Refreshed!
Elizabeth's personal reflections
on living and growing with Jesus

Current month's Refreshed!

February 2010

1-2-3 on Conversing with God

The teacher in me really loves to help people grow. February has been a real energizing month as I was invited to speak to diverse groups in the life of prayer.

1. Last Thursday the Alpha course participants seemed to really connect with the idea that prayer is intended to be a conversation between people in relationship. They were intrigued with the idea that God often carries on his side of the conversation through the Bible, and they caught the challenge to pray in other ways than sending a one-way stream of requests heavenward. There's something very special about teaching beginners to pray. I think God must have a treasure box filled with prized prayers uttered in simple faith by newcomers on the faith journey.


2. Earlier in the month I spoke for the Amsterdam Navigators student group on The Way Inward/De weg naar binnen. My assignment was to teach them to read the Bible transformationally which, in simple terms, involves praying the Scriptures. I encouraged them to listen for how God wants to speak into their lives through his Word, and to search for a connection with wherever they find themselves each day. I led them in a guided exercise of meditating on a story from the gospel of Mark. The feedback indicated that it was an enlightening and positive experience all round for this group of sharp, young students whose natural inclination is to approach the Scriptures on a rational level.


3. One other evening I spoke to Crossroads' leaders on engaging with the Bible devotionally. Several shared how God spoke very clearly to them in our short time of engaging with the Scripture. Words of encouragement, hope, correction, insight, awe .... So many possibilities are at our disposal when we converse authentically with God.

I close this month with a grateful heart. God has been close and sufficient, and my conversations have been fruitful.

28/02/10

One Amazing Alpha!

I spoke last night at the Alpha course at Crossroads Amsterdam. I love playing a part in this team! By the time I teach on the Bible and Prayer in week 5 and 6, community has begun to develop among a group of curious, increasingly open people. They were very ready to receive my teaching which centred around 'good reasons to read the Bible'. Afterward they seemed motivated to open up the Bible for themselves and to invite God to speak to them through it.

This run of the course has 50 participants! Our ministry centre is packed almost to overflowing. Each participant is on their own unique journey, and it's beautiful to see them encouraging one another in their search from whatever point they're at themselves. God is at work as hearts and minds and wills begin to open up to his love. It is quite amazing to see.

It is also amazing that God has brought this group to us. Our community has grieved God's heart over this past year. Why he continues to use us in such a big way is beyond my understanding. Yet he does. It is pure grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Lord, for your sake, for their sake, for our sake draw these treasured people to yourself!

19/02/10

Challenged by Brother Andrew

Brother Andrew spoke at my church yesterday. His powerful challenge will ring in my heart for a long time to come. Read the post

15/02/10

Off and running

I've thought for quite some time about starting a personal blog and here we go. The Refreshed! pages here at Deeper Devotion will provide a space for my personal reflections on living and growing with Jesus. I look forward to having a space for current reflections on what's happening in my life and what I'm learning in my relationship with God.

How this Blog works This isn't a 'dedicated blog', so it will operate a little differently from a traditional blog. I've needed to puzzle a bit about how to make it work without confusing either you or me. So here's a little orientation and we'll see how it goes.

The RSS feed, to which you may have subscribed, is a 'site blog'. By that I mean it lists the latest articles on the Deeper Devotion site as a whole. The feed is called Faith that Transforms which is the unifying theme of my site. You can view and access these articles either through the RSS feed on your computer or via the Latest articles link in the navigation bar to the left.

The Refreshed! pages will be organized by month, with all the posts being contained on or linked to the page that corresponds to the month in which they are written. If a blog post seems to merit being listed on the RSS feed, I'll post it on a separate page and link to it from here. In that case you'll be able to access it from the RSS feed, the Latest articles page, and from this page.

Comments A blog isn't a really blog without the option to leave comments, is it? I'll work on that feature and add it soon. Meanwhile be in touch if you'd like. I'd enjoy hearing from you!

So on to life as a blogger I go. Time will tell if I become a Facebooker too. (I tend to doubt it though.)

Posted 15/02/10

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