I'll be honest, this is a hard one for me. Maybe it's because here it is Monday night and I just finished up days 5 and 6 from last week. I feel somewhat disconnected.
As I was sitting in my rose garden around 7:00 tonight reading chapter 15 I was reminded of how God shows Himself to me in such small ways. In this chapter Lysa talks about God showing Himself to us throughout our day and how, if we could just see this, it would radically change the way we think, the way we process life, and the degree to which we trust God. It would make us more than good Bible study girls! It is possible to see God every single day. In August of 2005 Michael and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Key West! It was great. While we were there we passed a church with this on its sign: "People see God every day, they just don't recognize Him." I took a picture of that sign and have it posted next to my computer in my home office. How true this statement is, but it doesn't have to be! We CAN recognize Him if we just seek Him, search Him out, activate our thoughts about Him moving beyond wishful thinking for a deeper walk with God. Matthew 5:8 tells us that we do not have to be perfect or perfectly ready in order to see God. We just have to get to a place where our hearts purely desire to see Him, and then we will. Lysa goes on to say that seeing God is not for us to be "wowed" but to change and grow us, and to strengthen and remind us of His love for us. So the next time you walk out your door and before you get in your car, look around for God, He's looking around for you!
Believing God ~ Melinda
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Week 4 In My Struggles - Praise The Lord
Well, there are only 2 more weeks left in the Bible study. It sure seems to be going fast.
This week? Praise and thanksgiving.....praise and thanksgiving.....praise and thanksgiving!!!! That about sums it up for me. I learned that we are not to praise our circumstances or the situations we are in but we are to praise GOD despite our circumstances. When we take our focus off our circumstances and put it on praising and thanking God then our attitude changes. I love the way Lysa puts it:
"Thankfulness breeds thankfulness. The more we practice it, the more we'll live thanksgiving out loud. And the more we live it out loud, the more thanksgiving will become the natural groove of our heart." Living thanksgiving OUT LOUD. I had never thought about it that way.
So, the next time my "uglies" come out, I'm going to practice praise and thanksgiving! Where there is praise God's presence can be felt, and we know what His presence brings with it: Galatians 5:22-23, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Let's practice God's presence this week like never before....praise and thanksgiving.....praise and thanksgiving....praise and thanksgiving!
Believing God ~ Melinda
Monday, May 31, 2010
Week 3 ~~~~~In My Relationships
The first thing I want to cover about last weeks' study is the statement Lysa made "We are chosen people; chosen, as in handpicked by God." Love this thought! Put your name in the place of "we" and just see how comforting it sounds. I'll wait while you do it...........Melinda is chosen, as in handpicked by God. I don't know about you but that really speaks to me! First it assures me that God will never leave me, I mean really he chose me so why would he leave me? Next, it tells me that the life I have was handpicked for me by God Almighty Himself! How cool is that? Sometimes I feel like I got short-changed in the spiritual gift area. Why couldn't my gifts have been something like compassion or hospitality.....who wants to be a Martha when you could be a Mary!!!!! But this statement reminds me that God gave me the gift of administration, even if it doesn't sound glamorous. It's just that us Martha's get a bad rep while the Mary's seem to get all the praise. Now I sound selfish, but I'm just sharing my heart. Let me get back to the fact that I am handpicked by God and I am thankful for that. I am thankful also that God provides others in my life with the gifts that I do not have to make sure the task at hand gets done! Hence, "I am not equipped to handle what they have-----both good and bad."
The other thing that really spoke to me was on day 4 where we were to read Psalm 139. Hold on...I've just got to stop and read it again! Ah, yes! If you did not get this far in the study last week, please, please, please stop right now and read Psalm 139, I'll wait for ya! Question 6 on that day asked me to right down the part that spoke most personally to me. I listed verses 3 and 5. Verse 3 tells me that God is familiar with all my ways and verse 5 tells me that God will hem me in and lay His hands on me! WOW - I can just see God hemming me in with His hands when I get out of line!!!!
Ok, I'm not even going to get into chapter 9 but I will end with this from that chapter...."A friend who guards her words is a gift." Now if you didn't read chapter 9, put it on your "to-do list"!
Believing God ~ Melinda
Monday, May 24, 2010
...."In My Walk With God"....week 2
WOW - this is going to be more challenging than I first thought! Here it is the first day of week 3 and I just finished the last day of week 2. But let me guess, I'm not the only one!!
In looking back over week 2 there was a lot of good stuff there. Lysa gave us some good tips on different approaches on how to actually study the Bible, not just "studying the Bible study". One thing that really struck a cord with me was on day 4 when she quoted something out of her book, "devotions don't have to be perfect to be powerful and effective." (p.66) As most of you probably know I have a tendency to focus on trying to make everything "just right" so to be told that my devotion does not have to be perfect to be powerful is great comfort to me. Lysa says that in order for Christ's Word to dwell in us, it has to get in us! So maybe I should just focus more on "getting it inside me" and less on the method in which I do it.
But, as I sit here on my deck at 7:35 in the evening enjoying the squirrel behind me talking up a storm and crickets singing all around, I am reminded of the story of David and the waiting period he went through and the training he got during that waiting period and then how he was able to put that training to use when he took up that sling shot and stone and killed Goliath. Maybe you are in your waiting period, if so look around you and see where God is working and join Him as he takes you through your training sessions. In some areas of my life I too am in a waiting period but the story I want to tell you about now is about a waiting period I have come through.
