Bible Study Source for Women Magazine - Issue 4

Issue 4 • Spring 2019

B I B L E

S T U D Y

SOURCE for women

powered by ChurchSource

inside this issue:

Q&withA

CHRISTINE CAINE

HOW to HEAL

When Your Trust is Shattered also:

GET CLEAR ON YOUR CALLING

&

5 WAYS TO BUILD TRUE COMMUNITY

a

LETTER to our READERS

Dear Reader, As we wind down a winter of Polar Vortexes and virulent viruses, we hope this issue of Bible Study Source for Women Magazine renews and refreshes you.

Authors Christine Caine, Jada Edwards, Kadi Cole, and Emily Ley have put their hearts on these pages, encouraging you to embrace unexpected adventures, let God heal you from past hurts, chase the God-sized dreams he’s given you, and lean in to your community.

Our prayer is that, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, being part of the Bible Study Source for Women community will help you deepen your relationship with Christ and connect with other women.

Dreaming of Spring,

Beth Murphy Director, Bible Study Source for Women P.S. Stay tuned for an amazing summer! We’ll have new video studies for you from Laura Story, Rebekah Lyons, Kat Armstrong, Jess Connolly, and Kasey Van Norman.

Be the first to preview these new studies at:

BibleStudySource.com/NEW Bible Study Source for Women is powered by ChurchSource, a team dedicated to serving pastors and church leaders by connecting them to God-honoring resources from two of the most trusted names in publishing: Zondervan and Thomas Nelson.

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GET CLEAR on Y

W H AT E V E R Y F E M A L E L E A D E R N E

Figuring out my calling has always been much harder for me than it seemed to be for others.

Part of my story has been navigating what felt like a ten-year hiatus from my calling.

After my husband was seriously injured at work, my life took a sharp and unexpected turn away from what I thought was my calling to be a stay-athome mom to a gaggle of kids. I was pregnant at the time and spent the next several years caretaking my husband through three surgeries. When his injuries didn’t heal, and his pain worsened, I eventually went back to work full time to support our family.

The gaggle of kids turned out to be an only child, and I went from a stay-at-home mom to a full-time executive leader and caretaker.

As you can probably guess, that ten-year hiatus wasn’t really a hiatus. It was part of how God was refining my calling. These new, unwanted limitations on my time, energy, and capacity were not roadblocks to overcome, but guardrails God had set up to help me refine my priorities, my greatest contribution, and what he ultimately planned to do in and through my life.

Suffering is the gateway to sanctification, and at the end of the day, isn’t that the ultimate goal? Not to do like Jesus, but to be like him? Out of being flows doing— the doing of all our callings, whatever they may be. The key is to know this from the Lord, directly. How can we choose God if we don’t know for sure that it’s him?

n YOUR CALLING E R N E E D S TO K N O W

BY KADI COLE

Here are five best practices to help you figure out what God is calling you to do:

1. FEAST ON GOD’S WORD

Engage in the conversation God wants to have with you through his Word. That personal, intimate, soulsatisfying direction that you receive only when you humbly and prayerfully open up God’s Word and listen for his voice. It’s praying God’s Word out loud over your life, ministry, and the people you love. It’s memorizing Scriptures that equip you for spiritual battle. And it’s worshipping God through studying and learning simply for the sake of building your love and connection with him. He is our great reward, nothing else.

2. EMBRACE BEING A MISFIT

What great biblical leader wasn’t a misfit in their time and place? As Christians, standing alone is required, and especially as leaders. Learning how to confidently stand where we are supposed to be, without the need to defend ourselves or put others down, is part of the overflow of our deep understanding of who we are in Christ.

We stand against the pressures, the scripts, or the assigned roles. But we obey what God is calling us to do, regardless of the cost.

3. STEWARD YOUR GOD-GIVEN GIFTS

Knowing yourself, what you are gifted to do, and how you go about using those gifts to serve others is foundational to understanding your calling. Your gifts don’t necessarily spell out what you do, but they help you know how to go about doing it.

