Do you ever have something you want to say, but you don’t know how to say it?  Well, that’s me today.  I know what I want to say but I don’t want it to sound wrong.  So here goes.

I love teaching and speaking about Jesus and I do not take this lightly.  Recently I was struck by the magnitude of what this means.  Certainly, this isn’t a NEW revelation – but these last few weeks I’ve spent some serious time considering just what it means when I stand up to speak or to teach. 

When I open my mouth to speak, I’m implying that the Lord has given me a message to share and I not only need that message to be clear, but I need to understand the One who gave me the message.

What if I stood before you to “teach” you about …. let’s use a book…. hmm, what about Gone With the Wind.   But there’s just one catch – I’ve only read a handful of chapters.  I’ve never read the entire book (or seen the movie).  I have a grasp of what it’s about from what I’ve learned from others, but I’ve NEVER set my mind to reading the entire book, yet I’m going to stand up and teach on it.

And here’s the thing, when I stand before the group  I’m not teaching / speaking from just ANY book, this is the Bible.  The Holy Word of God.  His revelation for us, for me.  

The magnitude of this hit me square between the eyes just recently when I stumbled (and I call this a Holy stumble because I know it was God led) across Chronological Bible Discipleship.  And this quote from noted author Larry Crabb took me to my knees —

“In 2006, after knowing Jesus for a half a century, after years of active involvement in church, I realized I knew bits and pieces of Bible truth, lots of principles and lots of doctrine, but I didn’t really know the story it told.” Crabb explained the danger of not knowing God’s story,  “Without story truth, I’ll flirt with atheism, struggle with unbelief, pray without passion (except maybe anger), remain devoted to my story, and continue in hopeless addiction to myself.”

When I read this quote I just about fell over. Is this me?  What? I felt as if a mirror was held before me – and I realized this is me.  

I want to be devoted to God’s story. His Word. His Word.  But without really knowing God’s whole story, I’m more devoted to my story. 

I love my Bible studies, book studies, and video series – but I need more.  I need to get knee deep in the Word – just me and God.  I have a responsibility to myself as a believer.   I’m not going to go into great depth on CBD, but the simplified version is this –   Chronological Bible Discipleship arranges God’s Big Story into fourteen eras and there is a myriad of resources. For me, I’m using this as a jumping off place to go through God’s story  (via His Holy Word) chronologically.

I see this as a foundational piece that I’ve sadly neglected.  I’ve spent years studying His Word.  I’ve studied topics and entire books.  I’ve spent hours upon hours in scripture and I love doing it, but I’ve never looked at the entirety of the scriptures as just one book with one main theme.  That’s what I’m doing these days.  I’m spending time going through the stories of the Word from beginning to end – from Adam and Eve to the Revelation story. 

I want to know God more and I want to know more about His ways and more of His Holy story. I want to seek Him with a passion that cannot be quenched this side of Heaven. 

Do you want to know Him more?  This isn’t something that is set aside for speakers, Sunday school teachers or pastors.  Every single one of us can have more of Him, if we only ask. 

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

I’m asking, seeking and banging on the door!

Will you join me in wanting to know Him more? 

I spent a weekend on a mountain in North Carolina at the gIRL gathering @ Black Mountain.  It was a beautiful mountain.  An incredible place that settled my spirit and allowed me a chance to just breathe in God.

Just a week later and I’m  deep in life again, but the mountain stays with me.

gIRL (girlfriends In Real Life) began as a way to bring online friends together for fun, fellowship and time in the Bible.  God’s plan is always so much bigger than ours.

I wish I could explain what happened on the mountain, but I don’t have the words (shocking, I know).  God did amazing work in the hearts of His gIRLs.  Friendships were formed, sisterhood was strengthened, hearts were opened to His truths and lives were changed.

God moved mightily and when Sunday came, I didn’t want to leave.  Sure, I missed my family, but I didn’t want to leave the peace I’d found on the mountain.  I wanted to stay and soak in more of Him.  I wanted to spend hours digging into the Word of God with my gIRLs,   I wanted to worship the Lord in that amphitheater under the canopy of trees.  I wanted to dodge crashing acorns while singing to Him.

But we had to leave.  We packed up and headed down the mountain and back to life.  But we headed back a bit stronger.  I walked back into life with more knowledge of what it means to be an authentic person.

