Complaining & Murmuring 2/28/12

Today we built on our lesson from last meeting & talked specifically about complaining. I encouraged the girls with two examples from Scripture. First, I talked about the Israelites who complained despite all the mighty deeds the Lord was performing for them. Second, I talked about Joseph and his attitude of rejoicing in the unforseen plan God had in store for him rather than complaining.

I encouraged the girls to view suffering & irritation as a test, an opportunity to rejoice in the Lord and trust that He will work through the situation.

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1:2-3

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." 1 Peter 5:10

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Corinthians 4:17

After the lesson, the girls gathered in small groups & filled out a "mad lib" sheet.

Little did they know that the words they wrote down would be give to another group to be used in a melodramatic song about gratefulness & rejoicing. Here are a few pictures of each group writing & planning their song.

Once the songs were written & planned, the girls gathered back together to present their silly & amusing songs about why they were grateful for horseradish, the grocery store, golden bunnies and other random things. :) As always, the girls were quite creative & the songs turned out very funny.

After the skits the girls split up again for small group time of discussion, Bible memory & prayer.

We ended with delicious desserts & tea!

See you on March 13th for our next meeting!

Gratefulness 2/14/12

I apologize for being so delayed in getting our pictures from last week's meeting posted. Typically I'm fairly prompt & for some reason, it slipped by me this time.

This semester many girls from our group are paired with a pen pal from a Bright Lights group in Texas. At our meeting, each of the girls received their pen pal's info card. It was fun to see everyone excited & comparing cards with each other.

Last Tuesday we began Set 5 with the topic of gratefulness. Gratefulness is "being aware that God is working even through difficulty and expressing to others how God has used them to benefit my life."

At the end of the lesson, I had the girls write down a list of at least 5 reasons why they were grateful for their parents. Each young lady was challenged to share at least two of those things with her parents sometime before our next meeting.

I also had each of the girls think of a situation or person that they find difficult to have a grateful attitude around. I encouraged each of them to purpose to respond in gratefulness during the week for that situation or annoyance.

After the lesson, the girls had a time with their small groups. This year we have 5 different small groups that are led by young ladies who are being trained in leadership. Each of the small group leaders helps lead discussion, accountability & prayer for her small group.

The Miriam Group

The Esther Group

The Rebekah Group

We ended, as usual with tea & dessert. It was Valentine's day so we enjoyed some extra special Valentine's treats provided by several of the young ladies in our group.

Making hearts for Valentine's day!

I'll see everyone again on Tuesday, February 28th!

4:12 Discipleship

This semester about 12 young ladies in our group are meeting together a few times a month for one on one discipleship. Each younger girl is paired with an older partner and together they work through a discipleship lesson, set accountability goals and pray for each other throughout the week. It's exciting to have this opportunity set aside for intentional, meaningful fellowship. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing of the fruit that results in each young lady's life because of our time together.

This evening we took pictures of four of the six pairs. (We'll have to get pictures of the other 2 pairs next time around)

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

"For the perfecting of the saints, for the works of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Ephesians 4:12

"...Always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." Colossians 4:12