Girl's Night Out - Dec 6, 2006

Go to this Evite for all the details.

Calamity and the Presence of God

Thought I would start a discussion out of my newest Precept bible study, a 2-week one on Jonah. I feel pretty familiar (maybe too familiar) with this story in the VeggieTale style. But, today, in Precept style, I was instructed to read Jonah 1, marking in the text any key phrases and words. One of these words was calamity which was used as a synonym to storm.

Here are the questions I had to answer (and my answers)... interesting where it took me.

ON DISASTER/CALAMITY:
3a. Did you note who caused the calamity? Did it become more calmitous?

• God caused the calamity due to Jonah fleeing His presence. It became worse when the sailors tried NOT to follow instruction to throw Jonah into the sea.

3b. What stopped the calamity?

• Obeying God's direction through Jonah to throw him (Jonah) into sea

5. Now, let's take a few minutes to look at other passages that deal with calamity. As you look up each reference, note what you learn about calamity and what a person should do when it happens. Also, if the passage tells you, note who or what causes the calamity.

• Isaiah 45:7 - I form light and create darkness. I make success and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
• Jeremiah 18:7-11 - At one moment, I might announce concerning a nation... that I will uproot, tear down and destroy it...However, if that nation... turns from evil, I will not bring the disaster on it.
• Daniel 9:11-14 - All Isreal has broken Your law...refusing to obey You. The promised curse written in the law...has been poured out on us because we have sinned against Him. He has carried out His words...by bringing on us so great a disaster... So the Lord kept the disaster in mind...for the Lord is righteous in all He has done.

ON GOD'S PRESENCE:
1. When you marked your references to Jonah and then listed what you observed, according to Jonah 1:3, where did Jonah go with respecct to the Lord?

• from the presence of the Lord - repeated 3 times

2. The Word of God makes it clear that God is omnipresent; as Psalm 139 says, there is no hiding from Him. Therefore the statement that Jonah went "from the presence of the Lord" is interesting, isn't it? What does it mean? Is it possible for someone to do this today? If so, how?

• Genesis 3:1-18 - Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God...and they hid themselves from the Lord God. God responded with a curse on the serpent, women and men.
• Genesis 4:1-16
• 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10 - so it is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you. [This will take place] at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels.

From all you have seen, what do you think it means when it says Jonah went from the presence of the Lord? How was it dones? Is there any application for us?

Henna was had by all!

Here's some pictures from Friday night - we ended up pick up the henna from Macy at iHenna.com around 12:30am... and doing it on our body until about 4:30am!

Slumber Party

We're having a slumber party on November 10th!
If you wanna come, go to the Evite and get the most current info.
We will do henna, eat, talk, watch movies, color hair, whatever you suggest!

Best friends

Don't know who your best friend might be... but at this point in life, mine is Tammi. In many ways, we are too much alike, but I think that makes us able to understand each other better than other people can.
When Tammi and I first became friends, she seemed like one of the most DRIVEN people I had ever met. For the past 7 years, she has been going to night-school while working full-time. She always had lots of goals... and over time, they have become more and more specific. Originally, she just wanted to do some sort of humanitarian work (like the peace-corp)... and gradually, she felt called to do work in the name of the Lord in Africa. I remember watching an Oprah with her about Africa, where they showed some people (nuns, I think) living in little huts caring for orphans. Tammi told me that she and Michael should do this.
Today, she left to do exactly that - care for orphans in Nairobi, Kenya. I am so proud of her. And I don't know who I am going to process life with.
Tammi and I used to talk on the phone about 3 hours per day. You may wonder how we could fit this in... she would work while we talked; and I would drive around, carpooling kids. I don't know what topics could take this amount of time. But I know that it could count as therapy, covering all the issues that life and marriage could throw my way.
I am scared as she goes... not really for her safety (God's in charge of that). More about change. I don't like changing friendships. I like to travel through life with a friend, changing as we experience things together. And as of today, my Tammi will be experiencing a whole new world. She will have to learn to parent and teach 44 kids at House of Hope... and we can't spend 3 hours a day on the phone figuring out how to do it. Next year when she returns for a month, she will be changed by these experiences... and I will be changed by my year.
It is hard.

