us time to find the verse, a miracle occurredthe pastor taught us what the verse meant.

Never before had I experienced this! At age 12 I had received a Bible when I officially joined my familys local church. But I have to confess, I never read that Bible. I had no idea what it was or where to start reading. I never used it, becausewhat in the world was I supposed to do with it?

No wonder that beautiful engraved-with-my-name-on-it Bible ended up on a bookshelf gathering dustfor 16 years!

Discovering Treasure

But on that glorious day as a new believer in Christ, I purchased a Bible. I was clueless about the many different versions, translations, and paraphrases of the Bible. I also knew nothing about red-letter versions, hardcover or paperback, bonded or genuine leather bindings. And I had never heard about chronological Bibles or Bibles with indented book tabs or study notes. Eek! It was overload!

So what did I do?

I asked the man at the checkout counter in the churchs bookstore to Just give me a Bible like that man is preaching out of.

He grinned, and I could tell he knew exactly what Bible to get for me. While he was pulling one off the shelf, I noticed a glass bowl next to the cash register. I couldnt miss it because it was filled with brilliant colored highlighter pens.

I just stood there, looking at the many wonderful colors, and prayed, God, Im the new kid on the block, and I dont know anything about You. Im going to purchase a gold highlighter pen and start tomorrow marking everything in my new Bible that teaches me something about You.

With a gold highlighter pen in hand, I looked again at the plethora of colors and prayed, And God, I dont know anything about being a Christian woman, Christian wife, or Christian mom. Im also going to purchase a pink highlighter pen and start tomorrow marking everything in my new Bible that has to do with women and instructions to me as a woman.

Well, praise God, He answered my prayers! The very next day, when I cracked open my new Bible and started reading chapter 1 in the book of Genesis, I struck gold. Heres what I found, and I want you to take a look too.

The first verse I marked with my gold highlighter was 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 about the origin of the world does this verse reveal?

As I continued reading in Genesis 1, the first verse I marked with my pink highlighter was Genesis 1:27. With your pen or pencil or maybe a highlighter pen (maybe pink?), mark what you learn about yourself as a woman.

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 l-o-t about self-image. But lets consider God-image. 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 growing-up years and from raising two daughters that the teen years are challenging ones. Often it seems like everything in your life is spinning and constantly changing, and its hard to get your feet and emotions groundedand then the next big change comes along! At other times it seems like the whole world has stopped turning on its axis. Every day is the same old, same old. Nothing ever changes, and it doesnt look like it ever will. Day after day is the same repeated day. Time is standing still.

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

What am I going to do about this problem?

My problem hurts so much Im not sure I can make it through another day.

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

I hate my life. Its the same thing day after dayfamily, chores, school, homework.

I feel so stifled. I cant go anywhere or do anything without my parents permission and involvement.

These are very personal and painful problems and yet, at the same time, they are common problems (says 1 Corinthians 10:13). Thank goodness, because that means theres hope!

No matter what your life situation is, God has help and answers. No matter how bad things seem or become, when you are faithful to dig into the treasure of Gods Word each day and look for His help with your problems, as well as His instructions on how to live the way He wants you to live, you will enjoy life more. Day by day, God comes to your aid with encouragement, comfort, guidelines, and wisdom for handling your difficult and stressful situations.