Why I love studying the Bible

I consider my life to be a work in progress. I’m not yet where (or who) I want to be but as the saying goes, “praise God I’m not what I used to be!"

Much of what I’ve learned from God I’ve learned through Bible study. Some I’ve learned one on one, just God and me and those are very precious lessons. But I’ve also learned tons in Bible studies with other people. It’s fascinating to hear other people’s perspectives on a passage.  I always marvel at how men and women often look at the same Scripture but get totally different applications from it.

Two studies I’m in right now are, “To Live is Christ” by Beth Moore in my JOY group and “Life’s Healing Choices” by John Baker in MUGGS.

I always learn plenty from Beth Moore but last Wednesday night was an exceptional lesson. On day 5 starting at page198 Beth taught us about “The Five Thieves of Contentment.” Of late I’ve been struggling with a restless spirit so this really peaked my interest. The five thieves are: pettiness, anxiety, destructive thoughts, resistance to learn and independence. Yep – I struggle with two of the three – destructive thoughts and independence. So since I’ve read this I’ve been working on both and have begun to once again feel “the peace that passes understanding.” It’s been glorious.

Then we were listing our hurts in “Life’s Healing Choices” and I was stunned to find that a childhood hurt could still bring tears to my eyes. All I could think was “why is this bothering me so now so many years later?”

The hurt was from the fact that nobody wanted me on his or her team on the playground. I was a terrible underachiever in relation to anything requiring physical prowess. I can still remember the feeling when we were choosing up teams. There was always a knot in my stomach and although I never cried I always felt like doing so.

So we were required to take our hurts to an accountability partner and express them. I went to my BFF Kathryn. I cried AGAIN when I told her about those feelings. I thought, “This is ridiculous! Why does this hurt so much?” We talked a little more and I did an exercise that I learned years ago. I imagined where Jesus was when I was going through these and I could clearly imagine him standing at my side saying, “I choose you Jill, and I want you on my team.” Oh what a sweet thought! Then in a little while Kathryn asked me to tell her again what happened on the playground. I did but this time there were no tears because I could imagine Jesus there, feeling my hurt and loving me through it. How precious it is to find Jesus in all our hurts.

Today I'm thankful for:

A warm house on a chilly, damp day
The smell of pot roast cooking
I've never had to go without shoes like so many in other countries
Being healthy enough to volunteer at Samaritan's Feet