4. ALWAYS SAY “YES!”

Take advantage of every opportunity given to you. Experiment. Push yourself. Take on big challenges. If God is calling you to it, he will equip you to do it. It may cause you to prioritize differently, lead at a higher level, and get rid of things in your life that are lower on the priority list, but these are all good things God probably wants you to do anyway. Of course, I say this within reason. But if there are no clear boundaries holding you back, do not hold yourself back. Start looking and asking God to open doors and bring to light where he wants you to focus your efforts.

5. DON’T HOLD BACK

God has ordained ground for you to claim, places for you to be victorious, and a positioning in which you will bless and influence your world. It doesn’t have to look a certain way or involve any sort of milestone or achievement. One of my roles right now is leading a small group of five middle school girls on Sunday mornings. It doesn’t have to be flashy to be significant.

Kadi COLE Kadi Cole, one of the first female leaders to serve in an executive role at a large, multisite church, is the author of Developing Female Leaders, an international consultant for Leaders organizations, leadership trainer, and LifePlan facilitator. Kadi is a founding member of the Women’s Executive Pastor Network and the founder of MinistryChick.com. She lives with her husband and son in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.

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Joy IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK BECAUSE G

DEFIANT JOY

What Happens When You’re Full of It Joy is closer than you think because God is better than you may believe!

Using humor, wit, and wisdom, author Candace Payne (aka “Chewbacca Mom”) reveals biblical insights to unshakable joy and freedom in every circumstance. In this video Bible study, learn what it is to live a life expressed by joy!

Unwavering helps us defy the powers that threaten to destroy our souls and steal our joy. Through the practices of Bible study, discussion, journaling, reflection, worship and contemplative prayer, learn to remain unwavering in the face of numbing loneliness, the desolation of waiting, and sad endings that leave us hopeless. God means for us to have a joy that is defiant in the face of this broken world!

Six Sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Moderate (30 minutes - 1 hour)

Six Sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

Candace

Stasi

Candace is a viral sensation whose Facebook Live video of trying on a Chewbacca Mask became the mostviewed Facebook Live video to date (165+ million views). She has been featured in more than 3,000 media outlets and has interviewed with major media. Candace recently launched a video series with TLCme. Candace lives in Texas with her husband, two children, and two ornery pugs.

Stasi Eldredge spent her childhood years in Prairie Village, Kansas, and she took a partiality to her nowhusband John when they were friends in high school. She has been active in theatre ministry, crisis pregnancy center ministry, women’s ministry, and children’s ministry. Stasi loves baking, getting lost in a good novel, family traditions, the Tetons, and the grace and beauty of horses. The Eldredge family lives in Colorado.

PAYNE

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U N W AV E R I N G

Living with Defiant Joy

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ELDREDGE

SE

God IS BETTER THAN YOU MAY BELIEVE - CANDACE PAYNE

God has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The New Testament gives us the chance to walk with Jesus, see what He does, and hear Him speak into the sometimes- confusing situations in which we find ourselves. The Old Testament tells the story of how God prepared a people to be the family of Jesus, and in the experiences of those men and women, we find our own lives mirrored.

—from the introduction

J E S U S A LW AY S B I B L E S T U D Y S E R I E S The Jesus Always Bible Study Series offers you a chance to lay down your cares, enter God’s presence, and hear him speak through his Word. You will get to spend some time silently studying a passage of Scripture, and then, if you’re meeting with a group, openly sharing your insights and hearing what others discovered. You’ll also get to discuss excepts from the Jesus Always devotional that relate to the themes of the Bible passages. In this way, you will learn how to better make space in your life for the Spirit of God to speak to you thorough the Word of God and the people of God. Each of the Jesus Always Bible Studies includes Scripture for reflection, questions and activities for groups and individuals, and selected devotional readings. Leader’s notes also included.

Four Volumes | 8 Sessions each | Book Only Study Time: Minimal (less than 30 minutes) Study Guide $10.99 $7.69

Volume 1 - Embracing Jesus’ Love Volume 2 - Following God’s Direction Volume 3 - Leading a Joy-Filled Life Volume 4 - Walking in God’s Grace

Sarah

Karen

Sarah Young’s devotional writings, which have sold more than 14 million copies, are personal reflections from her daily quiet time of Bible reading, praying, and writing in prayer journals. Her journey with Jesus has been strengthened and deepened by challenging health issues, including years of battling severe Lyme disease and vertigo. Sarah and her husband were missionaries in Japan and Australia for many years, and currently live in the United States.

