A prayer of praise for worn out Bibles by Meg Bucker, read by Leah Martin.

For the Word of God is alive and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword,

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, It

judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 412.

The fresh pages of my NIV Bible stuck together as I looked up verse after verse at the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting I was attending. The rush to keep up with

flipping pages and finding verses intimidated me.

I was familiar with the Bible from Catholic school but I never imagined

highlighting or writing in it.

Surrounding me were students with

worn-in Bibles and I longed to have what they had.

Little did I know the journey I was praying for was already underway.

Twenty years later, my NIV is worn and very often hugged close to my heart.

It's highlighted and written in, marked and bent, wrinkled, cried on, laughed with, and loved.

It's covered to protect the binding from splitting apart. It's my life in that book. I now have what I admired and my friends all those

years ago. I live in this book, with this book, and by this book, like our

verse in Hebrew says. God's word to me is alive and active. I have witnessed life and it has forever changed mine. The other half of

Hebrew's 412 says, sharper than any double-edged sword, It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and

marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Sharper. God's word is a weapon and we need it. There's a very real enemy after us who

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