I have participated for months now in She Reads Truth studies–Fruit of the Spirit, Letters to Timothy, The Risen Christ–but none of those have I enjoyed as much as the current Women in the Word study. Women in the Word is a 9-week study that covers the women of the bible–Eve to Esther to Martha and everyone in between.
And in each story, the SRT writers encourage us to look past the woman to God and His plan. The sole purpose of the entire Women in the Word study is for us to become women in the word, learning more about our God by reading His story. My favorite quote from the introduction says “Let’s open the bible not for daily inspiration or a pep talk, but only to pursue Him.” How often do we open our bibles, hoping only to ‘feel good’ after reading?
Today is Day 9, and I thought I’d share some nuggets I’ve picked up along the way.
- From the story of Eve: “Satan has a way of making us feel less ashamed of our sin (the thing that separates us from God) and more ashamed of ourselves (the things that links us to Him)!” How true is this? How much more shame and embarrassment do we feel over our appearance–our weight, our wrinkles, our cellulite–than over our sin? God created us in His image and to be free from shame. Anything else is from satan.
- From the story of Sarah: Even when I am a ‘restless waiter’ like Sarah, God doesn’t give up on me. Even when I make a mess of things, He will come down and wait with me and sustain me and fulfill all his promises to me. I need to learn to sit back and rely fully on him, but how wonderful it is that even in my restlessness, His mercy abounds.
- From the story of Hagar: Honestly, Hagar leaves me confused. I need someone more wise than I to explain some things to me. One interesting thing I found when attempting to research Hagar’s story a bit more is that some biblical scholars believe Hagar to be the daughter of King Pharaoh of Egypt. These scholars believe she left Egypt to travel with Abraham and Sarah after she saw how God saved them from the hand of the Egyptians.
If you aren’t participating in this study, you should! You can download the She Reads Truth app from the app store (free app, the actual study is $1.99 within the app) or simply go to the She Reads Truth site and sign up for their emails.
If you are participating, what did you learn in week one? Can anyone help me out with that Hagar situation?
Courtney, I joined this study because of your post and it has been great. I loved Eve’s story. This reminded me of the saying, “Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name”. Satan can make us believe that we are far less than what we are and that leads to a whole basket of problems for us Christians in our daily lives.
Sarah, well I saw myself…ready to take on things without waiting on direction from above. Thinking I have it all figured out and the BAM, I don’t. I have to remind myself that God is looking for progress not perfection from me each day and that progress for me on any given day can be just being still and listening. Boy that’s H.A.R.D most days!
I am like you with Hagar. I am digging for more info on her life.
Oh Missy! I have never heard that quote before and I LOVE it! So glad you are loving the study too!