“I Will!”
Strong Willed Women – Who Were Willing
© 2009 Lisa M. Russell

Cover Photo by Pixel-This Photography
Cover shot of Callie B. Messerschmidt

Contents

I Will! Will You...Will You Really???
It’s about Relationship-Stupid
Love Letters
Read with Purpose and Passion
Miriam
Deborah
Ruth & Naomi
Huldah
Women Who Met His Needs
“Many Woman”
Peter’s Mother in Law
THE BIG BIG BIG QUESTION:
Women with Issues
The Woman Caught in Adultery
The Women of Acts
The Early Church Mamas
Paul’s Women
Mary, Mary, Mary
Are you a Willing Woman?


I Will!

Will You...Will You Really???

Why did you start reading this book? Did the cover or the title drag you inside? Are you looking for a challenge? Or like a New Year’s resolution do you need a new start or a new point of view? If you answered, “Yes” to any of those questions, you will miss the point and you will not stay inside this book.
If you begin reading with a challenge to change yourself or you are looking for a new thing to satisfy that spiritual gnawing you might be disappointed. There is nothing new under the sun according to wise man Solomon and trying harder is never enough when you belong to God. Let me explain:
I have learned the longer I walk with God that it is not about learning more and trying harder. It is about ABIDING. Abiding is a beautiful word that is the antithesis of striving, trying, and working. It is closer related to rest. According to Zohiates,(a Greek scholar who can tell us in plain language what New Testament words mean in our understanding) to abide or meno in the Greek means to rest, to dwell with, or to be at home.

It sounds so trite to use the buzz phrase so misused in Christendom, but it really is about relationship. This is not another Bible study to add to your spiritual vitae, this is about abiding. As you learn about these strong willed women of the Bible, the goal is to rest in your relationship with Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you about these women and about yourself. As Bible truth becomes comfortable inside your spirit, Jesus will sort through the stuff in your life and toss some things and repair others, making room for new truth that will change you from the heart. Heart change is the only real change there is.

REST? WHAT?!?

Hardcore in-depth Bible study cannot be done at REST! Yes it can be done, and it should be done this way. Striving, working and trying harder is natural, but heart change is supernatural. Bible Study is a good thing, but this kind of Bible study is a God thing.
This kind of Bible study requires a study partner, God, the Holy Spirit. As you begin to read, I Will: Strong Willed Women – Willing, invite God to study along side of you. Resist the temptation to just fill in the blanks and add another Bible Study to your spiritual resume. Make this about you and the Lord God— your relationship with Him and not about adding more knowledge to your data bank. If it is about relationship, it will change your heart and then your life; in that order.

What? No relationship with God? In that case, this all this abiding talk may sound very strange.

It’s about Relationship-Stupid

The easiest way to explain relationship with God is from a firsthand account – mine. I was raised in Western New York in German/Irish Roman Catholic home with a large extended family. Being Catholic in our family was not a personal choice, it was like being German, I was born into it. I went through all the wonderful things Catholics do to train young children in the faith, but it never really “took” with me. Jesus was as alive to me as the plaster of paris crucifix on the wall of the church. I had a picture of Jesus in my room, you know the sepia toned image of the light brown hair and blue eyed man. This picture disappeared one day and I later discovered my younger brother took it down and tore it up. He said his eyes were following him around the room – but that’s another story!

When I moved to North Georgia with my family, we were forced to go to Mass and Catholic Sunday School. I wanted to start a folk mass, but the priest would not let me unless I was more faithful to Sunday School. (Just the beginning of my issues with men in the ministry.) So, I just stopped going to church, it did not mean much to me – it did not change my heart.
I started working two jobs when I was 16 to pay for a car. I was a dj on the radio on weekends and a waitress during the week. I was a terrible waitress; my need to be right always left me with pennies for tips. The purpose of my employment at that particular place, at that particular time was to meet a young mother who invited me to meet Someone who would change my life.

