Getting Ready for the Fall

I have a group of about 30 women that are in Bible Study with me on Tuesday mornings and Thursday nights. I always stew around all summer long trying to decide what to teach/learn in the next Bible Study class. I've stewed and stewed all summer long, I've been praying about it for weeks and I think today I have decided that we are going to do a study on the Holy Spirit. If I were a wise woman, I would have seen God's answer along time ago, but it just dawned on me today...

My mother was talking the last time we were together about the Holy Spirit and the "power" that was promised to us when Jesus left the earth. John 16:7 has Jesus saying the it was to our advantage that he go away so that the Holy Spirit can come upon us - then Christ goes on to say that we will do even greater things than he. Mom and I were discussing this at great length. Where is the Holy Spirit's "power" in our life...etc....

Another friend was talking to me last week absolutely frozen at the thought of publically praying. We talked once again about the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit intercedes for us.

I was leading our Sunday School class and someone in our class was discussing the fact that they were feeling guilty about the way they had treated their fellow Christian,....and yet....their friend had it coming to them, but nevertheless, they couldn't shake the fact that they had hurt their friend...So, we again talked about the Holy Spirit and how he convicts us of something out of kilter in our life...

Another situation came up this summer with a friend and substance abuse. We talked at great length that Christ is the authority in our life and that His Spirit gives us a new identity and that we need to fill our thoughts/mind with the Spirit, not things of the flesh...

Hummm....do you see a theme developing here? You'd think it would have been obvious all summer, but this morning I was outside, having a cup of coffee with my neighbor, watching/listening to the birds at the bird feeder and she said "it's so peaceful back here, sometimes I wish I had peace in my life, it feels so out of control...where is God...?" And we spent two hours talking about His Spirit living within her ....

After she left, it dawned on me...I know where to go this Fall in Bible Study, we are going to talk about the Holy Spirit. No more stewing... I know where to go, now only by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit may I walk humbly as I study and listen to His Word.

The summer is going by so fast. I cannot believe that July is almost over and I haven't even got to enjoy it yet. Actually today I was able to walk around the house without my crutches. What a difference that makes in my attitude about life. I was almost to the point of deciding that I was overwhelmed, stricken, moneyless, friendless, worthless, that my life correlated with that of Job in the Bible,... and then today came. I could actually fix lunch without having my hands tied to the crutches. I even folded laundry out of the dryer without having to "kick" a folding chair across the room so I could sit down to reach the clothes! I was invited to lunch today, and I got to drive myself and converse around a table and for over two hours while I totally forgot about my hurt foot. Okay, maybe life is going to be all right after all - perhaps I am not a burdensome noose around my husbands neck anymore.


















I took some pictures today of my flower garden. I have taken great delight today walking outside and snapping pictures. Shade gardening is not near as colorful and whimsical as gardening where there is alot of sun. Flowers are much stronger and bolder. The color is much more subtle, but there is a beauty of their own, even in their simplicity. This is the first time I have had only shade to work with and I really do find great beauty. A friend said the other day "it is so 'green' in your back yard....I've never seen such 'green'!" I agree with her, It is "green" and quite forestly looking.

I have been so grateful for Christian friends. They have kept my head above water through this whole broken bones ordeal. Whatever I was unable to do, I always had 5-6 people offering to do whatever they could do to help me. Some people really complain about being a pastoral family with all of the great demands and expectations there are in the ministry. I have found that ministry is extremely rewarding. Or, perhaps the issue is not that I am "in ministry" - the issue is that I have Christian brothers and sisters in Christ that know how to love.

The other day I was marveling about one of my friends that has an obvious gift from God of loving others.... She was over here taking care of me for over an hour, then she informed me that when she left me, she was going over to help another friend clean out her mother's estate now that her friend's mother had passed away. Oh the joy that I am learning from the servant's heart of others to be the hands and feet of Christ. May I always remember this lesson.