Hello! It seems to me, if I remember right, that you started going through the book of Acts quite a while ago. And now you're nearing the finish! That's really great, and Acts is such an interesting book. I admire your consistency.
I can´t even remember when I started Acts, let alone recite to you the first chapters from memory! But now I´m hooked - I want to know how things go with Paul, and although I know the general outline from before, it´s different reading it line by line. When I first started with learn scripture, my goal / motivation was to be able to find things in the Bible more easily, as well as to be able to explain more accurately what the Bible says. But as I study, I find that I´m now less concerned with being able to pinpoint the source of well-known verses and memorise things. I have become more interested in using memorisation as a sort of meditation. "Slow TV" is a thing in Norway - TV programs where you can watch an 8-hour train trip or a cruise along the fjords minute by minute, or watch chess for hours on end. But "slow-reading", where you force yourself to just read a verse or two at a time, no more than you can memorise for the next day, for me makes things more colorful and interesting. I can picture things more vividly, I can experience the suspense of Paul not knowing what the next day would bring, I catch details that would otherwise have passed me by. So yes, Acts has been a long journey, but I can´t put it down. And to my delight, my husband has a business trip to Malta in April. I will join him for a long weekend, and if I step up my pace (or cheat and read ahead :-)), I´ll be joining Paul for his shipwreck there in Acts 27-28. Can´t wait!
Thank you Robinshe, that's a great testimony. We would all be well-advised to take our Bible reading slowly and to allow God's Word to speak to us deeply.