So I'm Ash, taking my second go at uni in my first year of an Arts degree. I live 8 hours away from my family, try to wash my clothes regularly and am somehow just semi figuring out adulthood in the meantime.

Anyway, the first thing I want to say is that I am terrible at reading my Bible regularly. Before this time last year I never read my Bible for myself, and if you averaged out how many days I have done a personal bible study in the last 12 months it would probably only be about once a fortnight.

Despite all this I love reading my Bible. Whenever I do I am struck by the amazingness of God's grace and my need to rely on him in everything. Reading my Bible calms my anxiety, gives me perspective and helps me to focus on God instead of myself, and so I try to make an effort each day to sit down over breakfast and read something, even though I'm not always successful.

I have noticed recently that when I read through a passage I struggle to think through or even just acknowledge how it applies to me. Most of the time I will think ok cool I've read my Bible, ticked that one off the list for today, but then not actually put any effort into thinking about what it means or how I should change based on what God is telling me through his word.

Into the future, I am going to try and change the way I spend time in the scriptures in the hopes of being able to dwell in God's word and think about how it should change me now. Instead of reading a different short passage each day, I am going to pick a larger section, probably somewhere in the half a chapter to a chapter range, and go through the process of writing a talk on that passage. I don't mean a perfectly polished, word for word sermon, but spend time thinking about the context, what is the big idea of the passage, what are the applications, how does it apply to a uni student in 2019 and writing it down in a somewhat cohesive format.

I hope that if I can spend a couple of hours twice a week (because I always have at least 2 days a week where I am at home all day, Arts student life) meditating on God's word and considering it deeply that I can grow in my knowledge of God, dependence on him and love for all that he has done.

I hear that as part of this series I’m supposed to give you guys a challenge so this is it. For the next week pick a passage and read it on repeat, same passage every day. Every time you read it find something new that it is telling you. I guarantee you’ll be able to.

From one messy, broken sister to another.

Ash