Tag Archives: Grace

The Forgiven Girl: Part 3 in a Seven-Week Bible Study for Women

Welcome! I’m so glad you’re joining us for this seven-week Bible study based on Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart. We’ll be studying the stories of seven incredible New Testament women. It’s the perfect way to journey through Lent together.

The Woman Caught in Sin: The Forgiven Girl

Read: John 8:2-11

The woman could not escape. Two men held her arms tightly as they pushed her in front of Jesus. “Jesus!’ the teachers of the law shouted. “Look at this woman. We caught her sinning. Our law says she should be stoned. What do YOU think?”

So begins the story of The Forgiven Girl, in Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart. It’s hard to imagine the feelings of that poor woman, who was dragged and disgraced, not just in front of Jesus, but in front of an entire crowd.

And let’s not forget the significance of where this awful scene took place. This shame-filled act happens in the temple courts, instigated by the religious leaders. In other words, this woman was judged, and already condemned, in the church, (another name for which could be ‘sanctuary’) by the church-goers (another name for whom could be ‘Christians’) of the day. Shocking isn’t it? Surely nothing like this would happen in our church, by our Christian friends, would it?

Let’s find out…

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The Thirsty Girl: Part 2 in a Seven-Week Bible Study for Women

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Welcome! I’m so glad you’re joining us for this seven-week Bible study based on Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart. We’ll be studying the lives of seven incredible New Testament women. It’s the perfect way to journey through Lent together.

The Samaritan Woman at the Well: The Thirsty Girl

Read: John 4:1-29

Israel, March 2015. The coach pulls to a stop, the doors open and we all spill out, cameras at the ready. We are British and America tourists, anxious to capture a photograph to prove that we’re standing beside the famous Jacob’s Well.

It wasn’t in the middle of a field, as you might expect. The well where Jesus sat, over two thousand years ago, and had that holy conversation with an unknown Samaritan woman, is now located in a church which serves to preserve this holy site.

We dropped a stone down the deep, deep shaft, and heard it splash 135 feet below. It was Betsy who turned the crank to wind the bucket back to the surface. And she tasted that water. I tasted that water. My sister tasted that water. We all tasted that water: the very same water that Jesus drank, all those years ago.

Don’t you think that’s incredible! After more than two thousand years, Jacob’s Well is not dried up. The water is still flowing. And if that’s not a picture of God’s never-ending, everlasting, soul-quenching love for us, I don’t know what is.

Let’s find out more about our Thirsty Girl…

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Rahab: The Brave Girl – Part 3 in a Fourteen-Week Bible Study for Women

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Welcome! I’m so glad you’re joining us for this fourteen-week Bible study based on Girls’ Love Letters from God. If you have time, you may wish to keep a journal to record your responses to the questions. Please DO leave comments, responses or questions on this post so that we can learn from and encourage one another.

Rahab: The Brave Girl

Read: Joshua 2: 1-21

So, I have a confession to make.

I sometimes run on the treadmill in my dressing gown. Wait a minute… make that jog on the treadmill in my dressing gown, or maybe it’s more like a trot… a slow trot.

I love my dressing gown. It’s warm, and comfy, and cozy. But, and here’s the thing, when my body warms up, and I finally manage to throw it off, I do SO much better. I even look like I’m running sometimes.

And when I wrestle that thing off my shoulders and throw it on the ground, I always think about the writer of Hebrews who said:

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

That’s just what our brave girl, Rahab, did. She threw off everything that was holding her back and ran, straight towards God.

And what does she find? Continue reading →

Eve: The First Girl – Part 1 in a Fourteen-Week Bible Study for Women.

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Welcome! I’m so glad you’re joining us for this fourteen-week Bible study based on Girls’ Love Letters from God. If you have time, you may wish to keep a journal to record your responses to the questions. Please DO leave comments, responses or questions on this post so that we can learn from and encourage one another.

Eve: The First Girl

Read: Genesis 2:15 – 3:13

God clapped his hands in delight as Eve opened her eyes for the very first time. She was wonderful! After six days of creating the world- painting the skies, stirring the seas, and filling the earth with life- here was God’s masterpiece, his glorious finishing touch to the world. Here was Eve, made by God’s own hand. And she was good.

These are the opening words in Love letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart. I chose them for a reason. These words set the stage for one of the most important truths that we, as women, could ever know.

You are good.

Hear those words again.

You are good.

God made you. And everything God made is good.

