Tag Archives: Addicted to God

Why Is The Bible So Confusing?

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If you’ve ever picked up the Bible and thought, “This feels like a foreign language to me,” you are not alone. Maybe you’ve tried reading it and felt confused, bored, or even a little ashamed because it just doesn’t make sense. Or maybe you long for a real relationship with God but don’t know where to start.

I completely understand – I hear this often from women I mentor. It is important to consider that the Bible was written in a completely different time and world than ours. The people who wrote it didn’t have phones, cars, or the internet. They spoke different languages, lived in different cultures, and told stories in ways that don’t always sound like our quick modern self-help books.

Sometimes the words just feel old, making a verse feel irrelevant, antiquated, or out of date. But here’s something important the Bible itself explains:

In 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT) it says, “People who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NLT) we read, “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.”

If the words feel veiled or confusing right now, it might not only be the language or the history — there can be a spiritual side too. Our wounds, weights, and old ways can keep our hearts a little closed off… until we gently invite the Holy Spirit to help us see.

Here’s the good news: You don’t have to stay stuck there. The same Jesus who rose from the dead is ready to come into your life right now. If you’ve never invited Him in, or if you want to open your heart fresh today, you can simply pray something like this from your heart:

“Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God who died for me and rose again. I’m tired of carrying these wounds, weights, and old ways on my own. Please forgive me, come into my life, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me understand Your Word and become truly addicted to You. Amen”

The moment you invite Him, the Holy Spirit begins to lift the veil and open your eyes to the beauty of God’s Word. It’s the beginning of the most life-giving relationship you’ll ever have.

Don’t lose hope! The very same Bible that can feel foreign at first is actually the most powerful, life-giving book in the world. Read Psalm 19:7-14 (NLT) and see how God describes His Word. He says it revives us, makes us wise, brings joy, and gives insight for living. That’s powerful – and worth the pursuit.

Proverbs 30:5-6 (NLT) reminds us: “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.”

Even when it feels hard to understand at first, every word is true and protective. God wants to use His Word to heal your wounds, lift your weights, and change your ways — so you can transfer all of that to the one healthy addiction that truly satisfies: Him.

You’re not defective if the Bible feels confusing right now. It simply means you’re human and you’re stepping into something divine. God didn’t give us a cold checklist — He gave us stories, songs, letters, and real-life truths so we could truly know Him. It’s a lot like beginning any new relationship. At first it feels awkward, but the more time you spend, the more comfortable it becomes — especially as the Holy Spirit softens your heart.

Here are a few gentle, practical steps you can try this week:

  • Use an easy-to-read translation like the New Living Translation (NLT). Pair it with the YouVersion Bible app and listen to the chapter read aloud — it helps the words come alive without getting stuck on hard pronunciations.
  • Don’t start at the beginning. Begin with the story of Jesus in the book of John or Mark.
  • Pray before you read: “God, I don’t understand this very well, but I want to know You. Holy Spirit, please open my eyes and my heart.”
  • Keep it short and kind to yourself — just 10 minutes a day is better than forcing more when you feel overwhelmed.
  • Don’t go it alone. Talk with friends, join a Bible study, or watch short Bible Project videos on YouTube to understand the big picture.

When my days were packed with corporate work, raising my daughters, and earning my master’s degree, I had to schedule time with God like any important appointment. That small shift changed everything for me. I realized that if I wouldn’t skip meetings or time with my girls, how much more important was my time with Him?

Read just one chapter a day, or even just a short section within those books. If you have a study Bible – read the footnotes and gain a deeper, more applicable understanding. Don’t forget to pray first. If something confuses you, that’s okay — just keep showing up anyway.

You’ve got this my friend. The Bible isn’t meant to stay confusing forever. It’s meant to become the most life-changing voice in your story — the place where you meet with God Himself and discover real freedom from the wounds, weights, and ways that have held you back.

Winter Bench, Waiting Soul

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This is the scene I walked past on my morning walk today. Something about it stopped me in my tracks. I pulled out my phone and took the picture—not because it was postcard-perfect, but because it felt strangely personal.

A single bench sits alone on a frozen pond. Empty. Silent. The river it faces is locked beneath thick ice. The temperature hovers around negative ten. Everything looks swallowed by cold—motionless, barren, waiting. The trees stand naked, stripped of leaves and fruit. No blossoms, no green, no sign of life. Yet even in their dormancy, they frame the landscape with quiet dignity. And then there’s the sun—still below the horizon, but already sending faint streaks of light across the sky. The promise of dawn. The certainty that warmth and color are coming, even if they feel far away right now.

As I stood there, the scene began to speak. I thought of people I know—people I love—who feel like that bench right now. They sit in the cold of their days, waiting for someone or something to arrive and give them purpose. They face a world outside their door that never quite delivers what they hoped it would.

