So the weather is not so good today and Wednesday Bible Study along with a thousand other things are cancelled. (Sigh) I will miss being at Bible Study today. Does that mean I will not study the Bible today? Of course not. However, I will miss being with other women in the midst of God’s Word.
Besides being a freak about my Savior, my husband and my children, I must admit I am a freak about Bible Study. What does it mean to be a freak? Well, in my mind, it means to be kind of strange and overexcited about something. You know what I mean, the kind of person who talks about the subject of their freakiness constantly. Maybe they are kind of obsessed with it, it is thing thing that really gets them going. You know the person that shares their freakiness with everyone because they want others to share in the freakiness with them. That is how I feel about Bible Study. I really want to be in Bible Study with everyone I know. Why am I this way?
First of all, I need it. On my own, I am a mess. I am insecure, prideful, and bunch of other junk that the enemy uses to distract me and keep my eyes off of Christ. This is the deal. Our brains are going to be full of something. We aren’t going to be without any thought at all. God’s Word tells us that we are in a spiritual battle and the prime location for that battle is in our minds. If we are not filled with HIS truth than the enemy will use it as a prime opportuinity to go after us. That is why His Word says to “take every thought captive.” (2 Cor. 10:5) I need God’s truth. It keeps me focused on Him and it keeps me in the mindset of God’s perspective. Otherwise, I am thinking about myself and MY perspective which is not a great place to be. The more I am thinking about myself, the less I am thinking about Christ.
Another reason that I am a freak, is encapsualted in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man (or woman) of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” At the beginning of that verse it says that “scripture is BREATHED out by God.” Everytime I read this verse I have a picture in my mind of opening my Bible and the breath of God coming out and I can take a deep breath of HIM. His word can fill my lungs, be the very air that I breathe in my life. And this is the thing; if I am breathing His word in, then at some point I will need to exhale and hopefully that “breath” of His Word coming out of me, will bless others and they will see Him, not me.
While there are many other reasons I feel the way I do about Bible Study, the last one I want to share is my need for fellowshipping with other sisters in Christ. It is a “safe” place for me. I know it sounds strange that being with a group of women would feel safe, but the women that I meet through Bible Study are real sisters in Christ. They are hungry for real friendships, for prayer, and they desire to see God do a work in their lives! I love it because they are sisters of all ages and in every season of life. They are big sisters and little sisters that God uses in mighty ways in my life. I never realized this until a few years ago. I was in a time of deep sadness and struggle, bordering on hopelessness. Besides my amazing husband, John, and a couple of close friends, I had lost trust in others. I had been hurt and was suspicious of other believers. Frankly, I wasn’t going to let anyone in because I thought they would turn on me the way others had. God used Women’s Bible Study to begin the healing process. While I couldn’t talk about what I was going through, I still felt safe there. I could feel God using these women in my life. It was in their eyes, they cared about me and that was what I needed. Ever since that time, it has been the passion of my heart to minister to other sisters the same way God used them to minsiter to me.
So yes, I am a freak about Bible Study. And I really hope I can share that freakiness with others for a long time.
kristiharrington
Love this!! Your analogy of God literally breathing into you when you open your Bible, and then the exhaling of God’s truth in your fellowship with others…amazing! That really hit me! It just reminds me of what an incredible privilege it is for us to have God’s own breathed Word available to read everyday (and why in the world am I not in it more???).
Miss you…God is doing some mighty things through you, and I’m one who is blessed to know you as a friend and sister in Christ.
I feel this same way about studying the Bible with other women. Thanks for putting this into words
I feel like this blog was open to me today because I really needed to read the comments about going thru a time of separation from others. I thought I had real Christian friends but when we had to move they did not stay in touch and I hoped they would come visit me after we left. When we joyfully returned a short time later we were treated as if we could not be trusted. I was so glad to be back but there was no place for me anymore. I felt these people I loved had turned their back on me and were treating me like a stranger. I suppose they were afraid to reconnect out of fear that we would leave again but it’s been 5 years and we are still here. I had a lovely life of friends and it was not restored to me. I have exciled myself because in the last 4 years I have not been able to find the lost friends. I’m afraid that was a time that I will never replace again in my life. After reading your comments I will pray about trying a bible study….I am not a consistent student at bible studies but I hope God will bless me with women friends again. Thanks for reading this