Karen Lee-Thorp was a senior editor at NavPress for many years and series editor for the LifeChange Bible study series. She is now a freelance writer living in Brea, California, with her husband, Greg Herr, and their daughters, Megan and Marissa.

YOUNG

LEE-THORPE

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WHEN CHURCH L E A D E R S FA I L

H E A L I N G F R O M S H AT T E R E D T R U S T

BY JADA EDWARDS About 10 years ago, God called my husband and me to plant a church. My husband was convinced, “The Lord is telling me we need to call this church One.” It was based on a prayer Jesus prays in John 17, where he says to God the Father, “I want these people to be one the way you and I are one.”

Unity, transparency, and community became the themes as we planted and built our little community of faith. We were all excited, because we were going to have this perfect church where everyone is honest and they love each other. Easy, right?

But, as people started to come to us, we realized that there were some deep trust issues that we had to deal with before we could get to any kind of transparency.

A lot of those issues came from being hurt by people in authority, specifically in the church. They had a hard time sharing, trusting, and building the kind of community that we wanted, because they had wounds to get over. We ended up helping people walk through a path of forgiveness and knocking down some of those trust barriers so they could really experience true community.

This isn’t just a 21st century problem. It happened to people in the Bible, too.

Hagar’s story, found in Genesis 16, is a story of being hurt by those in authority.

Hagar had two people who were children of God in authority over her, and they did not treat her well.

If you a child of God, there are standards we are to uphold as we lead people. In 1 Timothy 3, Paul uses adjectives like above reproach, temperate, self controlled, respectable, and hospitable to describe Christian leaders. He goes on in Ephesians 6:5-9 to remind us that there’s no partiality with God, so it doesn’t even matter that Abraham and Sarah were in a position of authority over Hagar; God says everybody is created in his image and deserves to be treated that way.

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The truth is, a lot of us might be struggling with attending a church, or being a part of a community of faith, because we’ve been hurt in the past and we can’t get over it. God sees that, and that is real. I’m not gonna explain it away. I’m telling you there’s a woman here in Scripture who can relate to you.

Abraham and Sarah were in authority over Hagar, but they were not doing what God asked them to do. Not only did they not treat Hagar with compassion, they were not hospitable, self-controlled, or above reproach with her, because Sarah was trying to help God what God didn’t need help doing. They violated God’s order.

That that creates a lot of hurt. The good news is, God can restore and bring healing.

Regardless of how anyone has treated you, even those who claim to love God, they do not change the fact that you are his.

Our baggage can also exaggerate these hurtful situations. If you’ve had a bad experience, and you already have a rough history with that, the enemy will use it to immobilize you. He will use it to keep you frozen, and not be able to carry out what God has planned for you.

God is our healer. Psalm 147:3 (NIV) says, “He heals the brokenhearted, and he binds up their wounds.” Psalm 34:18 (NIV) tells us, “The Lord is close to brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” When your heart is broken, God understands the heavy things that weigh you down. He rushes in to heal that hurt.

He understands all the unique situations that you think no one will ever understand. There are things you have never told anybody, and God knows it’s breaking your heart. He wants

to come in, find where your spirit is crushed, and fix it.

A huge part of trusting God is letting go. I’m not talking about in that youth camp kind of way where you write something on a piece of paper and put it in the fire or release a balloon.

I’m talking about understanding what’s hurting your heart, doing the hard work, and making the choice of letting it go.

I have seen people carry hurt and trauma for years, decades. I recently ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. When I asked how she was doing, she launched into a story that happened to her over 10 years ago. It was a hurtful story. She told it like it had just happened yesterday.

When you hold on to something for that long, you are really deciding that God doesn’t know what’s best, that he didn’t sovereignly allow these hard things to happen, and that he did not create a path for you to find healing.

You can’t be used greatly by God when all of your energy is harboring, and holding on, and hugging tightly to things that have hurt you.

This is work. You’ve got to do the work of your healing. Find the person that you need to talk to. Find the community that you need to be in, so you can find healing, because that is the only way to get to the hope that God has for you.

