Tuesdays Are My New Favorite Day.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'd know that Mondays used to be my absolute favorite day of the week.  I loved my Mondays (pre-Ava) because I worked Tuesday-Thursday and they gave me a whole day to re-group from the weekend and get organized for the week.  I spent lots of Mondays cleaning and sorting and just enjoying my "me" time.  Well, that season of life is over and "me" time really doesn't exist in the same way anymore :)  All is not lost however, I have discovered that I have a new favorite day and for new reasons.  More than any other day, Tuesday mornings are ringing my bell!

On Tuesdays, I get up extra early, hop in the shower right away and get Ava and I ready to go to church for women's Bible study, so that we can be there by 9:30 AM.  Let me tell you right now, it's a lot of work in a short amount of time!  I usually want a nap by the time we get there and I question my efforts at least once during the process, BUT, once I drop Miss Ava off in the nursery and head for the coffee table, I start to remember why I drag my rear end out the door.  As I fill my cup (I always bring my own Starbucks mug) I can hear the blended voices of many women, worshipping with sweet harmonies and my heart starts to settle.  I come not only to get my coffee cup filled, but to get my spiritual cup filled too.  

I love to be in the company of other women, many who are in totally different stages than I am, but some who are walking right along side me.  I love to sit next to them, to lift my voice along with them and to soak up the teaching just like they are.  I love the diversity and I love the community.  This fall we are studying Esther, which I can't believe I haven't mentioned on this blog yet!  It's one of Beth Moore's latest studies, and perhaps one of my favorites so far.  It is so, so good.  I LOVE digging through a whole book, about a woman by the way, and unpacking each verse, word by word.  It's been amazing.  I thought I knew the "story" of Esther, but 3 weeks in, I'm here to tell you that I did not!   I did not know the historical background of the book, the hundreds of little details lurking just under the surface and the practical lessons hanging on every scene.  Did I already mention how good this study is??

Seriously, after each Tuesday morning, I come home so refreshed and amazed at the Lord, it usually takes me all afternoon to process it.  I am so thankful for the blessing of this study, for the leadership of our women's ministry, and for friends (new and old) to be with each week.  However, the best part of the whole deal is that I am so grateful and awed at my God.  I am delighted at the joy He's given me for His word, for the study of it and for the application of it.  It wasn't always that way for me, in fact there was a season of time that I really prayed for that and asked Him to give me a hunger for Him and for His word.  In my own strength, I didn't have it.  But, He faithfully answered me and now each day I spend time in His Word, He rewards me a thousand times over and shows me a new glimpse of who He is.  He opens my eyes to see "things too wonderful for me, too lofty to attain" and He gives me a thirst for more.  I think that is such a miracle.  Unlike any other book on earth, no matter how many times I read it or think I know "the story", He shows me just how limited I am by opening up a new truth to me and showing me a new dimension of His character.  He is not an unsearchable God who delights in being illusive or deceiving.  He is right in front of us, on every page, in every story.  He longs to satisfy us with Himself and to show us more than we could "possibly ask or imagine."  In fact, He longs for us to not only know Him, but to find Him when we go looking for Him!  Don't I wish I would have gone looking for Him earlier??  Would have saved me some heartache in my younger years :) So how do we find Him?  Praying, reading and studying His word are the best ways to do that, but also going to Church and being with other like minded believers.  We need the support of one another!  Sure there are days that I don't get my act together and I miss the blessing of my personal time with Him, but on the days I do get it right, He blesses me from start to finish and reminds me of why it's so important.  Since I've become a Mom, my form and time spent has changed.  It's been an adjustment and one that I've had to seek truth about in order to keep from being overcome with guilt and failure.  But like so many things in this life, the way it gets done matters not.  The heart that desires it matters more.  

So yes, although I am tired from a busy day and everything about today hasn't been perfect, the Lord was worthy of the effort and He has already poured His blessings out on me.  My spiritual cup is filled and I am longing for some time this afternoon in the book of Esther.  I've got a new chapter to start and we're right in the thick of the highest drama in the book!  A good read if ever there was one!

Tuesdays are my new favorite day.  And maybe even Ava's too?  She sure does love it when those nursery ladies play with her and I always pick up a happy baby:)  I hope that's a sign of things to come....
Heaven only knows how much time this girl is going to spend at Church.  It's already the cry of my heart to instill a love for God's Word and His people in her tender little heart.  Lord, please let it be refreshing to her all her days and never a burden or source of strife between us...give her a heart after yours!

I 'm clinging to the promise that you, "who begins a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it..."

Happy Tuesday From 2 Little Monkeys I Know!!