And we are off...we have finished the introductory portion of our book and are on to the practical!  Last night, Kathy R. lead us through our first chapters on Simplifying and the Truth.  To summarize the chapters Kathy gave us this outline...and it is only according to my memory:

• Go to God, for all our decisions and needs
• Specifically, go to the Word of God
• It is there for our instruction
• To be instructed, we need to purpose to read through it
• Read through it in a focused manner

We began by reading through a list of pertinent scriptures on the topic at hand.  I think this is a complete list:

• Psalms 19:7-9
• John 6:63
• Hebrews 4:12
• ll Timothy 3:16
• Psalm 119:105
• Matthew 4:4
• Romans 15;4
• James 3:17
• Proverbs 2:4-7
• Psalms 1:1-3

The first question that we discussed was, "What did you find most helpful in these chapters?"  Here are some of the answers that Kathy received:

On page 48 in the last paragraph it says, "Unless our invisible Creator revealed Himself to us, we would know nothing about Him..."  The comment was that our Creator God, desires that we know Him!  Isn't that beautiful?  Maxie brought up the fact that in an interview with the infamous Richard Dawkins he implied that God has hidden himself from man.  Here is the quote: 

"Ben Stein: What if after you died you ran into God, and he says, what have you been doing, Richard? I mean what have you been doing? I've been trying to be nice to you. I gave you a multi-million dollar paycheck, over and over again with your book, and look what you did.
Richard Dawkins: Bertrand Russell had that point put to him, and he said something like: sir, why did you take such pains to hide yourself?
Ben Stein: But, if the Intelligent Design people are right, he isn't hidden. We may even be able to encounter God through science, if we have the freedom to go there. What could be more intriguing than that?" 

Oh how blessed we are that God has chosen to reveal Himself, to us!  “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes."  Matt. 11:25

On page 51 it says, "Be sure to ask, 'What does the Bible say about this?'"  What a great habit to get into...not necessarily, "WWJD", but "WWJS" - What would Jesus say?

On page 53 regarding the [patience, hope and comfort that we receive from the word, he says, "...I encounter the repeated promises that Jesus will return for His people and take us to an eternal home of joy more glorious than all the sunsets in the history of the world combined."  Think about that next time you see a picture of a sunset on facebook :).

Also on page 53, in the last paragraph, "...there is no simpler, purer, or more direct means of receiving His patience, comfort, or hope than by going to His Word and asking for it."  If we have nothing else...no friends...no worldly comforts...we have this.  Even if we don't have the Bible, if we have it hidden in our hearts...we have this!

Lastly, on page 55 regarding Matthew 4:4, if "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God", then "He intends for us to at least read every word. And the best way to do that is with the help of a Bible reading plan." 

With that, we discussed plans.  If you are lacking a Bible Reading Plan, ideas are in abundance amongst our Ladies.  Here are just a few:

http://www.bibleplan.org/mcheyne.htm
http://unbound.biola.edu/
http://www.youversion.com/
http://www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/