January/February Prayer Request/Praise Reports

I realized I have been forgetting to list this every month. Since we are at the end of January, I combined the two months together. Just write your prayer request or praise report in the comments section.

How Are You Dear One?

I wanted to share my response to a close friend's question, "How are you dear one?" (I love it when she calls me dear one:)

My response, "Since not working this year, I have felt at loose ends. I am involved with bible study and projects at church, I lunch with friends, I volunteer at Amee's school and elsewhere, but I still felt disconnected. I have not gone out of my way to involve myself in the Casa Grande community and as a result many of my relationships were work related. I have been praying for quite some time (years) for some "authentic Christian girlfriends". I struck up a friendship with a young mom at Amee's ballet class. We started talking about books and Redeeming Love came up. She invited me to join her book/bible study group that is studying Hosea along side Redeeming Love. It is a very diverse group of women with one thing in common they absolutely authentically LOVE the LORD!! This group is an answer to my prayers."

Thank you all for being real, being honest and including me.
Jane

Chew on this...1/26

What an amazing discussion last night! My eyes popped open at 5:30 am this morning because I was excited to think about and write on the blog about all we had talked about last night! (I know...I'm a little nutty! I like to call it a "touch of folly" as B. Manning puts it. heehee) But, the truth is for some reason I fell into a peaceful sleep last night when my head hit the pillow with this verse rolling in my head:
Romans 5:20 ~where sin increases, grace increases all the more.

If you know me well, you know scripture doesn't just flow through my little pea brain without the brain doing some kind of work to find it. So, if some kind of scripture shows up - without work - I listen. After reading several of the first few chapters of Hosea, we were able to see a pattern over and over where God is angry and says clear as day, "You are a mess and I'm disgusted! BUT, I will be there for you in the end." (my paraphrase, by the way) Does anyone else see this as ~where sin increases, grace increase all the more~? Thoughts???

We talked about SO MUCH last night, it would be impossible to summarize it all. But, if you are following the blog, here is just a tidbit of last night's discussion to keep you thinking:
~Hosea is called "the prophet of God's love"
~We discussed the definition of love a bit. What is it? What do we understand love to look like?
~There is a clear point in the book of Hosea where God is presenting himself as Husband and the his people as His Bride, which is also a parallel to Hosea marrying Gomer (the prostitute).
~This idea of God as Husband sparked discussion about 'intimacy'. First, what is intimacy? Second, with whom are we most intimate? Why are we most intimate with this person?
~The names of the Hosea and Gomer's children, based on The Message, are
Jezreel means God plants, No-Mercy means not pitied, Nobody means not with you or the opposite of "I AM"
~We also read the first few chapters of Hosea and noticed a pattern of God's words.

If you'd like to add anything we discussed last night, please do! :)

Kathy wants us to re-read Chapters 4 - 11:11 in Hosea. Ask yourself these questions:
Why did Gomer run?
Why did Angel run? (From Redeeming Love)
Why do WE run?
What do WE run from?

Love you girls.

Haiti

Hi Friends,

After hearing about the aftershock the Haitians had to suffer through AGAIN this last week, Kathy and I had a brief "email" discussion about how our group might be able to help. Per Kathy's words "the need is exploding exponentially" and I completely agree. We thought our group might put together a group collection to donate to a specific organization for the Haiti people. Kathy is currently looking into which charities give %100 of the donated funds, as some don't. Once all the funds are collected, Kathy would write one check to the specific organization like World Vision. If you choose to donate the pool, bring your money by February 9th and give it to Kathy.

Let us know what you think...

Julie

Some Information

Yes, I am going to post about prostitution.....I found this little blurb on American Bible Society:

Prostitution in the Bible

Two different kinds of prostitute are found in biblical stories. First are those who offered to have sex with men to earn money or to get some personal favor. Some women may have become prostitutes as a way to survive when they no longer were under the protection or care of a husband, father, or other family members. Prostitutes wore fancy clothes and jewels to attract men (Ezek 16:8-26). One prostitute named Rahab is best known for helping Joshua’s spies escape from Jericho after they had sneaked into the city (Josh 2).

