The message I received from studying Hagar is to "Fear Not!" No matter what your situation God hears your cries. When I first read about Hagar I didn't feel like I identified with her at all! But after I read a few more times over, I began to see a parallel illuminate.
While we may not be slaves to actual people, we do become slaves to the influences in our lives. There are so many worldly influences in our lives that affect us like casual sex, drugs & alcohol, negative or hostile attitudes & behaviors to name a few. Whatever it is we are a slave to, its like we're handcuffed to it & it pulls us further away from the will of God for our lives.
For Hagar, it was pride. Her behavior caused Sarah to abuse her & I imagine it got overwhelming for her to the point where she ran away. The voice of the Lord told her to go back & she obeyed, only to be sent away a few years later after Sarah found Ishmael taunting Isaac.
Hagar wandered thru the wilderness, ran out of water & left her son under a bush to die because she was out of water and she had no way to provide for him. She walked away & sobbed.
Sometimes our behaviors cause US to become out of the will of God. Sometimes it gets so out of control that WE wander into wilderness as well. I think sometimes God has to take things out of our control. Maybe we have to hit rock bottom & have nothing for Gods strength to operate in our weakness.
Like Hagar, when we are alone wandering in the wilderness with nothing & nobody, God says to us, "Fear Not, He hears our cries!" Now, he has our undivided attention to open our eyes & meet us at our point of need! To save us from ourselves & worldy influences and reveal to us his word, his promises for our lives...
She Who Laughs
The thing that stands out to me the most about Sarah is how she laughed at God. Her laughing at God was not in a disrespectful manner, but more of a doubtful manner. After all, Sarah was barren and God promised to bless her with a child... at the age of 90! I can totally see how she would find that doubtful & humorous.
She was imperfect in the fact that she was barren and had been unsuccessful in becoming pregnant for years on top of years! So when God said he was gonna bless her with a child, she was doubtful, and the thought of it was downright laughable at her age!
What I got out of this study is that God uses us in our imperfect state to show the excellency of HIS strength in our weaknesses. Sarah could not conceive! But where there's Gods Will, He'll make a way. NOTHING is too impossible for God!
This is encouraging for me because it let's me know that even with my imperfections God is willing to do a good work in my life. Like with Sarah, it may be in HIS timing and not mine. so that the Glory is attribute to only God and not myself!
Sarah may have laughed first in doubt, but her last laugh, I believe, was was one of Joy & Thanksgiving!
She was imperfect in the fact that she was barren and had been unsuccessful in becoming pregnant for years on top of years! So when God said he was gonna bless her with a child, she was doubtful, and the thought of it was downright laughable at her age!
What I got out of this study is that God uses us in our imperfect state to show the excellency of HIS strength in our weaknesses. Sarah could not conceive! But where there's Gods Will, He'll make a way. NOTHING is too impossible for God!
This is encouraging for me because it let's me know that even with my imperfections God is willing to do a good work in my life. Like with Sarah, it may be in HIS timing and not mine. so that the Glory is attribute to only God and not myself!
Sarah may have laughed first in doubt, but her last laugh, I believe, was was one of Joy & Thanksgiving!
Recognize The Serpent
Wrapping up the first week of our study I'm so excited for what I've learned and how I've grown! the questions were quite thought provoking and not as easy as I thought they'd be but I welcomed the challenge.
I answered the questions to be honest with myself and encourage growth within ME! I am committed & by the Grace of God I will follow through wholeheartedly to get to know the women of the bible to have a better understanding of myself. In the first week of studying Eve, the most important thing that stood out to me was recognizing the serpent!
The serpent's (who symbolizes the devil) purpose is the to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do it by any means necessary; lying to you, deceiving you, and encouraging you to turn away from Gods will for your life. He will use any willing vessel and any mode of transportation to spread His deceit.
What I learned is often times we allow ourselves to be deceived because we want to satisfy our flesh, and often times we dont really need alot of persuasion! "You shall not surely die!" Thats all Eve needed to hear to set her thought process in motion and doubt Gods Word. When we allow ourselves to be deceived, we open ourselves up and become vulnerable for the serpent to use us to further His plan to steal, kill, and destroy rather than furthering the will of a Holy God!
I commit to recognize the serpent when he gets in my face with his lies and deceit! To not allow him to take me under even when it looks good and is appealing to my flesh. Also to take responsibilities for my own actions rather than blame the person place or thing that made it appealing to me.
I imagine I'll have alot of "ouch" moments & I'm ok with that because when we learn the error of our ways, we change our course of action, and growth occurs. In the end I'll be the woman God created me to be!
I answered the questions to be honest with myself and encourage growth within ME! I am committed & by the Grace of God I will follow through wholeheartedly to get to know the women of the bible to have a better understanding of myself. In the first week of studying Eve, the most important thing that stood out to me was recognizing the serpent!
The serpent's (who symbolizes the devil) purpose is the to steal, kill, and destroy. He will do it by any means necessary; lying to you, deceiving you, and encouraging you to turn away from Gods will for your life. He will use any willing vessel and any mode of transportation to spread His deceit.
What I learned is often times we allow ourselves to be deceived because we want to satisfy our flesh, and often times we dont really need alot of persuasion! "You shall not surely die!" Thats all Eve needed to hear to set her thought process in motion and doubt Gods Word. When we allow ourselves to be deceived, we open ourselves up and become vulnerable for the serpent to use us to further His plan to steal, kill, and destroy rather than furthering the will of a Holy God!
I commit to recognize the serpent when he gets in my face with his lies and deceit! To not allow him to take me under even when it looks good and is appealing to my flesh. Also to take responsibilities for my own actions rather than blame the person place or thing that made it appealing to me.
I imagine I'll have alot of "ouch" moments & I'm ok with that because when we learn the error of our ways, we change our course of action, and growth occurs. In the end I'll be the woman God created me to be!
Welcome to the Journey
All of the women in my family have decided that we want to learn and grow together in the things of God. So we got a book Women in the Bible 52 Studies for Individuals and Groups by Jean E. Syswerda. We've decided to study one woman a week. So I've set up this blog page so the world will know what we're learning. Plus if you like you can join us in the journey that has already started out to be so productive and fun. There is going to be multiple authors on here so you can see what each woman has gathered from the same devotional. Honestly we can all read the same scriptures and questions but we come up with different points of view. Hope you will join us in this wonderful journey to become better woman in Christ.
Yours truly Mixed Girl
Yours truly Mixed Girl