This email tells you about how I got into my Untwisting Scriptures work. At the end, I'm inviting you to my free masterclass for those who want to craft their own Christian nonfiction book. The next 2 emails will also invite you to that at the end. If you'd rather not receive those emails, just reply "No" to this one.

Hi ~

In 2014, I began presenting my teachings about what I believed “bitterness” meant in the Scriptures. Readers and viewers responded with words like, “This blew my mind.” I remember a grateful response in all caps with multiple exclamation points.

These are the teachings that ultimately ended up in my first Untwisting Scriptures book.

But what I taught about bitterness was completely different from anything I had heard from any teachers my entire life.

So that leads to the question in the Subject Line. Who did I think I was to present something so different from what was being taught by well-known and respected men of God?

Who did I think I was?

I remember when I was 18, standing holding my Bible in my hands. I said, “We believe this is a message from God to us. If this is a message from God, I need to understand what it says.”

It didn’t cross my mind to wonder if other Christians were thinking the same way. I just knew I was responsible for myself.

(This makes it sound like I was really mature. I wasn’t—I was incredibly immature, actually. I just somehow experienced some grace from God in this way.)

I specifically requested a wide-margin Bible for Christmas so I could write my notes in the margins. I dated those notes, hoping that as I grew I’d be able to chronicle my spiritual growth.

And yes, that has been the case.

As the years passed after college, and I continued to study . . .

. . . I wasn’t studying the Bible in order to complete a class in school; I wasn’t taking any classes.

I wasn’t studying to teach it; I wasn’t teaching anybody.

Maybe you’ve found this to be true in your own life: studying that’s done simply between yourself and the Lord can be much richer than study done because you have to meet a deadline with someone else's criteria.

In those early days I filtered much of my Scripture reading through some old commentators. Not the new ones—I spurned new books. (I hope you don’t spurn new books, since my books are new!)

But there came a time when I thought, I can hear from the Holy Spirit too. I can learn to cross reference too.This Scripture reminds me of that one, etc. I have access to lexicons; I can find out what words mean. I know how to study context. I can study the culture of the time.

At first my goal was just to know what I was supposed to DO. (I was a good independent Baptist, after all.)

As the years passed, my desires shifted. I studied because I wanted to know God.

More years passed. Primarily through Scripture study, I really understood the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian.

I’ve mentioned before how steep my learning curve was in 2006 and 2012 when I was introduced to various aspects of abuse and trauma. I needed to learn how the brain works, how abusers manipulate, what trauma does to the body, and more. I had so much to learn.

But by that time I really did know the Scriptures—by that time I’d been studying them for almost 40 years. Asking the Lord to permeate me with them, for them to become part of myself.

For me to really know Him.

And because I knew the Scriptures and I knew the heart of God—partly through my studies, partly through my experiences with Him—I had no qualms taking on a teaching that I saw was twisted.

I had no problem saying, “I’m going to do a word and subject study through the entire Bible on the topic of bitterness and learn what God really says.”

After all, I’d been doing that kind of thing for years, just for my own understanding and growth.

But I didn’t really do it all alone. I’ll talk more about that in the next email.

Have you also gained understanding and have a longing to help others know the heart of God through writing a book?

I'm excited to invite you to my free masterclass on the topic on November 12th, "That Book God Called You to Write: Get it from Your Bucket List to Your Reader's Night Stand."

In it you'll learn some very practical tips that you can apply right now to help you move forward with your Christian nonfiction book.

You can find out more about it here.

With you in longing to truly know the heart of God,

Rebecca

Untwisting Scriptures at heresthejoy.com

See my Untwisting Scriptures series

Trauma-informed group book coaching at Book Crafters Academy

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