I'll try to make this brief. Back before 2008 I was in a waiting period and didn't even know it. I served on a planning committee that was looking into starting Christian Women's Job Corps in Petal. We pretty much prayed for about 4 years (the waiting period) for a site coordinator. As most of you know Karen Byrd and I have been serving as Site Co-ordinators since January 2008. I believe I can speak for both Karen and myself when I say that God had been preparing us for this Call through our everyday life experiences. Little did we know that the everyday things we were going through God would use for His glory as we work with CWJC! As Lysa puts it, "God can use the tasks of everyday life to develop my character to the point that it matches my calling".
Well, that's it for this week. Now I'm one day behind for week 3! Oh, well! If you think of something you would like to share please place a comment on my blog. I would love to hear from you. Thanks also for those of you who let me know that you are reading the blog. I'm no Bible study teacher but just willing to share my thoughts with you. Have a happy week.....and don't forget to do your Bible study....LOL
Believing God ~ Melinda
In looking back over week 2 there was a lot of good stuff there. Lysa gave us some good tips on different approaches on how to actually study the Bible, not just "studying the Bible study". One thing that really struck a cord with me was on day 4 when she quoted something out of her book, "devotions don't have to be perfect to be powerful and effective." (p.66) As most of you probably know I have a tendency to focus on trying to make everything "just right" so to be told that my devotion does not have to be perfect to be powerful is great comfort to me. Lysa says that in order for Christ's Word to dwell in us, it has to get in us! So maybe I should just focus more on "getting it inside me" and less on the method in which I do it.
But, as I sit here on my deck at 7:35 in the evening enjoying the squirrel behind me talking up a storm and crickets singing all around, I am reminded of the story of David and the waiting period he went through and the training he got during that waiting period and then how he was able to put that training to use when he took up that sling shot and stone and killed Goliath. Maybe you are in your waiting period, if so look around you and see where God is working and join Him as he takes you through your training sessions. In some areas of my life I too am in a waiting period but the story I want to tell you about now is about a waiting period I have come through.
I'll try to make this brief. Back before 2008 I was in a waiting period and didn't even know it. I served on a planning committee that was looking into starting Christian Women's Job Corps in Petal. We pretty much prayed for about 4 years (the waiting period) for a site coordinator. As most of you know Karen Byrd and I have been serving as Site Co-ordinators since January 2008. I believe I can speak for both Karen and myself when I say that God had been preparing us for this Call through our everyday life experiences. Little did we know that the everyday things we were going through God would use for His glory as we work with CWJC! As Lysa puts it, "God can use the tasks of everyday life to develop my character to the point that it matches my calling".
Well, that's it for this week. Now I'm one day behind for week 3! Oh, well! If you think of something you would like to share please place a comment on my blog. I would love to hear from you. Thanks also for those of you who let me know that you are reading the blog. I'm no Bible study teacher but just willing to share my thoughts with you. Have a happy week.....and don't forget to do your Bible study....LOL
Believing God ~ Melinda
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My First Blog - Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl
Ok.....so this my first blog on my own blog site. My daughter says I need to blog since I have a blog set up, so I am going to try. I am not a writer, I don't even journal but here goes!!
About 2 weeks ago the Women's Ministry at Macedonia Baptist Church started a new Bible study by Lysa Terkeurst called "Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl". I am going to attempt to blog each week about that week's study and how it touched or changed my life.
The first session was all about My Heart. Things, people, and positions can not fill an empty heart, only God can do that. These things we use to try to fill up our hearts with only end up being idols. God spoke to me during this week's study through Jeremiah 17:8. I will not take the time or space to type it out here but I urge you to look it up and see if it speaks to you placing your name directly into the scripture. Psalm 119:105 says..."Thy word is a lamp until my feet, and a light unto my path." We don't need to depend on our relationships, a better position or more stuff to figure out our path in life, we only need His Word! How simple is that!
For those of you reading this who are in the study let me encourage you to go pick up your book right now and finish today's study! If you are not attending the weekly study at Macedonia, continue to follow my blog and I will try to keep you up-to-date about what we are doing. We are in the middle of week 2 so I will blog again the first of next week. Next week's study is all about My Walk with God. I can't wait to share what God is teaching me through this week's study.
~ Believing God ~ Melinda ~
About 2 weeks ago the Women's Ministry at Macedonia Baptist Church started a new Bible study by Lysa Terkeurst called "Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl". I am going to attempt to blog each week about that week's study and how it touched or changed my life.
The first session was all about My Heart. Things, people, and positions can not fill an empty heart, only God can do that. These things we use to try to fill up our hearts with only end up being idols. God spoke to me during this week's study through Jeremiah 17:8. I will not take the time or space to type it out here but I urge you to look it up and see if it speaks to you placing your name directly into the scripture. Psalm 119:105 says..."Thy word is a lamp until my feet, and a light unto my path." We don't need to depend on our relationships, a better position or more stuff to figure out our path in life, we only need His Word! How simple is that!
For those of you reading this who are in the study let me encourage you to go pick up your book right now and finish today's study! If you are not attending the weekly study at Macedonia, continue to follow my blog and I will try to keep you up-to-date about what we are doing. We are in the middle of week 2 so I will blog again the first of next week. Next week's study is all about My Walk with God. I can't wait to share what God is teaching me through this week's study.
~ Believing God ~ Melinda ~
Monday, May 17, 2010
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