June Bible Study Day 12

This is our last day and let me just say I've looked forward to the little break from life when I tell my kids, "hold on I'm doing my Bible study." I usually do Bible reading after they go to bed, but I loved how they respected this time each day and maybe they will remember my example when they are older.

Today was, "Give Thanks In Waiting." The scriptures were Romans 8:19-25 and Colossians 3:15-17.  I think verse 17 of Colossians 3 is a great summary of this entire series of lessons. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."  No matter what our circumstance is at the present time we need to learn to be thankful for each moment that we have.

Giving thanks in waiting is hard, at least for me during this season in my life. My other half and partner in crime is gone and I cannot wait for him to be back home with us sharing in everything that goes on in our family.  I want this time to fly by, but at the same time I don't.  I don't want my babies to be that much older and to have passed so many milestones. I feel like I'm wishing their lives away. I'm learning each day how to find the small things all around me to be thankful for. The small coincidences that add up to a big help, the things I remember just in time before it's too late.  I keep finding some blessings in each and every day. Am I thankful for my husband being away? No. But I can find things that happen each day that I am grateful for? Yes.

Look around and take note of all the things you have to be thankful for. If it doesn't overwhelm you then I suggest you make a list and see the mighty power of God working in your life.

Thank you for all who participated in this study. You all have encouraged me daily, thank you for that.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 11

Hey All,

Today the study was entitled "Give Thanks In Wandering."  The readings were 2 Chronicles 15:1-4, Jeremiah 29:10-14, Mark 9:24, and Proverbs 25:2.  Mark 9:24 is one of my all time favorite verses.  "Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe, help my unbelief!'"  How many times I have said this to God.  I do believe Him, but sometimes I just don't know the whole scope of His capabilities so I don't have enough belief.  I need the creator of everythings help to understand.  I will never understand God completely and that is okay as long as I keep asking Him to help my unbelief.

I also liked verse 2 in 2 Chronicles 15 where it says, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you." As long as we are actively seeking Him, we will find the answers to what we need.  We will know enough to make the right decisions and He will be right there with us.  Like I have said in other posts about this study, we have to be active in our faith and active in being thankful.

My favorite thing the author said today was, "For although we may feel lost, we know He never loses us."  God knows where we are and how we can make it through, so who better to turn to then our ultimate navigator.  He will help us get back to on the road that leads to Him.

What were your thoughts today?

Much Love,
Ashley 

June Bible Study Day 10

Hey all!

Today's study was entitled "Give Thanks In Want". The readings were from Habakkuk 3:17-19, Romans 8: 35-39, 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18. 

I enjoyed reading this one because this is what I have been focusing on doing daily since Zach left. I have been trying to give thanks for my blessings during this time while I'm wanting him to be with me so badly.

For me it's been easiest to look around at others and see how they have it worse. Someone will always have it worse, you just have to look around enough and open your heart to others.  My 'others' are all the women who loose their husbands. Some spouses don't have the hope any longer of seeing their husbands again when they return from deployment.  I also think about the wives whose husband's have violated their marriage while they've been away. They will never have the bond they did before deployment again. This is such a hard road that we're on, but there are still others who have it worse. After you've found someone that has it worse, pray for them.

I've always loved Romans 8: 35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing that could ever happen to us can ever separate us from the love God.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 9

Hello all!

I've really enjoyed this study and loved her views on it today. Today was entitled "Give Thanks In Plenty", the readings were from Psalm 23, Psalm 105:1-5, 1 Chron. 29:10-13.

Psalm 105:4 really stuck out to me. "Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually."  It shows us that we have to actively seek Him, we have to take time from our busy lives to find Him. How do we find Him? Through prayer, through reading His word, focusing only on Him in silence.

We do focus on the plenty in the physical realm all the time, because that's what we rely on to survive. But the author is right, spiritually we are always in plenty. We don't deserve the grace that we are given once baptized.  We don't deserve any of His blessings and yet He pours them on us daily.

Thank You Lord for Your daily grace of all my shortcomings.

What do you do to seek the Lord?

Much Love, Ashley

June Bible Study Day 8

Today's study is entitled,  "Give Thanks in Sorrow." The readings were Psalm 31:1-24, Psalm 34:18, and Psalm 56:8.