So how are you feeling today? If you’re anything like me, you don’t truly believe those words. Because we Christians are supposed to be humble, and on top of that, life has a way of wrestling us to the ground, and whispering lies, like:

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A Special Announcement and Invitation For The New Year

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When one year closes and a new one begins, hope is ushered in.

While we’re busy making our New Year’s resolutions, the master of new beginnings is waiting quietly in the wings, whispering hope into our hearts, just like this:

“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.”

This is our great God of hope doing what God does best… assuring us that the past is the past; filling us with hope; cheering us on into this new year; encouraging us to keep moving forward; holding our shaky hands every step of the way.

I’m excited to announce that here on the blog, I’ll be starting something brand-new, and I want you to be part of it. Continue reading →

That Utterly, Amazing Thing We Call Grace

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So he was there again this morning, that gorgeous kingfisher with the long beak and the beady eye, perched quietly atop our pontoon boat.

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We’ve watched him as he dives deep into the lake and emerges a few moments later dangling a poor, flapping fish from his beak. We really should stop watching at that point….but we’re unable to put the binoculars down. It’s too fascinating, seeing this grisly glimpse into nature, this devouring… it really is.

Our kingfisher is in that same spot every. single. morning. Because he knows it’s simply the best place to be. It’s where he gets fed.

Then there’s me.

My family and all my friends think I’m a wonderful Christian. And I try, I really do. But somehow, I don’t quite measure up. I KNOW where I should be every single morning. I know the best place to get fed. But I fail so miserably.

In my defense, my Bible does have a prominent spot right at the side of my bed… but my phone sits on top of it. And therefore takes precedence.

But I NEED God… I really do, especially on gray, cloudy days like this one, when the sun won’t shine. And my heart is troubled.

On days like this I so need to know and remember that God is the one who can heal all hurts and right all wrongs, who can mend broken hearts and hold us when we cry.

God is the one who catches every tear, who fixes our failures and whispers hope into our hearts; the one who makes a way when there seems no way.

God is the one who tells me I am loved no matter what I do, or don’t do, no matter how many miserable times I fail or how many times I fall. God will lift me up.

It’s that utterly amazing grace that John Newton knew so well.

I stepped out onto the sodden grass this morning, trying to get a better picture of that kingfisher as he sat atop our pontoon boat. I wanted a close-up. The grass was long and wet with rain. My socks were soaked. But I’d only taken a few steps when he flew away.

God is not like that.

Because I know that the minute I start running to God, God will run to me.

I know God is the one waiting for me to turn and take those steps, and before I’ve even put my foot down, God is running, running right towards me, holding out those great big arms that will scoop me up and hold me tight and never let me go.

Healing all the hurt. Righting all the wrongs.

I’m running, God. I’m running.

So When Does Lent End?

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So when does Lent end?

Forty days just seems like a long, long time to me. And it’s not even as if I have given up chocolate, or cookies, or anything related to my stomach.

I simply gave up Facebook for Lent, and along with that, I committed to being on my knees at 7.03 every morning, along with hundreds of other women who are inspired and challenged by Ann Voskamp to do the same.

I’m not doing very well with it. If truth be told, I’m not a morning person. I reluctantly, and sometimes downright begrudgingly, crawl out of bed two minutes before seven, and plop to my knees in between the curtains at the front window. It’s dark out there. And cold. And I love my bed. And some mornings, I never even make it.

But God is always there, covering me with grace, and goodness, and forgiveness; waiting there to greet me.

And every morning, I look out of the window into the quiet street before the sun comes up where the street lamps are still lit.

They shine on a big, grey heap of snow on the ground that refuses to melt.

I look at my neighbor’s house, where the Sale Pending sign hangs. They have lived here for 28 years. But it’s time to move into assisted living.

And I look at my other neighbor’s house, the one that always looks so pretty from the outside. But inside, behind the door, I know there are tears, and fear, and sadness, brought on by a sudden, unwelcome diagnosis.

And there I kneel, on the hard wooden floor, feeling sorry for myself because I had to get out of bed. Feeling sorry for myself because my knees feel a little like they did when, as a teenager, I crawled in the dirt for that one week when I picked potatoes on a far-away farm.

And I can’t quite figure out how it is, that God can continue to bless me in so many ways, when I am such a pathetic pretender.

How God can step in with wonderful and undeserved surprises such as the news of my first book becoming a finalist in one of the most prestigious Christian Book Awards; or being interviewed for the first time about being an author.

But I can only assume that this is my God of grace.

And it’s enough to keep me on my knees.