The Beauty of the Bubble Bath

by Tracey McMahan

(This post is for everyone but if you are unfamiliar with the WAW Team referred to in it please see the post entitled "A New Year & A New Challenge")

I love bubble baths! The hotter and bubblier, the better. Taking a bath is one of those things I never really have time for, but somehow I seem to make the time.

I love bubble baths for three reasons:

~ I get to sit still. Are you a multi-tasker like me? I can literally do four or five things all at the same time. It can be exhausting! Not so when I step into that steamy water. I’m forced to stop and be still.

~ I get to be silent. Silence for me is a beautiful thing. One of the few times I’m completely by myself is when I lay back in that frothy water and listen to the quiet.

~ I get to soak. I have no timetable, no agenda. I can truly relax and let the cares and concerns of the day soak away. In that soothing water, my nerves settle and my muscles relax.

So how does this relate to WAW – the Word at Work in me? (Starting to sense a connection?)

To truly allow God’s Word to do a work in my life, it’s essential that I do the same three things I do in the bathtub. I must make the time to:

~ Sit still. Slow down. Settle into a place with minimal distractions.  Commit to a scheduled, daily, sanctified time with my Savior (Psalm 46:10).

~ Be silent. Spend as much time listening for God as I do speaking to God. In that still, quiet place, with my Bible open before me, He will speak, if I make the commitment to wait in silence for my God (Psalm 62:1).

~ Soak it up! Read, study, memorize, and make application to my life. Let His Word transform me as I allow the Holy Spirit and the holy scriptures to renew my mind (Romans 12:2) and strengthen my heart (James 5:8).

This new year, let’s challenge one other to make the time to sit in silence and soak up the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. For then wisdom will enter our hearts and knowledge will be pleasant to our souls (Proverbs 2:1). And the final result will be glory for God as His perfect Word does its Work in us.

What word has been doing a work in you?

We invite you to share it with us on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month on the WAW Team post. Anyone is welcome to join!

Meet Tracey

Hey Ladies,

Have you had a chance to meet Tracey McMahan yet?  Here she is at game night last week.

And yes, she is as warm, sweet and wise as she looks to be in that picture. 

Tracey and her husband John recently relocated here from Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We feel extra blessed to have her recently join the Ladies Ministry Team because she brings with her a huge amount of experience in women's ministry as she was a vital part of the women's ministry team at their former (very large) church.

I am thanking God for Tracey today, for the wisdom, encouragement and leadership she brings to the table and for her deep desire to serve the Lord and you ladies.   I wanted you to meet her too so you'll have a face to go with her name when you see it on this blog and in other places.

Please join me in welcoming her!

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Philippians 1:3 (NLT)

Girls Game Night Extravaganza

What a blast the girls game night turned out to be.  Thank you to all the fun girls from across the generations who came out to kick back, play some games and get to know each other better. 

Before the games started, Karen, our fearless visionary and leader for game night,  planned a fun little ice-breaker involving chocolate.  Depending on what chocolate you picked, you had to tell something about yourself to the group.  Angie (standing way back there in the pink hat) picked 'snickers' so she had to tell her most embarrassing moment which I definitely will not be posting here because hers and mine were very similar and I sure would not want mine on here.  Yep, the golden rule is definitely in play. (Well they were similar except for one small but vital detail, right Angie?, which will remain undisclosed except for the 45-50 attendees who heard it in real time) :)    





 Next Karen delivered a really cool devotional message using games.

Gina was like the "talking Bible" interjecting Scripture as Karen shared.


Then the game playing began!  By the way, I loved hearing what every single person shared in the ice-breaker because we have such neat women/girls in our body, but the wisdom that came out of the mouths of these "babes" was especially touching.  So glad so many young girls joined the fun!


This was the "Scattergories" table.  They were so funny. It would have been an entertaining night just to grab a plate of food and listen in on their conversation.


Apples to Apples....this one was new to me....really fun!

 

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Then there was pictionary....

Gestures and Catch Phrase....(I know a smaller version of this picture is sitting right on top of Gina's head, but it absolutely refuses to be removed. So I am relenting and letting it be.  My apologies to the perfectionists :)

And then this super-rowdy game of spoons.  Look at Karen...does she not look like she's totally got something up her sleeve? She is the "game-playing queen".  No wonder she did such a great job pulling off this event!


