#365Grateful: Spending time with God

"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." (Genesis 3:8 NIV)

I am grateful that I have the opportunity of spending time with God, being able to lift my loved ones up in prayer and to study the Word of God.

"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isa 40:31 NIV)

May God bless you this day as you renew your strength in Him.

With love

This is the day that the Lord has made.... First day of Bible School.

"This is the day that the Lord has made!"

(I woke up with this song in my heart today)

(Above: Image from Weltevredenchapel.com)

---xXx---

There is a lovely description of 'FAITH' in the Bible:

"Now FAITH is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

(Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

This 'definition' has made me realise that I have been blessed with more FAITH than I first thought.
For example, consider my faith and my hope for this year. I have signed up for a year of Bible Study with the hope of getting an overview of the Scriptures.  I have faith that I will get to hear God's gentle voice amidst the mountains of reading ahead of me. 

I woke up this morning with a sense of blossoming excitement, although I must admit that it is tempered with a measure of trepidation. This is the first day of Bible School 2014 - an 'Open Day' for anyone to come along and see what it is all about. 

Our group of 14 first year students met up at Weltevreden Chapel this morning - to meet some the administrators, lecturers, markers and their fellow "new" students (and have a cup of tea in the process). It was the opportunity for us to make our final decision: Are we "in" with this adventure or out? 

I'm "IN"!

We listened as each participant shared 'why?' they they had chosen to come to Bible School.  The general thread was that most of us have been led to draw closer to the Word of God, perhaps in anticipation of where He is going to lead us in the future. It is 'by faith' that we all are here.

There is no doubt.  This is a dedicated commitment - a spiritual pilgrimage amongst fellow believers. It's both exciting and daunting. To put it mildly, there is A LOT OF WORK! But I have faith that this is exactly where God wants me to be.

The beauty of the Morning School of the Bible is that we have the gentle support and encouragement of the lecturers and staff - who will be backing us up as we muddle our way through the Scriptures. The regular required submission of essays is worrying a lot of people, but I have faith that God is going to work wonders in all of our lives this year!

---xXx---

I would like to thank the few readers who took the time to leave such beautiful comments on yesterday's post.  Thank you for your prayers and your support. It's always lovely to hear from you. Please remember, that you are welcome to leave a personal prayer request in the comments section and I promise that I will lift your request up in prayer too. Perhaps we can all pray for one another this year? 

Yours, in Christ

Caryl

2014: My year of Spiritual Pilgrimage

Dear friends

I have always hoped for an opportunity to read the bible through - fully - at least once before I die. To date, my spiritual life has mostly involved meditating around specific passages of the bible.  I believe, however, that if we are to understand the messages of these 66 books properly, it is important that we read them as a collective - understanding their parallels, echoes, prophecies, settings, the historical norms and culture of the people of those times.  Also,the stories which preamble the life of our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.

As many of you may know, I was baptised last year and have felt a strong pulling towards making 2014 the year to fulfil my wish. It's meant to be a year of gratitude too for me (thus the 'gratitude' blogposts which I started on my other blog - 'LIVING LIFE TO THE MAX'.)

For all these reasons,, I felt it was time to attend a formal Bible school.  I have enrolled at the "Morning School of the Bible" this year and will be starting tomorrow. It's a smallish, inter-denominational group who meet, once a week on a Wednesday, at Weltevreden Chapel, Radiokop, Johannesburg. The group is supportive and encouraging - an invaluable back-up in achieving this objective. 

This is obviously my personal year of "inner-spiritual-pilgrimage" where I to try to unravel God's greater plan for my life and those around me, and also to arm myself with a better knowledge of the Scriptures.

We'll see how it goes.  I'm not making any promises, but I'd like to share bits of this journey on this blog - time permitting - and would appreciate your support in this too.  If you are so inclined, please pray for me too.  It's a big, daunting step for me. The readings each week are intensive and will require a serious time commitment.  Essays, too, will demand some serious thought. 

I realise that a 'Christian blog' may not be everyone's cup-of-tea. There is no harm intended if you haven't crossed the line of faith, but this is something I need to do and I have decided to share it in this particular blog -

'MAXMOM's LIFE' BLOG.

'Maxmom's life' (this blog) is intended be a more personal and intimate place for the readers who choose to follow me. Please know that I am a merely a believer and not a saint by any means! But I also believe that we can all benefit from sharing one another's spiritual journeys in this life. So, please feel free to express yourself in the comments' section.  I would love to hear your thoughts and appreciate knowing that you are there, behind the scenes, lifting me up in prayer.  Thank you!

"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 hope and a future." (Jer 29: 11 NIV)

Sending lots of love

Caryl

(a.k.a 'Maxmom in South Africa')