Spending time with God

I was thinking over my quiet times lately and something interesting dawned on me. A few years ago I was in a Bible study called the 2:7 Series. The first book in the series required us at some point during the study to spend seven consecutive days doing quiet times, that is reading somewhere in our Bible, writing about it and praying about it. It took me over two weeks to get seven days in a row! And it was suggested that we spend 15 minutes a day. I remember in that time thinking what in the world will I do for 15 minutes. I even remember looking up at the clock to see if time had gone by yet! It was so hard to read and write and pray for 15 minutes for seven days!
   The next book in the study required us to do 14 days in a row! Oh no, I thought, how will I ever get that accomplished? It took me over a month to do it, but as hard as it was I made it, 15 minutes a day and all!
   Now, looking back I can't believe I had such a hard time with it. These days I find myself looking up at the clock only to realize that 40 minutes have gone by and I've only read and written. I think, oh no, I have to get the kids up and I'm not done yet! What a change!
    What made the difference? There wasn't a specific day that I can say, because of this situation or this miracle or this audible voice from heaven. All that happened is that I persevered and kept trying to spend time with my Bible and God. I started to get to know God slowly with each reading and journal entry and prayer. As I got to know God and am still getting to know Him I want to spend more and more time with Him because I am finding He's so truly amazing and as my boys love to say 'incomprehensible'. The things I can learn about God, His character, His miracles, and His presence never end. Every time I read something in the Bible, even if I've read it before it applies to my life! It's truly amazing how alive scripture is and how much we can benefit from it IF we persevere work through the dry spells.
   It's hard at first because there's a lot of information and a lot of history that we just don't understand. But if we continue in it and pray for wisdom and understanding, our great God is faithful in providing what we need and revealing himself to us!
   I always find it amazing how easily we can get lost in a good novel. What if we got lost in the pages of the only book that's alive with God's words? What would our lives look like? Go ahead, try it. Just 15 minutes for the next seven days. See what happens.