There they are, the spoon group, getting ready to go after those spoons, and let me tell you, when they did it sounded like thunder rumbling throughout the room. (so much for "daintiness" right?) Check out the hand in the fore-front stealthfully moving into a better grabbing position....(We did pray before we started, asking that in everything we did we'd bring Him honor....I don't know who that hand belongs to....just saying...)
And there it is....the spoon grab...Just too fast to capture on film.  See the spirit-like hand in the forefront?  I'm not sure what to say about that.

 Looky what the young girls broke out.....

Yep, plenty of us knew better than to try to compete in Twister with Tweens and Teens:)



But it was a ton of fun watching them contort all kinds of ways and then fall down laughing.



I loved getting to know this sweet group of college girls better.  They taught Stephanie and I how to play Scattergories after they finished this game of Clue. Scattergories is a risky game to play with a bunch of bright minds like these:) Not to mention all of them except for one are either teachers or training to be teachers. (The other was preparing to be a Vet).  So there was no getting by with anything sketchy with this group!

 
I should of stuck with this game but Carissa would of beat me in it too. Does she not look like a pro hop-scotcher? (I'm convinced we have a lot of hidden talent in our group)

I think Jennifer is giving some pictionary training here...

And of course game night is never complete without snacks!  That's what it looked like at the beginning of the night.  It looked a little different at the end.

Thank you to everyone who came out and made this night a blast!  And again a special thanks to Karen and team (including Edie, Rebecca and Holly) who did an amazing job planning & making this such an enjoyable time. Hope to see you all at our next get together!



WAW Team (Word At Work in us)

Hey WAW Team! This is our first post and I am excited to get this started and hear what everyone is learning from the Word this week. I must confess,  I have more to share than I intended this time so I’m going to hop right in without delay. If you are not sure what this is all about please read the post right before this one entitled: "A New Year and A New Challenge for the Blog Community" and it will explain.

Here’s what I’ve been studying this week....

James 1:5-8 (NIV)
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

I have included vs.5 for context but the verses I want to zero in on are James 1:6-8. When I read these verses, the repetition of words like "doubt" and "double-minded" and how that is contrasted with "belief" stick out to me so I look them up. I have a keyword study Bible and "doubt" is underlined and referenced in this verse so this makes it easy to look up in Strong’s Greek Dictionary which is in the back of my Keyword Bible. (If anybody wants more details about any of these references, let me know)

The definition for the word "doubt" (Diakrino) is "To be in strife with oneself, to doubt, hesitate or waver."

So the one who doubts is in strife with himself probably because he is divided in his mind about what he believes. Maybe he is wavering between two belief systems. One minute he believes one thing and the next he believes the other and instead of being single minded and focused he is divided and ragged.

After looking up "doubt" I plug these words back in the verse and read it again hearing all the more strongly James’ warning not to be a doubter.

I have to tell you, before digging a little deeper, this verse troubled me because I know their have been times in my faith journey when I have dealt with doubt. I have experienced my own inadequacy to believe whole-heartedly even though I’ve wanted to. It’s not that I don’t think my Father can do anything He chooses, its just that I sense my weakness to believe sometimes. I have often found myself repeating the same words of the man in Mark 9:24 who, when confronted with a crisis of belief, prayed, "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief" If what James is saying in this verse is that your faith has to be perfect in order to receive wisdom from God, then I am doomed.

But that’s not what he is saying. And I hope if you’ve ever felt discouraged over a lack of faith that you will begin to see, as I have, that there is a huge difference between the man in Mark 9 and the one in James 1:6-8. The man in Mark 9 desires to believe. He is not flipping back and forth like the double minded man in James 1:8. His heart is set in the direction of belief, but knowing he is prone to weakness and unbelief, he asks the Lord to help him overcome his unbelief and the Lord honors that request