My favorite verse from the readings was verse 24 of Psalm 31,  "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord."

I love this because first it's a command, be strong.  Even if we don't have anymore strength left we can trust that God will be our strength and hold us up. Second, it shows us that being courageous means taking action.  Even if we don't feel like we have enough courage, we are being courageous by taking that first step and going for it. And I love how it ends the verse with, wait for the Lord. Not wait for your perfect time, not wait until the stars align,  but just wait on the Lord.

I also loved when the author said, "Allow Him to work in your sorrow, friends, even - and especially- when it's muted."

Right now I'm sorrowful about my marriage. Zach and I have had a few bumps but as long as we're together we get through anything. Now we're not together. We can't have a normal conversation,  we can't see each other, and we can't touch each other. I see this as a huge barrier to our marriage growing, or us growing closer together, during this entire year. I see this deployment as a stumbling block for our great marriage and it scares me and if I think about it to long sorrow overtakes me. 

I'm glad she put it the way she did, "Allow Him to work in your sorrow." As I feel sorrowful at times I need to remember that God can still work through me if I allow Him to. If I just hand the sorrow over to Him and say "Here, I don't have an answer so will you please take this from me?" After we hand it over to Him we can shine brighter for Him without anything dulling us down.

What were your thoughts? Have you allowed Him to work through your sorrows?

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 7

Today she posted one verse and suggested that we memorize it. I am going to write it on an index card and put it on my bathroom mirror.  I also made it my home screen on my phone.

The verse is Psalm 9:1 "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds."

I wanted to look at the verse a bit more in depth,  so here are my thoughts. First, it says 'I will give thanks'; so what we're focusing on is an intended action, I will. Then it says give.  God wants us to focus on giving thanks not receiving it from others. 

Next, it says 'to the Lord'; this is who we should be thankful to, not our good luck or our good timing. We need to be grateful to the maker of all things for all the things in our lives.

Thirdly, 'with my whole heart'. We don't need to thank Him halfheartly. I think this is something that you have to work on when you are troubled. Just remember be thankful for what He has given you and don't include any buts... (but this could be better and that, etc).

And lastly, 'I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.' I think this also showing purposeful action not just thanks in the moment when something happens, but looking back at even a bad situation and finding His wonderful deeds in the dark moments.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 6

Hey All,

Today's study was "Give Thanks In Injustice".  The readings were from 1 Kings 3:5-28, Micah 6:8, Psalm 7:17, Psalm 9:1-20.  I thought today was rather timely as we see injustice in the news just this week for Christians.  As Christ's body we should always be welcoming and warm to anyone who wants to join our worship or studies.  Homeless, poor, stinky, unkept; none of these things can be seen by the eyes of God.  And yet it's so hard for us to get over these silly things sometimes. 

I can see how after the shooting in South Carolina, churches will be more watchful, more careful, more scared.  But are any of those things right?  I don't think it's wrong to try and keep our congregations safe but I do hope that this doesn't make us question the people walking in our doors for the first time.  This is just what she's talking about today, we must be thankful in the injustice in this world.  I am thankful that those killed were taking time out of their daily lives to go and study God's Word and that they invited someone who wasn't numbered with them into their midst.  Was the outcome good? No.  But I leave you with one thought...

"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me." Matthew 5:11

Is it hard to be thankful when we are enduring persecution, yes. Very hard, sometimes it will seem like rubbish.  But we are called to give thanks in knowing that we are standing for Him.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 5

Hey all,

I'm so sorry I am so completely late for today.  I just now had a minute to type out my thoughts.  I read the study earlier with one of my friends and we both loved it. 

Today was "Give Thanks In Stress" and boy did I need that today.  I was picking up my oldest son from school and my middle one decided to fool around, fall and knock one of his teeth completely out and two more are loose.  To say the least it was a bit stressful.  The readings today were Luke 10:38-42, Isaiah 55:1-3, Matthew 11:28-30, and Psalm 23:1-3.

All of these passages are almost etched in my mind because I read them over and over and over while Zach was at bootcamp.  That was the first really stressful time during our entire marriage. I have always loved the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10.  Just think about have Jesus Christ as a guest in your home.  Do you think you would be stressing out over making everything perfect or do you think you would be sitting at our Savior's feet listening to him?  We have got to come to a point in our lives when we understand what matters the most.  Would you rather have your house perfect all the time or would you rather take those teachable moments for your kids and help them to learn more about the heart of God?

