Girls Bible Study: June 25th Recap

Here’s a fact, and it may surprise you: The mean girl in your life is not punishment from God.

She might not even be sent from God, but He will use her to purify your faith. However, if YOU try and fix the mean girl problem, it won’t work. Anything you do out of revenge, meanness, or bitterness is a spiritual failure. Let me tell you, it’s ok that you failed. Everyone does. The way to correct it is to ask God for His help dealing with the mean girl in your life.

Do you believe that God’s plan for your life is better than the one you have? If you do, then you agree that His commands are good and should be followed. The Lord commands us to die to our self. This mean girl might be the perfect opportunity to die to self. In order to die to yourself and follow God, you have to stop trying to live your way, and start trying to live His way. Our way tells us to go spread nasty rumors about this girl, to throw her dirty looks in the hall, and to call her names on Facebook. God’s way tells us to stop the gossip, the smile at her when she brushes past you, and to turn the other cheek online. When you act according to God’s will, good feelings follow.

Here’s another shocking statement about your mean girl: Sometimes a mean girl is your own creation.

A lot of times girls are mean because of something you’ve done, knowingly or unknowingly. Sometimes, we retreat from friendships with girls, and only hang out with guys because they are less drama. However, sometimes that rubs other girls the wrong way. They may think you were completely blowing them off, and that may lead them to mean girl behavior.

As we go through this study, I want you to be completely honest with yourself. The truth is you might be a mean girl. You gossiped about her, and now she’s out to get you, or you called her a dirty word in the bathroom, and now she’s ruining your life. Your mean girl actions could have birthed the mean girl that is now tormenting you. It’s a scary thought, right?

If your mean girl is being mean because of something you did, congratulations! Why am I congratulating you on a mean girl? If the mean girl in your life is acting out of anger from something you did, that means you have the power to change things. By simply asking her what you’ve done wrong, and apologizing for it, the hurt might begin to heal. It might not be as easy as 1-2-3, but asking her about it will certainly begin to change the way you interact with one another.

Here is how Jesus tells us to treat mean girls in 7 simple steps:

1. Love girls you don’t like.
2. Do well to girls you don’t like.
3. Pray for the girls who slam you.
4. Pray for those who are mean to you.
5. Don’t get even.
6. Give, give, and give till it hurts.
7. Treat other like you want to be treated.

Sounds pretty tough, right? It is. But with the Lord’s help, and lots of repetition, this attitude towards your mean girl will become second nature.

Dealing with mean girls is hard, and the healing process can take some time, but trusting your relationship with that mean girl to God can make all the difference. 

~Emilee

GBS Summer Schedule

Join us for Girls Bible Study!

2 nights each month this summer

6:30-8:30 p.m.

  

Summer 2012 Schedule

Monday, June 4th, at Mary Stone's House

Thursday, June 28th, at the Siscos' House

Thursday, July 5th, at the Johns' House

Monday, July 23rd, at the Thrashers' House

Monday, August 13th, at the Bocks' House

Thursday, August 30th, at the Matthews' House

For directions, please email Jessie at jstone@ridgecrestbaptist.org.

   This summer, we'll be reading and talking about the book "Mean Girls," by Hayley DiMarco.  You do not have to purchase the book; however, if you would like to, 

you may find it at CPO for $13.19.  

GBS: Tie-Dye Party

Hi, ladies!

It's almost for summer, and what better way to celebrate than with a tie-dye party?!

Come join us Monday, May 21, 6:30-8pm, at my house.  Bring your own item to tie-dye:  t-shirt, socks, pillowcase, headband...whatever your fancy!  Just bring yourself and your apparel, and we'll have a great time!

For directions or more information, email me at jstone@ridgecrestbaptist.org.

Hope to see you Monday! :)
-Jessie

GBS Recap May 7

Hi ladies! 

In case you missed out on the mother-daughter fun that we had Monday night, here’s a little recap for you.