The man in James is flat out "double-minded. His loyalty is divided between God and the world and he is not firmly set in either direction. He doesn’t ask for help to believe because he’s flipping back and forth between belief systems undecided which way to go. James uses the picture of the sea to explain what he is like. If you picture a wave, "blown and tossed by the wind" there is no stability or consistency in it. Likewise this man wavers back and forth between believing God and His wisdom and believing the wisdom of the world. When he asks God for wisdom, he does not ask expecting an answer; nor does he pre-determine in his heart that He will do whatever God tells him. Instead he asks with the intention of just lining God’s answer up beside his other worldly options and then choosing the one that he likes best for his current situation. That’s why verses 7-8 issue such a hard word. James says not only should he not expect to receive anything from the Lord while in this posture of fluctuation but also "he is unstable in all he does" inferring that the instability probably shows up in all areas of his life including his work, his relationships, his social life as well as his spiritual life.

Whenever I study a verse I always ask God to speak to me directly through it and help me apply it to my own life. These verses are full of all kinds of lessons but a few of the lessons/applications I gleaned are below.

1. Being double-minded is destructive and counterproductive. It not only causes instability, it negates effectiveness and blocks me from receiving from the Lord.
2. Is there anything that is competing with my loyalty/single-mindedness towards God and causing double-mindedness in my life that needs to be addressed?
3. When I ask Him for wisdom, do I look expectantly for an answer and am I prepared to act on what He says even if its not the answer I want?
4 In Mark 9, even though the man felt his belief was not perfect, Christ responded to his request to deliver his son. This tells me that God is still willing to give wisdom and enable me to persevere through bouts of unbelief when my heart is set in His direction only.

Now normally I would stop here. And this is way more than I expect you to share in your comments, but if you happen to be doing the 40 Days of Transformation Study I wanted to point out something from it that goes right along with this lesson in James.  (If you are not doing the 40 days feel free to skip this and leave your comment )

In day 1, we were asked to read Luke 1:1-38. Here the Angel Gabriel is announcing the coming births of John to Zechariah and Jesus to Mary. After his announcement the two seem to have a similar reaction. Here's what they each said...

18 "How can I know this?" Zechariah asked the angel. "For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years."

34 Mary asked the angel, "How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?"

BUT...what the Scripture reveals a few verses down is that one of them believed while the other doubted. Check it out

Zechariah - vs.19 The angel answered him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.
vs.20 Now listen! You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."

 Mary - vs. 45- She who has believed is blessed because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled!

So there is an example of one who asked and believed  and another who asked and doubted. (By the way, I don’t think Zechariah was double-minded but he and Elizabeth had probably prayed for a child for a very long time. So maybe part of the reason he gets such a harsh reply from Gabriel is that he should have been expecting an answer. Another reason might have to do with  the details surrounding where he was and what he was doing when the answer came (see verses 8-12) and how he STILL doubted.  Oh how I wish I could say I have never done that before (doubted when God had so clearly and intimately spoken to me) but I am so grateful that we have a merciful God that doesn't just discipline us but also restores us like He did Zechariah.

Well, I can hardly pull myself away because there is so much more to learn here but I have bended your ear for way too long and now its time for you to bend mine.   I am greatly looking forward to what you have to say.  Just press "comment" then the blue arrow in the drop down box next to "comment as" and then choose an id (you can pick "name" if you don't have an id and then type in your name) fill in the comment box then press publish.

Thanks for being part of this journey!

A New Year & A New Challenge for the Blog Community!

posted by Trudy 

Hey there Blog Sisters!

In 2011, some of us took a very thrilling journey to memorize Scripture together. We called ourselves the Ms. Team (Ms. stood for Memorizing Scripture) and headed down a road that was life changing. In fact, I am so taken by how memorizing God’s Word has changed my life and thought process that I have no intentions of slowing down in 2012. I encourage you to keep plowing ahead too in whatever manner that causes you to memorize and retain God’s Word best. If you are a multi-sensory learner I highly recommend a site that has made the journey so do-able to me. You can find it here:
http://scripturetyper.com/

But the fresh start of the New Year calls for a fresh challenge, so, several months ago I began to ask the Lord what else we could do on this blog to continue spurring each other on to knowing Him better. He began to open up a direction through my own time with Him and through some conversations with some of you.  So below is the result.

