Dear Corinne,
When we met before Christmas you asked me which books of Daily Readings I had found helpful and in the past few letters I have written about some of them! There are of course many publications which provide daily bible reading notes but I have not included them……maybe another time!
There is, however, a great app which takes you through the Bible In One Year which has a commentary by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (Nicky Gumbel is the Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, in London). From 1st January 2017 @BibleinOneYr will also be available in Arabic, Spanish, Chinese and Hindi.
When I saw that it was available in these languages, Isaiah 55:11(NLT) came to my mind…
It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Great to hear that you checked out Choose Life, both the website and on YouTube. Simon is an inspirational speaker!
Now to respond to your latest question, “Have you ever thought about writing a devotional book/book of daily readings?” Up until last year the answer would have been a resounding NO!
As you know, there are already innumerable daily devotional books and blogs and I myself have been greatly encouraged by a number of them. I never for one moment thought I would endeavour to write my own. However, as I have pondered on how to develop and expand Into Deeper Waters, so the idea of writing a weekday thought/word has kept reoccurring.
It began with a friend coming for coffee one morning. In the course of our conversation about devotional books and those which we had found helpful and encouraging, she suddenly said, “You could write one!” I smiled and said, “No! I don’t think so!”
However, her words struck a chord somewhere within me and after she left I went upstairs, to my study and sat down at the computer. I prayed that if this idea was of God then a title would come…….instantly one came to mind and I began to type the introduction!
I left it for a number of months. Then, one evening prior to going to the recording studio the next day, to record more meditations, for the website (www.into-deeper-waters.com), my voice began to fade and I decided to stop practising and preserve it for the next day!
Instead, I clicked on the ‘book’ file and prayed about the way forward. It came to me to take words and write about them letter by letter. To be honest, I have used this method before, both in writing articles (LENT and ADVENT!) and in audio meditations. A few words came,….. then more,…… then more! When I counted up the letters there were enough themes for five days a week, for fifty two weeks!!
I had hoped to have completed it in time for the New Year…but I haven’t!
So will try and do so for next year. “What’s the format?”, I hear you ask!
Well, I am taking a leaf out of my brother-in-law’s book. He is an actor (Davros in Dr Who, Simpkins, the Pathologist in a Touch of Frost) and writer and when he is involved in a new writing project he never divulges the topic! I have already told you the topic…you will just have to wait and see re: format!!
I hope the New Year is going well for you thus far and I am looking forward to seeing you soon.
with love,
