By Quiet Waters

Included in Christ by Heather Holleman is a Bible study that I recently began.  this study is different from any study I’ve done on the past and I sense that the Lord is answering a long awaited prayer.  Some years ago I shared here on the blog some about my past.  Those posts have been taken down, as the healing and growth in my life has continued.

As that healing and growth have continued I have struggled with my identity.  I have Struggled to no longer identify as only a survivor.  But I haven’t known what that would look like.  Over the course of the last two months two books have arrived in the mail that are gently leading me, showing me what my identity is.  Isn’t that just how the Lord works?

Included in Christ is an 8-week Bible study, subtitled “Living a New Story From Ephesians.”  Living a new story, this idea of taking my story and turning it into something that reflects the redemption and love of God thrills me to the core.

Through this study, I will create a Saviour Story.  My story will no longer be about the details of my past, but of the Savior who is taking me out of my “shadow narratives”.

“It …(this study)… fuses what we know about redemptive personal stories with what Scripture teaches us about the reality of who we really are, and it sets us on the path to live daily in the presence of Him who tells the true story of our lives.”

This is a study that a couple of young women are interested in doing with me after the first of the year and I am so excited.  May God be glorified as one by one we discover what it means to be Included in Christ and who we truly are.

Thanks to Moody Publishing for this complimentary copy of Included in Christ!  All thoughts and opinions in this post I offer in exchange.

“Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.  My wisdom also stood by me, all that my eyes desired I did not refuse them.  I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.  Thus I consider all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”  Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

These words of Solomon many years ago are words echoed still today.

I am reading a new book, Live SoulFULL, and the words in this very first chapter pointed me to Ecclesiastes, and gave me good reason to pause.  While my life is full, hard and good, I recognize the ongoing need to slow and evaluate.  What am I chasing after?  For what am I laboring.

There are many good things that I do, the mundane duties of laundry, all that goes into meal planning, the not mundane  activities of teaching, coaching, working to keep the airways clear between my husband and me, my daughters and me.  But in all that, for what I am laboring?  And from where am I drawing my strength, inspiration and knowledge?

This passage from Ecclesiastes, actually all of Ecclesiastes, has set my mind to working, to searching.  What part of my life brings satisfaction and fulfillment to my soul?  And there are many days when I feel completely empty, dry.  All poured out, no words left.  Why am I now running on empty?

  “To be empty is to hold or contain nothing.”

     ” To fill is to occupy space or volume.”

     “To be fulfilled and satisfied is to contain and hold all that is possible; to have a need met; to be fully or completely supplied.” ~ SoulFull, Tabot

As I continue to go through this study, I am excited to see how God works within my mind and my heart.  He has been faithful, and gentle, and I know that even if I have to cover the same ground yet again, the Father knows just how deep to go each time to cleanse, fill and set me right on the place on the path that I am to be.

LIVE SoulFULL

Music has a unique ability to cut through the noise of the world and take God’s Word deep into the soul.  I’ve experienced this gift many times.  I’ve also seen how simply singing Scripture aids memorization, making pathways in the brain.

Live SoulFULL is a gospel-centered Bible study that combines immersive study of God’s Word with a 13 song album of original music.  I am loving how the study and the music enhance each other, and enrich my time of study.

This study is created by Scott and Ginger Tabot.  I received this complimentary copy of SoulFull from Frontgate Media in exchange for my opinions which are recorded here.

FrontGate Media will be giving away copies of SoulFULL on November 20.  Click here for more information and to enter.