Honoring Parents 4/24/12

I apologize, this post is a week late. We had a great time last week wrapping up Set 5 with a lesson on honoring your parents.

Our Gratefulness Banquet is quickly approaching! For the banquet, each small group has memorized a large portion of Scripture to share. During our meeting each group got up & presented the passage they had memorized to the rest of the group. It was so encouraging to hear each group share.

After we heard each recitation, I taught a lesson on honoring parents and gave the girls some practical suggestions for showing honor and respect to their parents. Once the lesson was completed, the girls surprised me with a birthday cake & bag full of birthday cards from each of the girls!

I am so, so blessed by each of you girls! Thank you so much for thinking of me & encouraging me in this way! It truly is an honor to know each of you!

Next, we did a Bible sword drill with various Scriptures related to parents, authority, honor & disrespect. We made it a competition between the small groups and the Miriam group won this time.

I look forward to seeing you all again for our last Bright Lights meeting this semester on May 8th at CBC!

Disputing & Arguing 4/10/12

This evening we discussed yet another way we frequently use our words to hurt others. I challenged the girls to consider their hearts and choose an attitude of humility rather than pride when tempted to argue with others, especially siblings.

"A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." Proverbs 19:11

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Porverbs 15:1

During the lesson I had a few girls come up and "argue" with me about pretend scenarios. Then, the group would analyze the argument, what could have been done to prevent it or what could have been to stop the argument in the middle.

There were lots of laughs!

Many of the girls pointed out how foolish most of the arguments seemed. I reminded them that many times the things we choose to argue about are often trivial as well.

Here are a couple video clips from part of the arguments. (I apologize, the first one is tilted sideways, but it's still amusing)

We ended with small groups and tea time!

silly, silly girls! :)

See you for our next meeting on April 24th!

Gossip 3/13/12

One of the girls who was a part of our group recently moved & wrote us a letter. One young lady began our meeting by sharing this letter with everyone.

 This evening our topic was gossip.. something we take lightly but God takes very seriously. Gossip is destructive and rooted in pride. Our desire as Christians should only be to speak words of love that will build up and encourage those around us.

As talkative young ladies, it is easy for us to be caught up in this subtle sin, yet God has called us to a higher standard in the way we speak and place value on others.

"He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends." Proverbs 17:9


"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." Ephesians 4:29

During the lesson, we played a comical game, telephone charades, which illustrated how a story can get distorted as it is passed from one person to another. Each round a team of 6 was chosen.  While her teammates were out of the room, the first girl was given a Bible story she had to act out. Then her second teammate entered the room and watched her perform the charade. The 2nd person then acted it out for the 3rd person and the game continued until the last person had to guess what the original Bible story was.

It was amusing to see how the charade changed from person to person until the final act had nothing to do with the original story! In the same way, when we repeat stories about people, they often adapt and become a tale far from the truth.

Once the lesson was over, the girls spent time in small groups, began working on a special (secret) project for our upcoming banquet & ended with tea time. See you all again on March 27th!

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!