Yes to God Bible Study

I really am having a hard time putting this book down and sticking to just the chapters that are due each week...I was able to read a few chapters at camp last week and while waiting in an office yesterday. The reading is easy. It's like each chapter is a gift and I can't wait to open it to reveal God's message to me. I have saved the study questions at the end of each chapter for our assigned week. What a blessing I am receiving.
Looking back, there were so many times I thought I was walking in faith but in reality I wasn't. Daily I find God is challenging me to walk in faith, in the the little things and in the big things. We are going through some tough situations-a custody battle, change of jobs and loss of income, spiritual renewal for two teen girls after camp (which we want to keep feeding so it remains alive and real for them)...and I am living in such peace with each of these. I could choose to dwell on the stress but instead, I choose to walk in faith and let God's will be done.
In reality, I am a fixer, a doer and it is sometimes hard for me not to try and correct these situations, change them to meet my needs or desires. Instead, my husband and I are trying a new approach...walking in faith, giving it to God and waiting for His outcome. That is what chapter four is all about-Loving God more than my dream. There seems to be a famine associated with my dream and so I heed the promptings God lays on my heart and just press forward knowing God will complete the dream He has called me to, just like Abraham as referenced by Lysa in this chapter. Lysa's stories in the chapters of this book have been so encouraging for this moment of my life.
Lysa opens the next chapter, The adventure our souls were made for with the statement in the first paragraph "In this new place of sacrifice and surrender, God will take you outside your comfort zone, and you'll learn to depend on Him like never before". Boy howdy!! Or should I say Amen and amen!! She goes on to write further into the chapter "The more we really believe the truths God calls us to believe, the more we will take chances with God. We can press through pains of famine and fins comfort in knowing that God has a good plan even in our discomfort". That is my here and now as I described above. I am more aware of God and His ability to work in and through me and each circumstance I am facing. He is my provider, my comfort, my fulfillment.

"I'll not look back regardless of how hard the famine gets.

I'll focus on what is ahead and find joy knowing God will always come through" (pp.55)

I used this statement over and over last week at camp with the girls and my daughter that I counseled with. Indeed He does come through for the broken, the repentant, the blameless, the faithful. The women who walks in faith, not in and of herself, but in faith-total surrender, she knows God's presence. Oh how I wish that I would have known him in my younger years like I do now. What joy... what peace... what fulfillment.

I took the following verse from the study guide for chapter five and wrote it out on an individual card for each of the girls in my cabin. I placed it on their pillow one evening with 4 pieces of Dove chocolates. When we came back to the dorms for our DEVO's they immediately dived into the chocolate. I asked them if they could stop with just one..."NO!!" was the overwhelming response! Then I asked what feelings they experienced as they ate the chocolate..."so good"..."love"..."happy". Then I read them this verse listed below and encouraged them that scripture is be that to our souls..."so good...desired...fulfilling..joy...delight". We should feel as if we cannot get enough!! Then I reminded them that they are called by name. God has a purpose and plan for each of them and they are special. It is in spending time in prayer and in the Scripture that one builds that intimacy with God to know his plan for their life!

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

~Jeremiah 15:16

Isn't this just a beautiful verse? I just love it! It speaks my heart and how I hunger and thirst for more of Him. Hopefully my camp girls got a glimpse of that!! Even more so...hopefully it was contagious!!

Blessings!! MrsJoeB