New format

Well, after consulting with lots of you... I think we are going to do an alternating Girl's Night Out...
1. One week we will go out like we have been - restaurant, bowling, etc then someone share their story.
2. One week we will have a Bible study at someone's house - still working on the format.

So, comment on the Bible study - what are you looking to learn about God?

So, here's the upcoming schedule:
This week (7/26)- Darbar Indian Restaurant - who wants to share?
Next week (8/2) - Sorta cancelled - go shopping with Betha at Forever 21, Memorial City mall (click for details).
Thursday, 8/3 is my (Heather's) birthday - so in lieu of GNO, come eat on Thursday, 6:30/7ish at Mai's Vietnamese/Chinese Restaurant
Third week (8/9) - Bible study - at my house, unless someone closer to the Southeast offers their apartment.

Putting it out there

Okay, girls, I don't want to be shocking, but I would like to bring up the big S word. Of course, it would be alot easier NOT to talk about it in connection to our walk with God - but since it is getting talked of EVERYWHERE else, we can't avoid it.

So, let's talk about sex.

In spending time with young women, mostly unmarried, I am constantly burdened by the fact that sex is such a big deal. Honestly, alot of you define if you are close to God by your success or failure at using self-control in this area.

So, it needs to be discussed.

I am going to make some broad statements - you may not fall into these categories, but this is what I have observed.

• Young adults are having sex and feel like they are more ______ (normal, with it, well-adjusted) if they can be casual and detached as they move from relationship-to-relationship or partner-to-partner.
• Young men are using pornagraphy like crazy, and woman are conditioned to accept it without hope for purity or restraint.

Why are these a problem?
Of course, the simple answer we all heard growing up was the Bible says they are.
But as Lauren Winner discusses in Real Sex: the naked truth about chastity, there is a big difference between being told what is right and being able to believe it and having it change you.

Truthfully, I don't get the impression from most of you that you think that having sex is affecting your life.

And that statement is the beginning of why we have a problem...

Sex WAS NOT designed by God as a way to make babies in marriage and a way to destroy us outside of it. Would you really think of Him as so mean?

So why does it exist and why does it matter if it is meaningful and within marriage?

God created humans with emotions for His benefit. When sex is used incorrectly (casually, uncommittedly) it comes with reservation. When misused continually, it comes with complete detachment EMOTIONALLY. It is tranformed from an emotional connection to a physical pleasure. Basically, you teach yourself how to ENJOY the NOW of sex, while training yourself to not get hurt by the UNSURITY of LATER (ie. can I trust this person? do I like what I know of this person? will they be around later?)

What was God's design?
God's design was for sex to be shared within the emotional connection between a husband and a wife. The physical pleasure is meant to be paired with emotional connection - LOVE - that we as humans are born needing. But that is only the beginning. *John Piper says it better...*

God made us to have this LOVE so we would be able to develop that feeling in a relationship with him. When we associate the height of our physical pleasure with our most trusted relationship, we realize that the pleasure is from the trust. Therefore, as we find God to be THE MOST TRUSTWORTHY, we can find Him the most pleasurable.

I hope I am not losing you... this is the most important part I want you to read.

If you are having detached sex, you should not be surprised that you have trouble feeling connected with God. You taught yourself how NOT to FEEL... and you are SHOCKED you can't feel Him.

Never wanting to end on a hopeless note, I offer the only advice I know:

• Repent - Turn from self-centered sex.
  
• Ask God to restore the emotions you worked hard to disconnect from.
• Until you feel alive again and can follow God emotionally, follow Him with obedience. He will honor your faithful seeking with RESTORATION.
  

Girl's Night Out

In starting Girl's Night Out, I was/am looking for a place for us to genuinely connect with other women, and through that, love and encourage one another to pursue God. I have been BLESSED to see each of you be vulnerable and open to new friendships. I think we are all hungering for real connection in a very busy world where it is easier NOT to worry about what is going on below the surface "fine" that we get from others.

So, I think that the first half of my desire has been met with amazing beauty. Now, I want to press on to the harder, scarier task of the second half - "love and encouraging one another to pursue God."

Unfortunately (or fortunately), there is no formula for us to do this. What makes the God of Christianity unique is that He does not have us live by following a formulary list of rules; but rather, we get to find satisfaction in life by RELATIONSHIP - learning to please Him and let Him satisfy us.

I am asking for you to help me figure this out - what do we do next to share life MORE?