Dancing Wallflowers

Once again, it's been a while since I've posted. I promise I have a good reason. Big week. Busy week. More to come from that later...plus all the things from the week before that I never posted! Man, I'm getting behind. But, until then (and since I don't have pictures uploaded yet) I want to share a little about our women's bible study we started a couple of weeks ago during our Wednesday night church time.

This study has really taken off and has obviously hit a chord with the women in our church. The numbers keep growing each week. It was expected to be a smaller intimate group of women, and it has become two groups of about 20 women! God is working here. It is wonderful to see.

We have started a 7-week study of When Wallflowers Dance: Becoming a Woman of Righteous Confidence. The first week Jennifer, our facilitator, read off some definitions from the Urban Dictionary describing a wallflower: a type of loner, seemingly shy folks who no one really knows, often some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them, someone who sees everything and knows everything but never says a word, cannot handle having someone pay attention to them even though they crave it as much as anyone else does, wallflowers are just phased in and fade into the background. Now, you would have to know this group of ladies in our group to appreciate the laughter and comments these descriptions brought up. I think only two of us raised our hands to actually admit we considered ourselves a wallflower! We have a fun, lively group of women in our bible study, and we all have much in store for us.

This study is about growing in spiritual maturity. Growing up! So many of us have been living a wallflower life....going through the motions, existing. But, God is a pursuing God as Angela Thomas says in this study. He drags us out of darkness and into His light. Through Angela's deeper maturity and truths of God's passion for her, the most beautiful picture she could paint was that of a wallflower being asked to dance. The main thread of this study is the fact that God didn't bring us to this place to stand against the wall and watch everyone else. He brought us, takes our hand, wraps us in His arms, and wants us to dance with Him.

I don't know about you, but I often feel tired, ready to give up, or to just simply go through the motions of the days and not really feel anything. Through this study, Angela encourages us to lay all of our feelings at the alter and surrender. Surrendering is the first step in "growing up." And, it is time for us wallflowers to grow up! 1 Peter 2:2-3 says:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

When you think about the things you crave, you may think about a coke, chocolate, or hibachi steak at the Japanese restaurant. Or at least I do! Ha! When I think of "spiritual milk" I think of nourishment. Something needed to grow. Like babies need milk to nourish their bodies. God is telling us here that we should CRAVE this nourishment. Now, really. Think to yourself. Do you really CRAVE God or His word like you crave, say, a coke, chocolate, or hibachi steak? If you were really honest, my guess is that we don't always have that CRAVING where we just have to have it or we will just die...or at least have a headache. But, what God is saying is that for us to grow in spiritual maturity...to fully be able to dance with Him...we need to crave His Word and being in His presence. Why should we have such a craving? Because we have tasted that the Lord is good! We know it is good. We have tasted it! Just like we have tasted chocolate and know of its goodness. Think about this for a minute. When have you actually tasted His goodness? We have all tasted His goodness, but we are bad to forget. One example of His goodness that I can honestly say was like literally a taste of His goodness was about a year ago. I wrote about it here. I was having a week of stress, pain, disappointment, and just frustration when I heard a song that spoke directly to my heart...reminding me that He knows. He is holding me. All I have to do is to hold on to Him. I turned the curve, tears filling my eyes, and saw a beautiful rainbow straight ahead. It was almost as if God was reminding me that He will make something beautiful out of that storm. Just hold on. It was such a moment. I tasted His goodness that day! I tasted His gentle mercies. It was good. See? I've tasted His goodness. I should CRAVE that! I want to crave that. It seems that forgetfulness, busyness, or distractions so often get in our way of that next step with God. Growing in Him must be intentional. It is a conscious decision we must make every day.

Think of all He has done for us. We have this unbelievable inheritance. Have you ever been given an inheritance? Think for a minute. Would you ever just take a beautiful leather treasure chest that has all the dimensions of your wealth inside and put it on your nightstand? Only looking at it occasionally and never explore what is inside? That is often what we do with our inheritance from God. We have been given this exquisite inheritance. The day we ask Jesus to be our Savior, we have received a treasure of salvation. It will always be ours. No one can take it away. There is just so much more for us to explore...

I love the way Angela states it..."Becoming a mature follower of Christ means that we open the treasure of our inheritance and explore the goodness and power that he has graciously given us. Maturity means that we not only know but we also live in the truths of God's love toward us."

That is what I pray for my weeks in this study. To grow to not only know Him more, but to LIVE His truths out in my day to day life. To dance with Him. Not standing on the wall.

We took a look at the riches of our salvation. This treasure. This inheritance from our Father. I love the picture of all the riches of our salvation here.

1. We have been reconciled by God. Once we ask Jesus to be our Savior, we are passed from spiritual death to a life everlasting. He is not mad at us. Our sins are no longer counted against us. We are in His family, and He wants to bless us!
2. We have been redeemed. None of us are worthy of His love. But, that's the thing about God. When we receive our salvation, He supernaturally makes us worthy of His love. "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption." Colossians 1:13-14
3. We are saved from condemnation. To me, condemnation is a judgment. Once we have received this treasure, we are no longer condemned. Since we are given no condemnation, we are expected to not give any condemnation either. I believe God lovingly disciplines us at times. But there is a difference. Loving discipline is meant to teach us a lesson that is for our good. To bless us. Or so we can be blessed more abundantly. I am so grateful for this. I feel loved no matter what, because my God loves me no matter what! He allows me to make mistakes and learn from them through his loving discipline. His love never changes.
4. We have been made children of God. When I think back to the characteristics of the average child, I think about the things they have taken care of for them: shelter, food and clothing, hugged, taken (driven or carried) places, taught right from wrong, disciplined, reminded over and over of the same things again and again. Isn't this how it is with God? He is our shelter in the storm. He feeds us His word for nourishment. He clothes us with His righteousness. He wraps his arms around us to "hug" us for comfort. He carries us from place to place in our lives. He teaches us right from wrong. He disciplines us. He reminds me over and over and over of His truths, His love, His mercies. I love this visual of how God cares for us like His children. Now, this is a picture I can see more easily than some, I'm sure, because I did grow up with loving parents who took care of me. I wonder how difficult this picture is for those children who have not had such loving parents or very good circumstances growing up? Feel free to share your thoughts on that.
5. We have been made objects. Teaching school, I teach that objects have things happen to them. Subjects do things. God has made us objects, or recipients, of so many things. We are objects of His love, His grace, His power, His faithfulness, His peace, His consolation, and His intercession.

Just look at all this that God has given us! Imagine what He dreamed for you and me. Are we the women He dreamed us to be? Now that we are exploring this treasure more, it is time to grow up!

"It's like we are wallflowers learning to dance."