Our God is so personal! Even though we can't SEE Him, Isaiah 49:16 reads, "See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;"

Your name and my name written right there on His hands! How he yearns to hear from us and for our lives to be totally dependent on Him. As we continue with God Seeker, and Discerning the Voice of God may we be like Nehemiah. May we truly have complete faith and trust in our mighty God. To know without a shadow of a doubt that He will fight for us (Nehemiah 4:20). To be prepared for whatever might come. That preparation is one thing you are modeling for your ladies by sharing and learning the word of God together each week. I know how much better I feel when I am prepared for what is to come.

As you are leading discussion in your small groups I have been praying over your own tent time. Praying that you are hearing from the Lord and are able to carve out the time to be quiet before Him daily as well.

God Seekers-------- Have you already seen some fruit from tent time in your ladies lives. Are they beginning to share how He is moving?

Discerning the Voice of God---- Have you seen some light bulbs turning on and excitement from your ladies as they hear Him calling out to them personally?

Share with us on the blog any stories you have thus far (you do not mention names obviously) but we would love to be encouraged and celebrate God's work with your stories.

Just Blog it:)

Prayer ideas for the week--as we move them gently into more prayer try this....

Pick a Psalm for the group. Have them pray that Psalm by reading it silently to themselves all at the same time. Maybe they could even insert their name into it somewhere.

OR

Write down one thing that happened this week in their life that they want to praise God for. Ask them to silently take that to prayer.

Just a reminder that Mondays are fasting days if you want to join us.

Save the date for coffee and danishes October 16th. We will be up in the mezzanine area (right to the right of the new cafe up the stairs) You have to pass the cafe to find us! We have lots of wonderful treats for breakfast for you and your family. Would love to pray with you and catch up LIVE--during this time. We will be there from 8:30-1:30 so you can come before or after you worship. It was a treat to meet your families--thank them for sharing you with us!!!!!

Praising God for each of you ~

Marcie

It was so great to see you for coffee and danishes this morning at church. You have beautiful families! Meeting some of your loved ones was such fun.

Have you broken the seals on your Cracker Jacks yet? Thank you Jan and Sherry for the sweet Cracker Jacks and the devotional attached. How true it is that once you eat one bite of a cracker jack you can't stop---you just want some more don't ya? The same goes for Christ's followers and God's word. Once you get a taste of life with Christ IN you, you can't seem to get enough. What about reading God's word? Once you start it becomes a habit--like eating breakfast or drinking hot tea. Don't you just love it when you have time to sit, soak and then squeeze out what He gives you? You all are doing just that.

I totally piggyback Kristen's comment regarding each one of you. You are so filled with the spirit! We are seeing fruit from your prayers offered up at my house during our pajama dinner. He listens and He pours out His blessing. My favorite part of the morning was seeing your face, meeting your children and husbands, hearing the joy in your voices as you spoke about your groups and praying with some of you. Thank you!!! You blessed me. For those of you who could not make it--we missed you tremendously.

As I talked with many of you on the phone last week there was one resounding theme. PRAYER, and the fact that a lot of the ladies are not comfortable with praying out loud. This week I would really like for you to try a one sentence prayer with them. Write the sentence on a white board or a large piece of paper and give them 30 seconds to silently pray that prayer.

For example write: Father, this morning I praise you for ______________.

They silently can fill in the blank with one word! No pressure. We want to slowly move them in the direction of communing with God and loving it. Preface this activity by sharing with them what prayer has meant in your life. We have all felt uncomfortable at one time or another--let them know that is okay. Remind them that God knows their hearts and it is not a speech competition or a time to see who can pray using the biggest and best words. Prayer is expressing love to the one who created us and asking Him to be involved in our daily life. Next week we will give you another prayer idea and see how it goes. This is good stuff!!!!!

If you are finding it difficult to stay on the topic at hand help each other. If you are leading discussion have your co-leader take responsibility for bringing the conversation back on target. You are so gracious--that would not even be noticed.

Praying for prayer warriors and encouragers this week. Many of you already have ladies who have signed up for those positions---fantastic. We will pray for the spirits tapping on shoulders this week. If you feel one of the ladies in your group would be a great encourager, maybe tell her what you have seen in her over the last 3 weeks of study. Many times that is all we need--someone else who sees our gifts and reminds us of them.

This blog is only for you (discussion leaders), apprentices, and the team. It is a powerful tool for us to communicate with each other. Please do not give the site to others.

Try fasting Monday for lunch---give that time to prayer for your group time this week.

Love to each of you~

Marcie

God Stories Around Town!

'Tis the time of fundraising banquets! This past week I attended two dinners for local ministries and guess what? Both evenings I bumped into ladies in your groups. One young woman works at the Galt House and is attending Bible study at the invitation of a friend. She was excited to meet me and let me know how much she's enjoying and benefiting from the group. Another, a lady I've known for a while, made sure to tell me how much she's gleaning from her Discerning the Voice of God study group. These and others were fairly bubbling over with excitement about their time with the Lord and with other women.

Still another sweet sister filled me in on the fact that she had missed the cut-off for OC registration and was counting down the days until she can sign up for the next round. I was thrilled to hear, however, that instead of just sitting around waiting for her turn, she's gathering with a group of neighbors to study the Bible in her Oldham County home. She plans to invite all of these ladies to join her for our next session of studies through Women's Ministry at the OC!

So, ladies, let me say it again: Thank you for allowing the Lord to work in and through you to impact the lives of others. You are co-laborers with Christ. Keep abiding in Him and just watch what our BIG God will do!

Love and Prayers for you, Praises for HIM,
Kristen

I love the reminder and prayer Heather shared with us. It is a beautiful picture and gives us purpose everyday. To gaze and seek on all that He is and all that He has already revealed to us.

