Nehemiah Summer Session 4 from LPV on Vimeo.
Good grief! We’re already closing up! How is that even possible? I am so grateful to God that we’ve had the opportunity to spend the summer together in Bible study and hope with everything in me that the last six weeks have been profitable to you. 1 Timothy 4:8 is popping into my mind:
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (NIV)
Look at it again: it holds PROMISE and not only for the future when we see God face to face. It holds promise right now. Right here in this present life. Just where we could really use some help. We women are stretched and stressed to ripping seams from every conceivable direction. We are constantly faced with multiple choices concerning how we’re going to spend the limited resources of our day and our energies. We so often give way to the thing that screams the loudest…and, if it’s your baby, Lord have mercy, you should! But sometimes God doesn’t speak through the wind, the thunder and storm. He lowers His voice so that we’re forced to get quiet and still if we want to hear.
And, boy, do we ever want to hear. If we’ve learned the value of His life-giving, life-defining, life-refining, life-forgiving, life-surviving, life-thriving voice, boy, do we ever want to hear. I have no doubt that you’ve heard some things from God this summer through our study of Nehemiah so let’s get to it and share a few of them in closing.
As usual, your comments to this post will come AFTER your gathering but here’s the part that will be very different! EACH of you will comment this time individually rather than through a representative from your group. Your comment will be in answer to question #3 below and will be addressed straight to your teacher for Siesta Summer Bible Study, Kelly Minter. (Start it very simply, Dear Kelly…)
In our wrap up today, I’d like you to answer three primary questions. The first will be drawn from Session (or Week) Five, the second from Session (or Week) Six then the last one will be in reflection of the study as a whole. It’s the one you will EACH answer in your comment to this post. After the questions, I’d like you to join me for just a few minutes in the 3rd Chapter of the Book of Ezra. First, the three questions:
1. From Session Five: Review the top half of p.120 and the Derek Kidner quote that Kelly included. If your personal response to the question in the middle of the page is appropriate to share, share it! Get very specific about how some difficult facts in your life right now are reframed in light of “eternity…and of God’s unimaginable greatness.” Read Romans 4:18-25 for the perfect paradigm.
2. From Session Six: Go back to p.150 and reread the personal reflection question in the left-hand margin. Again, if your answer is not too personal to share, what do you long to see God bring full circle in your life? Listen carefully to one another as you share, jot down some reminders, and, at the end of your gathering, agree with one another in prayer for God to bring those things full circle.
3. In reflection of the study as a whole: What is the primary thing you’re taking with you out of this study? Your party favor, so to speak? Your take-home? In other words, what do you know for certain He meant for you to receive? Try to be as succinct as possible. Share it in the context of your gathering but, this time, I want you to answer this question as your concluding comment to this post. It will be the only one you answer in writing this time around.
Our brief devotional time in Ezra 3 will be in the video only. Please forgive any inconvenience. It was just better suited that way. If you’re unable to watch the video today, no problem! The most important part for the wrap up is right here in writing through the three questions. The devotional was just for added reflection.
Oh, mercy, Sisters. Thank you so much for joining in! I’m so crazy about all of you. Words fail to express the joy this community brings me.
And Kelly…
Honestly, Sister, I cannot fathom how I could love you more unless I just flat out moved in next door. You are so loved and appreciated by the Body of Christ. God has gifted you enormously with a unique voice and a beautiful pen with which to express it. We have learned from you, our sister. Thank you for pursuing God so flagrantly that we catch your fever. Don’t stop writing. Don’t stop sharing your works and your quirks. We find you believable, teachable, reachable, and, even on occasion, hysterical. We are the better for having pulled up a chair in your classroom. Thank you, dear teacher.
Dear Kelly,
What resonated with my heart was Nehemiah’s PRAYER focus prior to moving forward. So often I say “yes” without seeking the Lord’s face about an opportunity. Within the past 2 weeks (just near the end of my Nehemiah study), a “larger than me” opportunity came my way, and my initial response was “I need to PRAY.” Did so with dear hubby for several days before giving my response. So thankful for His work in my life through prayer.
Thank you for your focus in a book I hadn’t every studied before. 🙂
Our pastor’s wife has chosen this bible study for our fall bible study. Love, love, love the book of Nehemiah. Thanks for this.
Dear Kelly,
Thank you for opening up Nehemiah for me. It has taken my breakable heart and given me the momentum to act on it. I’ve started with breaking *down* walls built up in my neighborhood and I welcome what comes next.
Dear Kelly, Thank you for the Nehemiah book. I moved to a new state to be closer to my children after retirement. I was missing my old church and women’s Bible study. One of my community group ladies recommended Summer Fiesta. During this season of change I loved studying the heart of Nehemiah. His faith was in the Lord, and he had a purpose. Thank you for helping and inspiring me during this season of transition. I spent much time reading and studying on my front porch looking at the beautiful TN mountains God has blessed us with. I pray for you and your continued ministry. Blessings, Cheryl
Charne, South Africa, thank you so much for this special biblestudy, it was and is such a blessing, what really stood out for me was, Nehemia’s prayer, and the restoration with it all. The Lord has challenged me on so many levels and I still have a week to go!!! Thank you for the opportunity to do this with you guys. Starting this study with my church girls as soon as the Lord allows us. Love and prayers
Vivian
Birmingham, Alabama
I have seen anew the strength, character, and sensitivity of Nehemiah; his integrity and wisdom reign supreme in the face of the enemy’s many taunts. To pray for our country and its many leaders to have these characteristics has been impressed on me more. I have examined the many things I’ve been interested in as far as ministry is concerned. There is now a clearer vision of how my interests can be used and a new “where” that I had never considered. I look forward to seeing how my Father will lead me to fulfill these tasks for Him. I enjoyed this deeper look at Nehemiah and some of the history I had not studied before. My prior studies of him had been in church groups and only on the first part of the book about restoring the security of the city. Thank you for providing the opportunity to do this study as Siestas! To God be the glory for the great things He is doing in all of us through the study of His Word!
