“Finding I AM” at Steamboat Rock Baptist
From Jane Kramer, Steamboat Rock Baptist Church
Our summer community bible study would like to thank our NAB women’s ministry team for recommending “Finding I AM” by Lysa TerKeurst. This is the second study we have completed as recommended by our women’s ministry team and we have been so blessed! 🙂
Maggie Brown, a young mom from our study shared: “The day (page 90) which spoke to me most was regarding John 21, where Peter and Jesus have such an interesting exchange. I have wondered why Jesus keeps asking Peter if he loves Him. I loved how Lysa took us through this passage and revealed some truths that had never dawned on me before. Jesus called Peter away from what he had always known. “Jesus is asking Peter to love Him more than the life Peter has known.” And Jesus is calling me to love Him more than the life that I know. Jesus was in the process of changing Peter from a fisherman into a shepherd. What is Jesus trying to change in me? Who is God calling me be? And who does he want me to reach out to, not just to “catch and release” like a fisherman but to love and care for like a shepherd?”
Our church hosts a community summer bible study for women each year. We offer sessions on Tuesday mornings and another session that evening. This year 93 women signed up and 89 women completed the study by attending four or more of the six sessions. It was a real joy to me to be co-leading with a young mom Dani Olson. It was so inspiring and encouraging to hear her love for Jesus and her transparency in relating how the lessons impacted her. We have seven ladies at each round table with a table leader at each. The leaders were amazing! And our church women love partnering with women from several other denominations.
The table leaders shared that there was so much great discussion on the lessons this year. We really appreciated the format. After our welcome etc. the women would have 20 + minutes to share what they had learned from their weekly lessons. We then watched the videos (approx. 15 minutes), followed by a time of 20-30 minutes to discuss what they had learned from the video, and then had our closing with prayer. (Usually video discussion occurs a week later and so much is lost during that time.) Loved we could share right away!
So many God-moments happened during our study. VBS was also going on during one week and it was so amazing that an old water pump and tent were used for background in our room we used that week as we talked about Jesus the Living Water and the Tents of Meeting when Jesus proclaimed, “I AM the Light”.
Here are a few more quotes from our girls:
“This particular study really spoke to me at this time as it was a great reminder that Jesus is with us through our trials. What a great reminder to intentionally stay connected with Jesus.” (Kay)
“One of my biggest lessons is from the ‘Bread of Life’ week: to not stop hearing the sound of the wheat being ground.”
“At first I thought it was just a nice study. Boy, it didn’t take long for layers of the onion to fall off revealing some ugly truths I had down deep! I highly recommend it!” And for me the week that Lysa shared about the Living Water – made me really stop and think about how many ‘broken cisterns’ I go to that run me dry when I can have Living Water with Jesus – such a great word picture. (Tamma)
Thank you from Steamboat Rock Baptist in Iowa to the Women’s Ministry team for your example and encouragement!
Jane Kramer