So over the past few months as I have been preparing spiritually, mentally, and physically for my time in Italy, I have been searching for a church and/or group of other believers in the Cosenza area. I have been unsuccessful in finding a church (other than Italian speaking Catholic ones...which poses two problems 1. I am not Catholic and 2. my Italian is NOT good enough to comprehend a service of that nature), and I suppose I will not know until I am there and integrated into the community whether or not I will find a group to have Bible study with or not!
A few months ago when I first started this search, I felt God telling me that it might be that I become the leader of a Bible study; to which my reaction was, "whoa there God...You know I do not like public speaking and I have a hard time praying out loud/with others around....and I dont know enough about the Bible to lead others in studying it!" However, recently I have been feeling that same pull. A few things that have happened prompted my thought process again. First, I read this amazing series of books by Karen Kingsbury (The Baily Flannigan Series) where the main character moves to NYC and is cast in a Broadway show. She is a Christian and finds it hard to fit in with her cast mates and feels the Lord leading her to stand up for her faith and to start a Bible Study with anyone in the cast that is interested. Like me, Baily felt as though she was not qualified and so she shied away from the opportunity. Later, when she does start the study, she finds that God guides her through every step of the process/experience and one of her cast mates comes to know Jesus as his personal savior! Second, I read that one of the Fulbright ETA girls from last year did a book club with her students and I was so excited and immediately wanted to do this as well. Also, I recently heard someone/read somewhere about a person who felt lead to lead a Bible Study but had never done so before and felt as though they didn't know enough about the Bible to lead others in studying it. They commented that what they learned was that you just needed to stay a chapter or two ahead of the study and rely on God's guidance through prayer.
Then, at church we are studying the book of Revelation, which can be an intimidating thing to do, but the Lord has really gifted David Platt with the ability to share the word in a way that makes it understandable (though God designed His word to be this way in general I do believe). Anyway, the idea of the Bible Study struck me again...and how THAT could be my form of a book club with my students. What better way for me to stay in the word and to spread the love of Jesus with others (something we are called to do)! The Lord has given me this awesome opportunity to travel and become immersed in another culture, and I believe He intends for it to be an opportunity for me to share my faith in a way that I never have before. This is a bit scary for me and I feel very intimidated, but I know that God will equip me! I just need to draw close to Him and be aware of His prompting.
Will be praying about this...and this is me asking for others to pray as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment