Week 9 - Days 1 and 2 (Bonds, Jesus, Day 2)

Bonds

"A large measure of enjoying womanhood is enjoying a heart connection with other women." - (page 201)

That is true. I believe every relationship we have in our lives is special and unique in it's own way. And, one of the areas of relationships is with the females in our lives. As women, I think "girl time" is important. I've been so blessed to have many amazing female friends over the years. One of those friends is Brenda. I've known her for many years, but we started becoming closer over the past couple of years and she is one of my best friends now. We live in different states, but we have our girl talk and Bible study chats over the phone pretty much weekly or bi-weekly. 

Guys enjoy bonding with their guy friends and talking about guy stuff and doing guy things during their "guy time", as well. 

Jesus

"God's strategy against sin and evil was awaiting a perfect warrior, who could execute divine justice with clean hands and a pure heart. His name is Jesus." - Dr. Karen Jobes (page 204)

Day 2 

(From page 208)

"No matter what life - or Satan himself - hands us, the favor God has on His children causes that "lot" to tumble out on the table in such a way that, instead of destruction, the child will discover that her portion turned into destiny one trusting step at a time. When all is said and done, she will see that the portion God assigned her was good. Right. Rich. Full of purpose."

"Here you are, Beloved, Satan tried to destroy you along your life's path, but clearly, he didn't get his way. You're still standing, aren't you? Instead of falling apart, your lines are all starting to fall together. Piece by piece."

"Lord, in all the chaos and crisis, all the threat and doubt, You caused my life to work out. Instead of me falling apart, the lines of my life have fallen together."

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 9 - days 1 and 2. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 8 - Days 4 and 5 (Some Things)

Some things I took away from days  4 and 5...

DAY 4

"If we could only see what is happening around us in the unseen realm, our eyes would nearly pop out of socket." - (page 189)

Here's a scary thought:

"Anything God does, Satan loves to counterfeit." - (page 189)

"A Christian may fret at times over lack of certainty concerning her salvation..." - (page 189)

That reminds me of something I read in the past:

"If I were the devil, I'd dismantle you with questions. ... You, a child of God? Come on." "When you question your identity as a child of God, that is Satan speaking." - Max Lucado

"Isaiah saw the Lord "seated on a throne" in "the temple." Not the palace, mind you. In Isaiah's vision, the throne of God was in a temple." - (page 192)

DAY 5

"Sadness doesn't always come from earth-shattering events or even occurrences that other people would find disheartening." - (page 193)

Beth mentions that she might be "possibly living life as good as it gets ... yet even it is hard." 

She continues to say, "So when a time of happiness comes, I think we ought to take it and run."

Life is hard even in good times, so embrace happiness.

As I was going through day 5, I was reminded of a pic I saw posted somewhere recently that read:

"This too, shall pass. When things are bad, remember: It won't always be this way. Take one day at a time. When things are good, remember: It won't always be this way. Enjoy every great moment."

"... God can reverse every negative element in His child's life and turn it into a positive." - (page 196)

Our sufferings are never for naught.

"Jesus really will use every ounce of what you're going through" - Beth Moore

"... God cares about you! He wants to show you what He can do with your life and your negative conditions, but He wants you to know without a doubt that He alone is the author of reversals." - (page 197)

"... "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymnof praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD" (Ps. 40:2-3)." - (page 197)

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 8 - days 4 and 5. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 8 - Days 2 and 3 (Attachments, Together)

Attachments

(The following quotes are from pages 183-184)

"... my fear of an unhealthy attachment..."

"... I'd like to suggest two reasons God allows us to have - and to be - fallen heroes." 

H

1. "God is jealous for our true enduring hero to be His own Son."

"God wants Jesus to be our unrivaled champion. He answers my prayers to love Jesus above all else by allowing someone to disappoint me and prove insufficient for me." - (page 183)

I think God allows breakups, etc. sometimes when there is an unhealthy attachment and/or dependency on someone else, too, because He wants us to solely rely on Him.

2. "Sometimes God wants to show us what we can do rather than let us find someone who can do it for us."

"... sometimes you and I are looking for someone to stand up and do what God wants us to do."