Dear Kelly,I have completed the study much later than the other siesta’s but I still want to post what God has taught me this summer. I have felt that I have been much closer to Him this year but through this study and experiences this summer, He has clearly told me that He wants more commitment from me and that we are capable of an even deeper relationship -if I put my trust in Him completely and develop my prayer life.This is my first bible study and I have found it very challenging and at times painful. The videos have been a tremendous help and it has taken me all summer to understand properly what your sister meant by her depravity.
I have only been scraping the surface in my walk with God and I pray that I hold onto what I have been shown and learned this summer and faithfully commit to a deeper relationship with our all powerful and loving God.
Thank you for sharing. I am new to the blog and learned so much in your video. Blessings~
Dear Kelly,
Thank you for this study and my take home is God softened my heart to serve and encourage younger women, and I will be an Alpha host this fall and have signed up to join the A21 anti-trafficking campaign.
Christina
Dear Kelly,
I have been so blessed from your Nehemiah study this summer – it was a joy to see the Lord work in the lives of my group – I will take with me Nehemiah 8:10b: “This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Ellen H.
ABQ Siestas
Albuquerque, NM
Kelly,
I so enjoyed this study… even tho it was a real challenge to get it all in in the busy-ness of life! My take home thru this study was to be RE-committed to the calling of serving our ladies in Ladies Ministry at our church and community. Thanks, Kelly!!!
Sorry for the tardiness in commenting, but then, God wouldn’t leave me alone to NOT post it! 🙂
Dear Kelly,
Despite important family obligations pulling me away, God kept leading me back to this study of His Word with you.
My take away is a reaffirmation of Hebrews 12:1-2. As life piles up and discouragement tries to pull me in a different direction, I am determined to fix my eyes on Jesus and run the race marked out for me. Nehemiah is certainly included in the “great cloud of witnesses” from the Old Testament, but I had not heard his voice so clearly before. Thank you for reaffirming for us the seamless continuity of the Old Testament, all leading us to the New Jerusalem. I am blessed by it.
Margie
Hilton Head Island, SC
Dear Kelly, thank you for your teaching on Nehemiah. What has been weighing on my heart to do, I don’t see a way for it to physically happen, or financially happen. I’ve been praying about it for awhile now. And so I think the number one thing I’m taking from this study is encouragement. To not be discourage with my praying. Nehemiah prayed for about 4 months before God’s timing was revealed for Nehemiah to speak to the king. I know that God’s timing is always perfect and am so encouraged by that.
God Bless
Dear Kelly,
Thank you for assisting me in learning how to truly indentify with others. To take the time and learn how it feels to walk in someone elses shoes. So many times I am busy with what I HAVE to do today and go about it in such a rush hoping no one gets in my way. May I continue to walk each day productively but also humbly, recognizing that we all are God’s children. We all need encouragement, grace, humility. We all need to get it done today but we must do it with each other’s love and understanding. Nehemiah stayed the course, he was committed to God and hearing his word. He remembered others and fought for their right while also asking God to remember his deeds and sacrifices. Amazing! I never thought to actually ask God to remember me. I would have found that selfish but oh how we NEED that outlet.
Dear God, I ask you, remember me as I go about each day building your kingdom. I ask that you continue to build up others such as Kelly and Beth as they bring others to find you as their Lord. To God be ALL the glory.
Dear Kelly, thanks so much for taking the time to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. I have studied Nehemiah several different times with workbooks, etc and love how each time the Lord makes it affresh. I will say that I was “uncomfortably” surprised with the approach-as it caused me to “kick it up a notch” in an area I thought I was doing well in. I was challanged anew with – get a name. The emphasis on the people was refreshing and new as the other ones focused on “work” dealing with out rubble-so self focused. And let me add fruit came from them but this was welcomed once I realized it “wasn’t about me”! Thanks again for all your time and insights and I love love your humor!! You really could be a standup comedian!!! Nancy Rose, Newport New, Va-studied with “Sista’s Reviling in Restoration,” Ches, VA-2
Dear Kelly,
You are a treasure! Because of my kids, a mission trip and my work travel, I had to do your study solo and late! While I couldn’t start when everyone else did, it was God’s perfect timing for me! I LOVED each and every minute with God because of the beautiful and powerful thoughts communicated through you! I realized, God can do things so much bigger than I ever could! I needed to give up control and realize he can perform miracles if I will just believe in Him! My book falls open to page 80 because I’ve opened it to that page so often! “God stands to accomplish the impossible through us while too often we’re content to settle for the explainable.” I spoke at a company training on stage in front of 750 to 1000 people in October, during which I held your study in my hand. At the end of my training, I opened my Nehemiah study to page 80 and explained that our God is a big God. If He can rebuild a wall in 52 days, he can help our associates rebuild beyond our wildest dreams. And I read a few sentences starting with “Have I given up believing…” It was an honor to encourage and witness to so many. I know this big God is working through me and that felt incredible… but it started with God speaking through you. What an enormous blessing and inspiration you are. Thank you for listening to Him and sharing with me. :>)
In His love,
Becky