THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE June 6, 2005 Issue

LISTEN FOR GOD'S MESSAGES

SUZANNE RIEDEL

I'VE LOVED THE BIBLE for as long as I can remember. This was partly because I grew up in a Christian church that taught Bible stories in Sunday School. At home, no one talked about the Bible, and I don't recall seeing anyone read it, though I was given a copy when I asked for it. I was especially interested in the fact that Daniel, Jesus, and Paul were obviously close to God, and He was with them.

To me there was a promise in those stories that God was probably close to me, too. It was the probably part I couldn't get around, because I just didn't feel God's presence. But the promise part—that God might be close to me and actually care about me—never left me.

Growing up, I reasoned it must have been easy for the disciples to believe that their lives were governed by God because they actually saw Jesus heal. I wanted that same assurance. And I felt the Bible, not man-made doctrines, somehow had the answers.