When it comes to how to read the Bible daily, you might not have a Bible problem. You might have an organization problem.

I have struggled to focus in my personal daily devotions for as long as I can remember. Sure, it might be entirely brain-injury related, but that’s really irrelevant because it sucked and it stood in the way of me and Jesus, so it needed to move.

I bought myself a big beautiful Bible years ago with grand ideas of sitting down and actually being able to focus on the wonderful thing. And of course, I would sit down to dive in… and my brain would lose its crap.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the number of words on the page, and the small text size was the issue. I don’t know how relatable it is to say that my brain bugged out when trying to figure out how to read the Bible daily, but that’s exactly what happened every time I cracked that Bible open.

I would fight extremely hard to focus on what I was reading, but all the other words on the page would jump out at me, and within five minutes I had a headache and was severely overwhelmed, not to mention I had gotten nothing out of what I had just read.

It’s phone Bible time, folks. The lengthy and slightly improved era of me discovering that I could just whip a Bible out of my pocket (purse, I am a woman, I don’t get pockets, ) and have the Word of God at my disposal 24/7. And, whoopee! Larger text, and fewer words on a ‘page’.

…but that didn’t solve my focus issues either, because phones are distracting to the zenith. Trying to have a talk with Jesus about His word, and getting pinged by a LOTR group chat does not go hand-in-hand, especially for someone whose brain moves at just under a million MPH.

But it was all that I could get to even halfway work for years, so I buckled in and accepted it, while still praying all the while for a better solution, and honestly, feeling downright ashamed for the entirety of my life.

Everyone around me who actually desired to spend quality quiet time in the Bible seemed to have discovered a beautiful system for themselves, and I was going throughout life in a frenzied state of force-feeding myself Scripture for years, and hoping against hope that my brain would actually retain it.

I knew I wanted Jesus, and I wanted His words desperately, but gosh dangit, my brain would not behave!

Not too long ago I helped my man move. In a drawer in his nightstand I found an old Bible of his that he’d lost. He told me to go ahead and keep it because he’d already gotten a replacement.

I did.

It’s about the size of both my hands, and it has been my key. Larger text. Smaller pages. I bought myself a bundle of Bible highlighters, and I have been going to town on that thing.

Finally, a way to dive into God’s word without brute force and headaches (literally).

I don’t know why God waited so long to present that very simple solution to me, but I do know that I can’t be the only one out there who just downright struggles to figure out how to read the Bible daily for one reason or another. So I want to encourage you to not give up, whatever your situation.

Buy the little Bible, buy the devotional accompaniment, buy the pens and the highlighters, turn on the music, find a different location, do whatever you have to to keep trying to dig into His word.

It really doesn’t matter how impossible it seems, because Jesus is more than capable of making a way. Ask, and keep on asking, seek, and keep on seeking, knock, and keep on knocking.

Also, special thanks to my parents for drilling so much Scripture into me as a kid, almost like God knew my brain would have a very long stint where nothing stuck.