Don't Replace-Supplement!

I am a big lover of ladies Bible Study. I love to get a new book and hear it crack as I open it to clean, smooth pages. All the while I know that in a few weeks the pages will be crinkled and paragraph's will be underlined and notes will be in the margins. I love to write what I hope to get out of the study or what is troubling my heart at that moment and then go back after many weeks of study and growing closer to the Lord to see how my heart has been changed. This Sunday, the ladies in my Sunday School class will start our study of Captivating by John and Stasi Elderedge. It is a book my husband got me for Christmas last year. I fell in love with it! About a month or so ago, sitting at Jason's Deli with a few of the women in my SS, the topic of ladies bible study came up. We had done a study last Fall and it really drew our class together. We started discussing how there was a need to do another one. I went home thinking about Captivating and how I'd love to study it again. Later, I brushed it off and thought I didn't have enough time to do something like that right now.


A few weeks ago a close friend of mine called and told me how much she really needed to be in the Word and learning and studying with other believers. She works in the nursery and doesn't have the opportunity to be in a SS class. I could feel the longing in her soul and it grabbed a hold of me. I prayed about it after I got off the phone with her and I knew-it was time. God opened the door and told me to go ahead and start putting it together. After alot of prayer and planning and help from so many other people, we start meeting this Sunday!


While we were at the beach I re-read some of the book and started planning our first meeting. This week I have been talking to a few of the ladies and decided to re-structure how I was going to lead it. I started getting nervous, second guessing myself. Yesterday as I sat down to go over everything one more time I felt such a need to get on my knees and pray for these women and for our study. I stopped what I was doing and knelt beside my couch and let all my doubts and worries over my ability to lead, go. Afterwards I knew-God had something awesome in mind. I prayed that we would accomplish His agenda and His purposes.


I also read another book while we were at the beach, called Uncharted by Angela Hunt. I HIGHLY recommend it. It is a fiction story that has spiritual symbolism that will leave you thinking about it long after you read it. It really makes you step back and take a look at how you are living your life. It reminded me that even if I don't commit a sin, thinking about it is just as bad. It moved me so much that I had Wesley read it. It is a very fast and easy read. He finished it last night and we had a long talk about alot of the spiritual things it talks about. I was happy to find that he enjoyed it just as much as I did.


Anything that you read that brings you closer to the Lord-is a good thing, whether that is a bible study book or a fiction book, but it cannot replace our time in reading the Word. It is so easy (due mainly to limited time), to replace reading the Bible with these types of books. The other night Wesley and I were talking about this and he said, "Those books are good Marion, but in order to have that relationship with Christ, we must read the Word. If there was another way God would have said, "Read the Bible and read this other book." He didn't-He said the Bible is a lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path. It is living and breathing, while those other books are not." I had never thought about it like that before. I have been trying to make more of an effort to dive into the Word and then supplement with these other types of books.

I encourage you to get involved in a bible study-whether you are man or woman. Even if it is with just one other person or buying a "Read the Bible in one year" series. I also found out that Beth Moore has a series that is a 90 day journal, one is about David and a new one is about Jesus. I have heard from others who have done it, that they are awesome! I am asking my husband for that this Christmas! Find something-anything that will get your spiritual wheels turning and that will bring you closer to Christ-but don't replace reading His Word with those other books. So often I will read a bible study book and then open my Bible and the words He gives me coincide with what I just read. I love the way God works like that! So...get out there, find something and dive into His Word all over again. You won't be sorry. He will rock your world!