Here’s another thing. Don’t let the hurt that’s happened to you make you think you need to abandon church altogether. That’s what the enemy wants you to do. He’s telling you, “Every church is going to be like your last church. The churches that you see in the news,

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“Don’t let the hurt that’s happened to you make you think you need to abandon church altogether.” the crazy Christians that you’ve met— that’s how all the churches are. Just don’t go. Just watch online. That’s all you need to do.”

Don’t let that hurt in the past keep you from the community of faith. Don’t put every hurt that’s happened to you on every church leader, or every person that’s ever going to have authority over you, because there’s no way to come back from that. You have to believe this: that being hurt, even by the people of God, is not the same thing as being hurt by God. God will allow people, and

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all of their flaws, and all of their failures, to bring pain in your life, so you can understand that he’s greater than the pain. Even in the brokenheartedness, there’s hope and there’s healing.

Even if your life situations have made you feel powerless, or you’re at the mercy of someone else’s decisions, even if life has not affirmed your significance, God will, every single time.

Bring that brokenness to him. “Try him,” as my grandmother used to say, and see. He always works. He will heal your broken heart.

THREE TEACHERS. THREE PERSPECTIVES .

T H R E E P O W E R F U L B I B L E S T U D I E S. Each study in the Known by Name series explores a complex woman in the Bible and her struggles with tough questions through three lenses: a counselor (Kasey), and Bible teacher (Jada), and a dramatist (Nicole). Designed to engage all learning styles, these studies are deep and powerful, yet they do not assume participants have a lot of Bible knowledge or have done Bible studies in the past, making them ideal for new believers and seasoned Christians alike.

HAGAR

RAHAB

NAOMI

In the Face of Rejection, God Says I'm Significant

Don’t Judge Me, God Says I’m Qualified

When I Feel Worthless, God Says I'm Enough

Hagar learns through hurt and rejection that what is unresolved is not unseen by God. Through her story, you will learn how to respond when life doesn’t affirm you, but God does.

Through Rahab’s story, you will learn how to shed unhelpful labels and fears, and instead revel in God’s unconditional love and acceptance of you—just as you are.

Naomi traveled from comfort and security to despair and bitterness; from hopeless drifting to faithful obedience; from loss to redemption in one short lifetime.

Four Sessions Each | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Moderate (30 minutes - 1 hour)

Kasey Jada

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

VAN NORMAN is a licensed counselor who teaches and writes about the love that redeemed her from past abuse, addiction, infidelity, and the fear of a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.

E D WAR D S

is an experienced Bible teacher equipping women with practical, biblical truth.

She is the Women’s Pastor and Director of Creative Services for One Community Church in Plano, TX.

Nicole

J OH NSO N

is one of the most sought-after creative communicators in America today.

Her unique ability to blend humor with compassion creates a sense of community with her audience.

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Jennie ALLEN

Jennie Allen is a recovering achiever who is passionate about Jesus. She founded the million-strong IF:Gathering, where she gathers deep kindred souls around food she didn’t cook, and she asks terribly intrusive questions. She’s a risk-taker who married Zac, a crazier risk-taker. Then God thought it would be funny to give them four crazy strong risky-dreamer kids. As a true Austin, Texas family, their life revolves around the Friday night lights.

STUCK The Places We Get Stuck and the God Who Sets Us Free

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RESTLESS Because You Were Made for More

Do you feel stuck? So many of us live stuck. Stuck in trying to seem perfect. Stuck in sadness. Stuck feeling numb.

Stuck pursuing more stuff. These stuck places often go unattended inside of us, and they are shaping our lives more than we would like to think. Our stuck places— where we’re broken, mad, discontented, scared, overwhelmed, or sad—are the very places that make us ache for God, who has a plan to get us unstuck.

“Do I matter?” Answer this important question by discovering the best way to use your spiritual gifts. Through the story of Joseph, explore how his suffering, gifts, story, and relationships fit into the greater story of God—and how our stories can do the same. Then, try Threads—a tool to help you see your own personal story and to uncover and understand the raw materials God has given you to use for his glory and purpose while on this planet.

