Real Life ~ Real Answers

The Cost of Obedience

Your unsaved husband tells you he's been invited to go out for the day to enjoy a favorite hobby with some friends. He tells you he is calling into work sick so he doesn't have to use a vacation day. You find out that he's supposed to be in a meeting that day and he tells you to lie for him if his boss calls wondering where he is.

What should your response be to your husband?

Anna

In Luke 2:36-38, we meet Anna, a prophetess in the temple. As we read through these few verses and her encounter with Christ, we find much about her that we can learn from. In particular, we are drawn to her faithfulness to Christ in the midst of her difficult circumstances. Although we aren't given all the details of her life, we do know that she suffered the loss of her husband and was faithful to worship God through the many years following this loss in her singleness. What a testimony of how God used her and can also use us as we stive to walk by faith. There is much more we will share, so please listen and let us know what you learn from Anna as you read through this passage.

~ Merry Christmas ~

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We pray that you would be ever more thankful for the gift of salvation and share that gift with others now and throughout the year.

Romans 8:32 - "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words throughout the year.

We pray that the Lord would bless you as you study His Word.

Because of Christ,

Women in the Word

~ Katlyn, Pam, Jackie, Crystal, Lydia, Gloria Sperry,

Rebecca, Gloria Ormiston, Meredith & Sarah ~

Real Life ~ Real Answers

God's Amazing Grace "I don't know how you do it!" your unsaved neighbor tells you. She is amazed at all things you do - homeschooling 3 children, staying at home while your husband works all day, going to church twice on Sunday and once in the middle of the week, and doing housework. Your neighbor thinks you are "super-mom" and wishes she could stay half as organized with her duties. How can you use this conversation to point towards God's grace, especially as it relates to salvation?

A New Team Member

Today we'd like to introduce to you a new member of our Women in the Word team. Lydia Pilch will join us and help us share truth from God's Word and how to apply it to women's lives. We hope you'll be able to tune in for the next several days as she shares her testimony with us and how God is using her and how she is growing her in her walk with the Lord. If you missed a broadcast, remember you can access past audio archives by following the archive link on the right side of our blog. Thanks for listening!

Real Life ~ Real Answers

Fear of Man Women often care more about what other people think rather than what God thinks. Women place pressure on themselves to "fit in," whether it is going away to college, starting a new job, or joining a new church. This fear of man often drives us to be afraid to act out our faith. What is the right way to respond when the "fear of man" comes upon you?

What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage

By Paul David Tripp

Point: This book is “a detailed description of the daily work of love that must be done with commitment and joy when a flawed person is married to a flawed person and they are living together in a fallen world.” (Page 282)

Path: Throughout his book, Tripp presents six different commitments that spouses must make in order to have a God-honoring marriage. He brings in these aspects: confession and forgiveness, changing our daily agendas, building bonds of trust, building relationship of love, dealing with differences with appreciation and grace, and working to protect our marriage.

Agreement: I thought that this book was a very solidly founded on biblical principles for marriage. Marriage books frequently focus solely on romance, but Tripp brings out the fact that everything in life (including marriage) is based on worship. Who am I worshipping, myself or God? He is by no means against romance, but he says that romance is the fruit and not the root of a good marriage.

Disagreement: I did not find principles in this book that I would classify as unbiblical, but I do think that it would have been helpful to have a few more verses accompanying the principles that were listed. Be prepared to read several of the same stories/illustrations a couple of times throughout the book as well.

It would be worth another read and I would recommend it.

Mary's Character

As we continue to study how God used Mary in His plan, we will take a look at some other passages in Luke that record events in Mary's life. Our desire is to look at these events and see what we can learn about Mary's character through what is recorded. How did she respond? What can we learn about obedience, faithfulness, trust?

1. Luke 2:1-7
2. Luke 2:16-20
3. Luke 2:22-35, 39
4. Luke 2:41-51
5. Luke 8:19-21

We will continue our study of Mary when we arrive at the end of the book of Luke when she is recorded during the events of our Lord's death, burial and resurrection.

Women in the Word at work...

On Saturday, December 10th, our the ladies of the Women in the Word team met together. What a blessed time we had together renewing our focus for the program and learning how we can each use our gifts in this ministry. We thank the Lord for what He has done through the Women in the Word program and how He has shaped each of our own lives.  Here's a few pictures from our meeting.

Sitting around the table with our laptops and phones!
Gloria Ormiston, Jackie Hale, Katlyn Browning and Crystal Grotzke

Katlyn Browning, Crystal Grotzke, Gloria Sperry,
Pam Ormiston, Meredith Henderson, Lydia Pilch

Meredith Henderson, Sarah Stephens

Real Life ~ Real Answers

A Humble Heart You have just been promoted in your job and have been given a raise. This came as a surprise to you as you did not see it coming! God has given you talents to succeed in your business and He seems to be blessing you with this promotion. The praise and attention come from your boss on and co-workers and soon you start to look for this praise on a daily basis. What biblical truths can you meditate on to keep a humble heart? How can you publicly give glory to God in your job?

Outpouring of Praise

If you haven't read through Luke 1:46-55 yet, may we encourage you to take the time to reflect and mediate on these wonderful verses? In these verses we find that Mary is praising God from a humble heart. The context here is that she has just arrived at Elizabeth's home after her visit from the angel Gabriel. She goes with "haste" to Elizabeth and upon greeting Elizabeth, Mary is blessed by Elizabeth for her faithful obedience and trust in God's word. Mary's heart praises the Lord for His work in her life. Mary reflects on what God did for her personally, what God does for His children and what God does for Israel. After all these magnificent events, she chooses to turn back and praise God for who He is and what He is doing in her life. What a marvelous example of humility. How are you praising God? Do you praise Him from a humble heart? Do you give Him thanks for all that He brings to your life? When was the last time you took "inventory" of the many blessings He has given you? Don't delay, praise God today for who He is and what He has done for you!

Blessings of Obedience

As we study Mary's life, we can see how the Lord gave her much grace to be able to bear and raise Christ. We talk today about the blessings of obedience in her life. She was given grace to endure hardship from the community and even initial rejection by Joseph. She was able to make the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to give birth to Christ in a stable. Think through how the Lord has blessed you in your obedience to Him and then praise God for His grace to help you obey and for the blessing you received.

Real Life ~ Real Answers

Encouraging the Younger Your nine year old daughter comes home from school one day and tells you that some of her friends aren't being nice to the new girl in class. They make fun of her and don't include her in play. Your daughter wants to show kindness to the new girl, and is concerned about the way the other girls are treating the new girl. How can you encourage your daughter to be kind ad do what is right?

The Cost of Obedience

As we discuss more about the life of Mary, Christ's mother, we see that there was a cost to her obedience to God. When she returned home from visiting Elizabeth, we know there was much scorn given to her because she was pregnant. Even Joseph was going to divorce her (Matthew 1:19). In future chapters, we find that Mary traveled while very pregnant a long journey to Bethlehem to be obedient and follow Joseph. She delivered Christ among animals. She gave up her own dreams of her future life with Joseph and humbly submitted to God's plan for her. To many, the cost of obedience to God's will is not appealing. Sometimes obeying God's will means up giving up your dreams and goals for your life. Sometimes the cost of obedience means that you will receive ridicule from friends or family for doing what is right. As we reflect on Mary's obedience to God, let it encourage us to be obedient to God, no matter the cost!