A week later, I found myself in the same mountains with a completely different group of women.  This group was so much larger, but no more precious than the group of gIRLs from Black Mountain. I watched authentic women and I watched unauthentic women struggle to fit in, be accepted and be a part of the group. I wished all 7000 of them could have a time like we did on Black Mountain.

I was BLESSED to see two of my mountain gIRLs — Heather and Ellen!  And I was such a JOY to hug their sweet necks!

As I drove through the mountains Sunday, I realized that coming down a mountain requires lots of winding and curving left and then right.  You don’t go straight down – you climb up and then down.  And there are signs along the way to keep you on the path.

I need signs like this as I come down the mountain we found with gIRL.   I want to make sure I keep my feet to the course the Lord has called me to – I don’t want to spend time spinning my wheels in the grass.

It’s so easy to miss a curve and get off track as you head down the mountain.  It’s easy to zig when you really should zag. And it’s real easy to do when you don’t have any signs.

I’m holding on to my signs –

today my sign:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
(2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV)

I’m focusing on the treasure of God in my life – that He is the treasure and I’m the cracked, chipped clay jar.

What about you?  What signs are keeping you on the road?

Oh my… life does scat right along, doesn’t it?  Okay, did I just sound like an OLD WOMAN?  Yes, I did, just call me MeeMaw.

Anyway, on to the point if I can find one  …..  last summer I was in a Bible study with several of my local girls.  I loved it!  Something so laid back and casual about summer Bible study.  This summer our wonderful hostess and leader, Caprice, decided to do another Bible study.  (I think the nine long months of the school year made her long to have chatty, off-topic encouraging, bunch of women … oh wait, that’s just me).

This year we are doing a study I did eight years ago with some dear girlfriends.    I love looking back at that old Bible study workbook and reading the words of a younger version of me.  Some things are exactly the same — apparently I’ve got some issues I’m still struggling with.  Other things have changed so much.

The first time I did this study my girls were 9 and 15 and now they are 17 and 23 — my word!

The first time I did this study I was struggling to figure out who I am in Christ, today I know who I am in Christ.  I may not always act like it, but I do know it.

Just the other night, I sat around a table with the same girls I did that Bible study with eight years ago.  We’ve all changed a little.  No longer do we talk about grade school teachers and summer day camps.  Most of our children are grown and we have a few grand-babies in the mix.  We don’t have the innocence we once had, as we’ve walked some hard roads together.  We don’t see each other as much as we once did, because we’ve scattered like a dandelion blown for good luck.

This is the first time that all six of us have been together in a long time.  We get together several times a year, but it’s rare that we all make it.  All six of us together is such a treat and a joy.

Even with the hard roads, some sad deception that entered our midst, and rare get togethers,  when we’re together we  always manage to laugh until our sides ache.

The younger me remembers the days when these friendships were nothing but goodness and fun.  Today these friendships are precious and true.  We’ve been through some stuff together — some good and some bad, but we’re still standing.

In this whoosh of time from eight years ago until today, I realize that the bonds of these friendships were strained but they held.  Today I realize the enemy saw a group of Godly women who love Jesus and each other and he set his sights on us.  This older, smarter me knows that it is only in Christ that we are still able to sit around that table and laugh.    In Christ, we will continue to stand and our friendships will stand on the foundation of Christ.  — and the knowledge that no one else would get the onion rings joke!

I love leading Bible study and I’m blessed to have so many different types of studies to choose from.  But this blessing leads to confusion. Which one should we do?  This one on grace or that one about God’s character?

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a place to read reviews of different Bible studies — reviews written by women who’ve used the materials?  

Well, that’s just what I want to put under the little Girlfriend Bible Study button on the left.

To make this work, I need your help.  Whether you’re a leader or a participant, I want to hear from you.  If you can’t answer all the questions, don’ t worry.  The most important thing is to hear how God spoke to you through this study.

Here’s how it will work:

You submit the Bible study title  and I’ll email you a few short simple questions about the Bible study. Pretty simple, huh?

So let’s get those comments rolling. Ohh, and pass the word to your friends!

God Delights in Me? 

I love Bible study and I just adore digging into God’s Word.  Sometimes God uses His Word to teach me, challenge me and even chastise me.  

I’m studying the names of God and what an amazing adventure this study is becoming.  I’m looking at WHO God is and Wow!  What a mind-boggling, rock your socks ride this is.   I tend to look at God’s Word and think “now how do I apply this to my life” and that’s not a bad thing, in fact if I could probably apply a good bit more to my life. 

