A Colorful Review for Bible Study...

Through January, I had a small group of ladies join me in my first attempt to teach this LORD series from Precepts Ministries with Kay Arthur. This group of publishers are well know as the "Markers"

- students of Bible studies who do an inductive study by marking with symbols and colors. Many are overwhelmed with the details of the study, and never even take the smallest bite of INDUCTIVE Bible study because of the fear of these details.

Knowing this, I chose to simplify even more for beginners under my guidance. I chose to be consistent through the study with only 3 colors and rarely mark in more detail.
You see, for many years, I've used 3 basic colors and have learned to consistently use them for three relational categories.
1. YELLOW - My Relationship in Christ
2. BLUE - My Relationship in the Body of Christ (church)
3. RED - My Relationship in the Work of Christ (non-churched)
I use them for living out my priorities, showing in a Day Timer the relationship represented and encouraging a balance in my life. I've learned to study the Bible, using these three colors to let me see at a glance what relationship it emphasizes. Finally, in the last few months, I've used these 3 colors to pray (as described in this post) for the 3 relationship groups in my life.

FB NKCWC Connection

I even took a huge step and agreed to be the local Prayer Coordinator for using these 3 colors to show how women can:
1. YELLOW - CONNECT with God
2. BLUE - CONNECT with each other,
3. RED - CONNECT with ladies in their community.

It has been an exciting path of learning for me, so I thought I would once again, pass it on.

Here it is:
My purpose is to show myself that I can keep my mind focused on Christ and give him glory in all my relationships. Colossians 1:17
So, while reading a Bible passage, I look for any revelation about God and his personal relationship with me. I highlight it in YELLOW.  These phrases emphasize first of all my relationship with God, as Creator and what He has revealed through Scriptures about Himself. Then, my position IN CHRIST because of his atonement on my behalf draws me to who He is to me. This draws my thoughts to his glory, splendor, and majesty and His gifts of grace and mercy.
The second color is BLUE. I chose blue because of the blood that I see running just below my skin and giving life to my body parts. Life is in the blood. Spiritually, I was adopted into God's family of believers when I accepted the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. His family is royal. His family is unique and throughout the New Testament, there are characteristics that describe members of His family. These I color in blue so that I can learn to make them part of my choices and character.
Finally, I use RED to remember the stop sign I wish to put in unbelievers pathways so that they have an opportunity to consider Christ for the forgiveness of their sin. There are many passages that warn such people to stop and turn around on their paths, accepting God's gift of GRACE. Any warning or characteristic of these unbelievers I highlight in red to keep me aware of the need for the message of reconciliation to be proclaimed. 

Just using these 3 relationships and showing them in our study with the 3 colors helped each of the ladies understand our relationship in Christ, our relationship in the Body of Christ and the behaviors that grow this relationship. Finally, it also showed us the need of reconciliation and the behaviors that displease God. From this, we learned to apply the living Word of God to our lives and realize our task of discipleship. 

The Results Are In

Well, my first attempt of featuring a nearby business at the Women's Connection was a great success.

Of course, I only invited the guests, and planned for my Asian Feature to graciously began our evening and set the atmosphere for a wonderful evening.


Our feature was the Hunan Garden Restaurant in Kearney, MO, with the owner, JOY serving as our caterer and special guest.

For the buffet table, Joy's family brought in steaming hot plates of Honeyed Chicken, 
Fried Rice, 
Crab Ragoon, 
and Egg Rolls.
Then they changed their apparel to beautiful Chinese outfits of bright red and gold. The girls adorned formal wear of different styles, and even added some beautiful hats!
Victor, the leader was in vivid red vest and Uncle Xi wore a beige vest. Both men looked so classy with their bow ties at the neck of their white shirts.

They decorated a makeshift stage at the front of the room with Chinese figurines and flowered banners to give more to the Asian atmosphere.
The girls were so beautiful as they sang with sweet voices. Victor brought one of his young gorgeous students to grace us with a vocal performance.
Uncle Xi was fantastic on his harmonica and wow, Vivian, the daughter played a Chinese instrument that was so peaceful.
With the use of a borrowed keyboard, Victor accompanied many of the solos. He also played some specials and honored us with an awesome solo while Vivian accompanied him on the keyboard.
Tears blurred my vision with the passion of love heard in their song for their homeland, China, and their group "thank you" song brought a huge applause. they had treated us with a beautiful program, and then, topped it off with gracefulness and gratitude!

