@coachjj, I simply had to respond to your post. I cannot agree more with what you say. I also do the journal thing in the mornings, quietly spending time with God, letting the Holy Spirit open the Scriptures to me. I have done Bible study and I have been writing in my journal for a very long time now, but something has changed within the last year. I received the Holy Spirit, and never has His Word been clearer to me than it is now. It is almost as if I am reading a different Bible!