Week 7: Mary, the Mother of Jesus

While I was in Las Vegas I got to go see the Lion King. I love theater, especially musicals. When I was a teenager I thought about pursuing a career in the arts, but God had other plans. In fact, His plans far exceeded anyting I could have dreamed for myself. It is a great thing to be a Daughter of the King.

This lesson is about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Read Luke 1:26-55. What is the best news you have ever received? Did you get your dream date? Did you win something or make it on the team? Did your character and walk with God shine in the process?

Mary had an upstanding lifestyle. God saw her heart and knew she could do something very special for Him. She was not perfect, just like we are not perfect, but she was willing to serve. I doubt that being the mother of Jesus was in her life plan. You probably have your goals and plans also. That is great. We all need to have direction, but how much or do we include God in our plans? If I would have just listened to myself I would have gone down a much different path, not the one God had just for me.

Did you notice in the study that Mary had a mentor in Elizabeth? She needed someone to listen to her and give her Godly counsel. Do you have anyone in your life that fills that need? Do you have someone that you can be accountable with and you know the advice they share is based on God's Word, not the latest gossip? If you don't pray that God will put that person in your life to help you grow spiritually.

Do you consider yourself to be special or unique? God does. I love this verse, Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Mary probably saw herself as ordinary, but God saw her talents and gifts. Each one of you is wonderfully made. God has a special plan just for you. It won't magically happen. It takes commitment to Christ and following Him daily, but He will guide your steps if you follow. I may not ever be on Broadway, but I know I am right where God wants me ande there is such joy in being right where God wants me to be. Blessings are flowing in the center of God's will. I just have to trust Him. I pray that you will seek to be right where He wants you to be also. You may not understand it, but His plan is so much better than anything you could create for yourself. Trust Him.

Week 6: Letting God Heal Your Hurts

So, I was in Las Vegas for a week doing conferences for teachers. Let me tell you that a week in Vegas is a long time. People can make all kind of choices in Vegas. Where to eat? Where to shop? What show to see? Lots of choices. But even with all the glitz and glam of Las Vegas, people are often there to hide hurts. They want to escape their real lives and act in ways that may not be healthy for them in order to fix the hurt.

There are great things about Las Vegas also, like In-N-Out Burgers. You can only get them out west, so when in town I make it a point to hang out there at least once. Yummy burgers and fries. While I was there this time, I overhead a disturbing conversation of a teenage girl and her 2 college friends. Someone had left a Gospel track on the table where they sat outside. I was a few feet away. The girl started reading it aloud and making jokes along the way with each step of the salvation plan. I wondered what could have happened to this girl that she had such a jaded view of the Gospel and Christians. I prayed in that moment for the Lord to let me know if I was to approach the students, but God instead had me lift the three up in prayer. I don't think that words were what these 3 needed at the time. Why do people reject Jesus? Why do people make bad choices? This lesson is about Tamar. It is a tragic story and one that brings out the need for a Savior to heal all our hurts.

Read 2 Samuel 13-1-19 to find out the terrible plot against Tamar.  Tamar was the victim of a violent crime. Something she believe she could not get over. She considered herself a desolate woman because of the event. We have all been hurt in some way or the other. It may be in a physical manner or something more emotional. How do you get over something like that? Or do you? God has the power to heal. He sees our hurts and does not make fun of them, but wants us to cling to Him when we are hurting. It may also mean you need to talk to someone about your fears and experiences. I hope you know you can come to me or Jessie to talk about whatever is on your heart. There is no judgement, just love and a caring heart.

Tamar was tricked and hurt. Can good come out of tragedy? How has God used a hurt or tragedy to bring good out of it for you and others? Jeremiah 29:11 is a great promise for us, For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Make this a memory verse for you to hold on to when things are rough.

GirlTalk: Splash!

Summer is wrapping up, can you believe it?! Wow! What better way to beat the heat than with a little splash and sun?

Join us at Bentwater Pool for a pool party hosted by Lori Matthews on Thursday, July 22, from 6:30-8:30pm.

We'll provide pop and pizza; you just bring yourself, your swimsuit, a towel, and whatever water toys you need/want! :)

Click here for a map of Bentwater. Once you get there, follow Bentwater Dr. to Myra and turn right. Follow Myra around to the clubhouse. For questions or more info, call, fb, or email Jessie at (417) 885-5232 (office) or (417) 861-8143 or jstone@ridgecrestbaptist.org.

See you soon!

