going deeper

Keith and I had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days last week in order to attend the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago, IL. It was so refreshing - in many different ways. It's always fun to explore a city with my husband. I'm an experience junkie, so anything new (to me) is exciting :-) I need to pause and add a big THANK YOU to both my mom and Keith's mom for taking over my mama role while we were gone!

It was more than the new experiences that refreshed me though. Throughout the week, I kept sensing that God was calling me to go deeper. For those of you who are around me very much, you know I love God and His Word. My best days are days that begin with my Bible, journal and a cup of coffee. For awhile now, I have been using our church's study guide from the sermon as my main Bible study. And, it has been good. I have so enjoyed getting to reflect on the message throughout the week so that I have time to let God work in me and sometimes, out of me, those things in my life that the sermon addressed in helping to make me more Christ-like. But, I'm telling you, being around lots and lots of people who are passionately moved by God and His Word will mess you up! And that's what happened to me last week. But in a good way. There is just so much meat in God's Word. And, though I've been a Christian for almost 23 years, I still feel like I am being nourished by the most minimal amount of it.

I'm simply ready for more and just realized that though I'm very intimidated by the big commentaries and meaty theology books that my husband consumes on a regular basis to help give him insight as he studies the Bible, they are available to me too, and I don't want to shy away from being a student of God's Word anymore.

So, what's my game plan you might be asking (if you're still reading!)? Well, our church is kicking off a series on Galatians tomorrow - come join us if you live in Round Rock area and don't have a church home...Hill Country Bible Round Rock. With that in mind, I thought Galatians would be the perfect starting place in the Bible for me to experience a little bit of "going deeper." So far, I've read thru Galatians in the NIV translation and the HCSB translation. Very doable, even for a mama of four. The past couple of days, I have read through Martin Luther's Introduction to his thoughts on Galatians. OK - this has been wonderful. If you can get your hands on a copy of this, you must! His introduction really helps you to understand where Paul is coming from in writing this letter to the churches in Galatia. Now, my plan is to re-read Galatians again with Luther's introduction in mind.

I would really love for some of you ladies to join me in diving into Galatians...no formal Bible study, but wouldn't it be fun to have a community of ladies who are all soaking in a book of the Bible together? I'm thinking that we could all benefit and encourage each other as we grow in our knowledge of God together - who's with me? You know, women don't even like to go to the bathroom by themselves - it's always more fun in community :-) And, since I don't feel freedom right now in my schedule to lead an official Bible study, this is kind of my way around it!

I also wanted to give you the link to listen to the main sessions from the conference we attended. Here is the link: TGC 2011 Conference (definitely listen to Tim Keller and Matt Chandler if you have a chance!)

Post comments to let all of us know how you go about going deep into God's Word. I think that if you use Twitter at all, you can tweet @bariesue in your comments about studying Galatians and it will show up on the Twitter feed on the side of my blog so that we can all quickly see your thoughts/resources/books as we study God's Word together! Someone try it and let me know if it works or not ;-) If not, we'll figure something else out.

love ya'll and praying that all of us are moved by our love for God, especially tomorrow, as we celebrate our Risen Savior, who without Him, we would only know despair. I'm so thankful for joy that transcends my circumstances and grace-filled gospel that allows me to hold my head high even knowing I'm a sinner.