Monthly Archives: October 2016

Divine Design Study

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Hello dear sisters! Our Monday Night group did not meet on Monday, October 17th. Some of us attending Revive Us, a prayer event with Kirk Cameron. We recognize time is valuable and being out two nights in a week can be challenging. So we took last week off. I hope this was a good time for you to get caught up if you needed to, spend time digging deeper into the study, or extra time in prayer. Who can’t use extra time in prayer…I know I can!

In addition to our Monday Night group not meeting on the 17th we also didn’t meet on Monday, October 24th. Some of our sisters could not make it because they were not feeling well. So this week I will share some additional study resources for our study and will begin our usual posts on Monday, November 7th. I hope you enjoy these addition resources.

Revive Our Hearts Radio has a lot of great programs on this very topic we’re studying. I would like to highlight just a few of them.

The Gospel Is A Love Story

Why Did God Create Male and Female?

The Desire To Control

Please let us know if you’re still with us in the study and what you think of it so far. What has God been placing on your hearts these last few weeks? Let us know how we can encourage you and pray for you!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Ministry

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Week 4 Snake in My Garden: Additional Resources

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Hello sisters! As we end week 4 of our study I would like to share a few additional resources for a deeper study. All these can be found on the True Woman 101 website at http://www.truewomanbooks.com.

Click here to read an article by Nancy called Different Ways of Deceiving.

The second article can be found on the Revive Our Hearts Blog. Click here to read If It Feels So Right, How Can It Be So Wrong? by Paula Hendricks Marsteller.

Lastly, Revive Our Hearts has a radio with lots of great programs on this very topic we’re studying. This week I would just like to highlight one called The Consequence of Lies. Click here to read or listen to the program.

We will be taking next week off as a break. This will time for you to catch up if need be or spend some additional time in prayer for our country. This is in fact what some of our sister in our Monday night group did on the 18th. Because it can be difficult to commit to multiple evenings during the week, we did not meet on the 17th. We will be back with week 5 beginning Monday, October 31st.

Please let us know how we can be praying for you throughout the study! Have a great weekend!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Woman’s Ministry

Week 4 Snake in My Garden: Discussion Questions

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Hello dear sisters! I hope you have been enjoying week 4 of our study.  “God is “calling you out” to take responsibility instead of blaming others. Through humility, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can counteract your natural tendency to play the blame game. Freedom comes from taking responsibility for our choices – the things we listen to, thoughts we dwell on, how we choose to respond – and from looking to Christ for forgiveness, mercy, and grace.”

We had a great discussion in our Monday evening study! Though it was a small group, we were missing some of our sisters.

Here are some discussion questions. You can share your thoughts and comments here, write them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you.

  1. Why do you think Satan is eager to destroy the kinship, commitment, unity, communion, authenticity, and purity of male-female relationships?
  2. Think of a situation or circumstance where you were tempted to view sin as harmless, attractive, and promising. What are some of the consequences we experience in our relationship with God and others when we buy in to Satan’s lies and go for his offers?
  3. Why do you think Satan may have made his pitch to Eve instead of Adam?
  4. What are some ways in which an “us verses them” mind-set shows up between male and female in contemporary culture?
  5. How do you think a woman’s behavior might change if she had a stronger sense of “we”in her marriage?

“The Lord wants the marriage relationship – and the relationship between males and females in general – to showcase the kinship, commitment, unity, communion, authenticity, and purity that are the hallmark of His relationship.” How can we as a True Woman display these characteristics in our relationships?

Since we were missing some of our sisters on Monday evening we did not do a taping session. Please click here to enjoy this video with Mary called A True Woman Chooses Wisdom. We appreciate your understanding and being flexible with us. Please let us know how we can be praying for you!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry

True Woman 101: Week 4 Snake in My Garden

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Hello sisters welcome to week 4: Snake in My Garden. “This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Serpent’s strategy, how Eve fell for the deception, and how sin started to make Swiss cheese, first of her relationship with God, and then of the male-female relationship. And we’ll see how those consequences have been passed down to every human being who has lived ever since.”

