InScribed Collection (book review)

For months I have been chewing away at the books for this review. The InScribed Collection are Bible studies that help to draw us closer to the Lord through prayer, self-controlled choices, understanding the Lord (or being OK not understanding everything), and the discipline of Bible study.

I started with "Leaving Ordinary" by Donna Gaines about "encounter[ing] God through extraordinary prayer." I honestly read this so long ago I don't remember much other than it didn't leave that big of an impact on me. Gaines used the tabernacle to parallel prayer in our lives. There were some interesting points but it just did not speak to me much.

Heather Zempel's "Amazed and Confused" was next in line. During this study Zempel brought us through hard places, when we don't understand what God is doing or saying. The thing that really struck me from this study was coming to understand that nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is nice. God is good. He is holy. He is loving. Never does it say he's nice. Some questions that pertain to this matter were: "How does the idea that 'God is not nice' strike you? Do you agree or disagree? What is the difference between 'God is nice' and 'God is love'?" and "Consider a time in your life when God didn't appear to be nice but He proved in the end to be love? How did He reveal His love?" If you think about it, this makes sense. As a parent, I'm not always nice to my children but I'm always loving. My decisions to discipline or say no don't always seem nice, but they are out of my love.

In "Living So That" by Wendy Blight, I delved into "making faith-filled choices in the midst of a messy life." I really liked this study but it started to draaaaaaag on toward the end. I loved that Blight had us memorize verses - which is so important to making faith-filled choices because we have God's words right inside of us then. Blight used the phrase "so that" to lead us through lessons on why Jesus came, why God spoke, why we pray, why we have trials, and why we let our light shine. It was really neat to hear her perspective and really understand that what I lean on as truth has other facets to it.

The last study I read was "Dive Deeper" by Jennifer Jernigan. I actually learned to use a concordance and commentary while doing this study. She challenges us to use those tools to dig deeper into God's Word. I didn't follow her blueprints to Bible study completely but much deeper than I'd ever gone before into lexicons and overviews of the Scriptures. I intend to continue this study to help me dig deeper (dive deeper, if you will), into God's Word so I can have a better understanding of it and Him.

Disclaimer: I received these studies in order to write an honest review. Others may or may not share my opinions.