Eight Sessions | ~9 minutes each Study time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Eight Sessions | ~21 minutes each Study time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $26.99 $18.89 Leader Kit (DVD, Study Guide, Leader Guide, and Conversation Cards) $59.99 $35.99

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $26.99 $18.89 Leader Kit (DVD, Study Guide, Leader Guide, and Conversation Cards) $59.99 $35.99

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I THINK WE ARE ALL ACHING FOR SOME

magical, great, noble purpose TO SQUEEZE INTO THE HOLES OF OUR ORDINARY LIVES. JENNIE ALLEN Res t les s

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IF YOU LIKE BIBLE STUDIE Margaret FEINBERG Margaret Feinberg is one of American’s most beloved Bible teachers. Her books and studies have sold more than one million copies, and she was named one of fifty women most shaping culture and the church today by Christianity Today. Margaret savors life with Leif, a pastor in Park City, Utah, and their superpup, Hershey. A self-described “hot mess,” Margaret believes some of the best days are spent in jammies, laughing, and being silly.

PRESENT OVER PERFECT Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Do you long to live a life of meaning and connection? Instead, are you pushing for perfection, settling for busy? Learn an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, play, and connection with the people that matter most. Leave behind the pressure to be perfect, perform faster, push harder, and produce more, and begin the life-changing practice of simply being present, in the middle of the mess and the ordinariness of life.

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

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Five Sessions | ~15 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

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D I E S B Y J E N N I E A L L E N ...

TA S T E A N D S E E Discovering God Among Butchers, Bakers, and Fresh Food Makers The Psalmist declared, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps 34:8), so Margaret Feinberg decided to take the invitation literally. She embarked on a global culinary and spiritual adventure descending 410 feet into a salt mine, baking fresh matzo at Yale University, harvesting olives off the Croatian coast, and tasting succulent figs at a premier farm—all to discover the truth in such a simple verse. With each person she encountered, she asked, “How do you read the Scripture in light of what you do every day?” Their answers will change the way you read the Bible forever…and the way you approach every meal.

Six Sessions | ~25 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (An hour or more)

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

Shauna NIEQUIST Shauna’s three great loves are her family, hosting dinner parties in her slightly-messy, normal home, and being a bookworm, and she believes that vulnerable storytelling, hard laughter, and cold pizza for breakfast can cure almost anything. Shauna and her husband have two wild and silly and darling boys and an Australian Labradoodle puppy named Sgt. Pepper.

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V ER SE mapping Do you have difficulty understanding Scripture? Do you want to research the context of Scripture, but you’re daunted by Greek and Hebrew? Do you hunt for connections in Scripture but fear you’re over-complicating things?

If you want to harvest as much as you can from Scripture and apply it to your life today—then Verse Mapping is for you!

WHAT IS VERSE MAPPING?

Verse Mapping is a method of studying the historical context, transliteration, translation, connotation, and theological framework of a verse in the Bible. Plain and simple? Verse mapping is getting real about studying the Bible. All of it. It’s not just reading. It’s researching everything you can in a verse to learn more about who God is and how He wants to speak to you through His Word.

The process is simple.

• Verse: Select and write your verse to map.

• Design: Write your verse in two to four different translations, and identify key words.

• Develop: Look up key words in Hebrew/Greek. Write down

definitions, synonyms, and root words. Discover any underlying meaning in the verse and note it.

• Actions: Research and document the people, places, and the context. Ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Note connections to other concepts in Scripture you find in your research.

• Outcome: Write a summary of what you’ve learned. Anchor the

verse you mapped to your life. This is the treasured truth the map brought you to.

That’s it—five simple steps to change-your-life study time with God! All set? Let’s map.

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VERSE MAPPING: LUK E Gathering the Goodness of God’s Word

VERSE MAPPING: AC TS Feasting on the Abundance of God’s Word

Kristy CAMBRON Six sessions each | ~17 minutes each | Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more) Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

Kristy is a Women’s Ministry Leader at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, and a passionate storyteller who travels to speak at events across the country, encouraging women to experience a deeper life in the Word through verse mapping.

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Anne GRAHAM LOTZ Called “the best preacher in the family” by her father, Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz speaks around the globe with the wisdom and authority of years spent studying God’s Word.

The New York Times named Anne one of the five most influential evangelists of her generation. Anne is a best-selling and awardwinning author. Anne and her late husband, Danny Lotz, have three grown children and three grandchildren. She is the founder and president of AnGeL Ministries.

