Very exciting news...we are gearing up for our winter study to start of January 20th! We are studying Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit by Beth Moore. Registration starts on Sunday!!
The study has 11 video sessions and 10 weeks of homework. We are meeting Wednesdays from January 20 to April 14. There will be breaks on Feb. 17 and Mar. 31. It will be great to meet together again.
I'm not sure where you are at with New Years Resolutions. Our kids have been setting them through school. Our eldest has had great success with hers for the past few years. Today our youngest announced at the lunch table that he is going to work out every day...but what is working out??
I love it!!!
It really is a good plan to know what you are in for when you set a goal. Growing onto maturity is the same way. Last night in our small group as we were studying James 3 we had discussions about preparing ourselves for a day, about not being controlled by our knee jerk reactions. How can we be intentional about keeping our body in check (James 3:2) and being God honoring with the words that come out of our mouths (James 3: 9-12)? One group member shared how her grandma prayed every morning at the start of her day that God would be the watchman of her mouth. She knew the trouble that could lay ahead of her during the day and she took steps needed to prepare her to react better.
This upcoming study will be good. I know I can't react the way I want to on my own willpower. I've messed that up enough times to know my track record. I know that willfully letting God make the difference is important to the softening of my heart and the recognition of need for his power in a situation.
I pray today that we will let God into all the situations of our lives.
Good morning ladies and Happy New Year as well to you all. In light of this new Bible Study by Beth Moore, I thought it appropriate to share a story with you about our family and extended family that happened during Christmas. It is called SEEING BEYOND OURSELVES.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the title of our Bible Study is called LIVING BEYOND OURSELVES and I so look forward to all God can and will speak to each and every one of us.
Be encouraged and never give up believing.....
"This year after a compelling Sunday sermon, both Greg and myself felt the urging to participate in adopting a Christmas hamper for a Keenleyside family.
Greg approached the hamper table and we both agreed we would not ask for any particular family but wait to see who God would have assigned for us.
Much to our amazement we were given a family of 5 boys and the two parents shared identical names to Greg and myself. We decided this year to include both his parents and my mom and extended family as well and they all agreed to sharing in the responsibility of bringing joy to others in need.
When I spoke with the mother she was telling me that one of her sons struggles with ADHD and also had OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)
traits. This was just another reminder to me of God's hand in choosing this family as my nephew has been diagnosed with OCD as well and we could
relate to the challenges this brings for the family.
God works in ways that are not our own and in ways that are often not seen or understood until we are obedient with the tasks he places in our
hearts.
For me I truly believed that the blessing would be in giving of ourselves to this family and seeing their reactions to the time we spent
on the hamper and the gifts we carefully chose for each boy.
But God had other plans for us for the reward came not in what we received from this family but what God did in our own hearts and in our family abroad.
God used this time to bring much needed healing into our family and extended family and that this was the gift that He had in store for us. He revealed Himself not only to ourselves, but to my sister and her family and my aunt and their family and in that He affirmed that He makes no mistakes with anything He does or plans.
The blessing came when we all learned to look beyond ourselves and to give without any expectations of receiving anything in return.
God's ways are indeed higher than mine and His thoughts are not my own. (Isaiah 55:9)
This year Christmas came in an unexpected way for us, a way of learning to see beyond ourselves.
On behalf of our family and extended family,
Greg and Laurie Payne