Well gals, here we are...ready to embark on a new adventure with God. I'm so thankful to be on the journey with each of you. I have no doubt that God hand-picked each one of us to form this group. I've been praying for us to have open eyes and hearts to what He plans to reveal.
This is new for me, the computer part at least. I think it will work for us. Please make comments, and for now, try and test it out making sure you know how to post comments. The plan will be to make a post, like this one, to foster discussion and from there you make comments based on what you are learning during your study, etc. Hop on the blog at any time and let us know what you are thinking. I'm going to start Day 1 of the study on Feb. 1st, and will try to make a post a day or two into starting. Please feel free to comment as you are led. Keep in mind: This is open viewing...don't make any comments so personal that such information could hurt you or someone else. Please remember to encourage and love one another, building one another up in the body of Christ as we share and respond to comments. You can also join in on the "big" blog of women around country doing study at http://www2.lifeway.com/livingroomseries/index.php?/main/ .
Be sure and mark Friday, February 29th and Friday, March 28th on your calendar. We'll get together, in person :), on those evenings to discuss in depth, hang out, eat, and maybe eat some more! I can't wait to get to know you all better!
Now get commenting...love, jenny
Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
12 comments:
Just making sure I can do this...I'm excited to start!
Looking forward to getting started!
YEAH!! We have our first two comments! Let's hear from the rest of you.
Hi everyone! Hope you have all had the chance to get started on the study. After the first 2 lessons I feel that I already have a challenge ahead of me and some real things I need to look at closely -- and lo and behold - at church today Mike speaks on the same topic - God is definitely speaking to me. Anyone else feel like they have some areas in their life that they need to look at more closely as it relates to this study?
Yes Toni. I found my pride creeping in on day one of the study. I wanted to immediately decide that I didn't really have anything that is an idol in my life, but good to do the study. When willing to look honestly at my life, realizing I am a sinner, the definitions really made me think. For me, I think right now, my ambition at success or being "the best" at whatever I do, (whatever "the best" is anyway), demands a lot of my thought, attention and time. Definitely something to pray and continue looking at. What about the rest of you?????
Admittedly, my pride was there initially as well and then I rephrased the way I thought about things like "do I devote as much time to Bible study as I do exercise?" - "do I focus on the Word as much as I focus on my debt-free lifestyle" - both of those not being "bad" things especially the $ one which is based on Biblical principles yet they have a sense of control over me. Definitely some things I need to consider. Oh...perfectionist I am as well...there's another one...
What are the rest of you thinking at this point?
I have definitely enjoyed the beginning of this study. I totally agree that I didn’t feel like I really had “idols” in my life until looking at the definition and hearing what Mike had to say on Sunday. I think just looking at how I spend my time shows that I have a lot to work on. I focus so much time on teaching, and I am taking classes to finish up my master’s degree, completing a Reading Project with other teachers, tutoring, and having a baby! I actually thought at first that I didn’t know how I could possibly fit a Bible study. I’m really embarrassed to say that, because I know that God should be first in my life, but my time shows differently. Now I’m having trouble deciding on which areas to focus first!
I liked the Martin Luther quote that Mike used Sunday, “If you keep the first two commandments, you won’t break the rest.” I don’t think this is always true of course, but if God is really number one in your life, it seems like everything else will fall into place much easier.
Received my book today! Iam very excited and will catch up!
I am so sorry i am starting so late on this. It has been chaotic around here. Josiah has had pneumnonia and we all had the flu last week 9except Nathan and Josie). In and out of urgent care and crying sick kids is all I have known lately. Please forgive me, I will get started ASAP. I am excited about it.
Should we be doing the 5-day sections back to back, or leaving time in between?
Yippee! I'm finally logged on! Can pure laziness be a god? That's my question! I was like a few of you, thinking I don't have any other gods in my life so what a great little bible study this was going to be (no pain!) but then God totally brought one to mind! So I've been focused on that as I've been doing the study, how it takes up my time and thoughts and keeps me from doing the things that I should be doing, and that just brings me back to "am I just lazy?" Oh well, I'm praying that God opens up my heart to really dig deep!
This is going to be as the author states on pg. 7 "a journey that requires some tearing down of the things that take place of God in my life." One thing that I love about Bible study is how God uses whatever topic it may be (idolatry in this case) to show up in sermons on Sun., on Christian radio sermons, and in our personal Bible time. This past sermon on Sun. our pastor preached a sermon titled, "Idols of our time." How cool is our God? A modern-day idol I fall at is the idol of fear or the idol of control. My prayer this week is that I will trust God in all areas of my life, rely on Him for his strength (not my own), and know that He is in control (no use in worrying about things I don't have control of in the first place)!
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