A second kind of prostitute, often called a “sacred” or “temple” prostitute, was a female or a male who had sex with worshipers of a god or goddess in a temple. Many of these gods or goddesses were thought to make the land and its people fertile. In Canaan, there were pairs of such gods: Baal and Asherah, and later, Osiris and Isis. The prophet Hosea seems to be warning the people of Israel against having sex with temple prostitutes in rituals honoring these Canaanite fertility gods (Hos 4:10-19). Some time later, Judah’s King Josiah (639–609 B.C.) tore down buildings that housed “male prostitutes” (2 Kgs 23:7) who may have served in the worship of Canaanite gods. In the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament), Israel’s unfaithfulness is often compared with being a prostitute or chasing after prostitutes (Isa 23:16; Jer 3:6; Ezek 16; Nah 3:4). In the New Testament, the writer of Revelation calls Babylon, meaning the Roman Empire, a shameless prostitute who tempts people and nations into relations with her (Rev 17).

The Law of Moses (Lev 19:29) forbade prostitution, and those found guilty could be killed by crushing them with stones (Deut 22:21). A priest’s daughter who became a prostitute was to be burned to death (Lev 21:9). No money earned by prostitutes was to be accepted as a gift to the temple (Deut 23:18).

Quote from Tuesday Night

Here is the quote Kathy read by Christopher Seitz and I was also able to find the article for those interested I will post the link below.

"The Old Testament tells a particular story about a particular people and its particular God, whom, in Christ, we confess as our God, Jesus' Father and our own, the Holy One of Israel. We have been read into a will, a first will and testament, by Christ. If we do not approach the literature with this basic stance-of estrangement overcome, of an inclusion properly called "adoption"-historical-critical methods or a hermeneutics of assent will still stand outside and fail to grasp that it is God who is reading us, not we God."

Article

Redeeming Love

I just finished the book - well it was definitely a romance novel but besides that I had tears in my eyes by then end as she recieved and realized her redemption- funny how you hear something about a book / movie and then you are confronted by your own expectations as being totally 'off ' . I guess that's why my favorite movies are those I knew nothing about when I watched them, and my favorite restaurants are mom 'n pops that are either awful or totally Wonderful!

Quote

A friend of mine posted this quote on FB today and thought I would share it:

"If you follow Jesus for any length of time, His actions or inactions will at times baffle you. You just can't figure out why He is doing what He's doing, or allowing to happen what's going on. You don't have to figure Him out. Keep touching Him rather than griping about where He's taking you. Relax. He knows what He's... doing."
Dr. George O. Wood

Hosea-in The Message

Here is the link:


Hosea

WOW...

I just finished the book...it took me 2 1/2 days....I can't believe how speechless I am...For me that book hit me right in the pit of my stomach, heart and my body as a whole. I am glad I have a few weeks before we meet and talk about it because I think it has created a HUGE emotion inside me. Honestly, it scares the heck out of me to even think I could share that side of me in such depth( in person anyway). It has really brought everything to another level...What a book...just thought I would blurb....
Love,
Melissa C

OH THE LORD'S BEEN GOOD TO ME!

...And so there is one more reason I will always remember this group of amazing women....You were the first friends with whom I learned the Johnny Appleseed Grace song! I plan on teaching it to my children. So, for any who wants to remember too:

Johnny Appleseed Grace (song):

Oh, the Lord's been good to me. And so I thank the Lord For giving me the things I need: The sun, the rain and the appleseed; Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

Here is the rest of the song:
Oh, and every seed I sow Will grow into a tree. And someday there'll be apples there For everyone in the world to share. Oh, the Lord is good to me. Oh, here I am 'neath the blue, blue sky Doing as I please. Singing with my feathered friends Humming with the bees. I wake up every day, As happy as can be, Because I know that with His care My apple trees, they will still be there. The Lord's been good to me. I wake up every day As happy as can be, Beacuse I know the Lord is there Watchin' over all my friends and me The Lord is good to me.

This is a good video to help remember the tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJb83gM2Vpo


Hugs and love,
Julie

Pot Luck Tuesday NIght

Ladies,
I can't wait for Tuesday night!!!

Kathy Narney's House
6:30pm
Pot Luck
Emails have been circulating telling us all the yummy foods that will be there

Hope to see you there and catch up on your Christmas and New Years news!

J.