We did the study Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby this semester. I can't even begin to tell you all the ways our group truly experienced God! We literally sat back and watched God work through everyone in our group. There were weekly updates of what God had been doing, how our prayers had been answered. It is amazing how God puts together a group! Every week I left in complete awe of the wisdom that came from these women. Not earthly wisdom, godly wisdom. Wisdom that can only come from knowing Him. She opens her mouth with wisdom and kindness is on her tongue, Proverbs 31:26. What I loved is that when one woman would voice a fear, a failure, or a concern, the advice that was given was not simply an opinion. The advice would come straight from the Word of God. Personal encounters with God were shared so that it could give hope to a woman needing to know that things were going to work out, that God truly does work in our lives and we matter. Each one of us matters. We are a group of ordinary women. Some are stay-at-home moms, others are working women, but all ordinary women who love God. We learned through this study that God is able to do anything He pleases with the ordinary person. We just have to be fully consecrated to Him and willing to make ourselves available to Him. Blackaby stated that God loves to use ordinary people to accomplish His purposes because everyone will know only God could have done something through them! (P. 28) He wants our hearts, he wants our obedience. When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you declared about yourself (p. 27).
A dear woman in our group felt God calling her to put on an Easter event in her neighborhood. She was reluctant, it would be a lot of work! But because she obeyed God's call, He did an amazing work! It was a huge event with hundreds of Easter eggs, kids crafts, games and most importantly, the Easter message relayed to people who have never heard before. This sweet sister and her husband stepped out in faith, took on a very big responsibility and shared Christ, in love, with their community. They were missionaries right there in Atascocita. They didn't need to leave the country, their state or even their city! They saw the opportunity in their own neighborhood and joined God in the work He was doing. It was so fun to hear all the details come together before, during and after the event! We saw God working before our very eyes!
Another sweet sister answered the call she received from God to open a women's crisis pregnancy center in Humble. The details of everything are simply amazing and you can not be blind to the fact that this is a God thing. This is a huge task and there have obviously been ups and downs but through it all we've seen God's hand in it. I can't wait until this center opens! Keep your eye out, Houston!
These are just a couple of examples of how our group experienced God through each other! How blessed I am to have gotten the opportunity to be among such godly women. Women who have challenged and encouraged me. My cup runneth over!
If your church has a women's ministry I would strongly encourage you to get involved. Yes, it's great to be in circles of women who are in the same stages of life and around the same age. But oh what you can learn from women who have been there. Women who can encourage you because they've experienced the same things you are going through at the moment. Different generations need to worship and study together. Titus 2:3-5 states, Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled. I can without a doubt say that our church has an abundance of older, wiser women who are mentors to those of us who are just babies! I'm grateful that I have some sweet, very special "Titus 2 women" in my life! Along with very close friends who are walking in the same stage of life with me. Thank you, Jesus, for godly friendships!
