TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!

OOOHHHH.... WE ARE SO EXCITED!  CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ALL OF YOU TONIGHT!  BLESSINGS AS YOU TRAVEL! 

Here's the last two chapters for those of you who have been following along! 

Ch. 17 - Praying the Dangerous Prayers


Once again Lysa TerKeurst gives us a glimpse into her life as she opens chapter 17 of "Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl" with a story straight from her life script. After sharing the details, she writes, "I suddenly came to understand a slight flaw in my prayer life. As I thought about the way I prayed, I realized how often my prayers seemed to center around ways I wanted God to bless me. Now none of these are bad prayers, if there even is such a thing as a bad prayer. They are honest prayers, heartfelt prayers, common prayers, the prayers of many women who are rising to the daunting task of caring for their families.

But they are slightly flawed prayers becasue they set my expectations of God to be what I want without taking into consideration the possibility of God's bigger plan. I make God into One who stunts my growth with convenience and comfort rather than One who grows me into a woman of character, perseverance and maturity."

Take a minute and think about your prayers. Are they prayers asking for blessing, comfort and safety? Like Lysa said, there is nothing wrong with that, but do you take it to the next step? Are you satisfied with comfort and convenience when He's longing to give you growth and greatness?

If you answered "yes" to that last question, ask God to give you the strength and desire to pray the dangerous prayers. Knowing doing so may inconvenience you and stretch you, but ultimately it will help you become more and be the woman He created you to be!
A couple of things to remember -

"We want the promises, but we don't want to get any dirt under our fingernails in the process."

"Power enters our prayers not by sounding powerful, but by listening for even the slightest whisper from the One who is all-powerful."

Ch. 18 - Forever

We've come to the end of "Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl" by Lysa TerKeurst and even though this is the third time I've worked through this book, I believe I could read it again! This truly has been one of the most challenging and convicting books I have ever read, and that is a good thing!!

This last chapter is so good! The story about the wedding really touches my heart and is a great picture of what is to come. It saddens me to know I've read this twice before and yet the power of this picture fades away, why do I need to be reminded? Why do I get so caught up in the little things that really don't matter? Why do I know what I need to do, yet fail?

Don't worry I'm not beating myself up, I know I'm human and so are you. Realizing we fail short (daily) and admitting we don't have it all together is part of the on-going becoming more process. As an athlete and coach I loved the quote, "Success is a journey, not a destination." And now as a Christian I truly believe we can say the same about faith - we will never arrive, this side of heaven. There is always something more to learn, there's that thorn in our side, but the great thing is with Christ living in us and changing us we can become more!!

Lysa's words as she closes the book really sum things up; she says, "Becoming more than a good Bible study girl means that we desire God's revelations in our life more than we desire our own carefully constructed plans. So easy to say, so hard to actually live out."