Welcome

 Welcome to the many new women who joined us for the first time this year and welcome back to our regulars.  We have just begun our 2012 Season today and had a wonderful time of fellowship with old and new friends. If  you are looking at this site for the first time and wonder if you can still join, by all means, we are a welcoming group of women who would love you to join us at any time through out the year.  Next week , Sept 20 will be the first bible study of the season so still a great time to join, and feel free to bring a friend.

We are studying the books of Samuel this year and our theme is Speak Lord , We are Listening.
For those of you who were unable to attend the opening session the devotion for this morning was helpful in expanding on the theme and direction for this year and so I am copying it and including it in this blog .  I hope to see you all again next week, the Lord willing.

Opening Session Devotions - written by Freda Kennedy

This year I had an exciting summer, too.  One of the things I  did was visit Newfoundland with my family.  N.L tourism has this most fabulous advertising, that won international awards with the  Slogon, Is it possible to feel at the same time lost and found?

A play on the word New found land , it goes on to explain that to find what you are looking for, you must first be willing to let  go of expectations, to really lose yourself . and then, there you will be . Lost. And found.

With wonderful glorious vistas of mountains and cliffs, and fijords the advertising caption reads  Lost: a map

Found: perspective or   Lost:  my watch  found:  the time   and even  Lost:  myself  Found;  myself 

The add was enticing people to come to N.L. to find themselves lost in a world so vast and timeless that you would have to spend time just soaking it all up, getting rid of all that stuff from your life and

finding yourself again while you experienced the vastness and beauty surrounding you.

We loved our visit to N.L.  and the ad was right.  It’s a place of such grandeur and beauty that you are in awe, and you could spend hours just looking.  To help you they would put down chairs on the  hiking trails along the cliff edges so you could just sit and soak in the view. 

We were fortunate at one point to find a spot where we could sit down at the edge of the cliff and watch hundreds of Puffins just metres away on a near by island.  We spent a long time just watching these birds and enjoying the gorgeous day.

They didn’t tell you though in these adverstisements, to be careful at the cliff edges, as they are extremely high up, with no barriers, … my daughter Sarah and I, feeling quite fearless  would  go to the very edge of the cliff, however the other members of our family, my husband especially, would be so full of angst , because he’s afraid of heights ,which always made him laugh nervously, and he would get us all screaming and laughing anxiously if any one  of us neared to close to get a better look.

In this place, of immense vistas we felt so small, almost lost in the grandeur – and yet it gave us another sense of how great our God is and how awesome to be part of His creation too = lost yet found.

In our world of busyness and noise,  a world of crowds and rushing around, we too can feel lost among all the people, all the busyness, all the noise, we feel like we’ve lost our way, what’s it all about, what is the real purpose to life, how do I find out, how do I find God, how does God find me, how do I find my t self.

This year we will be studying the books of Samuel and Our theme is Speak Lord , We are listening, that comes from a passage iin Samuel – which I wiould like to read,

1  Samuel 3: 1- 10

The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lampof God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then theLord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

⁶ Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lordhad not yet been revealed to him.

⁸ A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak,Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

It took 3 times to get Samuels attention.. How many times does God have to speak our name before we listen?

In the business of life there is often no time to stop and listen, to ourselves, to our partners, to our children, especially it seems to stop and  to listen to God.

Speak Lord, I am listening… wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was so easy, and God would speak directly to us so we could hear, just like Samuel.  Then we would know exactly what God wanted, exactly which way to go.

And sometimes that may happen, but generally God doesn’t work that way, it was so unusual in Samuel’s day that it took three times before he and Eli realized it was God.

So how do we hear God today?  Do we even want to?  Are we afraid of what we might hear? Are we

Really ready to hearwhat He says? To do do what he asks?

I’m not so sure, I’ m really comfortable in my routines, and my busy schedule, I know this way of doing things, what if listening to God means I have to listen to what’s going on in my inner self, deal with issues that have been left to fester, clean up the messes I’ve made ?

I don’t know seems a lot easier, a lot safer to just keep on keeping on…

Speak Lord, I’m listening…..

That means slowing down, stopping the business, taking a Sabaath from all the work, so that you can hear, first, and listen.

Sabaath is a beautiful word, a word meaning rest, a day God creates for us in Genesis when he created the world , Sabaath a gift for us to rest, and spend time in conversation with God, Speak Lord ,we are listening…

There are lots of ways of taking a Sabaath, from worshipping in Church, to taking long walks in the woods, meditating on Gods word, or simpy turning off all the noise makers in the house and sitting in silence or reading a book, or visitng a place like N.L.

But when the noise and busyness is gone, the anxiety, worry and past issues come roaring up.  What then?  Where then is the rest?  I know , I have been there, and initially it takes time to let all that stuff settle, and let God help you deal with it, and then you look back and you see that it was worth it, dealing with all that stuff, returning to a quiet place , because now there is less noise, now there is room to hear what God is saying. It’s not always an easy road, but it is the one that will fill us and satisfy us as we learn to listen to God and start to have a real relationship with the Lord. 

In our passage it said that  Samuel did not yet know the Lord:  The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.  He did not yet know the Lord.  He had to stop and listen to what the Lord was telling him.

Do we know the Lord, yet?  Is it time to stop and Llisten.

We too  have an opportunity to allow the word of the Lord to be revealed to us, through creation, through his word, through his people, through times of Sabaath , times of rest, so that we may hear and  so that we may listen and  know the Lord…  Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

Our Heavenly Father is seeking us constantly, for we are all lost, and need to be found.   We need to allow ourselves to be found by a God who loves u s, we need to stop the busyness nad listen to what God is saying… not what we are saying… we need to lose ourselves  so we can find ourselves in God.

 But that can cause that angst as we feel like we are on a precipice, or cliff and not sure if we will fall over.  But God is a loving God, and he says that he will be with us through it all.  Maybe we are afraid that He will ask us to do more than we feel ready to do, like go off to Africa for Missions, or give all our money away to the poor, and …he might, but likely not until it’s the desire of your heart J  More likely he will just work in you to be more the person he created you to be right where you are.  To be more like Christ to your husband and children and neighbour.   To grow more of the fruit of the spirit, in kindness, gentleness, selfcontrol.  That is the miracle that I want to see, God transforming me from the inside out.

That’s scary too, but its worth it. 

This year I pray will be an amazing year of getting to know this God of the  Bible through the book of Samuel.  We will see how he make s a nation out of his people, the Israelites, and how it is his faithfulness that is never failing, How all he asks of us is to listen and obey.  Something the Israelites found so hard to do.  Something we find hard to do, something I find hard to do.  Maybe we will find some lessons in this book that will help us to Grow in our relationship with the Lord, that will help us to stop and say Speak Lord, We are listening.

I’m really excited about that opportunity because God is such an amazing God – and the God who created this amazing world and each one of us, can do so much more than we can even imagine

If we just take the time to listen and follow Him. 

Speak Lord, We are Listening.