I wanted to share a paragraph from day 4 on page 104. “Eve listened to the lies told her by Satan. I’m confident she had no idea where those lies would ultimately lead her and her family. Perhaps it didn’t seem particularly dangerous just to listen to the Serpent – to hear him out, to see what he had to say. Listening in itself wasn’t disobedience. But – and here’s the key – listening to a viewpoint that was contrary to God’s Word put Eve on a slippery slope that led to disobedience, conflict in her relationships, and spiritual death. Listening to counsel or ways of thinking that are not according the the Truth is the first step in a downward spiral into bondage.”

If we’re honest with ourselves, how many of us have found us in a position of “just listening”?  I encourage you to spend some time thinking and praying about that very question on page 105.

Once you’ve completed the homework for this week click here to watch the True Woman 101 Week 4: Snake in My Garden.

Come back on Wednesday for our Discussion Questions. You can share your thoughts and comments with us here, jot them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you. Please let us know how we can pray for you throughout the study. Have a great week!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry

Week 3 Sugar and Spice: Additional Resources

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Hello sisters! As we end week 3 of our study I would like to share a few additional resources for a deeper study. All these can be found on the True Woman 101 website at http://www.truewomanbooks.com.

Click here to read an article by Nancy called Biblical Portrait of Womanhood.

The second article can be found on the Revive Our Hearts Blog. Click here to read Embracing God’s Divine Design by Mary.

Click here to watch What Is A True Woman? by Nancy.

Lastly, Revive Our Hearts has a radio with lots of great programs on this very topic we’re studying. This week I would just like to highlight one called It Takes A Lot of Strength to Be Soft. Click here to read or listen to the program.

Please let us know how we can be praying for you throughout the study! Have a great weekend!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Woman’s Ministry

Week 3 Sugar and Spice: Discussion Questions

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Hello dear sisters! I hope you have been enjoying week 3 of our study and learning God’s design for us is. “The Lord created His girls to have responsive spirits. Women are responders. Responding is in our nature. We will either respond to good or we will respond to evil. We will either respond to truth or be swayed by lies. If we don’t establish the practice of receiving and responding to God’s Word, we will be more vulnerable to be receptive and responsive to the wrong kinds of men, ideas or counsel.”

We had a great discussion in our Monday evening study! We all found the information about the differences between men and women in day 1 was very fascinating.

Here are some discussion questions. You can share your thoughts and comments here, write them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you.

  1. What negative reaction or fears might the thought of being considered the “soft” ones evoke in some woman? Monday night one of our sisters brought up the point she never thought of as being soft but comparatively speaking we definitely are. Maybe we have some things to work on in the area of being “soft” but that’s God’s design for us.
  2. As we were discussing day 3 and being responsive, one of our sisters brought up the example of ballroom dancing and the difference between having a partner who knows how to lead verses one that does not. When a man knows how to lead a woman can respond accordingly. How could you cultivate a heart that is even more soft and responsive to Christ and His Word?
  3. What do you think it means for a woman to look well to the ways of her household? In our discussion we all agreed this is much more than just keeping a clean house. One of our sisters said creating a safe place for family and their friends and sharing Christ with them. How might this calling to manage the home be applied by single women?

“It’s one thing to understand God’s ideal; it’s another to apply it in a world that is broken and fractured by sin. This week we’ve considered several elements that are at the heart of what it means to be a woman: softness, forming deep relational bonds, having a welcoming, responsive spirit, creating a place to beget and nurture life and being a helper. Which of these do you find the most challenging or difficult? Ask the Lord to mold you into a woman who reflects His heart and ways.”

We have a group of women meeting on Monday evening to do this very same study. Click here to see our discussion on week 3 Sugar and Spice. Enjoy this extra just for fun, click here to read or listen to Responding to His Lead.

In His Love
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry

True Woman 101: Week 3 Sugar and Spice

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Welcome friends to week 3: Sugar and Spice. Last week in our study we learned what God’s Word says boys are made of and this week we will do the same for girls. “The desire in every woman’s heart can only be fully satisfied in a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the relationship to which all of our womanly longings point.”

