Let's Begin at the Beginning

Every lady at the Bible study receives the two books this Wednesday! We're going to spend some time previewing them so that we can know what is expected of us in the weeks ahead.

Last week, we took some time to read Genesis 3:1-13. Much like a river that begins as a mountain spring, this Scripture is the "source" from which we start our journey through "Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free." By the time we "spill out into the ocean," we will be full of truth and know assuredly how to recognize the lies, and how to utilize the weapons we own to combat them.

Let's look at the first verse now, and disect it a bit. "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And He said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" The very first time that Satan turns up in the Bible, and he does what he continues until this day to do best: He lies!

This verse is like all verses in the Bible: it is God-inspired. We learn from the first sentence of the devil's deceitful character, and this evidence is backed-up by his very own lying tongue in the second sentence. God did not instruct Adam and Eve not to eat from every tree of the garden. In fact, these are God's words according to Genesis 2:16-17, "...Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

As women, it's vital that we understand "the lie" that surrounds us everyday. If we believe it, we step into bondage. Bondage is the opposite of freedom. Jesus came to set us free, and if we're not experiencing that freedom right now, then we are not living the abudant life that the Lord died to give us.

If you've received your books, please flip through the pages and familiarize yourself with them. Read the Acknowledgments, Foreward, and pages 15-23. Take a few days to do this, because I want you to be pondering and praying about what you've read.

I'm praying for you as you begin this study. Satan will attempt to hinder you in some way because that's his mode of operation (MO), but keep steadfast. "We are more than conquerors through Christ..."

Love, Karen

The Blessing of Blindness

Elvira is a dear friend of mine who lives in Mexico. She's a single mother with one daughter who still lives at home. She used to make a very modest living for her family by crocheting fine lace on linens. Unfortunately, it's very difficult at the present time for her to make any kind of living at all. As she approached her fortieth birthday, Elvira discovered that she was losing her eyesight. She had always suspected that this might happen because it's a genetic condition, and she had watched a brother and a sister experience it.

Elvira hasn't always been a Christian. Today, she loves the Lord Jesus and serves Him only, but earlier in her life she worshipped idols and served tradition. She tells me now that that was when she was really blind. At first, when she learned that physical blindness was inevitable, she searched for spiritual help in her church. Elvira was looking for the light, but all she found was darkness. Then, she met Jesus, and the True Light shown. She says that now she can "see" clearer than she's ever seen before.

She walks on the dusty roads in a small village in Mexico with one hand on the shoulder of her daughter who walks in front of her. It's interesting to me that she cannot see in order to influence her daughter as to where she should go. Elvira must trust her little girl completely. She must listen to the child's soft voice as she speaks caution and encouragement, and she must follow in the girl's footsteps to get where she needs to be.

Have I mentioned Elvira's smile? Seldom have I seen such joy in a countenance.

Elvira is my hero and I want to be like her. She a living illustration of how it should be to walk with the Lord. I want to place my hand on the shoulder of the Lord, and I want to follow Him without question, and without suggestions from me on a better route. I desire the blessing of "blindness" that I might see the True Light.