Esther - a Beth Moore Bible Study
“If it is true that God is speaking,
Than nothing would matter more than LISTENING…” Brennan Manning
God is speaking through His WONDERFUL WORD …
Not for us to master knowledge for knowledge puffs up but love changes…I Cor 8:1
But to ENCOUNTER MY BEAUTIFUL GOD…
And that’s what Beth Moore brings to the table or should I say altar...
How to read my Bible to meet my POWERFULLY PRESENT GOD…
Than nothing would matter more than LISTENING…” Brennan Manning
God is speaking through His WONDERFUL WORD …
Not for us to master knowledge for knowledge puffs up but love changes…I Cor 8:1
But to ENCOUNTER MY BEAUTIFUL GOD…
And that’s what Beth Moore brings to the table or should I say altar...
How to read my Bible to meet my POWERFULLY PRESENT GOD…
Our Bible Study group is doing the Esther "It's Tough Being A Woman" study with Beth Moore... Once again, Beth makes you want to be caught up in the LARGER STORY OF OUR SAVIOR…for it is He who is the CENTER of our lives…it’s not about our story…I am not the center of my life...it is our story lifted into HIS STORY…
If God exists and He so poignantly powerfully does, then I must think about how I pitifully and powerfully and poorly and pristinely relate to my husband, my children, my church, my ministry, my friends, my community…not in a self obsessed way but in a self broken way….and this woman makes me want to think about how I want to relate to them in a God-obsessed way. A wild woman of the Word as she said…”www”…and it’s because Deut 32:47 – God’s words are not idle words, they are our very life!
There were, among many, three things that lingered with me from Beth’s opening session on Esther in Houston last Tuesday…
NO PLACE GOD CAN’T GO WITH SCARED WILLING VESSELS…
“No place God can’t move into, no place God can’t go with scared-half-to-death but willing, ill-equipped vessels.” She asked us if we would be willing to go with God? Her opening words made me want to know “the whole Megillot” looking into the life of a woman like Esther feeling fear and inadequacy just like me.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY RED SEA PARTS…
Beth asked what happens when your Red Sea parts or doesn’t part and you can’t find Him but you know He’s there…what HOPE God gives Romans 15:4 that despite appearances we have not been given a stone but bread…Living Bread of Life…God has not lost me but I sometimes feel lost at times…and Beth went on to talk about God being anonymous working through the natural in our ordinary events in our lives, …a “coincidence”---not really, it’s God preferring to remain anonymous, God building our faith…ANXIOUS EXPECTATION---when I am out of my mind with fear and anxiety, I can look through eyes of faith…and our faith is putting God in every fill in the blank…oh my…nothing happens by chance…and when she talked about her own dark night of the soul and reflecting on what we know that we know that we know that we know in the darkness…it was one of those moments for me in my own darkness that I knew something that moment I didn’t know the moment before…and I walked away a little more convinced that “He is working out everything in conformity with His Providential Will”…you seek Him and His will finds you…oh my
ANOTHER WOMAN’S SHADOW…
It’s tough being a woman in another woman’s shadow…Miss Perfect or Miss Monster…and you know, I thought, my biggest problem is not other people but it is my failure to commune with my awesome God in the midst of my relational failures with my husband, children and friends…it’s my failure to find my Good God. Beth said the World Bible Commentary said God parts the Red Sea with you or without you…He is calling me to His Word and I can’t get enough of it, can’t get enough of Him…trust His providence even when there is no miracle…God is calling me to courage.
As I finish my first week of Bible study lessons in Esther and see how I am born for trouble…and what will I do with it? I loved it when Beth said: “Trust your life to the Hand and Pen of an UNSEEN, EVER-PRESENT GOD who is writing my life into His Story."
You can catch the aroma of this precious woman of God…II Cor. 2:14 – thanks be to God who is the fragrance of Jesus Christ through Beth. When I smell the fear, and I do, I also am finding a pungent smell of my Christ in the words of this Bible Study...and that changed the direction of my week a little as I related a tad differently to my husband and kids and world. Little by little Deut 7:22…He is changing me through His Word…I am listening and so grateful for this journey through Esther.
If God exists and He so poignantly powerfully does, then I must think about how I pitifully and powerfully and poorly and pristinely relate to my husband, my children, my church, my ministry, my friends, my community…not in a self obsessed way but in a self broken way….and this woman makes me want to think about how I want to relate to them in a God-obsessed way. A wild woman of the Word as she said…”www”…and it’s because Deut 32:47 – God’s words are not idle words, they are our very life!