T H E D A N I E L P R AY E R Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations Many people feel their prayers don’t “work.” Anne has found that while prayer does work, sometimes the “pray-ers” don’t. So, she has turned to the prophet Daniel for help. The Daniel Prayer is not an everyday type of prayer. It’s a prayer birthed under pressure.

Heartache. Grief. Desperation. Join Anne in a thrilling discovery of prayer that really works. This book will help you pray effectively for your nation, for your families, and for yourself.

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

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Six Sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

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EXPEC TING TO SEE JESUS A Wake-Up Call for God’s People Anne delivers a wake-up call from the Mount of Olives to revive our passion for Jesus. Joined by pastors Crawford Loritts and Henry Blackaby, Anne leads us through a practical Bible study workshop designed to wake us up. We live as if we are unaware we are on the brink of Christ’s return. We ought to be praying differently.

Scheduling our time differently. Spending our money differently. Be found faithful on that day. He is coming!

Nine Sessions | ~28 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more) Participant’s Guide $10.99 $7.69 | DVD $26.99 $18.89

THE MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION Embracing the God-Filled Life Follow Anne on a journey through Abraham’s life, and learn—as he did—how to live a life of joy and purpose in the midst of struggle and doubt. Join Anne as she teaches you and your group to embrace a God-filled life, choice-by-choice, day-by-day, and learn to know God as Abraham did...as His friend.

Seven Sessions | ~27 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more) Participant’s Guide $10.99 $7.69 | DVD $29.99 $20.99

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BUILDING

true COMMUNITY

BY EMILY LEY

My mom was a teacher for nearly forty years. She saw firsthand the effect a community, or lack thereof, can have on a child’s life. She carefully and thoughtfully loved on me and my brother by making sure our home was a place of rest and comfort. She was my first friend who invested time into me through warm, thorough conversation. She exemplified community.

As I got older I learned to cherish friendships and community, whether it be at the kitchen table in my childhood home, my quaint first apartment, adventures of early motherhood in Tampa, or now back to my forever home in Pensacola. Community travels. It’s simple and slow and old-fashioned in the most perfect way.

Community is the one thing in our lives that can recreate home.

It’s nestled into our minds and hearts. God prescribed this need in us to relate deeply to each other. Like a good meal, our village fuels and fulfills us.

I’ve always heard it takes a village to raise a family. I didn’t fully understand what that meant until Bryan and I attempted the whole parenting thing. We quickly learned we could care for our babies, but had to remind ourselves to take care of our own hearts, along with the village holding our hands. We learned that accepting help and support from our village is not a weakness.

Help, whether through words of encouragement or a prepped meal or even that tight hug that touches the inside of your soul is the blessing of friendship. It’s the greatest accessory to all of our lives, and the best part is we get to give it back.

My mom taught me what I believe every mama should instill in their babies—true community. Without family, faith, and friendship, we’re simply existing. I don’t want my kids to walk through life without a village of their own. I hope for them to live with a treasure box of friendships. I pray they find friends to sit and drink the most delicious, hot cups of coffee with for hours, along with a circle of sincerity that will endure the weak, lukewarm cups of coffee in times of desolation, despair, and a stream of tears. I want them to know the significance of surrounding themselves with the sweetness and support our minds deeply desire and our hearts need in seasons of sunshine and joy, but also overwhelm and burnout.

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So here are my favorite tokens to true community:

1. BE PRESENT. Online does not build us up or permanently fill our hearts—people do. Don’t replace true friends with a screen.

2. LIVE A LIVELY LIFE. Meet your friends in their season; let

them meet you in yours. Support and build genuine positivity, while shining light when the positivity is few and far between.

3. CELEBRATE YOUR COMMUNITY. Shower the people in your lives with kindness and care. You are what you celebrate.

Simplify Your Life!

GRACE, NOT PERFEC TION Embracing Simplicity, Celebrating Joy

4. APPRECIATE ALL SIPS OF COFFEE. The burnt cups make you even more grateful for the sweet ones.

5. WATER YOUR BOUQUET. Show your babies your community,

then teach them to grow and hold onto their own. Every generation deserves the fruits of true community.

