The woman behind a popular yearly Bible reading podcast that recently reached the No. 1 spot on Apple Podcasts said she never dreamed it would reach millions of listeners since its launch in 2019.
"I just couldn't believe it. I was so grateful. Never would have imagined it. Because my prayer five years ago was that 300 people would listen," Tara-Leigh Cobble, host of "The Bible Recap," told Fox News Digital.
"Never did I imagine the No. 1 spot in Christian podcasts, much less all podcasts. It's one of those things, when we talk about God, who does exceedingly more than all we can ask or think or imagine, that verse comes to mind," she added.
Cobble launched The Bible Recap in 2019 with "a very small dream" to reach just 300 listeners. The next morning, she was floored to open her email and see 300 messages from people in the U.S. and around the world.
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"I was blown away. I had no idea. I was so encouraged by the fact that so many people wanted to read the Bible," she explained.
Since then, her podcast has grown from a one-woman show in her apartment to a full team of people. Cobble has written books and study guides to accompany the show in the past four years and the podcast has earned over 331 million downloads.
"It has grown organically… We don't buy advertising, we don't buy billboards. It's just word of mouth, and we're thrilled about that," she said.
Cobble shared how she was inspired to start The Bible Recap because of her own struggles reading Scripture.
"I started this project because I had spent much of my life trying and failing at reading through the Bible. And the one time that I finally succeeded, it was because a pastor friend who had read through the Bible several times offered to answer my questions along the way," she said.
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As she fell more in love with reading the Bible each year, she wanted to help others have the same experience.
"That was my goal. I didn't just want people to read it, I wanted them to understand it. I wanted them to love it," she said.
In typically less than ten minutes a day, Cobble guides listeners in the podcast through the daily reading in a conversational way. Despite this being her 16th time reading the whole Bible, she said she's still learning new things every year.
Along the way, she's learned what to do and what not to do when reading the Bible.
Her No. 1 tip to anyone reading the Bible is to make God the focus.
"Don't look for yourself. Don't look for your to-do list. Don't look for your application points. Look for God, the character of God, what He loves, what He hates, what motivates him to do what He does, look for God," she suggests.
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Cobble also encourages people to read through the plan with family, friends or groups at their church to help with understanding and accountability. Her third tip is to not be discouraged by difficult passages.
"Embrace uncertainty. There are going to be questions that you ask in Leviticus that aren't answered until Hebrews," Cobble said. "You can't give up when you don't have answers. You can't give up when you have frustrations about things. This is a relationship. God is not necessarily here to answer all our questions. He's here to reveal who He is. So hold on to your questions and understand that some of them might never get answered on this side of eternity, and some of them might get partially answered this month."
Ultimately, she wants readers to understand that reading the Bible is not about checking off a checklist, but about seeking a deeper relationship with God.
"You're going to do this imperfectly, and that's OK. There are going to be days that you forget to do it, days when you don't want to do it, weeks when you fall behind. And that's OK. Pick up and start again tomorrow. It's important that you don't let your perfectionism get in the way of this relationship. When you do it imperfectly, pick up again. Because every day that you are in God's Word, you're right on time. Even if you're 10 days behind schedule, you're right on time," she said.