There were, among many, three things that lingered with me from Beth’s opening session on Esther in Houston last Tuesday…
NO PLACE GOD CAN’T GO WITH SCARED WILLING VESSELS…
“No place God can’t move into, no place God can’t go with scared-half-to-death but willing, ill-equipped vessels.” She asked us if we would be willing to go with God? Her opening words made me want to know “the whole Megillot” looking into the life of a woman like Esther feeling fear and inadequacy just like me.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY RED SEA PARTS…
Beth asked what happens when your Red Sea parts or doesn’t part and you can’t find Him but you know He’s there…what HOPE God gives Romans 15:4 that despite appearances we have not been given a stone but bread…Living Bread of Life…God has not lost me but I sometimes feel lost at times…and Beth went on to talk about God being anonymous working through the natural in our ordinary events in our lives, …a “coincidence”---not really, it’s God preferring to remain anonymous, God building our faith…ANXIOUS EXPECTATION---when I am out of my mind with fear and anxiety, I can look through eyes of faith…and our faith is putting God in every fill in the blank…oh my…nothing happens by chance…and when she talked about her own dark night of the soul and reflecting on what we know that we know that we know that we know in the darkness…it was one of those moments for me in my own darkness that I knew something that moment I didn’t know the moment before…and I walked away a little more convinced that “He is working out everything in conformity with His Providential Will”…you seek Him and His will finds you…oh my
ANOTHER WOMAN’S SHADOW…
It’s tough being a woman in another woman’s shadow…Miss Perfect or Miss Monster…and you know, I thought, my biggest problem is not other people but it is my failure to commune with my awesome God in the midst of my relational failures with my husband, children and friends…it’s my failure to find my Good God. Beth said the World Bible Commentary said God parts the Red Sea with you or without you…He is calling me to His Word and I can’t get enough of it, can’t get enough of Him…trust His providence even when there is no miracle…God is calling me to courage.
As I finish my first week of Bible study lessons in Esther and see how I am born for trouble…and what will I do with it? I loved it when Beth said: “Trust your life to the Hand and Pen of an UNSEEN, EVER-PRESENT GOD who is writing my life into His Story."
You can catch the aroma of this precious woman of God…II Cor. 2:14 – thanks be to God who is the fragrance of Jesus Christ through Beth. When I smell the fear, and I do, I also am finding a pungent smell of my Christ in the words of this Bible Study...and that changed the direction of my week a little as I related a tad differently to my husband and kids and world. Little by little Deut 7:22…He is changing me through His Word…I am listening and so grateful for this journey through Esther.
10 comments:
Bev,
I want to come visit you soon. When would be a good time to come to dinner or something? I'll bring dessert. And maybe even Lauren and Hayley. You just let me know, I'm basically good for any night but mondays.
Love you,
Claire
oh, am i ever jealous of a siesta in a bible study!! thanks for visiting and for your sweet and encouraging words! i'm glad your answer for Hosanna was sittin' right there! :) i spent about 2 hours hanging out with Jesus at the coffee shop down the street...it was so great...and then i come back to see your post--you can never have too mcuh Jesus cause He is THAT great! thank you for putting up these words..please visit anytime!
oh, and since my confession post, the you-tube watching has decreased a significant amount. :) ...it's still on my saved websites list though ;)
Good good stuff Siesta! Okay, I know there are about a MILLION ladies at the Beth Moore studies, but you must try to find my friend Debra Parker. She just moved back to Houston in August and is also attending the Esther study. I am having to confess my jealousy. Sigh. I would LOVE to get to go! Ya'll have fun! :)
Oh yeah, you will LOVE Debra! She's on awesome girl and has a HUGE heart on fire for God. Plus she is just a really really amazing Siesta!
I have been trying to write you all week.. smile.. well ok.. last two days... LOL....
Larry Crabb.. yes.. I met him.. and did go to his talk.. and then I bought his book, Soultalk.. wowowowowowowowow... I had him autograph it too.. that is a great book...
we had dinner next to them too... like, Can I just like your spoon.. what is up with that.. he is just as human as we are.. smile...
what was your study about? I would love it, I'm sure...
BTW,,, I have heard Brennan Manning speak.. and I love him.. he's incredible.. Loved his books, Abba's Child and Raggamuffin...
Esther... well, someone said during church once, "I don't know why that book is even in the Bible." I had to subdue myself because that is one of my favorite books..."If I perish, I perish."
OK.. off the pulpit..
blessings, Bev....
Bev! I would LOVE it so very much! I usually go to the Saturday 5pm service, so I would LOVE to do dinner afterwards. Maybe next Saturday? I'm pretty sure Matt will be back. How does that sound? My number is 979-492-6451, gimme a call!
Claire
Claire---we are doing a huge volunteer thing this Saturday helping to put on a race for kids with cancer...and I am in charge of our high school kids who are volunteering...let's do it the next Saturday the 29th...I'll come to the 5pm service...find out if Matt's back---did some of your friends go with him to China"?
So, I can't remember if I responded to your comment or not. If I haven't, PLEASE forgive me. This unit has been crazy!
In order to get the playlist onto your iPOD you need the cord that connects the iPOD to the computer. Once plugged in the iPOD should show up in the left hand column. From there it will either automatically update it OR you can drag and drop it onto your iPOD (click and hold while you move the playlist over). If you are doing it the second way you should see a + sign over the iPOD. It should then begin uploading the playlist.
Hope that helps. Sorry about the delay.
Katie
The Esther study...is it new? Is she teaching it in Houston? I can't find it anywhere. :)
Shel, I did the Esther study in Houston this past fall with Beth Moore leading it at her church. The sessions were taped live for LIFEWAY and Beth is writing the Esther study materials this year and will be finished in May, I beleive at which time the study will come out...that's about all I know about it. You could probably find out more at Beth's website Living Proof Ministries.
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