i want more moore !! {exclaimation point}

i am extremely blessed to be a member of a fantastic bible study lead by a faithful woman and filled with wise and committed participants. the girls in the study have been some of my closest friends over the past 4 years. some i knew long before joining the study and others i've grown to love & look up to. like i said, i am extremely blessed.

we just began our new study for the semester last night and for the first time we are trying out a beth moore study. the particular one we are doing is called: {living beyond yourself}. i am so excited to be starting it, especially with these ladies. first of all beth is a hoot. yes, i used the word "hoot." its the best word i can think of to describe her. i think i like her so much because she is loud & hilarious but can also clearly & passionately communicate the gospel. i like to see women like that.

last night was just the listened to the introductory video to the series but it was already encouraging. Here are a two of the main points i took away from the evening:

"self-absorption steals your joy." i think this is so true. the more we are concentrating on our own wants, our own needs, and our own desires the more miserable we drive ourselves to be. the truth & the paradox is that the more we give our lives away the happier {& more joyful} we become. perhaps because that's what we were designed to do {give our lives away}.

the theme of the entire study is this: if our lives are hidden in christ then we have the holy spirit in us. this is great news! because of christ in us we are able to do abundantly more than we could ever do in our own strength or abilities. i am so excited to learn more about this, about what it means to tap into that power and live it out for god's glory.

"but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. against such things there is no law." -galatians 5:22-23

images provided by flicker image 1 - teacup mosaic image 2 - helgasms!