What Do I Know About My God? by Mardi Collier

I had a whirlwind of stressors for a full year.
It left me drained, worn, and out of sorts.
I gave up one of my favorite tasks: curating books for a cool company.

I don't know what recently prompted my friend to send me a copy of
"What Do I Know About my God?"
but it has been a tremendous blessing!

There are a few books I've gone back to over the years when I'm feeling drained.
One of those books is "Running on Empty" by Jill Briscoe.

The lessons in "Running on Empty" remind me to turn my focus back to God.

It's an ancient, falling-apart copy, but, I can't part with it.

  

Back to "What Do I Know About My God?"

It arrived right around the death of my mother. I think my friend knew I need some encouragement.

We were a month into shelter-in-place and I was teaching my students online so I was able to spend more time than usual in Bible reading, studying passages and books, praying, and writing out the Psalms.
The balm to my heart from uninterrupted time in Scripture was healing.

How can I not praise God when I read in Job, "shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10) and "the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)?

Reminders such as this brought to mind my 6th great-grandfather.

William Russell, my 6th great-grandfather on my mother's side, wrote in 1792
"I have reason to bless God that His incessant mercies are still towards me and mine, and that the power of His love hath been largely diffused among my poor undeserving family."

This was just a few months before William Russell died. 

He wrote of how four years earlier he had been "a proud opposer of godliness" until he began to read the Bible with his wife, Elizabeth Henry Russell.
Elizabeth accepted Christ because William read to her. 

One day, three ministers visited them and heard William praying, 

"Oh, Lord, thou didst bless my dear wife while I was reading to her,
hast thou not also a blessing for me?"   

That day, in 1788, William, the "proud opposer of godliness" accepted Christ as his Savior. 

He spent the rest of his life serving God and sharing Christ with his family. 

In 1792, he wrote to one of those ministers that the last of his children, a step-daughter, had found "peace in the Lord."

Wow! Over 200 years ago, one of my ancestors, who repented, pled with his family to accept Christ & he blessed God for God's mercies and love. 

Here we are, over 200 years later, and I'm blessing God for His incessant mercies & powerful love.

I can hardly wish my mother not in Heaven when it is God's incessant mercy and powerful love that redeemed her,
healed her, and
gathered her to Him.

So, I got a Facebook message saying, "I going to send you a book."

And such a little gem this book turned out to be. I love that she sent me a book she hadn't finished reading because it was such a blessing to her.

Review: 
Mardi Collier has put together a thoughtful book about what she is learning about God and how she keeps a notebook to study out what she is learning about God. Along the way, she shares stories of how learning about God is changing her heart and her mind.

In Part One, Mardi shares why we need to know God and how she studies the Bible to learn about God. If you find yourself adrift or unfulfilled by your own lack of Bible study, you may find direction as Mardi Collier shares how she uses a notebook to record how she studies Scripture to learn about who God is and what He does.

The short, easily digestible chapters are full of Scripture, application, and Mrs. Collier's own experiences as she grows through her study.

One of the segments that helped me greatly during this stressful season was the chapter titled "My God is in Control."
This phrase has stayed with me, "He is in control. If we truly believe that and trust Him, we will have peace, calmness, and joy in the midst of whatever God sends."

Psalm 135:5,6
For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.


While "What Do I Know about my God?" is a light, quick read with ideas to help you get started studying what we can know about God, don't expect it to be academic.