Must Have Bible Study Tools!

Here is a round up of my favorites! 

This is a list of the resources that I utilize as well as links to quality study bibles and a few of my other favorite tools. 

NASB Life Application Study Bible - http://amzn.to/2mhDfv8

ESV Study Bible - http://amzn.to/2momECs

HCS Bible - http://amzn.to/2mooRhm

Bible Study - http://amzn.to/2lUMyR8

Micron Pens (no bleed through on Bible pages) - http://amzn.to/2mwdtiU

Resources: 

Biblegateway.com - This is where I copy and paste into Word from so that I can change the format for in depth study. 

Blueletterbible.org and Bible.org - Fantastic resources for study. 

The Charles Simeon Trust is the training seminar that many teachers from my church have attended and have brought back with them the concepts and techniques and taught them to many of us that cannot attend the conferences in person. There are audio, video and written resources on the website. 

http://www.desiringgod.org/labs - This is John Piper's resource where he walks you through a verse or two, phrase by phrase and sometimes word by word to help you learn how to understand a verse without having to go to commentaries right away.

I will be continuing with a series of posts, hopefully at least every other week on Bible study tools and techniques. 

Peace in the Chaos

So, this is the first post in my renewed effort to keep a blog. Here it goes...

Sunday morning I got up expecting a semi-busy day at church. I run the nursery at my church and we were expecting some large numbers as January is typically a high attendance month. As we were prepping for a large number of kids, sickness meant that our team of seven was taken down by two. Ever aware of Satan's attempts to derail our efforts to expand the kingdom, I went into defense mode. Using the armor of God (Eph 6:10-18), I found a verse in which to claim as my own for the day.

Romans 16:20 "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." 

I have found that when we acknowledge the fact that Satan has a plan of attack and commit to following Christ regardless of what may be thrown at us we can take peace in the fact that our God is strong and mighty. He will defend us and give us peace. Now, that doesn't mean there wasn't any chaos or busyness during the day. We didn't have a huge influx of kids, but we did have a lot of new families. God in His great wisdom also gave us new volunteers or volunteers going the extra mile to impact the lives of others. However, in what could have otherwise been chaos, God granted us peace and we were able to crush Satan under our feet as we impacted the world for Christ. But, it came down to the choice to trust in Christ and follow Him.

Skip forward to this morning and the verse of the day in my You Version app...

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hears, since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful.

I am so thankful for the awesome body of Christ that I am a part of. When they heard that Sunday would be hectic, many lifted up our crew of staff and volunteers in prayer. So, I want to thank all of those that held us up in prayer and those that stepped in to help us out.  I also want to thank our Lord for being faithful to us and granting us His peace that transcends understanding (Phil 4:7)

Second Try...

My oh my... It has been a while since I have posted anything on this blog. I began it while on my maternity leaving last year. I felt a strong pull that I needed to leave my teaching career and that God was leading me to some unknown destination that would include taking a more active role in advancing His kingdom through ministry. At the time, I had no idea what that meant. I simply took each step as I felt He was calling me to. Without any promise of income other than substitute teaching, my husband and I decided that I would leave my teaching job. This wasn't without discussion and much contemplation. I mean, I love teaching and having an impact on the lives of students. BUT, I love my family more and felt the need to be more available to them than my job was allowing me to be. During this time of decision making God kept planting a verse in front of me. It comes from Ester 4. It is part of a discussion between Ester and Mordecai. Ester is reluctant to ask the king to save her people. Mordecai points out in the second half of verse 14, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Ester 4:14b NIV). While I wasn't in a "royal" position, I was in a position to impact kids lives. It made me realize that if I continued to chase after Christ, He would be putting me in positions in which I could make an impact for Him. Although I dreaded returning from my maternity leave and leaving my baby girl each day, I quickly found that God put me in my position for the essential purpose of impacting kids. I had some students struggling with some major life issues that I was able to support in ways I never imagined.

While teaching and coaching, finding time to write a blog was not one of my priorities. Then, the changes and adjustments to being a mom first, grad student and starting a new job (running the nursery at my church) left little time to do anything else. As this new year has begun, I have decided to renew my efforts in blogging. I have a goal of posting about once a week, but who knows what God has in store. All I know is that I want to continue walking in His loving kindness because there is no better place to be!

Fullness of Life

As I continue to seek God's direction in my life through this time of transition, another verse that provides great comfort is John 10:10.

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Sometimes we confuse the meaning of this verse. We start to believe that it means God will give us everything we want and bless us beyond our imagination. While this is possible, it isn't a guarantee. God doesn't say he will give us a happy life, but a full life. I have found that we have a greater appreciation for all of the good in our life when we have also experienced the bad. When we trust God and follow His lead, He will use us in ways that we couldn't have imagined possible. Through that faithfulness to His lead, we can find fulfillment we never imagined possible.

Today's Musings...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

As we walk through rough times or times of uncertainty, it is important to always remember that there is a plan. We may not be privy to that plan as of yet, but God has a plan for us that is often so much bigger than we can even imagine. If we trust that plan, take a step out in faith, God can use us to do amazing things. But... it all comes down to that step of faith. Do we really take to heart that God has a plan? Or, as I so often do, do we try to make it work on our own and end up completely off track?

I am working on writing a letter to my daughter for her upcoming dedication. I have to trust this for her as well. God has an amazing plan for her life. I am committed to doing everything I can to help her know and trust him. I want to raise a daughter that is a Christ-follower, not a fan of Christ. The best way I can do this is to be an example of living by faith.

Called to Write?

Some of you may wonder why I decided to start a blog. ME TOO!!
If you know me, you also know that I have never seen myself as a writer. As a teen I would often try to start journaling only to forget about it within two weeks. I procrastinated on every paper I ever wrote. I caused my mom so much stress before those final due dates because I would be working until the wee hours of the morning. I also dreaded being compared to my best friend, the gold standard according to our English teachers. So, I thought I would start by explaining how God worked to get me started in this wonderful world of blogs…

First, I have been reading the book "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns as part of a church-wide challenge. One of the daily challenges we were issued in our study of this book was to take a spiritual gifts survey. I have taken many in the past, and one gift seems to always stick out for me... teaching. Considering the fact that my chosen career is in teaching, this is a great thing. I have always enjoyed teaching and have found it to be very fulfilling. However, this most recent survey I took indicated that I also have gifts as a pastor/shepherd and showing mercy. As a result I started praying about new ways to implement those gifts.

Second, while reading this book, one of the verses Stearn quotes stood out to me. 1 Corinthians 20:27-28 reads:

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are. (NIV)

God put this verse in front of me over and over again in the two weeks leading up to the creation of this blog. From Facebook posts by old friends, to devotional studies and then again in this book; it became abundantly clear that while I always felt I had nothing to offer in the world or writing, God has a plan for me. He has orchestrated my life to give me this opportunity if I was willing to step out in faith and follow his lead.

So this, my friends, is my leap of faith…