1 John 1:1

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

The first part that stood out to me about this opening to the letter is the phrase, "which we have looked at and our hands have touched." It is awesome to think that this disciple, Jesus' cousin, actually saw Jesus. I think of Jesus appearing to Thomas and inviting him and the disciples to look and see his hands and side, to touch and know that he is alive! In Suprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis's story of coming to faith, he describes an encounter with a close friend toward the end of his book, shortly before his conversion, in which this brilliant, atheist scholar friend of his informally comes upstairs to chat, and he makes a comment to the effect of, "You know, Lewis, it's a rum thing--the historicity of the gospels." Even many of the brilliant atheist/agnostic scholars of this world recognize that Christ lived. More significantly than their recognition are the living accounts of these disciples who saw him with their own eyes lived to record his words and actions. I like to think about that.

Secondly, I hear an echo in this opening of the book of the gospel of John. This "Word of life," "that which was from the beginning." Rings a bell with "In the beginning was the Word..." And this Word became flesh, flesh that John and the others saw with their own eyes. Our God came down in humility for us. It is beyond my comprehending, but I'm excited to learn what I can through this study with you all. I'm so thankful for this love letter from God to us and for our eagerness to read it! Unlike any other book, this one is "living and active," food for our souls.

1 John Study Printable!

Hello beautiful ladies!
As promised, here is a link to the printable study guide for our next 3 months in 1 John!

1 John Printables

You can just print off the pages you need as you go - or like I'm doing, just print off the whole baby at once so you're prepared! :)

I am greatly looking forward to Monday the 15th and praying now for God to help me diligently keep the commitment and be strengthened from being in His Word! It is our greatest blessing and resource!

What are your thoughts on beginning this kind of commitment?? 

Love you all!
In Christ,
Cait

New Look - New Study - New Season

Good morning ladies!
I am so thrilled that we are starting up again! I hope you all had a marvelous and fun summer and are enjoying the change of pace and season! It is definitely fall here now as the temperature is COLD! haha

Anyway, we have some newcomers to the group so I ask that we all welcome them with love and open hearts! So thankful that we're inviting others to this group where we all will no doubt grow!

As most of you probably already know, we'll be studying I John and in order to prepare for our SEPTEMBER 19th Start Date, I thought it timely to set you all up with the reading plan, etc.! As we've done in the past, we follow the Original Good Morning Girls worldwide group and their plans for the most part - it really helps us feel like we're in a bigger community! I strongly encourage you gals to check out their website (their page address is in our sidebar under "What We Like") - there's so many extra goodies and wisdom to be found from the women there, and going there will also lead you to other Christian blogs for women. It's encouraging like crazy to find all these other ladies out there all around us struggling for the same holy things, praying for bigger faith, and living hopeful lives in our hopeless and dark world! Anyway, just a thought :)

OK, you can download and print the study plan here.

And, as stated on the GMG Website:

SOAP Print-out sheets coming soon...  You can use our SOAP printables and place them in a 3 ring binder OR use your own notebook/journal to record your study in the book of I John.  Here’s how the SOAP plan works!

Get your Bible and a fresh journal. Read the passage of scripture for the day and apply the SOAP method. Here is what SOAP stands for:

1. S- Write out the scripture passage for the day.

2. O- Write down 1 or 2 observations from the passage.

3. A- Write down 1-2 applications from the passage.

4. P- Pray over what you learned from today’s passage.

By the end of the 12 weeks, you will have written out the entire book of I John in your journal. You will have meditated on every single verse in I John as you have written it out and pondered each verse bit by bit.

So there you have it!  If any of you have questions or comments, please share now, as we have about 2 weeks till we officially start :) Thoughtful opinions and ideas are oh-so-welcome here.

Love in Christ to you all!
Cait

What's Next??

Excited to hear if you gals have any books you're particularly interested in studying? Miss you all.

James 5:19-20

Good morning, dear girls!