8th Grade Recognition Sunday

Lifestyle Bible Study Week 5: Sin

Free scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox So last week I was in Chicago. I love the feel of a big city. There is so much to do like shopping, restaurants, shows, etc. But it is easy to look around and also realize how small we are and that we are just one of millions of people on the planet. But God sees us very differently. He loves us for who we are and he cares about our future.  This week the study is about the Woman Caught in Adultery. She must have felt very alone and ashamed. She was caught in sin and drug in front of everyone to see Jesus. How embarrassing. Have you ever felt that your sin was on display or mistakes you made were known by everyone? The verse in Numbers 32:23 has always haunted me in a way.. Be sure your sins will find you out. We aren't very good at hiding our sin. Eventually, like the woman in this week's lesson in John 8, someone will find out our mistakes and more importantly God knows our sin. So, what can we do about it? Keep sinning or as Barney Fife says, "Nip it in the bud"?  I think getting to the root of our sin is what we are called to do, but we can't take care of our sin issues alone. We need God's help.  Are we confessing our sin daily to God, or moment by moment? One of the hardest things to pray is for God to show us our sin. Be ready. It is going to hurt. So often we cover our sins with excuses and blame it on our personality or it is a habit, but to truly grow with the Lord we have to be willing to ask God to show us our sin and remove it from our lives. Think root canal or removing a splinter from your hand... it needs to be done but it can be painful.  But here is the great thing. God forgives us when we repent. When we turn away from our sin and ask His help, he is faithful to forgive us and lead us into a much better path. That path includes us asking God to help us guard our minds when we face temptation. I remember a DNOW lesson from high school. Yes, they had DNOW way back when I was in high school. Anyway, I remember our leader asking us why we as Christians sin. It kind of stumped everyone. Some said because of Satan, others blamed situations or people. But the real reason he said we sin is because we choose to sin. Ouch! I had never thought of that before. I actually chose to lash out when I was angry or I chose to have a bad attitude or mistreat people. We have to guard our hearts and mind in Christ Jesus because in our flesh we will choose sin everytime.  As you study this week's lesson, I encourage you to get real honest about your sin and where you are with God. I know I  am. These lessons keep speaking to me each week. How will you face temptation based on the scriptures? What will you do if you fall into sin again? I suspect as you stay close to the Lord and accountable to trusted Christian friends, you will know just what to do.

gearing up for CAMP.

So tomorrow's the big day. That's right: CAMP 2010: 3D is finally here! I can't hardly believe it. I'm so ready and pumped. In fact, I'm currently not feeling even remotely sleepy. That's how stoked I am! I hope you're excited too!

With all the CAMP planning and preparation, things have been a little hectic around the office. (The whole FC renovation thing seems to be a tad bit of a contributor to the mayhem too, but we're super excited about that as well!) In the process of all the busyness, I've finally forced myself to slow down tonight and really take it all in. I don't want to miss anything. It's really easy for me to get caught up in the details of what I'm doing and forget about the details of what God wants to do.

So, I thought I'd take a few minutes and just share what's the Lord has laid on my heart for CAMP 2010. Here goes.

1. I want to see God move. Not just a, "Oh maybe God did some things below the surface" kind of movement. I'm asking to see Him and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He's moving.

2. I want to see God move big. Not just half-way or a little bit. I want to see Him do BIG things in rbcstudents this week. I'm asking for a revolution.

3. I want to see pride broken down and relationships restored. Both in rbcstudents' lives and in my own. God's bigger than all of the junk we let distract us. I'm asking Him to help us let go of our own agenda and unite for His glory.


What about you? What are you asking God to do at CAMP 2010? Care to join me in these prayers?
I'm praying for you and I can't wait to see and hear what He does!

Love you!

GirlTalk |Create: Tie-Dye Fest!

Well, I don't know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed our tie-dye time together last week! What a blast! I could not be more thrilled with how my shirt turned out. How does yours look? I wanted to share some pics from the evening, so here's a little slideshow I threw together. Enjoy! :)

Personalize a digital slideshow

Week 4: Mary & Martha

Hello, my name is Martha and I am so busy serving that I don't have time to sit and listen to God. Zing! This week's study hits me where I live. I am always busy. Busy traveling and training, busy working on projects or degrees, busy trying to be the best wife and mom. But unfortunately, sometimes too busy for spending quality time with the Lord. Why can't I be like Mary? I mean Mary is relaxed and she just listens to Jesus. She even took her all time favorite perfume and washed His feet with it and her hair. Whoa.

This week you will be looking at 2 sisters. They both love Jesus, but one gets lost in being busy and forgets what is important. The other, Mary.. is a great example of how we need to put our daily quiet time with God as our highest priority. The scriptures for this week are Luke 10:38-42 and John 12:1-8.

I couldn't help but think about our lesson during Super Sunday tying together with this study. We talked about setting our goals as Christians and maturing in Christ. I loved the phrase shared today about staying in a constant conversation with Christ. How can we stay in a constant conversation with Christ when we don't take time to listen, we do all the talking and never stop to hear what Christ has to say? I know I am challenged by these lessons. What am I doing that is so important I can't spend time with the Creator of the Universe? What am I sacrificing to show my love for Him? I hope you will wrestle with these  ideas with me this week. Love reading the comments. We are getting there. Please jump in and share.

GirlTalk: Create!

Get your tie-dye on!

When: Thursday, June 8th, 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Jessie's house

Click here for directions.

Bring your own t-shirt, socks, or pillowcase.

We'll provide the snacks and tie-dye kits!

See you there!