The past three months the Lord has really started to do something in my heart and mind. When choosing “my word” this year I selected “content(edness)” but quickly realized that I wanted something much deeper than that. I then decided to focus on the word “abide.” I’m so grateful for the community of women around me who helped me see, talk through, and share about these ideas. It’s because of those sessions that I was able to really explore what I was hoping and longing for in this next year. In February we did a women’s conference with about 20 ladies from our moms group. It’s called if:gathering and if you haven’t heard of it you need to check it out! We hosted a local satellite site (if:local) for the ladies who already attend our moms group… [On a side note our team is dreaming about next year!] As I sat in the gathering each session ended with an opportunity to think about the statement “if… then…” And several of the statements really tugged at my heart. I took crazy notes, and started to explore a dream.
Then over the past month and a half our church has been focusing on the book of Romans. And I found that much of what I’m learning is colliding… Those are the moments when I feel alive and fed. When something you are learning and exploring in one avenue of life collides with another. A friend of mine from our moms’ group had a
booklet about abiding and after hearing me explore ideas God was laying on my heart offered it to me. It’s an eight week study and I just sit down once a week to do it and the rest of the week I just ruminate on the ideas, and close out the week by revisiting that same couple of pages and reflecting in the “notes” section. It’s written by a group called the “
naptime diaries” and boy have they hit the nail on the head with this one! I highly suggest you take a look.
The best part is I’ve been able to sit down and really get a lot out of a few pages and be thinking about them all week in preparation for the next few pages. It’s the perfect study for me. I also picked up
Shauna Niequist’s daily devotional call
Savor… She’s a woman who has taken the words out of my
mouth heart and written them on the page. I’m just eating it up. Between
Savor,
Bread and Wine, watching a friend of mine pursue her dreams of hosting people at her home, and all that God is teaching me… A big dream has begun to take form! I’m dreaming, journaling, keeping track of what He lays on my heart and I can’t wait to share more.
For now I just needed to get all these ideas out and share with you… The biggest question that started the collision of all these ideas was the question from my nap time diaries “abide” study. It was… What makes you come alive? They had you think back to even childhood, and you’re more immediate future of the things that make you literally feel alive. And I’m finding myself dwelling in the Lord and thinking on such things.
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Sounds like a great study! I can't wait to hear more about what the Lord shows you!