Paula said it so well in her post on the last verses of James. I really like and appreciate her own Bible note that said "See souls. Be brave."! That is such a fantastic way of looking at it. How difficult it can be when we get caught up and swept away in daily, frenetic living! I don't want to be only a skin-deep person, living for and judging only the surface of the world and needing people around me. Everyone needs something whether they know of it or not. I pray to be out there looking for the needs and living off of Christ's strength to help meet those needs.
We are so well-equipped, with God's Words at our everyday fingertips, with his love and power in our hearts - because of his grace, we can literally change the world! I have no doubt that is why we are here. The changes he causes us to make we may stay blind to until heaven - which is definitely a tiresome and difficult understanding - but his grace is sufficient! And it's motivating and exciting to believe he works through us despite our lack of correct vision, sometimes.

I pray for you all, beautiful, growing women of God, that he would give you eyes for the souls of the world. That instead of always and only looking out for ourselves, God would bless us with selflessness and love for the soul-sick and the wanderers and that he would help us - oh that he would help us! - in our frail attempts to make a difference for him. Have patience and be brave! We are not complete. He is working in your life as well as in the lives of those who do not have the bliss of knowing Him...He'll never leave you to your own defenses.

Love you all - I am thinking about you and praying for you all as we near the end of another school year and approach the beautiful, quieter days of summer.
Leaning hard on him with you,
~Cait

Last of James

Hello all, I am a little overwhelmed this week by life, God, unbelief in others (in a liberal campus) and the sin that pervades this world. When I read the last verse of James, I saw a note I had written there years ago. It read, "See souls. Be brave." I needed to hear that verse about turning a sinner from the error of his way. Because so often I become discouraged by the unbelief around me and the efforts of others to destroy God's name. God sees them aright. He loves them so much. He does not weaken at the sight of them. He only loves perfectly. I need to be brave enough to love them, and I need to be filled up on his love. I am so amazed at how he picks me up each day. I am disheveled and I let doubts, worries, and insecurities plague me at times. But he forgives and encourages me to keep moving forward. He turns me from the errors of my ways and says, "See...look what I have done for you!" I'm so glad for his perfect walk and his courage and selflessness to the cross, that he lives for me! And for you! Though we are dying, we are alive...and the hope of heaven is sweeter than ever. Thanks to everyone for sincere faith and loving words. I am so incredibly blessed by the Word of God in my heart, and for the breath of God in the words you have taken time to write. It is good to share faith with you all. Thank you. So much. Love, Paula

Final Day of James!!

Good morning girls!
I just wanted to hop on here and say a big "THANK YOU" for all of your participation in our first GMG session over the last 3 months. I know personally I have learned alot about myself and how I express my faith in studying God's Word - I'm very inconsistent at times! And I'm sad to finish this "project", because I WANT more of God's Word, and I WANT more accountability for whatever it is that helps me to be.in.it.more and more often! Whether I need to work on getting up earlier or keeping better priorities and focus on what is important during the day - I'm still learning, and figuring all that out.
I want to post yet on our last verses for today, but prefer to give myself a bit more time than I have this morning, so my aim will be to post tonight or tomorrow for sure - before our Reflection Week begins (Week 12)! I love that we'll be finishing right before Good Friday/Easter weekend. What a reflective and beautiful way of wrapping up our Bible study.

Anyway, I know a couple of you expressed interest in starting a 2nd GMG Session - - I'm all for it!! And bring a friend along this time if you would like!! I thought we might go in the direction of GMG.org's next study, but they are doing a book study over the summer and their book of choice is primarily aimed towards mothers and motherhood. Since none of us are moms yet I think we better choose a different study! So here's my thought:
over the next couple of weeks would you all please gather thoughts/ideas/titles/favorite books of the Bible that you think would make a good 3-month study and post them for us?

Then I would say we could go simply off of feedback or cast a vote :) And, voila! We'll have our next session! I'm excited for going in a new direction! Thanks, girls!!

One more item of mention - I don't know if Becca will be reading this soon or not - or if she will want to tell you herself, but she's got some major good news for everyone in her life right now! I won't say anything yet, except a request that you say a prayer of thanks to God for the joy and blessing he's given her! We'll be waiting on you, Becca, to annouce it! :-)

Everyone have a blessed, wonderful Friday!
Love,
~Cait