To wrap up our final topic of the year, I am honored to welcome friend and fellow writer, Crystal Storms, to kristinebrown.net today. Crystal writes about the benefits of reading the Bible every day. What better way to experience renewal than by reading God’s Word? Welcome, Crystal!

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

When my temperature rises and my nose runs, I grab a Vitamin C tablet to chase away the sniffles. I’ve been sick twice this fall. That’s not my normal. Was I too busy and getting rundown?

I looked at my schedule. I checked my to-do’s. I asked God what commitments I could let go.

There were tasks I could release and expectations I could surrender. But what surprised me the most was what God spoke to my heart that I needed to add.

Vitamin C wasn’t a quick fix to get healthy. It was something my body needed to stay healthy. So I added a daily dose of Vitamin C to give it what it required.

I used to do the same thing with God’s Word. When a problem arose or my life got out of hand, I reached for His Word for a solution to my woes.

But renewing my mind through Scripture doesn’t happen when I treat the Bible as a last resort. When my pattern of life doesn’t include daily readings, I often find myself at a loss for His peace.

I started with a Psalm and a Proverb each day. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, which makes it a perfect place to start. Then in 2009 I accepted the challenge to read The One Year Bible, and changes began within me. For the first time I had started the year reading God’s Word and was still reading in March … August … December … all the way to the end. And I didn’t want it to stop.

So I turned back to the beginning on January 1 and started over. I developed a love for God’s Word as I read His Word.

Then I read Secrets of the Secret Place and wanted something more. Bob Sorge’s Bible reading plan included reading Jesus’ words every single day—something the other plans missed.

But I feared using Bob’s method of counting pages and paper clipping passages would leave me with an unfinished Bible at the end of the year.

To succeed I needed to make the plan concrete. So I created the Close to His Heart Bible Reading Plan with daily reading from Genesis to Malachi, Psalms to Song of Solomon, the Gospels, and the Epistles.

This plan was my answer to Jesus’ invitation to learn from Him and find rest for your souls found in Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (NIV).

Renewing our minds in God’s Word renews our perspective. His Word transforms us from the inside out. Becoming a balm to our broken places. Revealing lies we believe about ourselves. Enabling us to walk in the truth of Whose we are and who we are in Him.

Crystal Storms is an award-winning author, artist, and speaker. Her passion is to encourage weary-hearted women to find rest close to His heart as God’s beloved. She would love to connect with you at CrystalStorms.me where you can download the Close to His Heart Bible Reading Plan and find resources to encourage your heart.

Enjoy this guest post on IDENTITY & WORTH, a devotion written by my friend and fellow writer, Julie Sunne. Julie’s words spoke straight to my heart as a mom, and I know they will bless you as well.

I knew I’d be sad, but the intensity of my feelings surprised me.

This past month I followed my youngest on a four-hour drive to his chosen college. Two adult sons were already on their own, now our third and last one would be spending most of his time away from home. That left our 21-year-old daughter, who has special needs, to keep my husband and me company.

I cherished parenting my children. Now, no longer needed to fulfill a full-time mothering role, I feel a bit lost … directionless. I had equated my identity with being a mother. When that role lost its primacy, I lost my identity and, thus, my sense of worth.

We tie our worth to all sorts of things. Our vocation, whether we have children, whether those children are making good choices, the amount of our possessions, our health or fitness level, even our looks. But God has a different idea of what constitutes worth.

The Lord created us in His image and declared it good.

He stamped us worthy when He adopted us. And our identity as His children assign us value. Valuable enough, in fact, to be worth the death of His Son. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, CSB).

Employed or jobless, a parent or childless, healthy or infirmed, young or old, wealthy or poor, well known or unknown … as God’s children, we all hold equal and great value in His eyes. But when we lose sight of our identity in Christ, our sense of worth becomes fragile, dependent on our performance or status in life. Then when life shifts—as it will—we face a crisis of identity.

I did. I became so caught up in being a mom, I forgot that first and foremost I am a daughter of the King. When “Mom” no longer required my full-time attention, my worth took a hit. Confusion about my purpose set in. I’m finding that the way back to stable ground is to review what God says about me and who I am.

I am loved. I am worthy. I am appointed. I am empowered. I am saved. I am a new creation. I am forgiven and redeemed. I am a conqueror in Christ. I am the Lord’s workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a child of God.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can make the same claims. Your identity far surpasses that of your vocation or station on earth. You, too, are a child of God. That makes you invaluable. Believe it, even when the biting winds of change try to tell you otherwise.

“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” (Psalm 139:13-16, CSB)

Father, we are honored and awed that You would adopt us as Your children. Forgive us when we place our identity elsewhere. Draw us to You, Lord, and remind us of our worth in Your eyes. Remind us of the truth of who we are as heirs with Christ to the Kingdom. Help us place our identity solely in You. In Your Son Jesus Christ’s precious name, Amen.

Julie Sunne delights in sharing about finding real hope in the middle of life’s real messes. Her own mess includes enduring multiple miscarriages and raising and now being caregiver for her 21-year-old daughter with special needs.

Her writing credentials include a feature in Celebrate Life magazine; guest posting for such online sites as Healthy Leaders, (in)courage, and Mommies with Hope as well as Proverbs 31 Ministries’ Encouragement for Today devotions; and feature and copy writing for local newspapers. You can find Julie’s self-published image-based devotional, Everyday Praise: Walking in Greater Peace, on Amazon.

Julie and her husband, Dave, are parents to a teenager and three young adults. They reside in Northeast Iowa where Julie loves Chai tea lattes, dark chocolate, books, and doing anything outdoors. Find encouragement on her website, www.juliesunne.com.