I have to tell you it has been so cool to go through Creation with my children over the last couple of weeks. We have immersed ourselves in "the beginning" of it all. And it has been a joy to see the light bulbs click on everyday something new is discovered about His amazing design.

This weekend I was reminded again about the spiritual gifts He specifically gave to each of us in 1 Corinthians. Sometimes there is a lot of "NOISE" that keeps us from operating out of those gifts. On this earth we have to learn how to ignore the noise and press forward. Oh how the word tells us that satan has come to kill, steal and destroy-----he is going right after those spiritual gifts you were given. The manifestation of Christ in each of us is shown by our love and putting those spiritual gifts to use.

We are in our 3rd week of bible study. How are things going? Is prayer going well---do you have enough time set back for prayer (some of you are beginning with prayer so that you are sure to get it in). What about your prayer warrior and encourager--have you been able to get some excited volunteers to serve in those roles. Please pass those names on to Holly/Heather and Jan/Sherry when you have them. What about daily work? Hopefully they are excited to get into the word daily for the treasures they will unfold. Let us hear your stories---blog them and share what He is doing!!!!!

You are so special-each one of you! We can't wait to see you this Sunday for danish and coffee (bring your families:))

Hugs~

Marcie

"Where was God on 9/11?

Hi Ladies,

Just wanted to share this with you today, incase this question comes up in your small group Rick Warren gives a good "answer" to the question..."where was God on 9/11?"  The question came up in our small group this past week. 

Many Blessings to you as you Seek God and listen for His Discerning Voice!
Julie Stephens

http://purposedriven.com/blogs/dailyhope/index.html?contentid=7663

One Thing

" One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."

Psalm 27:4

This verse has been rolling around in my head and heart the past few days. What a beautiful and bold statement David makes in this verse. If there was only one thing he could ask it would be to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life gazing on the Lord's beauty. There is enough beauty in Jesus to keep us gazing all of the days of our life and beyond!

So many times in my day to day life I get caught up with the temporal of what is going on in my life. I forget the utmost thing, to gaze, to seek, to find the beauty of the Lord. I need to slow down and breathe and take a second or hour to gaze at my Lord, the lover of my soul. Jesus told Martha that "only one thing is needed!" (Luke 10:41) Indeed the cares of the world will pass away but HE is the one thing that will remain, even after I breathe my last breath. His face will be what I see. I desire to be a seeker, a gazer, now on this side of eternity preparing my heart to meet him face to face on that day!

This is my prayer for you and your ladies. I would encourage you to pray in this way for yourselves and the ladies in your group: that you all would be seekers and gazers on the Lord's beauty all the days of your lives. For some that journey will begin with these studies. For you, as DL's, the journey is deepened each day! May the Lord bless you this week as you seek and serve him!

I can hear the rain fall outside as I am typing tonight and it is a beautiful sound. It reminds me once again of how He cares for us. He is so faithful!

Today after church, the house was quiet and I had some time to reflect on Eli and Samuel. The Lord totally reminded me of the connection here with our studies, God Seeker and Discerning the Voice of God. Eli was modeling seeking, listening and waiting for God for Samuel everyday as he was training him up. Samuel was in preparation for "the call". Samuel had to respond to "the call". What an awesome opportunity the Lord has blessed us with and entrusted to us. Women, meeting weekly to learn how to seek and hear from our Father. They are watching you as you seek and hear from the Father. Share your own personal God stories with them whenever you have the chance--give Him the glory.

One thing we forget to do or are scared to do when we hear Him call our name is say " Yes, father, here I am". That is something we teach our children to do isn't it? To be obedient. As we pray and train up the next generation to hear God's call we model for them what recognizing ,submitting, and serving the voice of God looks like. There is so much power in hearing how and what others hear personally from the Lord.

Do you remember the awesome connections you all made with each other at our mexican dinner two weeks ago. I think the Lord was giving us a little peek into the next 12 weeks. Many of you mentioned that the connections were UNREAL and so sweet during your first meeting. He loves to do that! Some of you asked for the questions I used for you all to introduce each other----here they are--feel free to use them with your gals. The first couple weeks take plenty of time to do these relational type things together.

• Tell me about your family
• Your hobbies
• Why you feel the Lord has placed you right here in this bible study (this one is different then what we used--we have to remember some are brand new to study --but this should bring up some great sharing)

Please remember that the schedule outlines I gave you for study are only guidelines to help you. You do not have to follow them exactly---they are to give you some idea of where you are going. You have 12 weeks to cover 6 weeks of material. If your group cannot meet fall break--do not stress about it. You have plenty of time to make up the material. I want you to be flexible but organized and ready. Please do what works best for your group. Pray with your co-leader about the schedule, He will take care of it if you do your part.

Coffee and danishes for you and your family----What??????

Bring your family for some yummy treats and drinks so we can see all of you and catch up personally. When??????Sunday, September 18 8:30-1:30 (come before or after you worship). Where????? The new cafe mezzanine:) We want to connect with YOU so be there.

When you have the names of the gals who are the prayer warrior and encourager for your group please email that information to:

Prayer-Holly Dillon (mommydillon@hotmail.com) and Heather Rattray (b.ratt@me.com)

Encourager-Sherry Vittitow (mamav123@msn.com) and Jan Butler (kyjanbutler@aol.com)

Great job getting on the blog ladies~ please remember to call me or email me with any questions you might have. Sarah and Valerie will be happy to handle the administrative questions, Sherry and Jan-encouragement, Holly and Heather-prayer.

What a beautiful site you are to the Father!

Blessing and love~

Marcie

• Just a little note to let each of you know that we are receiving your comments for the blog and will get them posted very soon. We are working on some little bitty glitches:) Keep posting--we love to hear your stories--they are beautiful!

Marcie