I want to share a couple paragraphs from the authors in the introduction. “The world does not affirm God’s plan, and it tells us in a thousand different ways why we should not accept it either. All of us have been influenced by the world’s message to greater or lesser degrees. So as we consider our God-created deign, you may find yourself bristling at times, when His plan runs counter to the image of womanhood promoted by our culture. That’s why it’s so important to approach this matter by first bowing our hearts before Him and saying “Yes, Lord!” Before you dive into this week’s lesson, why don’t you take a moment to do just that? Acknowledge that His is God and you are not. Affirm that His ways are right and good. Ask Him to show you His ways and to give you grace to embrace them and to live out His design for your life.”

Once you’ve completed the homework for this week click here to watch the True Woman Week 3: Sugar and Spice video.

Come back on Wednesday for our Discussion Questions. You can share your thoughts and comments with us here, jot them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you. Please let us know how we can pray for you throughout the study. Have a great week!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry

Week 2 Snips and Snails: Additional Resources

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Hello sisters! As we end week 2 of our study I would like to share a few additional resources for a deeper study. All these can be found on the True Woman 101 website at http://www.truewomanbooks.com.

Click here to read an article by Nancy called The Men Speak Out.

The second article can be found on the Revive Our Hearts Blog. Click here to read Wear the Pants MAN-ifesto by Mary.

Click here to watch How God Overcomes Failure in Your Family by Voddie Baucham.

Lastly, Revive Our Hearts has a radio with lots of great programs on this very topic we’re studying. This week I would just like to highlight one called Recovering from a Gender Earthquake. Click here to read or listen to the program.

Please let us know how we can be praying for you throughout the study! Have a great weekend!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Woman’s Ministry

Week 2 Snips and Snails: Discussion Questions

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Hello dear sisters! I hope you have been enjoying week 2 of our study and learning God’s design for men. “Genesis presents God’s original design before sin entered the world and messed everything up. God’s ideal for men (and women) will never be perfectly attained in a fallen world. Yet, through Christ’s work on the cross, both men and women can be redeemed and find grace to live out their divine design.”

I’m excited to see what God’s design is for women in the coming weeks of our study!

Here are some discussion questions. You can share your thoughts and comments here, write them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you.

  1. In what way does the responsibility of man to take initiative mirror what Jesus does for the church?
  2. Can you think of an example of how a man might appropriately provide for or protect a woman who is not his wife?
  3. As you reflect on this week’s study on biblical manhood, what are some of the things you appreciate about God’s divine design for men?

On page 64 we were asked to compose a prayer, letter, or poem. Express your heart response to what you have studies. Personalize this week’s lesson in the way that will best help you apply them to your life. I would like to encourage you to do that!

We have a group of women meeting on Monday evening to do this very same study.Click here to watch a clip of our Monday night group discussing week 2.

In His Love
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry

True Woman 101: Week 2 Snips and Snails

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Hello sisters welcome to week 2: Snips and Snails. We hope you’ve been enjoying the study and our posts. This week we are going to learn about what God says boys are made of.

I wanted to share a paragraph from day 2 on page 48 and 49. “Obviously, that doesn’t mean that a woman is incapable of working, or that a man is incapable of creating a home and relating, or that they do not ever do these things. It just means that God created male and female with differing natural “dents” and spheres of responsibility. The male was created with a unique responsibility to work to provide for the family, and the female was created with a unique responsibility to nest and to nurture family relationship.”

What are your thoughts about that and do accept God’s plan for male and female or is it something you still wrestle with?

Once you’ve completed the homework for this week click here to watch the True Woman 101 Week 2: Snips and Snails video.

Come back on Wednesday for our Discussion Questions. You can share your thoughts and comments with us here, jot them down in your book during your quiet time or discuss them with another sister doing the study with you. Please let us know how we can pray for you throughout the study. Have a great week!

In His Love,
Melisa
One Heart Women’s Ministry