I’m going to call it the "WAW Team" Just think of the word "Wow" and add a hint of southern accent and you will have "Waw". (Hear that in 2 syllables). The WAW acronym stands for Word At Work in us. (It’s just that I didn’t include the ‘in us’ part in the acronym.)

Here’s how it will work.

Twice a month, the 1^st and 3^rd Fridays of each month, for the duration of 2012, you will find a post on the blog entitled Waw Team.  It will be a Scripture verse that has spoken to me or one of the co-writers in our own quiet times. Along with the verse we might share what we found when we looked up one key word in that verse and how that really opened up that verse for us. We also might share 2 or 3 lines about how God spoke to us through that verse and how He helped us apply it to a current situation. Then in the comment section we want you (the Waw Team) to share a verse that has spoken to you in your own quiet time. And if you can, share a word that you looked up that really expanded the meaning of the verse for you or something that God spoke to you as you contemplated that verse.

Let me show you an example of what I mean. The below is from Metta Redding.

This is Metta

She is a new member of the ladies ministry team and also was on the Ms Team last year. Right about the time that I was praying about this idea she posted this verse that she was memorizing and wrote this comment. I was really taken by it because without her knowing it, this was exactly what I was thinking of doing this year. I asked her if I could show it to you. Bear in mind that when she wrote this, she had no inkling that it would be shared like this but she graciously agreed to let me use it for an example.

Here is the verse she was memorizing and the comment she posted.

"Your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness." Psalm 26:3
His love is what I have been lead to this week.
Word study on steadfast - I found: fixed in our direction, firm in purpose, fixed or unchanging, firmly loyal, constant, unswerving, abiding, and devoted.

And there you have it. That simple. Nothing long or complex. Just a line or two about a verse or a key word you picked out of it to explore. If you take those different words that she found when she looked up "steadfast" and replace "steadfast" with them and read it through again, you will begin to see how looking up one simple key word can really open up the meaning of a verse.

A simple exercise with profound results.

For some of you this is going to be ‘old hat’ and I so hope you will jump on here and post what you are learning so the rest of us can watch how you do it and learn. You may never know how your posting will help someone else learn some simple steps of how to study Scripture. Maybe someone out there just needs to see some examples of what to do in order to get them started.

Others of you might feel intensely intimidated by this. Please don’t. Maybe you have no idea where to start. I encourage you to join the team then watch what others post for a few rounds, ask whatever questions you have, then hop on here and try it out. Learn as you go. This isn’t about showing off, this is about sharpening each other in the Word. As we do this together I am convinced we are going to learn so much from one another about how to dig a little deeper in Scripture.

In fact, a perfect place to start is to use the Scripture you are studying daily during the 40 days of transformation. Or maybe you plan to be a part of a Ladies Bible Study starting up in February, you can share what you've learned through a Scripture verse in one of those studies. You certainly are not limited to these, but they are a great starting place.

Okay so here’s a recap:

Look for the WAW Team post on the 1^st and 3^rd Fridays of each month. Post at least once a month but you are welcome to post both times

At the bottom of the post press comment and type in any verse that you are studying.

Pick out a key word in the verse and look it up either in a Key Word Bible, Bible Dictionary, Concordance (like Strong’s) or any kind of a word study resource (you can find some free resources online) and then share the meaning of the word and how that opened up the verse for you.

If you want you can also share a line or two about either how God has spoken to you through that verse and/or how He’s helped you to apply it.

Like the Ms. Team, the Waw Team will last for one year (2012) (I don’t know about you, but its sometimes easier for me to commit to things with a clear start and end time.)

　

Are you in? Ready to see the Word At Work in you during 2012 and share it with some girlfriends so they can benefit too? If you’ve never done anything in a group before, this is the perfect time to join in. Because iron sharpens iron, we are at our sharpest when we help each other.

Would you email me or post right here and let me know if you would like to be a part of this?  Then, if you'd like a reminder twice a month when the post goes up you can do one of two things. Email me and ask to be on the reminder list or sign up as a follower of the blog and you should automatically be notified when a new entry is posted. To become a follower look for the word "follower" to the right of this post and then click the button that says "join this site" under it.  If you have trouble with that contact me (Trudy, either by email or by leaving a comment here)

We would be so delighted to have you be a part of this 2012 team!