What great stuff!!!!!!!!! Really, if you can come to Spring Garden for this study (it is open to all ladies - not just for Spring Garden), you will be blessed to the fullest. We did the introductory session on Tuesday and honestly I wasn't real excited about the session. Beth Moore is the speaker through DVD and she talked about a lot of history. My interest in history is not as good as I know it should be and so the session wasn't outstanding to me. I have taken lots of her DVD studies before and somehow I knew that I would not be disappointed with this study too!!!
After I started the first homework lesson this morning in our workbooks, I thought, "Wow, this is good stuff!" I love it when the word of God and stories from way back come to life. (OK, I guess I do like history if it's in a story form and not just facts.) Beth took us through the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Her study - "JESUS, THE ONE AND ONLY" - begins with this story. I underlined so many sentences in my workbook that I liked!
In the very first paragraph she wrote, "grab your Bible, a jug full of Living Water, and a durable pair of sandals." That had my attention and I was excited! Then she said that "Jewish homes were meant for children." That struck me. Of course in my mind, after I got married I thought that our home would be for children too ... sometime. Why then do I get so frustrated at all the finger prints on my just cleaned windows, the dirt tracked on the floor from the kids shoes, the toys all sprawled throughout the house??? Isn't my calling for right now to raise children for the Lord? You can't have children without dirt!!! Wow, that hit home for me when I read that phrase.
As I kept reading about the life of Zechariah, I got to the part of him not having a son or any offspring. Surely Zechariah and his wife wanted children. Surely they prayed about it for many, many years!!! Beth wrote this, "I wonder if you've almost given up on God answering an earnest, long-term prayer of you heart. Not growing stale, faithless, and hopeless over a repetitious request can be terribly challenging. God never missed a single, sincere petition from the children of Israel to send their Messiah; nor did He miss a solitary plea from the aching hearts of a childless couple. God does not have some limited supply of power necessitating our careful selection of a few choice things about which we can pray. God's power in infinite. God's grace and mercy are drawn deeply from the bottomless well of His heart."
That reminded me of when we were praying for another baby. A 6 year break between Matthew and Ashlyn was not all our choice. Neither was having a miscarriage between Hadassah and Matthew our choice. God's timing is perfect even when we doubt that sometimes. I am rejoicing today for the God's precious gifts to us - our three beautiful, healthy children!!! AND, and when I did have some doubt of becoming pregnant again, I am thankful God didn't take away my speech! Poor Zach!
Then I read about how God told Zechariah and Elizabeth about John's character. God didn't go off about how handsome or how tall or how manly John would be, no, God talked about how John would be great in the sight of God. How he was never to drink wine or fermented drink. How he would be filled with the Holy Ghost. And how he would turn many people toward Jesus!!! OK, this again was a huge reminder to me that I should be pounding the scriptures and Godly things into our children's minds so that one day they may be filled with the Holy Ghost and turn many people toward Christ!
That was just day one in the workbook and I am excited! I would love for you to join the study. The next session will be on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at Spring Garden, starting at 9:15. Babysitting is provided!