The night didn't end with music though.
We had an awesome speaker from Arkansas.

Linda Goff gave her personal story of victory over a food addiction. She retold the agony of her out-of-control appetite and how she cried out to God for help after every imaginable diet had failed her, and she realized the waste of her life, relationships and purposes.
Her voice peacefully and melodically gave praise to her Creator and all credit of victory was given to her Father God who reminded her through His precious Word that He would honor faith, even if it was the size of a mustard seed.
We saw the before/after photo, yet her success stood before us and made us praise such a loving, caring, awesome God. her peace of mind and intense love for her Savior was so evident as she spoke to us, challenging each lady in attendance to trust the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

She sold many copies of her book which you can find at www.amazon.com
As the evening closed, many ladies ventured to the front to visit with Linda and then, as they left the room, they commented on their pleasure for the evening.
The Skinny Budget Diet

Our team was encouraged to invite our "Feature Creatures" - JOY and her family back for another night of catered Honeyed Chicken and Fried Rick so we could have more time to hear their beautiful music again.

February 20 - NKC Women's Connection meets again in the large room at the Souder Family Funeral Home for another monthly evening of entertainment and challenge. Will you be in attendance?
You can keep up with the happenings at NKC Women's Connection
Hope to see you there!!

WC JANUARY...BEFORE & AFTER & Asian Night

Here's a great opportunity for ladies to make CONNECTIONS with other ladies in the Northland and enjoy each other's company, a cuisine from a local merchant and a story of God's influence in the life of a co-resident. The topic for this month will be
BEFORE-AFTER, which should just spike your curiosity!

I made this bulletin to hang as a reminder at my workplace. Everyone and anyone is invited and encouraged to bring a friend.
They only ask that you call in a reservation for a place-seating by the Sunday evening previous to the occasion which means to make your
RESERVATIONS right away! The deadline for a count is January 12th which will help them plan. You must call 816-505-7278 and just let them know how many will attend with you.

SOUDER Family Funeral Home

For $10/person, each receives a meal, an evening of entertainment, laughter, fellowship and sometimes, even some new friendships in your community. On top of that...they offer FREE CHILD CARE for those who reserve a spot!! Can you believe it?!

Inside the mansion!

They meet at the SOUDER FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, where the owner, Scott, arranges the room in a banquet style of tables for all of us. IF you're not familiar with this location, it's the big white mansion on the south hill of Barry Road, just west of Maple Woods Community College! Look at these photos...isn't this place elegant?!

So, on JANUARY 16th at 6:30 - 8:30...join us!
Hey! Just click on the site....it's on Facebook!
Women's Connection Kansas City North

There's an invitation on the site...click yes...and we'll see you there!

A New Study for A New Year

LORD, Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days seems like the perfect prayer for the very first 28 days of a brand new year.
I've asked five girlfriends to join me in accomplishing this new goal, although I would welcome anyone else to encourage me in this endeavor.
Our plan is to take this "very practical, hands-on, learn-by-doing Precepts' Ministry book by Kay Arthur and use the tools in her instructions for personal Inductive daily studies. We are going to accomplish this study in 28 days...meeting 4 times, but faithfully doing a chapter per day in the study.

Through this simple means we want to learn how to study the Bible in such a way that we discover truth for ourselves. The inductive approach is described in the Inductive Study Bible as a method that brings you directly to the Word of God apart from another's understanding or interpretation of the text, and involves three skills: observation, interpretation, and application. 

Each Tuesday morning we plan to come together to discuss the techniques we've learned over the past week,  glean any special insights benefited in our studies, encourage one another to keep moving forward and to especially pray together. We also plan to journal any parts we found difficult, confusing, or overwhelming so that we become familiar with this type of study and learn helpful hints from each other. We also want to prepare a path of study for future groups.

Most of all, we plan to be held accountable as we dedicate these next 28 days to the Inductive study of the Bible.
Want to join us?