They feel the constant pull—tension from every direction:

  • marketers demanding their attention and money
  • loud voices insisting they pick a side
  • responsibilities piling higher than they can carry
  • an aging parent who needs more than they have left to give
  • a job that measures their worth in output
  • a friend in crisis reaching for their shoulder, their wisdom, their strength

Their life feels like those winter trees—decorated with many branches of priority, yet producing nothing life-giving. Overwhelmed. Barren. Exhausted.

But the sun is still rising. And there is the Son. He’s always been there—sometimes placed on the back burner, sometimes almost forgotten amid the noise and weight of “real life.” Yet He remains. Steady. Patient. Offering.

When we turn toward Him—when we give Him the central place in our heart and schedule—something changes.

He doesn’t just warm the surface.
He illuminates the soul.
He renews purpose.
He gently reprioritizes what truly matters.
And somehow, mysteriously, He carries what we cannot.

Jesus Himself invites us:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
— Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

And the promise continues:

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
— Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

You don’t have to stay frozen in overwhelm.
You don’t have to wait passively for hope to show up.
You don’t have to beg the world—or the people in it—to tell you who you are or why you matter. What you need is time with Jesus.
Real, honest, unhurried time.
That’s where rest returns.
That’s where strength is renewed.
That’s where the impossible begins to feel possible again.The bench is still empty this morning.
But the light is coming. And so is He.

Thanks for reading—and for letting this quiet winter scene speak to your heart and encourage you today.

Addicted To God

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I would like to conduct an experiment. What could God do in 30 days if we acted like we were addicted to Him? If you think about addiction, it is all consuming and it, in many cases, dominates our thoughts, actions, choices, plans and resources.

Let me speak from the vantage point of a shopaholic. She has everything a woman could ever ask for; Shoes in every style and color that compliment multiple hats, purses, handbags, jewelry, headbands, jackets and sweaters. Cabinets, drawers and cupboards filled with make up, haircare, nail care, skin care, foot care, lotions, waxers, shavers, anti-aging exfoliants. Drawers overflowing with Victoria’s little secrets along with hangers and hooks dripping with bathrobes, scarves, belts, tights, shawls and wraps. Clothes for every season and activity; from pajamas to workout clothes, casual to business casual and professional skirts, skorts and pants, to after-five little black dresses to formal glitz and glam evening attire. The dimensions of her walk in closet are comparable to a small bedroom, bathroom or den.

She has a credit card for every department store and balances that are inching closer to their credit limit, while that limit seems hard to catch as it keeps increasing due to her “preferred customer” status.

The addict says, “I don’t have enough” and heads out on a hunt for more. She spends hours searching for the perfect, look, deal, color, fit, size, style or item. As she piles the success of her mission onto the checkout counter and her mind races from, “I hope these match with shoes I picked up last year and hadn’t worn yet” to, “I hope this charge goes through.” Relief breaks the fear when the clerk asks, “Would you like to apply for our credit card and “save” 10%? Of course she would!

She gets home and obsesses over what to wear, which accessories match and if she really likes them enough to keep them or if it’s worth the trouble to go back and exchange them? Even though guilt starts to set in, she feels good; it’s like a shot in the arm that reinvigorates her and makes her feel better about herself. She decides that she is worth it, she works hard for it and she deserves it – then off come the tags, the final decision, with rationalized justification, is made.

30-days later the credit card statement reminds her of her due date. What once was a collection of “must-haves” becomes another bill and she can’t understand when and how it got so high. She may have worn them once since she bought them, but they didn’t work out like she thought they would. They now seem to feel too tight or they made her feel fat when they pulled and squeezed in places that made her self-conscious. Discouragement sets in as her debt piles up and her paychecks keep getting smaller. As if that’s not bad enough, she notices other things that she loves but they are showing their wear with fade from washing or they just flat-out lost their trendiness. So off to the store she goes…again!

Imagine if we could take this one example of addiction and transfer that level of consumerism to reading our bibles, studying the word of God and into prayer? What if we could live like the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

With that kind of strength, we wouldn’t be broke, ungrateful, unsatisfied or discontent and we could “learn” to be content with whatever we have. So unAmerican! Through knowing God, finding our completeness and fulfillment in Him and, quite frankly, acquire an obsession to have more of Him, what could life look like to be addicted to God? What if you were given the living water and never be hungry or thirst again, like Jesus talks about in John 4:15 or 6:35?

Want to give it a try? Commit to 30 days of bible reading. Go to www.facebook.com/godgirlfriends and post your questions, lean into your support system – a community of encouragement. Then report back how you see God work in your life in these next 30 days to inspire others, but most of all to celebrate all you witnessed God doing in your life.

Regardless of your stronghold, addiction, idol or whatever has you in bondage – take the time that you have been previously consumed by and redirect your energy, time and resources into knowing, seeking, reading and focusing on God. The book of Matthew has 28 chapters, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 21. Pick one! Then read a verse, section, chapter or book for a little OR A LOT of time each day. Challenge yourself to dedicate whatever time you would have otherwise spent on other unfulfilling or unsatisfying things.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

I’m praying for you!

-S