Deeper Waters by Denise J. Hughes
Denise has created an excellent work! She has taken the time to be transparent, and has lots of personal testimony to bring to the table. The instruction on going deeper is priceless, and something I will treasure and utilize for a long time to come.
At times, though, I felt the testimony overpowered the instruction. She does have many episodes of testimony and tended at times to bounce from one experience to another like a rapid fire machine gun. A few times I was left going, "what on earth was the direction or point".
As a personal journey, I can relate to her path, as mine is just as chaotic.
All in all, an excellent resource! And the things I intend to remember are listed below.
Page 41
"Jesus's mother, Mary; His disciple, John; and all the Pharisees and other Hebrews standing near the cross knew their Scriptures. When they heard Jesus quote Psalm 22:1, (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) they would have recognized the etire theme of that psalm. It's as if Jesus was telling everyone, "You know how Psalm 22 ends. That's how this is going to end too.""
"People not yet born will be told: 'The LORD saved his people'" (Psalm 22:31 GNT).
The Telescope Approach (P.65-66)
1. To read from Genesis to Revelation.
2. Read the Bible in chronological order.
"The Telescope Approach gives us the breadth we need and the Microscope Approach gives us the depth we need." (P. 78) "For greater depth, there are four basic kinds of Bible studies: character studies, topical studies, word studies, and book studies."
1. Slow our pace. We've trained our eyes to skim quickly over text, to look for key points and pictures. When we write by hand, we're forcing our eyes to slow down.
2. Dive deeper into the text. By slowing our pace we're able to dive deeper into the text supporting those key points, which is usually made up of examples or statistics or quotes, providing more ideas to associate with the key points, which in turn help us remember the key points better.
3. Focus better with fewer distractions. Our eyes know how to go through the motion of reading without comprehending. But when we're writing the text, we notice when our hands have stopped moving across the page.
4. Connect a mental activity with a physical one. The learning areas of our brains light up when we tie a mental exercise to a physical one. Like the kind of kinetic movement that happens when our fine-motor skills, such as writing with a pen, coincides with the mental process of reading.
5. Process information in more manageable portions. Reading is processing. All those strung-together words create intended meaning, and when we write the words, we're able to process their meaning in smaller, more manageable portions.
6. Become better observers. Not every key word gets its own featured text box in the margin. So the ability to notice the key words within the actual text deepens our understanindg. Writing leads to noticing.
7. Stitch the parts together. Many Bibles include subtitles over the passages, which have been added to the original biblical text and create artificial breaks. Writing the Word stitches together the original flow by leaving out the inserted subtitles.
8. Internalize the text. We can read the text with our eyes and hear it with our ears, but when we write the text with our hands we're adding another dimension of learning through repetition. Such repetition is crucial for internalizing a text.
9. Memorize the text. When we write a passage and then speak it out loud, over and over, we create neural pathways in our brains that reinforce what we're memorizing.
10. Quiet our hearts and minds. Something about the discipline of putting pen to paper quiets the soul the way David's harp soothed Saul. Writing the Word is a deliberate act to refuse the tyranny of hurry. It's a way of saying the words of Scripture are worth savoring - each and every one.
On page 119 - 120, Denise talks about being in an anti-abortion rally. The group she was in was parked on a corner at a busy intersection. One car pulled up to the red light, and the occupant stared forward blankly, no expression, trying to avoid looking at the "mob".
"A deep conviction overwhelms me.... WWJD...We don't have to speculate. The Gospel of John tells us.
Jesus said, "neither do I. (Condemn you). Go and sin no more (john 8:11 NLT)
His first words are full of grace. Neither do I condemn you.
His next words are full of truth. From now on sin no more.
What would Jesus do if He were standing on this curb with me? I can't imagine Him casting red-lettered stones at random. He'd point out that we're all sinners in desperate need of grace. That's the message I want to share. I don't want to pick on one particular sin and herald it as somehow worse than my own. We're all sinners. And I want to reach the woman in pain - the one who's caught in what feels like an impossible situation - as much as I want to protect the life she carries inside her. But calling her a murderer? That won't reach her. Why would she ever want to step foot inside a church full of people who choose to spend an afternoon calling people names because of their sin?
...I shake my head and silently pray: Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do. I turn around and walk to my car."
On page 119 - 120, Denise talks about being in an anti-abortion rally. The group she was in was parked on a corner at a busy intersection. One car pulled up to the red light, and the occupant stared forward blankly, no expression, trying to avoid looking at the "mob".
"A deep conviction overwhelms me.... WWJD...We don't have to speculate. The Gospel of John tells us.
Jesus said, "neither do I. (Condemn you). Go and sin no more (john 8:11 NLT)
His first words are full of grace. Neither do I condemn you.
His next words are full of truth. From now on sin no more.
What would Jesus do if He were standing on this curb with me? I can't imagine Him casting red-lettered stones at random. He'd point out that we're all sinners in desperate need of grace. That's the message I want to share. I don't want to pick on one particular sin and herald it as somehow worse than my own. We're all sinners. And I want to reach the woman in pain - the one who's caught in what feels like an impossible situation - as much as I want to protect the life she carries inside her. But calling her a murderer? That won't reach her. Why would she ever want to step foot inside a church full of people who choose to spend an afternoon calling people names because of their sin?
...I shake my head and silently pray: Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do. I turn around and walk to my car."
"I didn't want to admit it, but I was hiding again, choosing to be invisible in my own community."
"The leafy, visible portion of the tree is our online life and the root system is our local life."
P. 176-177
"That's how ministry begins. With one person. Then a few. Then a few more.
Ministry in deeper waters might not make sense at first. It might even seem foolish to the outside world. It will definitely require trust and total reliance on God." (p. 192)
