Fall Bible study and a new friend

The ladies Bible study that I am a part of started this past Friday.  This fall we're using Beth Moore's "David--Seeking a Heart Like His," videos and book.  

Our group is fairly consistent from one study to the next.  However, this time, Alejandra's friend, Kathy, was able to join us. It was amazing to hear her tell her story and realize just how many similarities there were with our story.  Here's just a few of them:

• She and her husband, David, have been missionaries here since January, 2010--we came in June, 2010.
• Her husband was not a pastor.  
• She is a guitar player and singer.
• They are from Washington state, but have children and grandkids who live in Oregon--our daughter-in-law's family is from Oregon
• They just moved from Santa Tecla (where we used to live) to Escalon (where we live now.)  In fact, they live across the street from our building.

Those were just a few of the things we found out on Friday morning.  She even gave me a ride home after the study.  I mentioned everything to Stephen and we decided to see if they were available for dinner on Friday evening.  We met them in front of their house and walked to our favorite pizza place.  It was a great evening learning how God worked in their lives to bring them here.

We're looking forward to getting to know them better.  Just think, I may finally have a neighbor from whom I can borrow an egg or a cup of sugar if I get in a bind while baking or cooking dinner.  God is good!

   

Faith that Stands Up Under Trial

We finished week 7 of the Beth Moore's, "To Live is Christ," which is about the life of the Apostle Paul.  In today's video Beth talked about Wisconsin vs. Yoder, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the case, the court was faced with a decision about whether or not the mandatory high school education law pertained to Amish students.  The Amish parents refused to send their children to public high schools for religious reasons.  In order to make a well-thought out decision, the court developed standards to judge "religious convictions"  

Beth judged Apostle Paul based upon US Supreme Court's standards and his convictions met or exceeded every criteria.  It was an interesting, eye-opening video and caused each one of us to examine our own beliefs and "convictions."  In the court's opinion, religious convictions required:

A belief system beyond simple preferences and personal philosophy.  The criteria which help determine whether or not a claimed belief system is preference or genuine conviction state that

• True convictions are intimately related to daily living

• True convictions have a history

• True convictions are personal

• True convictions are preserved against the presure to conform

• True convictions are unchanging regardless of circumstances

If I was judged by the court's criteria, would there be enough evidence for them to "ratify" my convictions?  It's a great question and one I need to ponder.  What about you?  

I close with one of Beth's quotes:

Sometimes we don't share our faith because we don't have enough to spare.  Our faith sounds "okay" to us, but when we try to share it, it sounds "weak" and unsubstantial. 

To Live Is Christ

Paula Rhoades started a ladies Bible study (in English) when she came to El Salvador.  I was fortunate to start attending when we moved here in 2010.  Until last year, our group only had the audio CD's for our studies; but for the most recent studies, several of our Christian sister's in the states have shared their video resources with us, and we've been blessed to be able to watch, as well as listen.  This year we've completed, Jonah, a Priscilla Shirer study, and Abundant, Faithful and True, a Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore precept study.

This fall's Bible study started at my house last week.  We're doing Beth Moore's study on the life of Paul titled "To Live is Christ."  We meet each Friday morning from 10:00 to noon; we start with a time of sharing lessons we learned from our weekly homework, we share prayer requests and have a time of prayer and then we watch the video of the next lesson.  We were all excited to study the life of the Apostle Paul and everyone loves the way Beth teaches.

When Alejandra arrived with a VCR and the corresponding tapes we thought, perhaps, the study was one of Beth's older ones.  Little did we know that it was only her third study--she wrote it in 1997.  Now, before you get me wrong, we realize that the truth of the Bible doesn't change--it is always relevant.  However, Beth's wardrobe and hairstyles, not so much!  It almost made us long for the days of audio only!

Joking aside, the study has already made an impact on our lives, and we're excited to see what God wants to teach us over the next 9 weeks.  We're so thankful to Paula (who purchased our workbooks); we still couldn't do it without you!

We tried to celebrate Ena's birthday yesterday, but she wasn't able to attend.  The rest of us enjoyed her treat, healthy Zucchini, Carrot, Apple bread.