Bible Study Time

Good evening, my sweet (and patient) friends!! Blogging has just not been on my mind over the past two weeks. So many things going on here in Tennessee -- nothing bad, just a lot of "busyness."

I love the Fall for so many reasons -- kids are back in school, football games and tailgating (no, I'm not a UT fan...shhhhhhh....don't tell Patty!), cooler weather (hopefully!), etc. But one of the most wonderful things about the Fall is that it is the time of year when there are kick-offs all across the country of Bible studies in churches.

Our discipleship ministry at my church has some great studies that they are offering this year. If I wasn't facilitating one I would have such a difficult time deciding on which to attend -- they are just that good!!

Personally I have been asked to facilitate Believing God -- again! :) I say that not with dread, but with great excitement. You see, I honestly believe that Believing God is a study that should be taught year 'round and to every age group and gender. (Oh how I wish Beth read my blog so that maybe, just maybe, she would be inspired to write a children's and youth version!)

I have facilitated BG at least twice and sat in as a participant once. Now before you accuse me of getting hooked on one study and gently nudging me to "move on," I want you to understand that I don't open it up time and time again for me. I absolutely cannot describe the feeling that I get when I see women of all ages open their eyes to faith and believing God for the first time. It's incredible. I can also say that God has let this study hit my heart three entirely different ways. I have led other studies over the years, but God continually brings me back to this study every so often. Usually the season of my life warrants it. It ushers in a new chapter of my walk with Him. I'm anxious to see what He is up to this go around!

This time is extra special because I will spend Friday and Saturday night at Deeper Still under the teaching of Beth, Kay Arthur and Priscilla Shirer and then on Sunday there will be at least 12 of us that crack this study and sit with Him who promises that in His presence there is fullness of joy! Studying His Word is not drudgery -- it is sheer joy!! So I ask you all to pray for me as I embark on this never-ending journey of believing God.

Now, how about you? Are you participating in, facilitating or teaching a study this Fall and may I have the delight of praying for you? Comment here and let me know what your Fall Bible study plans are. I love to hear how God is working and moving in the lives of men and women as they sit at His precious feet and learn from Him....The Teacher.

If you are leading a study this Fall, let me share this with you. It is a familiar passage, but I read it as an encouragement to leaders in general. Joshua was leading the children of Israel to a physical Promised Land. Any one of us that has the privilege of guiding a group in the study of God's Word is also leading people to a spiritual Promised Land -- a blessed place flowing with milk (God's precious Word) and honey (the sweetness of our God). Let us taste and see that He is, indeed, very good! Amen?

"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:6-9)

Blessings,
Dori

Stop. Pause. Minister.

Freshly off the treadmill. Sweating like a pig in this 1000 degree heat in Middle Tennessee. Just heard directly from God about something that I've been struggling with.

I have a friend who is going through a difficult time. Her family is not together. Not because of marital discord or illness. But because one was called to go and serve our country and he did. She, in turn, is left behind to care for their young boy and has also been called to support other families in similar situations. I began to question anything that I've done to help her in recent weeks. I asked God, "Have I done well? Have I done enough? Have I tried to sympathize with her during this time of her particular struggle? Have I done what she needed me to do? Have my motives been pure?" I began to wonder if it was worth it because maybe she didn't really need me to step in and do what little I have done. I felt something come into my heart as quick as those thoughts popped into my heart. God said, not outloud but into my heart, "This has been as much about you as it has been about her and her need. I have a lesson to teach you through this. I have brought you nearer to Me because you have simply done what has been asked of you where this family is concerned."

Now, I didn't fully understand what He said and so I began to think about it. Got ready to get on the treadmill and grabbed a DVD lesson -- the last one of a series that I had just finished participating in at church. This beloved Bible teacher began to relate a story about a time when she was called to minister to someone in great need, didn't want to do it, didn't feel equipped to do it, but God wouldn't let her let it go. She walked in obedience and learned that it was more about her than it was about the person to whom she ministered.

Sometimes we are called to walk a road with someone and minister to them in many unexpected ways not because of their great need but because of our great need to be closer and closer to the Lord God Almighty. We are wise women when we "STOP. PAUSE. MINISTER." when God gives us an assignment because He is not only working out things for the people to whom we minister, but He is illuminating the path that He has set forth for our own journey. God is all about process. Not only for the world around us, but to those He has called to be His hands and feet in that world. We are blessed when we let Him bring us near to Him by calling us, equipping us and ministering to us while we serve those He brings into our spiritual viewfinder.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:34-40

I don't know about the word study or the accuracy of this translation, but when I read that last verse I saw something different than I had ever seen before. I always thought about this verse in the context that when we serve others we are doing as if we are doing it to the Lord Himself. I believe that is good theology and probably the more accurate translation. However, I looked at it today and read it as this: Whenever we are serving sacrificially and walking in obedience by seeing -- really seeing people -- we are not only doing these things as if we were ministering directly to the physical Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are doing these things on His behalf. He is ministering to those people through us to love people, heal people, minister to people and serve people because He is not physically here to do so. Oh He certainly is here and working and healing and loving, but whenever we place our hands on someone's life to help them it is His power at work in and through us. Our hands become His hands. Our feet become His feet. Our heart His own!

And then when we do that He manifests the bigger plan in us. The plan He had for us when He called us to go and do these things is this:

'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.' (Matthew 25:34)

Blessings,
Dori

A Day of Firsts

FIRST day of Middle School for Taylor...

FIRST day of FIRST Grade for Lindsey...

FIRST bus ride to school for Taylor...

FIRST time Lindsey got up and was excited about the FIRST day of FIRST Grade...

FIRST sleepover invitation for Lindsey (for High School Musical 2, of course!)...

FIRST ounce of peace and quiet in my home since the end of May...

and I miss them like it is the FIRST time they have been out of my sight!! :)

Blessings,
Dori