Believing the Promises of God - in His Word

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed… Without weakening in his faith… Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. ~ Romans 4 [selected 18-21]



Friday, March 29, 2013

STEPPING UP... In Double Time!

Thursday Morning Group
Top Row: Marion, Jane, Linda, Jan, Kim, Stephanie [me]
Second Row: Susan, Bonnie B., Kathleen [behind], Chris [behind], Annette 
Front Row: Brittaney [glasses], Aline, Annel, Bonnie P.
[The two Bonnie's call themselves Bonnie-Squared!! 
I have to separate them in class! ;-)]

Monday Night Group
Front Row: Donna A., Awilda, Stephanie [me], Lina
Middle Row: Marie, Faith, Tiara, Courtney
Back row: Donna G., Karen, Lisa K. Tracie, Lisa G., Pat, Elaine

 After a year on Sabbatical [from teaching] with the LORD 
- it was my JOY and PRAISE to 
jump right back into teaching back-to-back Bible study Groups 
on Monday nights and Thursday mornings 
since the last week of January until the end of March!
We did STEPPING UP - A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent
by Beth Moore - A video Driven/Workbook series
and ended our time together with a meal - as we always do here at 
Shepherd's Walk... a reminder of when we will sit at 
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
with Him in glory one day [soon and very soon]!

 Watching the video session...

The Ladies are eagerly filling in the pages of their workbooks 
as they listen and engage 
with Miss Beth and most importantly with GOD!!

We love having fun together after studying our hearts out with GOD.
He did some amazing things in both groups during this study.  

Elaine Williams 
used her artistic gifts to draw 
our memory Psalm 121
This was the sketch [above]of verses 1-4 before it was colored in. 
This helped us so much to memorize the words of that Psalm 
from the HCSB version which was given in the study.
Below you can see the finished work of all 8 verses on two drawings.

I gave each women a CIRCLE on their first day of study.
On those circles was one of five words:
GRACE - TRUST - PRAYER - PRAISE - SURRENDER

A Bible verse went along with each word
that [God] chose for each person.
The ladies were to examine and ponder their own circle word
throughout the study. 
Each week we went over the verses and talked about the words. 
All the ladies testified how God had spoken
to them through these particular words and their verses. 

 There was always a time of teaching before the video 
in what God was laying out before us.
Here are just some of the flip chart sheets. 
The large one in the center shows our circle words
as well as our Visual Theme for more than half of the study:
THE BIG PICTURE = From the Divine Perspective
We learned from that visual:
No matter how God may reframe the promises of our life - 
His LOVE is always at the center of it - 
and the arrows taught us to seek MORE of HIM and less of us.

 
Our Silly and Crazy Thursday Morning Group!
We love Miss Beth and her teaching 
because she helps us all to engage with our JESUS!
"There's no 'high' like the Most High!"

Our favorite psalm was Psalm 126 
[which had a little pull from it being my favorite Psalm]!

I praise my God and KING 
for all that He accomplished 
to bring Victory over defeat in this study 
and to allow us to sow and reap with songs of GREAT JOY!
We thank YOU, LORD, for Your Holy Spirit's Presence in our midst 
each week as YOU taught us through YOUR WORD!

Thank you all,  ladies, for your diligence to study God's Word and respond 
in OBEDIENCE to it! It was a wild ride and a blast to be with you again!

Choosing GREAT JOY,
Stephanie
Psalm 126