I'm Back!
Thanks for the time off.
Thank you for sticking with me as I took a 6-month break from writing Bible studies. It was time I really needed, and I’m inspired again to continue writing and studying. Welcome especially to the approximately 200 of you who joined in the last 6 months! I was surprised at how many people continued to subscribe even though I wasn’t actively publishing anything, but God has always been in charge of my subscribers, so I guess he’s up to something!
As a reminder, before I started my Sabbatical I decided that when I start writing again, my plan will be to complete the writing for an entire series study before publishing it, so there may be gaps between studies when I don’t publish. With being on Sabbatical, I have been working on my next study slowly, but it is not finished yet, so it may be another few weeks before I publish it. Even when I don’t publish anything that week, be sure that I am actively working on my next study in the background.
Also keep in mind that in this age of AI, I am not using AI to write my studies, because 90% of the benefit of writing is what I learn when I study the Bible for myself. But that also means slower writing and less content to publish. However, the tradeoff is that the studies are more meaningful for my own personal growth, and hopefully for yours too.
Another change moving forward is that I have invested in Logos software, which is commonly used by pastors and other ministry leaders for Bible study. Because of this, some of the verse lists that I publish may look a little different based on Logos’ export format. I will also generally be switching to ESV as my standard Bible version instead of NIV, as Logos doesn’t have NIV available as one of their standard versions (at least that I’ve seen).
One more point of update. As I’ve been on Sabbatical, God has given me the task of creating a comprehensive index and commentary on the characteristics, roles, and actions of God. The studies I’ve written on the Characteristics of God have been my most viewed posts, so it seems logical to build on that reader interest.
My plan is to read through the Bible verse by verse to catalog the characteristics of God, and then I will write a study on each characteristic. Someday, that content will be published as an index (a list of verse references for each characteristic) and a commentary (the in-depth studies for each characteristic). I expect this to be a 10-15 year process, as I’ve already accumulated over 100 characteristics (up from my original 70, and I’ve only covered 4% of the Bible)! I’ve also done a major reorganization of the characteristics, which I’ll talk about in my next post.
Due to this focused emphasis, you will likely see most of my studies be on the characteristics of God. I may also write on other topics as God inspires, but when I don’t have another area of interest to pursue, writing on the characteristics of God will be my default. The way I read the Bible has completely changed since I started reading with a God-focused view, and I hope that the more we start to understand God together, the more reasons you will find to follow Him. Our God is too big to understand fully, but we’re sure going to do our best!
Grounded in the Bible is fully reader supported. All of the content I publish is free, but I do invest a lot of time in each study, and I also have some expenses (such as the Logos software) that go along with maintaining this newsletter. If you feel that you want to support my writing ministry, consider becoming a paid subscriber ($5/month or $50/year), or leave a one-time donation through Ko-fi. I try not to ask for financial support often, and my plan going forward is to include a reminder at the beginning and end of each study series. But please know that every dollar you give goes back into the ministry.
I’m excited to start this new chapter in Grounded in the Bible!
In Christ,
Karen