Today I welcome author Tonya Pember as she shares her latest release.

     Last summer, I drove over two thousand miles in seventeen days. A trip I’ve taken several times before. As I planned my return, I mapped a different route, but circumstances sent me back to boring, flat land I35 to I70 across Kansas. It was the same scenery; the same gas station stops and the drive through Steak n Shake in Goodland. The obligatory stop at the last Braums before Colorado in Salina, Kansas, and decisions regarding backroads or Interstates. It was the usual road trip. I barely noticed my surroundings. 

      How many times do we take the same route to work every day, the same road to our summer cabin, the same itinerary to Grandma’s house, same street, same turns, same stoplights? Most of us travel the same route day after day. It’s familiar, it’s easy and the car practically drives itself. We don’t even notice if something is different on the side of the road, we don’t see the new billboard. We are driving in almost a catatonic state.

       Those of us who are long-time Christians with years of Bible stories under our belt, thousands of sermon notes in our journals, hundreds of Bible studies on our bookshelf and checkmarks in our calendar next to ‘read the Bible through in a year’ may have become passive in reading the Word of God. Those words that we’ve read so many times, have become too familiar. We’ve lost the wonder. 

      The Bible is literature, not just a book but a library of sixty-six unique books with a consistent theme. There is history, poetry, prophecy within the larger work. We don’t read poetry the same way we read history. We don’t read a love story like an apocalyptic essay. Would reading the Bible by genre enhance our understanding and love of its stories?

      A genre approach to reading the Bible is helpful to the new reader and adds insight to the experienced reader. The human authors of this inspired text become real as we read their words with understanding of their voice. Genre reading makes sense of confusing sections.  Reading and studying the Bible by genre enhances our ability to explain the Word. We need a different trek through the same ancient words. 

       Consider your writing, authors are always asked what genre they write in. Isn’t it time we acknowledged Moses as a history writer and Solomon as a romance writer?

       Wherever you are in your Bible reading journey, try a genre reading plan. You won’t get stuck in the wilderness right away, and you’ll find Jesus in every book. Take a look at Inside Story 52 Weeks in the Word, a genre reading plan with historical, cultural notes and discussion questions. Inside Story is undated so it can be started with your school year, your birthday, your fall Bible study group or TODAY! Ask for it at your favorite Indie bookstore or online. 

 About Tonya

     TonyaAnn is a city girl who always dreamed of living in a condo above the Branson (Missouri) landing in the heart of shopping, entertainment and tourist traps. It’s still her favorite vacation spot. Alas, she lives in Elizabeth, Colorado with 400 acres of land outside her window. The nearest Walmart is eighteen miles away.

     She has been a writer since she held her first no.2 pencil in her “ wrapped thumb, poor pencil grip” something she still does today. As a child, she and two cousins handwrote a family newsletter every Thanksgiving while the turkey was cooking. She has written curriculum guides and curriculum.  After thirty-two years in the public school classroom and raising two children as a single mom, she finally took time to become a ‘real’ writer. 

     Her first book Inside Story was published in August 2021. Chicken Soup for the Soul’s The Magic of Christmas published her story, Joy for Loss in 2022. In between she has written for Focus on the Family, CBN, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Power for Living, Lutheran Digest, Christian Standard Mediations and LIVE. 

     The mother of two and grandmother of six enjoys paper crafting when she’s not reading or writing. She ‘guest teaches’ in a local Christian school regularly. For the past twenty summers, she has been the activities director at a camp for children in foster care.  Connect with TonyaAnn @tonyaann.com or TonyaAnnWriter @ Facebook/Instagram