We studied the lesson out of Proverbs 31. If you’ve grown up in church like I have, you’ve probably heard of the Proverbs 31 woman. She does everything right…and looks good doing it. Sometimes we can place unrealistic expectations on ourselves from looking at this woman. The Bible does not say “go do everything this woman did, exactly the way she did it, or you’ll fail as a woman of God.” What the Lord is saying here is that we should embody these characteristics, and that looks different for everyone.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

                  -Proverbs 31:25-31

 There are a few key characteristics that describe this noble woman from Proverbs 31.

1.  She is trustworthy.

2.  She works hard.

3.  She has strong character/integrity.

4.  She is holy.

Stop and think for a minute.  Do these characteristics describe you?  Notice nothing in Proverbs 31 says the woman is perfect.  Praise the Lord, we aren't called to perfection!  We are called to live a life of holiness though, and if we are pursuing the Lord and His holiness, the other characteristics will fall into place. 

 

Whether you are a mother or a daughter, we are all called to the same standard: to live lives full of Godliness. This includes respecting your mother/daughter. Sometimes (most of the time), we can get frustrated at each other, and we take it out on each other because we can. God doesn’t call us to bicker with our families; he calls us, as women of God, to live peacefully with each other and to encourage each other.

Pray: Lord, help me to live a life full of You. Help me to live in harmony with my mom/daughter and to encourage her in her walk with You. Thank you for the blessing that she is in my life.

GBS April 23 Recap

Hello ladies! I know that I'm a little bit slow in posting this, but I thought that some of you may still benefit from it, so I decided to post anyway! :)

Here's a lovely recap of our time together on April 23, compliments of Miss Em:

This week we talked about the woman who bled for twelve years. We think that 5-7 days is horrible, think about dealing with that for TWELVE YEARS. Not only did this woman have to deal with her physical condition, she had to deal with the repercussions that having that disease brought upon her. In those days, a woman who was bleeding was considered unclean, and if you touched anything that she touched, you were unclean as well. That meant that she was essentially shunned from her community. She couldn’t be around her family, her friends, or even complete strangers. She was in complete and total isolation. Now I know there are some days that we think complete isolation sounds great, but for twelve years? That doesn’t sound very pleasant to me.

A question that we addressed as a group was “What was the spiritual condition of this woman?” Did she completely trust in God? Was she angry with God? Did she have complete faith in Jesus to heal her?  Was Jesus her last-ditch effort? We don’t know. But what we do know is that it doesn’t matter, because the end result is the same. She was healed.

When she made her way through the crowd and touched the hem of Jesus’ robe, she was putting a lot on the line. She wasn’t even supposed to be out in public because of her disease, let alone pushing through a crowd to touch someone. Another thing she was risking was failure. What if Jesus didn’t heal her? The Bible says she had already spent everything she had on treatments and doctor’s visits. Jesus was her ONLY hope.

What can we learn from this woman’s story? Even if we use Jesus as a last resort, He will still come through for us. He won’t deny us because we didn’t go to Him first. Even if you’ve messed up, and you’ve used every resource except God, He is still waiting. He will never leave you nor forsake you. 

A Mother-Daughter Evening

                 Girls & Moms ~  You're invited!

GBS - TONIGHT!

Whew, time has gotten away from me today!  Mondays tend to have a way of doing that...

Anyway, TONIGHT we are meeting again for Girls Bible Study.  Join us at the Elliotts' house from 6:30-8pm.  We'll be studying Luke 8 and the story of the woman that Jesus heals.  We'll also talk about who God is and how He reveals Himself to each of us individually.  As we talk, we just might do a little bit of crafty scrapbooking...you know, just for fun.  And, there will, of course, be food!

So, come on, bring a friend, and meet us for some girl time tonight!

Questions?  Need directions?  Call/text me at 417.861.8143.

Hope you can make it tonight! :)
Jessie