THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE December 20, 2004 Issue

An 'I can, too' book

By Judy Olson

Have You Noticed ? The Bible is an "I can, too" book. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, the apostles, and others saw, felt, proved the power of the presence of God in being healed and healing others. It's a book full of promises that we, too, can heal; full of instructions how we can; reasons why we can; even assurances that we can't be made not to.

Yet for years I hadn't really noticed. I'd read my Bible with a "Why can't I?" attitude. I'd always loved those wonderful victory-over-evil Bible stories I'd learned as a kid in Sunday School. But those people in the Bible were closer to God, I felt. So the day I realized that I, too, could know God and prove His power was a really big one for me.

I'll never forget when and how this major shift in thought came about. In spite of feeling so inferior to many of the courageous Bible characters, deep down I just knew that this book had to have something in it for me. After all, it had survived countless book burnings and bannings. It had restored, redeemed, regenerated millions of people and still was the world's #1 bestseller. So I persisted.