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When I was eighteen, a friend of mine gave me a bookmark and I was ecstatic.

Not only because I love to read and always need a bookmark nearby. Not only because it was beautifully handcrafted.

I was over the moon because my friend had cross-stitched my name on the bookmark!

With a name like Sharla, you can’t go to the drugstore and find a personalized toothbrush. Stores do not stock key chains or notebooks or pencils with “Sharla” printed on them.

So having something with my name on it felt so “personal.” It was unique to me. Only another Sharla would want it (and I’ve only met two other Sharlas in my lifetime).

Recently, my small group was studying 1 Corinthians with the book Live Full, Walk Free. In the last chapter, author Cindy Bultema encouraged readers to personalize 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 by inserting their name in place of the word love.

For example:

Sharla is patient, Sharla is kind. Sharla does not envy, she does not boast, Sharla is not proud. Sharla does not dishonor others, she is not self-seeking, Sharla is not easily angered, she keeps no record of wrongs.

Honestly, this exercise made me cringe a bit because every statement seemed so untrue. I have been known to envy grandparents who have their grandchildren in the same city. I am definitely not patient when my computer fails to cooperate. (Just ask my husband.)

But the process of personalizing this passage was helpful. It brought me to my knees, asking the Holy Spirit to weave this kind of love into my heart.

Personalizing Scripture can be a meaningful spiritual practice. Sometimes it’s easy to read the Bible like a dusty volume directed at people who lived thousands of years ago. Or hear a passage and think of someone else who needs that message. We don’t always feel the impact of God’s words on our own hearts and lives.

But when we put our own names into the passage it can take on a deeper meaning.

One of my favorite passages is Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you;
He will quiet you with His love;
He will rejoice over you with singing. (NIV 1984)

Now if I put my own name in the verse:

The Lord your God is with Sharla,
he is mighty to save Sharla.

Suddenly, God seems nearer. I marvel that the Lord rescued insignificant me from Satan and hell.

He will take great delight in Sharla;

Amazing thought! God’s heart is gladdened by me!

He will quiet Sharla with His love;

God knows I am easily stressed out. He is all too aware of my worries and concerns. But He can also quiet my insecurities and anxieties with His love.

He will rejoice over Sharla with singing.

What?! I inspire song? And music? What an incredible image of God singing songs with my name.

Now it’s your turn. Put your own name in Zephaniah 3:17.

Revel in God’s love for you. Rejoice in His saving strength. Listen for His love song.

Next step: This week practice Personalizing Scripture. Download a resource with Scripture verses to use for this exercise or find your own. Journal what you learned through these personal words of God.

When my husband and I moved to Illinois, we lived in a fifty-year-old home that was full of problems. The basement leaked. The windows were painted shut and the well-water turned my laundry orange. I couldn’t wait to get out of that old house. I wanted something new.

After several years of waiting, God gave us the opportunity to build a brand new home. We bought a piece of land and hired a builder. To keep costs down, we did a lot of the work ourselves.

At the time our children were ages five and two. During the five months of construction they spent a lot of time at the babysitter’s house, but we tried to get them involved with the building process by giving them tours of the house at various stages of construction, getting them involved in small clean-up projects, and letting them pick out the paint for their new rooms.

As the house neared completion, we were all excited about moving in—or at least most of us were. One day I took the kids to the house for one last clean-up before the carpet installers arrived. We were sweeping the plain brown sub-floor of my son’s room when he piped up in his two-year-old voice, “Let’s not pretend that this is my room anymore.”

My son didn’t want to move. The new room was an empty space with a rough wooden floor. To him it didn’t look as appealing as his old room with soft carpeting and a comfortable bed. He didn’t want the new because he couldn’t envision the finished project.

Sometimes I act the same way with God. He’s continually transforming me into a new person. But sometimes I resist because I can’t see what that will look like.

God asks me,

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19a

Honestly, I can’t always see God’s new thing. When troubles seem to block my view of my Savior, I can’t see God working.

That’s when I need to remember what comes next in Isaiah 43:19:

I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

When God is starting something new in my life it’s to show me a way out of the desert I’m in and provide springs of water in the wilderness. His new thing is always good–even though I might not see it right away.

Once my son saw the finished room in the new house he was as excited about moving as the rest of us. The original problem was, at first, the new didn’t look as good as the old.

When we’re facing something new we need to remember that God is always working to make our lives better–even if that new thing still looks like an empty room with a plywood floor.

Next step: Are you resisting the new beginnings God has for you? At times we all struggle against the new because we’re comfortable with the old. But let’s remember that God always desires the best for us.

Practicing Lent: Personalizing Scripture

New Beginnings: For When You’re Not Sure You Want New