As I’ve traveled through adulthood, I’ve been careful to intentionally collect my own beautiful, vibrant bouquet of friends. Just as every flavor provides its own unique, tasteful experience, every friend brings her own special gift to our community.

Whether it be the librarian who helps me find my favorite fictional escapes, the people who pray with us at church, the friends who kidnap me for a walk after a long day for my first peek at sunlight just when it’s setting, the kind man who delivers February birthday cards with cheerful words of celebration from friends who live just a bit too far away, or friends who sit on the rocking chairs of my front porch and drink coffee with me to talk about the honest details on our hearts, that’s the village I treasure.

And it’s the same kind of community I hope for you to know.

Emily L E Y

Have you been told you can have it all, only to end up exhausted and occasionally out of sorts with the people you love? Are you ready for a new way of seeing your time? Simplify your life by simplifying the three major areas: your space, your time, and your mind. Allow grace to seep into your days, your family, and your heart.

Four Sessions | ~26 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Emily Ley is Founder and Creative Director of Emily Ley Paper & Gifts. Raised in Pensacola, Florida (home of the most beautiful beaches you ever did see), she enjoys Friday pizza parties on the living room floor, strong cappuccinos with her college-crush-turned-husband, and making memories to savor for a lifetime with her twins and preschooler.

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

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A L L the F

Bible studies to help us not b

U N G LU E D

Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions

Discipleship that Deeply Changes Your Relationship with Others

God gave us emotions to experience life, not destroy it! What do we often do with our raw emotions? We stuff, we explode, or react somewhere in between. Is it really possible to make emotions work for us instead of coming unglued? This study will equip you to resolve conflict, to learn to be honest but kind when offended, and to respond to situations out of your control without acting out of control.

Pete and Geri Scazzero developed the Emotionally Healthy Relationships Course over a 21-year period to directly address core biblical principles to guide you and others into an experience of discipleship that will deeply change your life.

In the Emotionally Healthy Relationships Course, everyone will learn eight practical relationship skills to develop mature, loving relationships with others.

Six sessions | ~16 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Eight sessions | ~15 minutes each Study Time: Moderate (30 minutes - an hour)

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99

Study Guide $16.99 $11.89 | DVD $39.99 $27.99 Day by Day Devotional $13.99 $9.79

Lysa

TERKEURST

Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the New York Times bestselling author of It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, Uninvited and The Best Yes. She writes from her sticky farm table and lives with her family in North Carolina.

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EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

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Geri and Pete SCAZZERO

Peter and Geri are the founders of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York City, a large, multiracial church with more than 73 countries represented. They are the founders of the groundbreaking ministry Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, equipping churches to implement a discipleship that deeply changes lives.

e FEELS!

not be ruled by our emotions

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MESS Strength for This Beautiful, Broken Life

MOVE ON

When Mercy Meets Your Mess

Have you experienced hurts so deep it has hardened your defenses, keeping you from allowing God in? Do you fear your mess is too big for God? Enter a safe place with God by practicing a daily connection with him through confession, prayer, and meditation on Scripture. Though we will never be completely “fixed” on earth, God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Our brokenness is the key to finding God’s strength in the middle of the mess.

Are you weary of hiding and pretending? It’s time to find the courage to lay your heart bare before the Lord and say, “I’m not okay, and I need your help.” Once you face your messes, God—in his sweet mercy—will help you get real, deal, and truly move on. Say goodbye to that person you’ve been pretending to be and celebrate the person God created you to be: a gloriously imperfect mess who is loved by God.

Six sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Six sessions | ~17 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more)

Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

Study Guide $10.99 $7.69 | DVD $26.99 $18.89 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $36.99 $22.19

Sheila

WALSH

Sheila first came to fame as a Scottish-born contemporary Christian singer, and the co-host of The 700 Club. But what endears her to audiences is her story of how God met her when she was at her lowest point and lifted her up again. Sheila lives in Dallas with her husband and son, and she loves teaching the Bible, writing daily, her menagerie of animals, and coffee.

Vicky

COURTNEY

Vicki Courtney is a national speaker to women of all ages and the best-selling author of many books and Bible studies including 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter, and she has appeared on CNN and Fox News as a youth culture commentator.

Vicki and her husband, Keith, have three grown children, a son-inlove, daughter-in-love, and an amazing grandson.