"I longed for someone to break the chain of bondage..." 

"Instead, God started that process by breaking me."

"Can you think of a time when God wanted to show you what you could do rather than let you find someone to do it for you?"

I believe I'm in a place right now in my life where I need to step out of my comfort zone in multiple ways. 

Over the past years, I have had unhealthy dependencies on a few people in my life. I know God wants me to rely on Him rather than others for those things. He has been working in me to help me gain more self-belief in order to step out in faith. He knows I can do those things in life on my own with Him by my side.

As Brenda and I were going over the homework for week 8, something we were talking about caused her to say something like, "Step out in faith whether ... ... shaking or not."

I love that and it's so true!

"Sometimes God calls us to wait. Other times He calls us to act n-o-w." - (page 185)

"As surely as the Jews in the promised land and Persia would have to learn to stand up and fight a physical enemy, we must learn to fight an invisible enemy (Eph. 6:10-17)." - (page 187)

Together

(The following quotes are from page 188)

"We who call Christ Savior have the right to assemble in His mighty name."

"The hordes of darkness have no greater agenda than the widespread destruction of Christ's bride..."

Satan doesn't want community. He wants us separate and in isolation. He knows how strong of a force Christians can be together.

"Some of us with little previous battle experience have no idea why God is allowing us to go through such difficult times in a place we thought was His will. He's trying to make warriors out of us, Girlfriend!" "You and I have the God-given right to lock arms with our sisters and brothers in Christ and defend ourselves with the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith."

I believe there are things God wants us to do on our own (with Him, of course), but I also believe there are things He wants us to help each other through, as well.

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 8 - days 2 and 3. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 8 - Day 1 (Time, Community)

Time

"... hearts over time can actually heal." - (page 181)

"Time doesn't heal all wounds. God heals wounds." - Pastor Pete Wilson

In regards to time... I have learned that many times the process of healing is very slow (God's time frame, not ours).

"If Jesus heals instantly, praise Him. If Jesus heals gradually, trust Him." - Max Lucado

Community

"... a community of people whose lives are tied together by the tender strings of the heart is life the way God meant it to be lived." - (page 180)

The following is a message by Pastor Craig Groeschel about community:

One Community Away

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 8 - day 1. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 7 - Days 3, 4, and 5 (Stand Together, For Granted, Emotion, Greatness, Gifts)

STAND TOGETHER

"A husband and wife can bond when a threat arises. We can be two people living very separate lives when, all at once, crisis shoves us onto common ground. In satan's vicious attacks against our marriages and families, he remains unmoved until we decide, as different as we are and as much conflict as we've had, to stand together." - (page 163)

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. - Matthew 12:25 (NIV)

"Praise His merciful name, the reverse is also true." - (page 163)

FOR GRANTED

"Sometimes we take for granted what we have until we see that someone else admires it. When we've grown sadly accustomed to a beautiful sight, nothing jars a fresh vision quite like seeing it through somebody else's astonished eyes." - (page 166)

This doesn't have to just be outward beauty, but it can be seeing someone for the beautiful person they are inside, too.

It is way too easy to take people and things in life for granted.

EMOTION

On page 168, "Xerxes' state of mind" was referred to as "confused fury". 

"Few things make us feel more out of control than being large on emotion and low on information."

Imaginations can easily start making up scenarios.

GREATNESS

"The story line will loop around the neck of Haman and hang him from the top of the ladder he spent his life climbing." - (page169)

"Haman, a man poisoned by his own pursuit of greatness. Driven by selfish ambition, his life ended tragically..." - (page 171)

From page 171:

"The thought occurs to me afresh that great lives don't always seem great while we're living them. They may seem embarrassingly regular. Seeking to be extraordinary isn't the answer because great lives are never achieved by making greatness the goal."

(Beth referring to herself) "This is no Queen Esther. This is a middle-aged woman who pulled a load of underwear out of the dryer this morning."

"This is the stuff of ordinary life. We have trash to take out. Bills to pay. Mortgages to meet. Make no mistake. Extraordinary things happen around us continually. We just don't always recognize them."

"To live for the greatness of God is to live the great life." - (page 173)

Focus on Him.

