A Holy Nation -- Week 5

 
If I were to go through the Word of God studying only one word, love, I would never get to the end of the wonders.  ~Catherine Mackenzie

Reading is Exodus 10-30.

Share the Journey
How did you experience God's heart in this week's reading?
Something you learned or an insight you gained?
A verse or passage you'd like to remember?
Questions?

Week 4: I AM

 

When Scripture comes alive in our hearts, it doesn't inform us as much as transform us.
~Margaret Feinberg

Reading for the week is Matthew 16-28 and Exodus 1-9.

Share the Journey
How did you experience God's heart in this week's reading?
Something you learned or an insight you gained.
A verse or passage you'd like to remember.

Unglued: The Empty Woman

 
"...the seeds of comparison...seeds that grow a plant called coveting, whose long, spiny vines of jealousy choke the joy out of me.  Yes, that happens, and then I do nogthing but stand in front of the mirror and give my brain permission to go there...The more I compare, the emptier I become.  So empty."

The "J" Word
"According to a Yale University study, social-comparison jealousy occurs when the following three conditions are present: (1) a person receives negative personal feedback (2) in a domain of life that is important to them, and (3) they believe another person is performing successfully in that same domain."
"comparison steals celebration"
James 1:15
"...when we're struggling with jealousy:  we need to carry our own load (Galatians 6:4-5), and then carry some love to others (Galatians 6:9-10)

Carry Your Own Load
"'I'm not equipped to handle what she has, both good and bad -- and what she has is always a package deal of both.'"
"He (Satan) want to steal my attention, kill my joy, and destroy my creative best by making me want what God has entrusted to someone else."
"All the things I have and don't have are what make up the unique load I've been assigned."

Carry Some Love to Others
"May the seeds harvest sincere celebration for her and complete peace in me.  Me.  A woman once so empty and unglued.  Learning.  Growing.  Reaping more and more fulfillment."

Questions
Have you thanked God recently for your "unique load"?
"How does your perspective change when you realize "that the life (you) have and sometimes wish (you) could exchange for someone else's is a privileged life?
How might you carry your own load and carry it well today?
How might you carry some love to others and expand your soul's capacity today?"

Week 3

The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
~Martin Luther

Finish reading Genesis, chapters 43-50.  And, start reading Matthew, chapters 1-15.

Share the Journey
*How did you experience God's heart in this week's reading?
*Something you learned or an insight you gained?
*A verse or passage you'd like to remember?
*Questions

Sidebar: Week 2

The Spirit breathes upon the Word, and brings the truth to sight.  
~William Cowper 
The reading for Week 2 is Genesis 22-42.

Share the Journey (Questions)
How did you experience God's heart in this week's reading?

Something you learned or an insight you gained?

A verse or passage you'd like to remember?

Questions

My Kid-Placemat Life

 
"Finding the gentle middle between exploding and stuffing can be hard, but God is working on me."
"But there's yet another layer we must add before we move on.  It's perspective."
"Let your gentleness be evident to all" (Philippians 4:5)
"Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
"The more I rejoice, the more I keep things in perspective.  The more I keep things in perspective, the gentler I become."

Reevaluating My Kid-Placemat Life
"Comfort zones are like that.  Remember, comfort zones don't have to be comfortable--they're just familiar.  It's where you feel like you belong.  And where you come to believe you belong is where you will stay."
"Having God as an identity marker reduces Him to nothing more than a label, a lingo, and a lifestyle -- I'm a Christian so I talk like one and act like one.  But having God as an identity changer is much, much more.  It means I am no longer the person I was before...I am making imperfect progress.  Shifting, breaking away, and being chiseled.  I am a woman whose identity has been changed by coming face to face with the One who has the power to completely transform me."

Vanished
"Where human finances, strategies, and programs fall short, God's power fills the gap.  When discouragement looms close, God's power moves in closer."


Questions
How has the rejoicing been going?  Keeping things in perspective?  Is it helping you remember to be gentle?
"Is the situation I'm facing today really one of those things" that "warrant my mental energy"?
Do you pursue "perspective-magnifying opportunities"?
Where have you seen God lately?

Side Bar

I promise, we will finish our discussion of Unglued.
However, it is a new year and with that being said, I would like to make it through the Bible in a year.  So, I purchased

In the store, I did not realize it had group discussion in mind.  Now, I know.  So, the reading for the first week in Genesis 1-21.  It averages about three chapters a day.
The reading does not continue in this pattern of from start to finish.  Once we get through Genesis, it has us go to Matthew.

Your decision to open the Bible every day to look into the mirror and see truth from God makes you a light in a world filled with much darkness.
~Catherine Martin

The questions for the first week are:
1) How did you experience God's heart in this week's reading?
2) Something you learned or an insight you gained.
3) A verse or passage you would like to remember.
4) Questions.

So, I hope you will join us as we read and discuss the Bible in a year.