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Q & A with CHRISTINE CAINE EMBRACING THE ADVENTURE OF THE UNEXPECTED

If you know Christine Caine, you know she’s constantly on the move! She and her family travel yearround, all over the world, empowering the local church and speaking about seeing human trafficking abolished everywhere forever.

We were lucky enough to catch up with her to talk about her new Bible study, Unexpected.

Q: Christine, what inspired you to write Unexpected?

A: It was on my fiftieth birthday when one of the most amazing nights of my life unexpectedly became one of the saddest nights of my life. My husband Nick gave me the greatest gift ever—a dinner cruise with friends, with wonderful food, dancing, and lots of laughs. But while I was on the boat, I missed multiple phone calls from my brother Andrew. I discovered them on the drive home, along with an unexpected text: “Mum is gone.” In a flash, I went from having the happiest night imaginable to feeling utterly heartbroken. I was whiplashed by the shock of it all.

Q: How devastating! In the days and months that

Q: When the unexpected strikes and it’s painful, what is the typical reaction?

A: The unexpected can throw us into such a devastated state that we withdraw or shut down, unable to move forward. We end up stuck in a place where our world shrinks and we hide inside of it, living a story far smaller than God intends. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? We just want to pull back and hide when we get wounded or disappointed, when we face failure or heartache, or when we suffer an unbearable loss.

followed, as you worked through your grief, you began to see the broader impact of the unexpected all around you, right?

Q: How does your study help us get unstuck at those

A: When I planned this study, I didn’t realize how

A: Here’s the deal. We cannot shrink back in fear and

timely it would be—there have been so many news reports of devastation and tragedy lately! Some days these events seem so far away, and other days they hit way too close to home. Actually, in this study you’re going to meet friends of mine who have been faced with unexpected pain that might strike very close to home: a

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life-threatening diagnosis, a relational wound, a whole series of relentless losses, a purposeless season of life, even a hidden hurt that still isn’t healed to this day.

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times when we are tempted to pull back and hide?

go forward in faith at the same time. We cannot settle for our less and pursue his more at the same time. It’s just not possible. In this study, we learn that what is possible is to develop relentless faith so that the next time life throws us a curve ball—which life most certainly will— we are able to bat it out of the park and still live the adventure he’s planned for us.

Q: To be clear, this study is not only about how to

handle unexpected tragedies. You also talk about the unexpected adventures God surprises us with, right?

A: So true. And one of my favorite stories that

illustrates this is the story of Abraham. I’m so excited for us to see how God extended to him the same invitation he extends to us—to trust with all his heart—and how Abraham said yes, even though he had no idea where he was going, who he would meet, what pain it would bring, or what it might cost.

But he knew God would guide him, protect him, and provide for him—and he refused to be shaken.

Q: Speak to the woman reading this right now.

What is the main message you want to convey to her through Unexpected?

UNEXPECTED Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure

Most of us want to have life under control. But God wants us to know that because he is in control, we don’t have to be. Take God’s dare to trust him in every unknown of your life.

Five sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Moderate (30 minutes - 1 hour) Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

A: My dear friend, I want you to see that the

unexpected that interrupted your life can lead to living an adventure that’s beyond what you could ever have hoped or imagined. I have no doubt God has a life of adventure planned for you, and he never wants fear of the unexpected or from the unexpected to hold you back. So, as you do this study, as you allow the Holy Spirit to light your path, let’s go together. Let’s leave fear behind, move forward in faith, and embrace the adventure of the unexpected.

Christine CAINE

Christine Caine is an Australian-born, Greek-blooded, lover of Jesus, activist, author, and international speaker.

Together with her husband, Nick, she founded the anti-human trafficking organization, the A21 Campaign.

UNASHAMED Drop the Baggage, Pick Up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny

Shame has no place in the purpose, plan, and destiny God has for us because shame lies to us, and shackles us in the prison of our past. We must choose to see ourselves the way God sees us, and lay hold of his power to live a beautiful, full, life-giving future filled with purpose.

Five sessions | ~20 minutes each Study Time: Substantial (an hour or more) Study Guide $12.99 $9.09 | DVD $29.99 $20.99 Leader Pack (DVD & Guide) $41.99 $25.19

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