A Rainy Saturday

It's a rainy afternoon and I don't really know what I am going to write, but I've been enjoying reading some other blogs and feel it's time to write again.

This was the first Saturday morning I haven't had to rush to Women's Fellowship at church because we shifted it to Sunday after service. Many women have a hard time getting there Saturday because they either work, have classes or struggle to find childcare. Since I am leaving for the US soon, I think tomorrow will be the last time I lead. I hope attendance becomes more regular so it works to make a schedule; if I continue to lead when I get back from the US I think I'll lose some of the joy of getting to know the other women.

Tomorrow I plan to talk about the importance of daily devotions; not just reading the Word, but actually pondering on it and if possible, studying with a commentary or Bible Study.

These past few years I have gone through four of Beth Moore Bible Studies and have really appreciated both the depth and the frequent delving into the Word that the studies require. The ways the studies have impacted me are sometimes difficult to pinpoint, but the need to read almost daily has been a discipline that has impacted me on a holistic level. What I mean by the use of that word is that as I read and ponder on a regular basis, more regularly than I have for some years, I find that my mind and spirit are more in tune with God and in the process he is transforming my whole being and my whole worldview to be more one with Him.

When I was teaching English in at Bronnum Lutheran Seminary and then Lutheran Junior Seminary in Adamawa State of Nigeria I used to tell my students that studying English is a process and each time you look at it from a higher grade and a more mature/deeper level you in turn gain a deeper understanding of it. Now I feel the same way about my faith. I have been a Christian for many years, but I love that my faith too is an ongoing process in which I continue to take my relationship with God at a deeper level. I still find that I learn some lessons over and over and often gain different perspectives about how God is revealed in my life but when I hit those low and difficult times the depth of my relationship enables me to turn that much faster to God's wisdom, grace, and unending love and forgiveness.

I hope that as I share some of these insights with the women tomorrow, I can do so without sounding too perfect, like I think I'm better than anyone else because of my discoveries, but rather that my excitement, joy, and appreciation for my relationship with God will challenge them to also seek a deeper level of their own relationship with God. That is my prayer for you too. Quality relationships take a commitment of time, and that includes a relationship with God. May you too seek a deeper relationship with the one true God.

Dorthea