Hello God. It's me, Mara

You know, Lord, many folks enjoy solving puzzles. Some individuals prefer simple ones to solve while others really enjoy a tough brainteaser. Some workplaces have a waiting room; it was interesting to glance around, observing for a moment, several folks reading papers, or some took a “Free Weekender” handout issue that included puzzles. Some with pen in hand, started to work. It was fun to glance up and notice.

Later, a friend shared an interesting book puzzle. Now that one was a challenge, but we tried. Thankfully she had underlined several of the names of the books. Also, we didn’t have to contact our minister to find all16 books listed, but believe me, it took more than the “few fascinating moments” to find all 16. Here’s the puzzle. Source and author are unknown. Thank You, Lord, for someone’s ingenuity!  

“I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible. It was a lulu; kept people looking so hard for facts … and for others it was a revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names of the books were not capitalized. But the truth finally struck home to numbers of our readers. To others it was a real job. We want it to be a most fascinating few moments for you. Yes, there will be some really easy ones to spot. Others may require judges to help them. I will quickly admit it usually takes a minister to find one of them, and there will be loud lamentations when it is found. A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can concentrate better. See how well you can compete. Relax now, for there really are sixteen names of books of the Bible in this paragraph.”  

Or we might pray like David did in Psalm 86:1: “Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help.”

Love, Mara

For a bit of help here are 13 of the 16 Bible names you’ll be looking for: Mark, Luke, Acts, Revelations, James, Ruth, Numbers, Job, Judges, Titus, Lamentations, Hebrews, Peter.