I was also thinking about how in Matthew 11:28 Jesus says 'come to him all who are heavy laden'.  Martha was heavy laden, but she didn't come to him to find rest, no she came to him to find help in someone else.  We need to come to Jesus simply for rest, not to ask for other people in this world to help us with our problems.

I loved how the author described her life as noise.  Isn't that the truth?? Sometimes that is all that I can hear. My kids screaming, laughing, fighting, singing, and then there are a million thoughts racing through my brain at the same time.   It is so noisy.  It's hard to break through those moments and say thank you.  I can't even think straight half the time to even utter the words.  But if I look around, calm my thoughts, I can see all the blessings in the noise.  Think about the people who would love to have noise in their house, but they are unable to bear.  What a blessing it is to have our lives full with noise.

Take a moment tomorrow when all you hear is noise and simply thank God for the noise in your life and for the courage to live through it.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 4

Hey all,

Today's study was "Give Thanks In Certainty".  This title really hit home to me, because since Zach has joined the Navy nothing has been certain.  It's never certain where we'll go, it's never certain how long we'll stay, and by golly it's never certain when his ship will return.  So how do I give thanks when I don't have certainty?  I'm so grateful for her words today because even in my crazy life I do have certainty.  I have certainty that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  He never changes, I change.  He will help me through anything, through all the uncertainty in life and that is certain.

The readings today were Hosea 6:3, Job 19:25-26, Isaiah 40:8, Luke 1:37.  I really loved the end of verse 3 in Hosea 6. "...He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." It'll rain, even if there's hardly any it'll rain sometime, that's a sure thing.  It's a certainty that God has placed in our atmosphere. 

Even if you are facing uncertainty in your life right now, find something that is certain to thank God for tonight in your prayer. 

Can't wait to hear your thoughts and stories.

Much Love,
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 3

Today was such a good study for me personally.  It was emotional for me to read through the Job passage because I sent Zach this passage last month when he was discouraged.  I told him what if Satan came to God and personally asked for Zach? I'm here with a church family and my amazing neighbors and friends while he's out there alone and isolated.  I told him he should think of it as a compliment that he was the one put in this situation.  God trusts him to still shine his light for Him.

Anyway, I want to hear your thoughts on today's passages and what she had to say. God will see you through anything.

My challenge for today is to look back on your life so far and think of a challenging situation,  how did God help pull you through?

I can't wait to here your thoughts.
Ashley

https://youtu.be/K_e4QZXJ4nY

June Bible Study Day 2

Hey all!

So today I decided to do a regular blog post about the study.  I know sometimes I have to do all my 'electronic time' while I'm putting the kids to sleep and I can't be listening to something. :o)

Today in our Shereadstruth.com study of "In Everything, Give Thanks" Day 2: Give Thanks In Joy we read Luke 17:11-19 and Psalm 30:1-12.

One part of the reading really stood out to me today.  Psalm 30:3 "You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit."  How many times have we gotten in with a couple of not so right people?  I'm saying they aren't good people, but are they right for you to have so close to you?  Are you talking about Christ while you're with them?  Are you encouraging each other in Christ?  Think about your close friendships and who you are always with, make sure these people will help you and your family draw closer to God and give thanks for the ones in your life that you have that help you along our journey to Heaven.

"I shall never be moved," also stood out to me in verse 6 of Psalm 30. How many times have we said this and then weeks later we are doubting once again.  Let's give thanks in the small things so we can learn to be truly grateful for all that we have in our lives.

Sometimes it is not hard to find joy in the joyful times, but sometimes we forget to stop and say thank you for this joyful season in my life.  My challenge for you for tomorrow is to say an entire prayer to God that is all thankfulness.  Thank God for all the good in your life and for the situations that will make you stronger for Him.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts.
Ashley

June Bible Study Day 1

Hey Guys!

I'm starting a 13 day Bible study today.  Here is my post about Day 1.

You can find the study at SheReadsTruth.com under "In Everything, Give Thanks."  

Thank for wanting to study God's word with me. I want to be able to be lifted up by each of you.

https://youtu.be/3pypEW9YVjk