New Members Meeting!

Tonight we had a new members meeting with a group of young ladies who will be joining either the O'Fallon or Belleville group this fall for the very first time. The purpose of the meeting was for Allison to introduce the girls to Bright Lights & review the foundational set 1 lessons. Many of the girls were enthusiastic & it was a joyful evening of fellowship & learning. The girls all seemed eager to get going & meet the other girls!

Lots of silly faces.... :)

I'm really looking forward to getting started with meetings in just a few more weeks! I will see everyone on September 18th!

New Members Meeting 8/23/11

This evening we had 21 girls, who will be joining our Bright Lights group, come for a review of the Set One lessons. It was exciting to spend time with all these new young ladies. I'm so glad they'll be joining us this year, we have a group of great girls!

Here are some pictures from our evening..

 

I am really looking forward to our first official meeting of the year on September 13th! See you all then!

Set One Testimonies...

I've been meaning to post some of the testimonies from Bright Lights for a while but hadn't actually done it yet. By reading through these excerpts from their testimonies I hope you will be encouraged by what God is doing in our group. By request of the girls, no identities have been attached to the testimonies.

The posters we used during Bright Lights to illustrate the differences between a "Bright Light" and "Typical Teenager" (Click on the photo to see a larger version)

"Bright Lights has been a great blessing to me for many reasons. It has forced me to step outside my comfort zone and be a leader, it has convicted me in several areas of my life that I needed to grow in, it has encouraged me to stand strong for the Lord in my youth, and most importantly, it has strengthened my walk with God."

"In Bright Lights I learned how to develop a disciplined walk with the LORD and I am working hard on sticking with it. In Bright Lights I committed to being respectful and obeying my parents. I am still working on it and I am getting better."

"This semester in Bright Lights I learned many things, but the most important thing I think I learned about was obeying my parents. I have found and my parents have told me that I'm doing a lot better obeying them quicker and with a grateful heart."

"One of the things I like about Bright Lights is that it keeps me thinking about the commitments I've made and following through on those commitments. I want my life to be all God's."

"Because of Bright Lights I have made a commitment to read my Bible everyday and to honor my parents more."


"Bright Lights has shown me that I'm not alone in striving to be a godly young lady. It is great accountability."


"The first time I came to Bright Lights I thought it was going to be a normal Bible study and also boring, but it turned out to be pretty fun. I have learned that studying the Bible can be fun."


"The lesson of fearing God and not people was effective for me because I was struggling with that. Because I wanted to make friends, I started thinking a lot about how I dressed. I love how Bright Lights challenges me in my faith."

"I am learning and have learned about how much God loves me. I have also made commitments that I thought I would never make. I have always been shy, and I never wanted to pray aloud except at home. Now, I am not shy about talking to people & praying with them."


"A lesson I really love is the one about fearing the Lord. It has helped me honor the Lord more in what I do and not be worried about what others think."

God is definitely working in my life and in the lives of the young ladies in our group. Thank you for allowing me the honor of spending time with your daughters each month. Each girl is a joy and blessing to me and I am humbled to have the responsibility of setting an example for them. I hope you'll join me in thanking the Lord for what he has done so far and asking Him to continue working in our group!

12/7/10 Being Fully Dedicated to God

Last night we had our last Bright Lights meeting for the semester as we finished Set 1 by talking about being Fully Dedicated to God. We also looked back at all the things we had learned and spent some time making commitments and writing testimonies.

Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped but here are a few.

These pictures are from the time when the girls split up by themselves & worked on doing a commitment worksheet & writing a testimony.

McKenzie...
Myra...
Sara...
We ended the evening with going around the circle & each person sharing a testimony from Bright Lights this semester. Then we got started on a trivia game before ending with tea and dessert.

I'm looking forward to seeing many of you on December 21st for our Bright Lights Christmas tea. Please watch your email inbox for more details on that!

Accepting the Way God Created You 11/23/10

Last night the topic for our meeting was accepting the way God created you. Each of the girls were challenged to accept God's plan for their lives & find security in Him. I encouraged the girls to remember how each detail of their lives was planned by God & that as His creation, He sees them as beautiful. When we decide to be discontent with some physical feature, its like telling God He didn't do a good job when He created us. Instead, we should learn to accept these "unchangeables" and live our lives with purpose.

Each of the girls made a "paper doll" which they customized to look like themselves. Then they glued it to a piece of paper & added a Bible verse which says: "I praise you because I, (insert name here), am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 They were all encouraged to put these up somewhere in their room as a reminder of how beautifully God has created them.

Projects in the works...


Kendra & McKenzie with their completed look-alikes...

