In Awe of the Lord...

Towards the end of last semester, the Lord impressed upon my heart a desire to start a Bible study for the teenage girls who live on campus with the purpose of providing discipleship and encouragement. (These young ladies are the daughters of staff and students.) I asked a few of the girls with whom I was acquainted if this would be of interest to them and each one responded enthusiastically!

Over Christmas break, as I was praying about what to study with the girls, the Lord reminded me of a book I had read as a brand-new Christian that greatly impacted my life, entitled His Chosen Bride. After getting home from Ukraine, I pulled my well-worn copy off the shelf and began to page through it. As I did, it became very clear to me that this was the book we should use as a guide for the study, with God's Word, of course, being the main focus.

Excited to have received this clear direction, I got online and ordered copies of His Chosen Bride for each young lady.

Our study commenced two weeks ago, beginning with a focus on the topic of treasure. The two thoughts I wanted the girls to walk away with that night were:

1) God treasures them

2) God wants to be treasured by them

We had a delightful time together going on a treasure hunt through God's Word (and around campus!) studying a myriad of verses along these lines. The young ladies (and mothers!) who came to the study seemed very blessed by the truths we read and discussed. Their homework assignment for the week was to read the first two chapters in His Chosen Bride, as well as the book of Ephesians, specifically looking for the character of Jesus Christ in order to know Him and love Him more.

When we gathered this past Tuesday evening for the second Bible study, we went around the room and everyone shared what they had learned during their personal time with the Lord. It was absolutely thrilling to hear each girl share how much they had been drawn more closely to Jesus Christ! They loved Ephesians and loved reading His Chosen Bride! They spoke enthusiastically about learning to love God and value time spent in His presence. Several of them gave testimony to the fact that their lives have already been changed as a result of this study. Wow! How awesome is the Lord!

As you may recall from a previous blog post, in our second study, we focused on the topic of the significance of the blood of Jesus Christ. You can imagine how blessed I was when the young lady who led a time of singing for us pulled out two songs on the topic of...the blood of Jesus Christ. I did not communicate with her ahead of time about this; it was completely the Lord who directed her to these songs. One was the familiar hymn Jesus Paid It All. The other was a new song for most of us that she taught us as she strummed the guitar entitled Jesus Thank You. I was deeply blessed by the words and melody of this song and wanted to share them with you here:

The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend

The agonies of Calvary

You the perfect Holy One crushed Your Son

Drank the bitter cup reserved for me

Chorus:

Your blood has washed away my sin

Jesus, thank You

The Father's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank You

Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table

Jesus, thank You

By the perfect sacrifice I've been brought near

Your enemy You've made Your friend

Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace

Your mercy and Your kindness know no end

The time of worship was beautiful before starting the study, but then we sang these songs again after having read dozens of verses about the Lord's sacrifice for us. Wow. The presence of the Holy Spirit was real. Several started weeping as we were overcome with the magnitude of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

It was an amazing time together.

Next week, each girl will be sharing their personal testimonies of salvation as we seek to exalt the Name above all names, our Savior Jesus Christ. I am very much looking forward to it...