Learning...

In the recent past I have felt very far from God. Not due to anything I had done but mostly what I hadn't been doing: my devotions. I felt stuck, alone, frustrated and guilty. All the tings that should happen when one distances themselves from communion with Christ and His word. Then suddenly there was an abundance of studies and classes made available and I have become a part of many of them.

To learn is to gain knowledge and skill, to memorize and to find out.

Learning is exactly what I have been doing in my 8 studies/classes. Let me try to break it down.

A Woman of Worship: This is a womans study (obviously) that is going through several Psalms and teaching how to be a woman of worship. The book is certainly not the best part of the study. The questions are good sometimes, but other times are really basic. The best part is the leader. Her gift of teaching is very apparent. She manages to take from the questions and go much deeper. It is always through our discussions of her questions that God really teaches me. I've been reminded that God is always near, that it is we who can easily put other things in the place of God in our lives but that He never lets us go.

The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood: Here is another womans study. It occurs in Vanessa and my house but it is with the women of Vanessas church in Russell (same denomination but different place and pastor). This book has really been enjoyable. So far it has dealt with the idea of women being a help meet and how that is a covenant. We have looked at what a covenant is and it has really made being a woman a beautiful thing. In our society, it is very easy to see womanhood as something undesireable... that we should be like men, not women. It has also been able to keep me interested. I have read other books on womanhood that I have had to put down because somehow it presented its ideas in a way that has put my back up even though it's arguments were backed up by theology. I guess they have somehow managed to present ideas less beautifully... I dont know. This study is great because we have so many different women who have so many grreat things to say.

James: This is a study by John MacArthur that is going through the book of James. It is the study book that I am using to lead the youth group at my church. We have only done one study but it was really good. It dealt wit hthe idea of taking trials and making our situations triumphant. How God is there to not remove our trials but to help us through them so that we can grow. I am excited to learn and grow through this book some more.

Ephesians: Dave and I will be attending this study together most of the time. It is for young adults and we are going through the book of Ephesians together. The leader has decided not to do a really deep study of it but to do it chapter by chapter. I think either way we will be greatly blessed by this study. I missed the first one due to my other bible study (but it was just an introduction).

Sister to Sister: This is a study that is more of an accountability group. Its name is because it is a group of women who are realy close (Karin, Jo, Vanessa, Me and sometimes Katy). We get together and discuss what we have learned over the past two weeks and how we wish to apply things and then we pray together for many different things. This is a womderful time because there are no hinderances to share. When we are hurting we can openly cry and know we will receive love and guidance and prayer. It's a very warm, beautiful study that I always look forward to, even when I haven't been in the word.

Biblical Parenting: This is a Sabbath school class that Dave and I have been attending. A man from our church has had this on his heart and has put together a number of classes for us to discuss the way parents should parent according to God's word. Our manual is the bible and we have been looking at various themes and bringing it back to Gods word. The next few classes will be on discipline and I am interested to see what is discussed since there are so many different ideas about the right way to do this. (Is there a right way? I think everyone thinks there way is the right way. The biggest and most important thing to remember is that judging is up to God. People really love to judge parenting.)

Understanding Biblical Doctrine: This is another Sabbath school class that I am excited about. It is lead by two of our elders and it is somthing I know very little about formally. This does mean, however, that Dave and I will not be in the same class every other Sunday but it also allows us to talk to each other about what we've learned. It deals with how doctrine is really central to our Christian life and not just a part of it that doesnt really need to be learned. I can't wait to get into it more and more.

Kids Group: This is sometimes my responsability and sometimes others. depending on the activity that is being done, we choose an appropriate study. Last time we built treasure boxes so we discussed treasures in heaven. Kids can always teach us a lot and so I know throughout the year I will learn from them as much as they might learn from me. Plus, I love working with them. they are fun.

These are the 8 studies I am a part of and through them I am learning numerous things. unfortunately, the main thing that I seem to learn is that I have bad time management. The word of God always comes once everything else has been completed. Dishes done, Matty asleep, house cleaned, e-mails checked... If anything can be learned, its to be in the word daily and it should be priority. So, if in all of these studies I learn nothing new (which I know wont be the case), I have learned something very important.