How the Bible became a "chocolate thing" for me

How do you relate to the Bible? My story: I grew up in a Christian family, and fell in love with the Bible at 10 years old. I would get up crazy early, read it every day, and memorise verses with my mum. I'm grateful for that time.

Into the teens and twenties, I struggled with God after years of praying for friends who never seemed to find healing, and the hyper-religiousness of my early walk turned into an unbearable condemnation whenever I opened the pages of the Bible.

Plus, it's so *weird.*

Seriously - have you ever come away from a quiet time with bewilderment and *more* questions instead of the transcendent, joyous peace you were hoping for (and felt guilty for not experiencing? No? Just me? )

This story has a happy ending. After wrestling with it, avoiding it, forcing myself to read it anyway...I'm falling back in love with the Bible.

The work of people like Shane Willard and Michael Heiser and The Bible Project changed a lot of things for me.

Michael Heiser says, ”if it's weird, it's important," and has a fascinating podcast and website tackling things like textual criticism and going through books chapter by chapter (but for laypeople). If that's too in depth, @thebibleproject has excellent (and gorgeous) videos on topics and books and word studies.

So yes, the Bible has become a chocolate thing for me. The more I read and learn, the more I marvel at the goodness of God, who wove the whole story together and made it “shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologians to swim in without ever touching the bottom.” (St. Jerome). 

What’s your relationship with the Bible like?