Reading Through the Bible in a Year

Betty Boes and Her Life-Changing Experience of Reading Through the Bible Thirty Times!

Few Christians have ever read the Bible through in a year. Almost none have read it through several  times. However, a Lakeside Baptist member has read the Bible through thirty times!

As a longtime reader of the Our Daily Bread devotional booklet, Betty Boes had noticed it included a schedule for reading the Bible in a year. Several decades ago, she decided to give it a try and it has become a daily practice that has changed her life.

According to Betty, her Bible reading takes about an hour a day. “Because I’m not working, I find it easy to read first thing in the morning. Usually about seven o’clock. It’s not really hard to stick with it day by day, you just have to make up your mind that is what you’re going to do and so that is usually the first part of each morning for me.”

Betty uses the reading schedule from Our Daily Bread. Each day typically includes “ two or three chapters in the Old Testament and one chapter in the New Testament. And when the chapter in the New Testament is longer, it is generally divided into two days. But I’ll read it all at once and then skip that part of the reading on the next day.” After trying a strictly chronological reading schedule one year, she decided she preferred the approach in Our Daily Bread.

Her annual readings have utilized multiple versions of the Bible. After starting with the King James Version, she has read from the New King James Version, the Living Bible, the NIV, and then the ESV. She has used some translations, such as the NIV and ESV, multiple years. For 2020, Betty decided to read a Bible paraphrase. “This year I’m reading through The Message, which is really much longer version, but I find it very interesting so I’m glad I’m reading that.”

Betty has seen multiple benefits from her reading. “For one thing, when you read like that all the time, you are reminded of the things God wants you to do or how you should conduct your life. And also, it reminds me of what God wants me to do in addition to what he’s done for me.”

The Our Daily Bread devotionals are available in booklet form at the Lakeside welcome desk or online at https://odb.org/.