Image Credit: http://www.rachelswartley.com

At a recent chapter meeting, one of my PEO sisters and I were discussing my wedding. She asked if I knew the date on the calendar that marked 150 days before the big day. I asked her to look it up and text me – Personally, I was really curious as to why she asked, and I found myself eagerly awaiting her text!

Turns out there’s this idea that the bride and groom read the Book of Psalms in reverse order, together, starting at 150 days from the wedding to the actual day. Then, read it again, this time in numerical order, for the first 150 days after the wedding.

I really liked Laura’s account of her own journey – Check it out.

After Joy texted me the date a few days later, I started reading and researching. I pondered. I prayed – A lot. I talked to a few others, asking them if they had heard of it. I talked to Al as well.

After all of that, I decided I was going to do it on my own. I was very excited at the thought, very eager to get back into regular Bible reading. I have read the entire Bible over the years, but I haven’t been consistent or disciplined with it. So I saw this idea as a personal challenge, as well as seeing the potential for this to be a great reward.

As the date drew close, I started to feel a sense of great purpose with this idea, while also thinking of it as a final countdown to one of the biggest days of my entire life.

Today, June 17th, marks 150 days until I marry Al. It is so exciting!

Each week, I plan to share one of the Psalms with you. I am thrilled to get back to reading my Bible – I use The Message. There are several Psalms I know by heart – The 23rd Psalm, for example – but I had no idea that there were 150 of them total!

I hope you’ll follow along on my journey as I prepare for the last few months of my engagement!

Today was Psalm 150. I took a few minutes this morning after my shower, in the quiet of my bedroom, and opened my Bible for the first time in, well, forever.

I was instantly comforted.

As I read the words, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and calm come over me.

I felt so empowered.

For the first time in forever, for a few minutes, I truly felt calm and relaxed, focusing on these words.

Image Credit: http://www.michaelnoyes.com

This psalm focuses on music, which made me think back to the post I wrote last year on music and identity.

After I read the psalm, I sat there, on my bed, in awe. A lot of negative/sad/depressing things have happened in my life in a very short period of time recently.

For a few minutes this morning, however, all those thoughts disappeared. It was amazing!

So, the words of Steven Curtis Chapman came to mind:

“…I’m diving in, I’m going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush, tossed in the flow, in over my head I want to go
The river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive
So sink or swim, I’m diving in (I’m diving in…)”

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