Wow, it’s hard to believe that the last time I wrote on here was on April 18 of this year. I think most of you know that when it comes to writing on Mari’s dedication site I’ve always only posted things when I felt led to it. I don’t want to be untrue to what I created this site for, although it’s continue to evolve from when I first created it. I no longer need to write on it on an almost daily basis, sometimes more than once in a day. This site helped with the healing process of losing Mari and I’m ever grateful that I’ve had it along the way. However, the need to write on it has now dramatically slowed to where I end up writing something only a few times throughout the year.
I’ve tried in the past to force myself to write daily and tried different things to help with that. In the end, it just wasn’t me. I wasn’t being true to who I am as a person by forcing the issue.
This is why I’ve come on here today as something new has been laid on my heart to share with all of you. We’ve had a lot going on in our lives with our daughter, Athena, becoming ill due to her now having Celiac Disease. The similarities to what we went through, even through it was different, really tore at Keith and I and has been very difficult to get through. However, Athena finally had her feeding tube removed on Monday and our life is getting back to a more normal pattern.
I broke down at church just over a week ago due to everything. I had four women come out and comfort me and just listen. They prayed over me. I felt so loved in that moment. God was there giving me the much needed strength to get through.
A good friend that I sit by every Sunday in Sunday School was one of the four women. Her name is Carol. She said that there was a Bible study on Tuesday night being run by a good friend of hers that she thought I should go to. The weird thing about it is due to how sick Athena has been, we’d literally just changed her Jazz I class from Tuesday night to a 4th Ballet II class on Friday night, so she goes to Ballet II on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. I now all of a sudden had Tuesday night come free just from the week before. I mean, what are the odds (can we all say God’s Plan).
Carol asked if it’d be okay if she gave the woman running the Bible study my name and contact info. I said sure. So a week ago last Tuesday I went to my first one. I’d already missed the first two weeks as they were discussing the past weeks study, week 2.
It’s really different. Any Bible study I’ve ever done in the past has always been where you get a book and inside the book will be parts you read and then a bunch of questions and answers for you to go through that you answer right there in the book. This Bible study was actually just a regular book. However, in the back of it is a five-week Study Guide to follow. This is what is being used in the Bible Study.
When the night ended I was told to not even worry about the first two weeks and to just do week 3 so I’d be doing what the group was doing. However, this didn’t feel right to me. The book was written by Jen Hatmaker and her book is called A Modern Girl’s Guide to Bible Study: A Refreshingly Unique Look at God’s Word. Well, this was certainly different and I just knew that if I started at week 3 that I wouldn’t be getting what I needed to from this study. So on Wednesday of last week I started with Week 1 Day 1.
Wow, it’s amazing what Jen has done to be able to help someone to really get in and study the Bible on their own without an already purchased study that someone else took the time and came up with. This is something I’m learning to be able to do on my own. The best part is it’s for the everyday person, like myself, who’s never really understood how to dig into the Bible to really understand it without the helping aide of someone else’s study all planned out for me. Don’t get me wrong, those other Bible studies I’ve been through have been fantastic, at least most of them. However, this teaches me to be able to do it on my own. Now that’s kewl.
Week 1 is the foundation so you can start doing it more on your own as she teaches you to do starting in Week 2. It’s a very exciting experience for me to go through.
So why have I told you all this? It’s because I’ve had this niggling feeling deep inside me that I need to share with you what I’ve been journaling and finding out. I asked a very close friend of mine this morning (Joanna 🙂 ) if she thought I should as I don’t want to do it for the wrong reasons. She said, “I definitely think you should share it. What if something you say really change’s someone else’s perspective the way yours is changing?” For me that is very humbling because I am no one special. I’m just Kristena. However, I feel led to share my insights and what I’ve found through this study.
So, about my new journey. Why I’m writing this message today. I plan to start sharing what I’m journaling as I work through this study. My hope is that maybe my words might touch you in some way.
Thank you for taking the time to read what I write. You guys are amazing.
Kristena
[…] Something I’ve been doing more recently over on the other site is sharing what I’ve been going through in a study I’d been doing. I plan to continue posting any new ones to this site from now on. However, if you haven’t had a chance to read them, please check out the first one where I explain the study I went through by clicking here. […]