Sisters, Kalei & Shelby with their paper doll twins...

Sophie & Cecily with their projects...
Another activity of the night was a brief lesson on modesty & then a clothing exchange. Each girl brought some items she wished to get rid of & the girls "bought" clothes from each other with little plastic coins.

Each girl made a sign with the name of her store to display with her wares...

Karen, looking at shirts...
Some of the older girls taking some time to visit...
Brooke looking through some clothes...
Amber & Arianna inspecting some items...
Martha picking out a shirt...
Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time & came away with a few treasures. Our last meeting for the semester will be on December 7th. For those who will still be in town, we will also have a Christmas tea on the 21st. Happy Thanksgiving!

11/9/10 Understanding the Fear of the Lord

Tuesday we had a great Bright Lights meeting! Our topic for the evening was "Understanding the Fear of the Lord." I challenged each of the girls to consider whether they were finding their identity in other people (the fear of man) or if they were seeking validation from the Lord (fear of the Lord). They were all sent on a mission to start befriending someone at church, homeschool group or other activities who seemed to be an outcast.

After the lesson we played an attentiveness game, illustrating the point that we need to be attentive to what the Lord wants us to do, even if it makes us look foolish in the eyes of men.

To play the game, we sent one person out of the room & then the rest of the group decided on a leader. The leader would start a motion & everyone had to copy that motion. At any time the leader could change the motion & everyone had to follow. The person who left the room had to come stand in the middle of the circle & figure out who the leader was.

It ended up being a very fun activity & there were lots of giggles as the girls tricked the person in the middle.

After the game, the girls split up into small groups to exchange prayer requests & talk about the lesson. Then everyone went outside to our back deck that had been lit up with Christmas lights and we sang various hymns & Bright Lights songs together.

Shelby, Arianna & Taylor..

Katelyn, Rachel & Myra...

Silly faces & off guard smiles..

We ended our meeting with tea & special fall themed sugar cookies Brooke & McKenzie brought.

Jessica & Taylor...

Sweet Shelby..

Brooke & Kaleigh..

Sarah, Taylor & Abby..

Thank you all for sharing your joy with us, I'm looking forward to our next meeting in a couple weeks!

10/26/10 Developing a Disciplined Walk With God

This week we had a great meeting as we discussed developing a disciplined walk with God.

As always, we started our meeting with singing...

This week we sang "I Will Live for You" and "Who Will Shine God's Light?"
During the lesson I challenged to girls to make spiritual disciplines a regular part of their day so that they can grow in their relationship with the Lord.

After the lesson, I announced the new small groups the girls will be in for the rest of the school year. The purpose of these groups will be to foster closer relationships & provide a place for discussion of each lesson. Each group is named after a woman of the Bible.

The Mary Group...

The Rebekah Group...

During their small group time, each young lady decorated a small notebook which she will be using to record her Bible reading for the next two weeks.

After small group meetings, we had a Bible sword drill competition between the groups. Each of the verses related to one of the suggested spiritual disciplines from the lesson. In the end, the Esther group won the contest.

Brooke..

Karen..

Today was a special day because it was Amber's birthday. Her mom came in with a cookie cake at the end of our meeting & we all sang to her.

The new 11 year old!!
We ended the meeting with tea, dessert & fellowship.

Abby..

Jessica, Jenny & Katelyn

Jenna & Gretchen..

Brooke, Camryn, Sylvia & McKenzie
I look forward to seeing everyone at our next Bright Lights meeting on November 9th!

10/12/10 Gaining a Clear Conscience

This week we reached our group's lowest attendance record with 20 girls present! It's exciting that our group is so big that when only 20 girls show up it seems like a small crowd. ;)

I have been amazed to see how God has brought 28 young ladies into our group, somehow we all squeeze into our basement & find space for all our activities.

Each week we set out 26 tea cups, 4 water glasses & make 3 pots of tea...

This evening we talked about gaining a clear conscience. We discussed the three types of consciences: dead, guilty & clear, the importance of clearing our conscience & how to clear our conscience. Each of the girls were given some time to evaluate their hearts & seek out unforgiven sins. Then we split up into prayer partners.

After the lesson and prayer time we played a game of "Bright Lights Pictionary" with words from Bright Lights & the various lessons we've had so far. I discovered we have a pretty competitive group.

Jessica drawing forgiveness....

Melissa drawing tea...

Shelby drawing notebook....

We finished our meeting with tea & fellowship.

Jessica, Jenna, Kalei & Cecily (in the background)

Pouring tea for Gretchen...
I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm & the joy you shared tonight. Spending time with you all is one of my favorite things, thank you for radiating the joy of the Lord! :)