"... look at the challenging things in your life through a different lens - the lens of eternity." - S. Williams

"What if we awakened ... ... To how pitifully small and unworthy a goal personal greatness is?" - (page 172)

"Christ, the very One who called us to abundant, effective life and commanded us to splash in the cool springs of joy while living it, announced the following secrets to a great life..." - (page 173)

Pick up cross and follow Jesus. Lose life to find it. Don't gain world just to end up forfeiting your soul. Be a servant and be a slave of all. (Matthew 16:24-26 and Mark 10:43-44)

"Christ says ... ... "Just follow Me."" - (page 173)

"Every one of us who embraces the glory of God as our purpose will end up doing great things precisely because we do God-things. His holy hand resting on the least act renders the ordinary extraordinary." - (page 173)

GIFTS

"... every gift is a trust placed in human hands by a holy God." - (page 173)

I've learned and believe that we are ALL on equal playing field in this life. Without God, none of us are anything but dust. No person is greater than the next because anything good and any gifts we have are given to us by God for His specific purpose(s). Our talents are not ours from ourselves. There are reason(s) God gives specific gifts to specific people.

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 7 - days 3, 4 and 5. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 7 - Days 1 and 2 (Esther, Relating, Freedom, Satan vs. God)

Esther

Beth Moore describes "Esther's approach" as "mannerly, feminine, sweet, smart, and shrewd". (page 157)

Relating

On page 158, Beth talks about a lady who took one of her studies while in prison and, because of it, received Jesus as her Savior. Beth met the lady (for the first time) and said they "hugged like old friends who hadn't seen each other in way too long." She says they were "two captives set free and not one more than the other". "I loved her so much. In fact, more than is possible for strangers. I knew it was the love of Jesus using my simple frame as a momentary conduit."

This can be true...

"We impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses." - Pastor Craig Groeschel

Freedom

From pages 161-162

"Over and over I am astonished at the effectiveness of our enemy to deceive people into thinking that Christianity is bondage, but his path (disguised as human independence, Matt. 16:23) is freedom." "Satan, our adversary, promises freedom but, after gaining trust, delivers such destructive entanglement that his victim feels life being squeezed out of him."

Satan vs. God

Beth describes satan as:

- arrogant (Ezek. 28:17)

- ambitious (Isa. 14:13-14)

- deceiving and manipulating (John 8:44)

- an opportunist (Luke 4:13)

- "murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44)

"How does Psalm 18:3-6,16-19 contrast God's care to the enemy's attack?"

God saves, hears, helps, holds, reaches, draws out of deep waters, rescues, supports, delights in us, and brings out into spacious places.

Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from week 7 - days 1 and 2. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari

Week 6 - Day 5 (Lee, Move, Advice, Friends, Fall)

Lee

"God used one individual to alter the entire landscape of Christian discipleship as we know it." - (page 148 in regards to Lee Sizemore and "video-driven Bible study")

"From a wheelchair, Lee made the Scriptures handicap accessible to those crippled by life and lost loves." - (page 148)

I sincerely believe that I would not be as deep in my faith at this point in my life if it weren't for online resources.

Move

"Sometimes we wait and wait for God to move, then when He does, we protest that He's moving too fast." - (page 148)

Advice

"Help me, Jesus. I want to be willing to receive good advice even when it shatters my great idea." - (page 149)

Friends

Beth talks about the fact that some friends might distance themselves from you when you're going through a difficult time.

I think sometimes it could be because people prefer not to have other people's "messy". They'd rather have neat, easy, and simple.

Some people back away from other people's "complicated"... or they only get involved to a certain extent... then they choose not to put out the effort or extend themselves any further.

"Praise God, He's never afraid of us or worn out by us." - (page 150)

Fall

From page 151:

"... no one has further to fall than the one who set himself up."

"The humble, on the other hand ... ... will be lifted up in due time."

"All will fall before God's throne. Blessed is he - and blessed is she - who doesn't have far to go."

The above is some stuff I took away from week 6 - day 5. Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts and/or things you took away from this day's lesson. (If you are reading this in your email, you can click HERE and it will take you to this post on the seek Him blog where you can comment.)

Thanks!

Cari