Tighten Your Belt

It is fall!  Yes!  Finally.  As of last Thursday.  According to the calendar, anyway.  On the first official day of fall, the temperature was still in the nineties, and—well, that just screams “summer.”  But, I truly, truly love fall, so I am sticking with the calendar version and will just ignore that lingering reality of heat and humidity.  I barely tolerate August—my least favorite month of the year—but when September hits, I start counting the days until it is officially  fall.  I love the colors of fall and the way the air begins to feel in the mornings.  I love tucking my flower beds in for the winter.  I love pumpkins, leaves changing colors, football, Holiday Market,  fall festivals, Oktoberfest, Thanksgiving, every fall decoration you can imagine, and baking. 

And, I love fall Bible studies.  We just finished our third session of Covenant by Kay Arthur.  How many times have you read the verses in Ephesians about putting on the full armor of God?  Did you ever really get it that its God’s armor.  As in, He is clothing us in His own armor so we will be ready to fight the battles with Satan that are surely, certainly, no-doubt-about-it, on the way.  It is all part of God’s covenant with us—for our benefit, not God’s—more of that “what’s mine is yours” thing.  Like:  Take my armor, use it, and don’t ever forget that I am fighting for you.  Forever.  I like that whole concept, really.  I’m not in this alone.  God is REALLY on my side!  And now, when I read about Jonathan giving David his armor, I really “get it.” 

Jonathan was pretty much saying—”Here, take all of this.  It was mine and now it is yours.  You are the same as me.  You get all the benefits I would get—you are the son of a king, too.”   Jonathan gave David his robe along with his armor that included a belt, a bow, and a sword.  A belt???  That is armor??  Yep.  Guess why.  The belt is what keeps all the other pieces of armor right where they need to be and ready for battle.  Kind of gives “tighten your belt” a whole new meaning.

My son has always made up words.  Not gibberish, but things that could be real words because I always knew what they meant.  One night it was time for bed and Matthew wanted to get up and do something (play).  So, I said no, it’s time for bed.  I told him he could do that tomorrow.  He reached up and very gently held my face in his little hands and whispered, “No. No. No.  Please, Mama.  To-now.”  From then on, we had a new word in our house.  We  already had “today” and “tomorrow.”  But, for those times when things just could not wait, we had “tonow.”  So, if you are hesitating about wading into a Bible study, and your head is saying, “No.  No.  No.  Maybe tomorrow.”  I would like to make you an offer.  Please . . . how about tonow?  It isn’t a word, but I know you know what it means.  Tighten your belt and join us . . .  tonow.

So, I Was Wrong - Again

My options for Bible study this fall were limited.  I work full time, so the night time studies are the only ones that I can do.  My choices were Daniel (already did that one) and Covenant.  So, Covenant it is.  I will just go ahead and admit that I wasn’t that excited about it.  It was the name, actually.  Covenant.  It sounded stuffy, boring, tedious . . . you get the picture.  I kept asking myself, Do I really want to do this every week for the next nine weeks? No. Yes.  No. Okay.   But, I decided that it could be worse -  someone could sit there and read Leviticus out loud every night. I went.

Let me just say here and now that I will NEVER look at a rainbow the same way again.  I have a whole new respect for  Noah, Mrs. Noah and the family.  I FINALLY understand that whole  name changing thing with Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah.  And there’s Moses . . . a reluctant leader who delivered the covenant to the Israelites from God.  (By the way, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  I am SO bad at being still.  I would have been a terrific Israelite, though, moaning and complaining all the time, hollering that Moses got me out of Egypt only to kill me in the desert.)  And, then, of course, there is the Last Supper that included quite a covenant!

Was I excited about Covenant?  Nope.  Am I excited about it now?  Yes.  Absolutely.  No doubt.  Looking forward to the homework.  That’s right.  I WANT to do the homework and see what is coming next.  Who knew?!

Maybe you haven’t begun one of the Bible studies this fall.  IT IS NOT TOO LATE!  I promise , promise, promise . . . it is not too late.  Just come and join in right where we are—doesn’t matter which study you choose.  Just come and be a part of a wonderful time of finding out what God’s Word has to say to us.  The Bible verses we have read in the study so far are things I have read countless times.  And, boy, did I miss some stuff!!  Maybe you missed some stuff, too.  Come find out.

Do More Than Nothing

Okay, Ladies . . . this is it!  Our Fall Bible Studies have officially begun - and I hope you were there. This is such a busy and exciting time in our church.  With One Month to Live going on in addition to all our "regular" activities gearing up once again, we have plenty to keep us busy and MUCH to be thankful for.  We are truly, truly blessed with so many opportunities to learn and grow.  I know it makes it difficult - we want to do it all and we can't.  But, please, please, please - don't do nothing just because you can't do everything.  Be glad that you must choose from so many wonderful opportunties.

Now - back to the Bible studies.  Monday and Tuesday were the very first meetings. So you are not behind, even if you could not make the first night.  We say it all the time - Bible study is the heart of the Women's Ministry.  It was the very first thing we ever planned when the ministry started years ago.  It remains the most important thing that we do.  If we could do only ONE thing for the women of our church each year, it would be Bible study.  Make time for Bible study. 

I love, love, love to read.  I usually have two or three books going at once.  Can't explain it - it just happens.  This time, I am doing the Kay Arthur Covenant study, and she made a point that really stuck with me.  There is no book that has more to offer than the Bible.  It is God's holy word, written for us.  And when we study it, we need to STUDY it - make it a priority - don't just squeeze it in when there is spare time.  Sometimes our approach to homework is - YUCK!  HOMEWORK!  And we sound a lot like our kids when they complain about homework.  Do you know the first question anyone ever asks about new Bible studies?  No surprise here - it is "Is there much homework?"  Yes, there is homework.  Just do it.  And if, for whatever reason, you don't get it all done - do what you can.  As Kay Arthur reminded us - whatever studying you do is more than nothing.

So, join us for Bible study.  Do more than nothing. 

Hearts Under Construction

 Just in case you missed it . . . the Hearts Under Construction
Kick Off Dinner was a LOT of fun!

Hearts Under Construction

PLEASE say that you didn’t miss the Kick Off Dinner on September 9^th!!  I have been waiting since June to tell you about our theme for the coming year – Hearts Under Construction.  At the Women’s Ministry Kick Off Dinner on Thursday, our theme was introduced and information was shared about the many activities that make up the Women’s Ministry at Eastern Hills.  Every woman at Eastern Hills is a member of the Women’s Ministry.  You don’t have to join.  Actually, you CAN’T join!  You just ARE a part of the Women’s Ministry and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

This time next year, you will be learning about a completely new theme, but for now – for THIS year – our prayer is that you will use this time to experience some changes and renovations to your own heart.  We know that our hearts are important to God.  He told us.  Remember when Samuel went looking for the second king to anoint?  Remember how he ended up with Jesse and his family?  And the first of the eight sons he saw was Eliab – tall, handsome, very “kingly” looking, I am sure.  And Samuel, like some of us (I'm afraid that would be ME), got all impressed and thought, “This must be the one.”  God had other plans.  “But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7”  Yikes!  No matter what I do to make myself look better, God is never fooled.  He just looks right inside and sees what is there – and sometimes . . .well, it isn’t pretty.

So, use this year as a time to let God build the heart that you need – the one that He truly wants you to have.  Come to Bible study.  Spend time with other ladies who are much more like you than different from you.  Get to know some folks who will help you on your journey to be the person God means for you to be.  Will it be easy?  Probably not.  But, it will be worth it!