Category Archives: Thankfulness

Bible Study

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Back in the 1940’s when Mary and I were young, our mom, a Christian, would love to have studied the Bible with other women, but this kind of organization didn’t exist apart from adult Sunday school classes. These days, women have a plethora of weekday Bible studies from which to choose. Beginning in the 1950’s, organizations like Bible Study Fellowship and InterVarsity began springing up in response to women’s growing thirst for more of God’s Word.

Winnetka Covenant ChurchI remember well the first of these Bible studies I attended. It was 1978, and though it didn’t meet at my church, the point was simply to dig into God’s Word together (several hundred of us) without worrying about different denominations. Mom lived directly across the street from that church and invited Mary and I to sign up for the study, offering to care for our babies while we attended.

Those several years were the beginning of “habitual” Bible study for Mary and me. By that I mean we learned so much, we couldn’t wait to begin each next session and dove into our weekly homework with gusto. After we’d been through all the lessons offered by that group, we moved to another one and studied further, making good friends along the way.

Fast-forward to yesterday. Mary experienced something she described as “so wonderful I could hardly stand it!” She had the deep satisfaction of returning to a Bible study group she’d been part of for 25 years, though not the last two.

This particular branch of Community Bible Study has over 300 weekly attendees, and Mary began attending in the 1980’s. After being a small group leader for several years, she took a position as a senior leader, leading the leaders. It was that special group she visited yesterday, 30-some women who know Mary well and who’ve prayed without ceasing since her cancer diagnosis.

As Mary said, “Bible study is always meaningful, but when you do it with other women for years on end, you bond like family. Being with them again was thrilling!”

CBS Leaders.In the presence of these “family members” yesterday, she said she looked from face to face and just drank them in, grateful for each one. “Anyone can study the Bible,” she said, “but hearing what other women are learning, and spending time praying with them causes deep friendships to develop. A group Bible study is far more than just studying.”

Yesterday the women prayed with Mary, and as she left 30 minutes later to keep her next commitment, she told me she “couldn’t contain her joy and in the car spoke to God out loud,” thanking him for all the years with these dear friends, and the great bonus of 30 minutes yesterday.

Surely it pleases God any time we huddle over his Word, and he rewards us with knowledge and understanding. But when we study with others, his extra gift is the rich fellowship that results.

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man [or woman] sharpens another.”  (Proverbs 27:17)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Praise for women friendships and today’s current Bible study
  2. Praise for time with family tonight
  3. Pray for her to be Spirit-led through this busy week

Fresh Start (More on Mary tomorrow)

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Back in the 1940’s, housewives began using brand new products called laundry detergents in their wringer wash machines. These chemical compounds promised to clean clothes better than traditional soap ever had, even in hard water, and women were thrilled with the results on laundry day. All the detergents came in powdered or beaded form and were easy to use.

Fresh Start, late 1970'sIn the 1970’s, Colgate-Palmolive came out with the first laundry detergent sold in a bottle rather than a box, though it was still in powder form. They named it Fresh Start and promoted it as the first “highly concentrated” detergent on the market. Each full load needed only one-fourth of a cup rather than a whole one.

This morning in church, our Pastor Jay delivered a fascinating children’s sermon with a bottle of Fresh Start in his hand. The vintage bottle no longer contained detergent but had something far more interesting inside: water from the Jordan River in Israel. A pastor friend of Jay’s had given it to him after a visit there, and this water and the bottle it was in were the focal point of today’s message to the children.

Earlier in the service, Jay had baptized two babies. (Our church baptizes or dedicates, according to the wishes of the parents.) The detergent bottle and river water was meant as a visual to help youngsters understand the symbolism of baptism, the washing of our lives by the Living Water that is Jesus. Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan River, and ever since, he wants us to see baptism as symbolic of being cleansed from sin.

Fresh StartAmazingly, the Fresh Start bottle with its bit of the Jordan in it was aptly named. It said, “Heavy Duty Fresh Start.” Who wouldn’t want one of those?

Our God is the champion of heavy duty fresh starts, and the bottle put it well: “Cleans your family’s deepest dirt and many tough stains.” That’s exactly what Jesus does for us when we repent of our sins. The Fresh Start label says, “Extra stain-fighting power! Concentrated for strength!” Jesus says the same about himself, though he deals with stains more difficult to clean than those on our clothes. He cleans the invisible ones on our insides.

All of us have been stained by sin, and we spend lots of time working to remove that dirt from our lives. Coming clean doesn’t happen, though, unless we ask God to wash us. After that he’ll give us a heavy duty fresh start!

Pastor JayJay’s detergent bottle even tells us what our lives can be like after we’ve been cleansed by Jesus. Wherever we go, it says, we’ll leave a “clean fresh scent.”

The Lord’s cleansing will smell good to us and to others. And even to Him.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Praise for a weekend in Michigan making wedding plans with daughter Stina, and for time with 3 grandchildren
  2. Praise for feeling good, though very tired
  3. Pray for enough stamina to meet the many demands of this week. (More about this tomorrow)

Just say it.

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Sleepytime IsaacToday Linnea, baby Isaac, and I drove the 90 minutes from SW Michigan to Chicago’s Midway Airport. Sadly, it was time to see them off after a visit that went by way too fast and was far too short. But 3 excited children were waiting in Florida after 5 days that seemed far too long without their mommy and little brother, not to mention one eagerly waiting husband.

Helping Linnea into the airport with her baby, luggage, carry-on, and stroller, I was glad we could enjoy a few extra minutes together in line for a boarding pass. Suddenly a woman walked up to me from the side, touched my arm and said, “That color blue looks really good on you!”

The color blue.I looked at her, a traveler pulling her carry-on bag, wanting to do nothing more than uplift me. She smiled when I thanked her, and as she and her bag rolled away, she nodded as if to say, “Really… I mean it.”

Looking at Linnea with raised eyebrows I said, “Wow. That was really nice!”

I’m ashamed to say I probably wouldn’t have done the same for a stranger in similar circumstances, not wanting “to intrude” or make a person “feel uncomfortable.” But the woman’s compliment felt good, certainly not intrusive or uncomfortable.

I’ve often chided myself for thinking positive thoughts about someone but failing to get them out of my mouth. Pastor George Sweeting used to say, “Never suppress a generous impulse,” but passing up an opportunity to speak approving words is exactly that.

When Nate was struggling with his cancer, it slowly dawned on us he wasn’t going to live through it. As soon as we figured that out, we could effortlessly voice words of admiration and love, messages that probably wouldn’t have come out so readily or powerfully, had we both been healthy.

Modeling.Now I see the same thing happening with Mary and those of us who are “satellite-ing” around her in her cancer fight. This can be counted as something positive emerging from all the negatives.

It’s also a strong nudge to get us delivering words of praise to others, whether healthy or sick, whenever we think them. Our words carry great power and can accomplish some really good things, not just in others but in us, too. Maybe that’s one of the reasons God instructs us to adore and praise him with words.

It’s been 12 hours since the airport lady spoke to me, but I’m still thinking about it. And if given a choice, the next time I go shopping for clothes, I’ll be scanning the racks for blue.

“Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Praising and Praying with Mary:

  1. Pray for tomorrow’s meeting with the 3rd hospital about chemo, and for sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading in the decision
  2. Praise for praying people who are still at it!
  3. Praise for 2 months worth of cards, notes, and packages arriving daily (“The milk of human kindness is flowing!”)