But as I study the names of God I don’t think about how it applies to my life, I stand slack-jawed at the majesty that is the King of Kings.   Yesterday I was studying and God brought me to Zephaniah 3:17 – now before I say anymore, let me just be honest.  I had to think “is Zephaniah a book of the Bible?”  Guess what, it is and it’s a pretty amazing little book in the OT.  It’s way in the back with Habakkuk, Nahum and those little, lesser known books.  Take it from me, God has put some power stuff in those books.  Check them out.

“The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zeph 3:17 (NASB)

This verse is just so filled with wonderful God stuff.  In the beginning is God is in your midst.  Seriously, how wonderful is this?  God is in your midst?!  Who doesn’t love that?  Well, maybe if you’re up to something you shouldn’t be up to, but otherwise “God is in your midst” is a wonderful and wonder-inspiring truth.  God is in our midst today.  Just take a minute and breathe that in. 

He’s a mighty warrior – amen!  God is not only a loving, grace giving, merciful God.  He is also a mighty warrior!  He is my warrior.

He exults over you with joy – and revels in me?!  Yes, in me and in you! 

He quiets us with His love – love in this verse is the Hebrew word ‘ahab’ which means to  delight in.  How amazing is this? The Lord God delights in me!  And in you, too! 

And the last part of this verse just takes my breath away – ‘He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.’ The NIV reads “..rejoice over you with singing”  shouts of joy, singing, it’s all amazing stuff. 

Can you believe that God , the creator of the universe.  The One who is the great I AM loves you so much that He rejoices over you with shouts of joy! 

I’m telling you, I’m loving God’s Word! 

 I just have to blog on this a bit.  I’m so excited about this new Bible study and I think it’s not the study that has me all thrilled, but just being back in God’s Word on a more regular basis.  I’m just bad to slip and slide when I’m out of a study. 

 I’m leading Mary Kassian’s  Knowing God by Name: A Personal Encounter and it Rocks! 

 It’s a seven week study that covers five names of God each week.  We start with the names of Deity – Yahweh, Adonai, and on. 

 When I was finally able to write, I grabbed my pencil (the cute pink one), my hi-lighter, some post-its and about four different versions of  the Bible and got to work. 

 I loved it from the first verse:

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said,  “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:13-14. 

 That’s so powerful. He is I AM!  Nothing else needed.  I AM WHO I AM.  Don’t need any explanations because he is all and more.  Don’t need anything beyond I AM.  It’s so beautiful and powerful it just takes my breath away.  I AM. 

And what is amazing is that we serve I AM. That is who we, as followers of Jesus Christ, serve. 

 And that is just the first verse.  There is so much just in the first pages and while the author is talented and well-versed in knowledge, it’s just so apparent that God has His hands all over this study and it’s just cram-packed full of God’s Words – and there is the power to move people and change lives. 

 After that first verse, I just went to town reading, scribbling notes in the book, highlighting like a mad woman, tagging and flagging sections and I loved every moment of it. 

 I just stepped into God’s Holy Word and had me a big ol’ party!  I went to this verse and it just resonated in my spirit and I’m still reading it and loving it.

 ”For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Isaiah 57:15 ESV  (emphasis is mine)

 He inhabits eternity.  Now, just let that soak in for a minute.  He inhabits eternity.  Now hold that thought and let me share another verse with you.

 ”Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, 

Even from the everlasting to the everlasting, You are God.” Ps 90:2 (again, emphasis is mine).

Now doesn’t that just rock your socks!  Our dwelling place!  And Everlasting to Everlasting.  I just love that.   But hold on, I have one more for you.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.  Rev. 1:8

 He is!  He is the Holy, Mighty, Majestic, Magnificent, Powerful, Incredible GOD.  He is I AM.  He is all that I can write and so much more than I can even begin to imagine,  He is all that I can think and so much more than I can even dream.  He is all that I can speak and so much more than I can even begin to understand. 

He is I AM. 

 I’m just awestruck that this amazing Lord God allows me, as completely messed up and faulty as I am, to lead this study of who He is.  I’m humbled and amazed.  I ask for your prayers and I encourage you to just jump on in His word and soak it up.  Have a blast and enjoy just who He is.  He loves us and He loves us so much that He has made a way for us to know (within our limited abilities) Him.  Through the power of His Holy Spirit we can catch a glimpse of the great I AM. 

 Loving this day!

 Have a great Today!