Show & Tell

One of the most valuable aspects of this moms' ministry is resource sharing. As both a striving mother and an avid reader, I am constantly on the lookout for "tools of the trade" - anything which may provide sound advice, instruction and encouragement to help me fulfill my responsibility of raising my children in a manner pleasing to God. The Bible studies we do are such resources in themselves. But I also love passing along books and videos and podcasts which have been helpful to me, as well as gleaning other sources from our participants.

This past Thursday we had plenty of impromptu sharing at Women's Bible Study. Leah Sams started us off by bringing in a few items that have helped her recently. We had fun passing around the "No More Whining" watch and the "Wise Words from Mom" chart - both from Ginger Plowman of Preparing the Way Ministries. Leah also had a copy of Ginger's "Don't Make Me Count to Three" - just the title alone makes me want to read it! Melanie recommended the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers - romance fiction that modernizes a biblical account. I love novels that help me understand the Bible. That reminded me of an author I discovered over the summer - Melody Carlson. I heard this author on "Family Life Today" this summer, and she writes for women, teens, and children (I thought that she wrote one of Genny's and my favorite little girl's book, I Like Me, but now I find that was Nancy Carlson - lol). I enjoyed Melody's novel "On This Day," a light read that gently interweaves biblical truth, and I really liked "Three Days: A Mother's Story," a fictionalized account as told by Mary as she reflects on Jesus' life while reeling from his crucifixion. I'm happy to report that the Main Library has quite a few of these books on its shelves - well, not so much now that I borrowed a whole stack of them on Friday! In addition to the authors above, I also picked up a couple books by Shaunti Feldhahn, whose "For Women Only" Bible study we did last spring. She mentioned in her videos that her research was inspired by her experience while writing "The Lights of Tenth Street," so I grabbed that one at the library along with her "The Veritas Conflict." My nightstand is overloaded!

Before we ever got to our discussion of homework, we also talked about the upcoming September 26 opening of the movie "Fireproof" from the makers of "Facing the Giants," one of my all time favorite movies (I'll part with it for a short time if you would like to borrow it - let me know!). I'm happy to report that, though "Giants" only made it as far as Melbourne theaters, "Fireproof" will be at the Indian River Mall AMC on opening day. If you're not yet familiar with these movies, they are must-sees - "Facing the Giants" changed my life. It's especially neat to see "Giants" or their first movie, "Flywheel," on DVD so you can watch the "Making of..." special features. These projects are absolutely fascinating and truly inspiring.

During our Bible study, I was also reminded of the movie "The Nativity Story," which came out a couple years ago - it really brought Jesus' birth to life for me. And let's not forget "The Passion of the Christ"...

You can see that if you're missing Bible study, you're missing more than Bible study! Much as I want to share resources, I can't guarantee recap postings like this every week. So join us on Tuesdays (RECESS) or Thursdays (Women's Bible Study), and feel free to bring in a "show and tell".