Well, once again God has surprised me. Not sure why. I should expect it from Him by now.
A few weeks ago, I asked an elder if we could have a ladies Bible study on Wednesday nights. What I wanted was to get into the Word, but let someone else teach it to me. (Wow that sounds lazy!)
What I got was words of encouragement and a study book. The book is titled "Authentic Relationships: Being Real in an Artificial World". I was not sure if this was right for the 30-ish year old women that I had in mind. It seemed almost too basic. Developing friendships. We all have those. Right?
Wrong.
Believe it or not there are women that are faithful Christians. Involved in church activities. Popular. Cute. Sweet families. But not feeling connected. No close friends to lean on. How can this be?
As a society, we have gotten so busy and yet we still try to do more, have more, be more. Maybe today, we should do less, have less, and be less, so that we can be a friend. Because as my mom has always said, "you have to be a friend to have friends".
This week, there were 21 women in class praying for authentic relationships. Wow! What an awesome God! Whoa - what a responsibility. I may be making a complete fool of myself by leading this class, but that will be a small cost if God will use me to make a difference in one woman's life.
2 days ago
2 comments:
Gigantic churches are an artificial environment. Moses was told by his father-in-law to put people in manageable groups of ten. First century Christians gathered in homes. The mega church is a modern invention and in my opinion, stands in the way of the very thing that as Christians we aspire, connecting one-on-one in an authentic and personal way.
Small groups help somewhat but they too are orchestrated and artificial rather than the unprodded response to the calling of the heart.
You will do a great job leading the class and I thank you for recognizing the need to do it and stepping up. May God bless your efforts.
Deanna,
You are doing a GREAT job! I am so excited to get to know some of the ladies I don't already know in class through our future discussions! Thank you so much for stepping up and doing what I have been hoping would be done but was too scared (or lazy) to do myself!
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