I will never forget and could never thank her enough for dragging me to youth campouts and meetings where I learned that Jesus was more than a plaster of paris statue on the wall of a church. I could actually have a relationship with the God of the Universe through His Son Jesus. It was exciting for me to discover God outside the walls of a church. I remember hearing a young man a little older than I was talking about how much he loved God and feeling a strange feeling deep inside. It stirred something that was lifeless, but I did not know what to do with that. I told my friend Diana, “I don’t know what that was, but when he was talking, there was this burning inside…..” Diana made me promise if I ever felt that again, to tell her immediately. She recognized that God was calling me to Himself and into a relationship with Him. I didn’t have a clue what it was, what was in store for me.

A few weeks later, April 1979, I was playing softball with the church youth one Sunday afternoon and then followed them to the evening service of Swamp Creek Baptist Church. Yes, Swamp Creek – I couldn’t make that name up.

That night at the end of the service, I felt that same burning and stirring in my soul. Without realizing it, I had walked to the front of the church and asked God to come into my life. I couldn’t explain to you what happened and still would go on for pages trying to explain the theology, but the simple truth is that I became a God follower and we began a relationship that day that continues to grow and change after all these years. The rest of the story is written in my life, my work and in every relationship I have. I hope you will experience your own relationship as a result of my relationship with God.

A few years ago, while sitting on the beach at Blue Ridge Lake, GA, this little illusion came to me and I wrote it down as it came. It is called, The Dance. The Dance has to be a God-Thing because I can’t dance. It was a gift of words that God gave to me to share with others. My prayer is that this little metaphor, this study and my life entice you to want to share in your own “dance”.

Dear One,
Listen. Listen to the music. Do you the rhythm and the rhyme of the dance? The melody I chose it just for you. It is OUR SONG. No one else shares this song with Me. They have their own song if they choose to listen.

Our dance began the day you were saved and it will continue through eternity. Close your eyes and listen. Ignore those around you. There is no one here but you and Me. People will always be watching and waiting for you to miss a step – but I don't care if you do – I am here to hold you up until you can dance on your own. Come...step up on my feet and I will teach you the steps.

I know the Dance is hard to learn. Stay on my feet and let me carry you as you learn. I will dance for both of us. I choose the steps, the pace, tempo I keep time with My eternal purpose for your life.
Keep your eyes on me. Look deeply into my eyes of love. Fix your gaze on me and not your surroundings, circumstances or the people in your world. They can't show you the steps to Our Dance.

Lay your head on My chest. Can you hear the beating of My heart? It beats to the music and it will keep you in perfect rhythm of Our Dance. You have to listen to my heart or the other songs will confuse you. Listen to the rhythm of my heart until Our hearts beat as one. I know your heart – you want Me – but you are afraid to step up and dance. You are afraid I am going to leave you on the Dance floor, alone, ashamed, humiliated. I will never ever leave you.

Do not let anyone "cut in" on us. Hold on tight and do not let anyone pull you away from my embrace. No one, no matter how much they love you can Dance to Our Song. Do not let anything keep you from the Dance. You cannot schedule a Dance - for the Dance is your entire life. I am your life. You are my life.
At some point during the Dance, while your heart beats like mine and we are in perfect step, your feet will slip off of mine. You will be dancing alone – before me in worship. It will not be an act of defiance and independence but it will be an expression of the freedom you have in Me to worship me uninhibited in pure devotion. I will stand back and watch and enjoy the overflow of Our Dance.
As you dance in my honor – those watching will be overcome by the Love we share. They will want to Dance with Me too. They just never thought they could, but you showed them the way to the Dance. Some who are watching, used to Dance with me but now stand in the shadows – embarrassed to come to Me. They too will see Our Dance and be enticed back into their Dance with Me. They will want to climb up on my feet and learn to Dance anew.

Dance Dear One - Dance with ME -Dance with all your might

Dance with the One you love
Love,
Your Heavenly Father

"And we will dance on the streets that are golden....the glorious Bride and the great Son of Man from every tongue and tribe and nation...we will join in the Song of the Lamb." Revelation
"And David Danced before the Lord with all His might' 2 Samuel 6:14

Can you hear Him? The Heavenly Father asking you, “Will you? Will you dance – with Me?”
Will You? Will you really? Come on! Let’s go…


Love Letters

I was selected to be a summer missionary the summer after my freshman year in college. I was to go to Northern California to do resort missions near Yosemite National Park. Just before leaving, I discovered that I was in love with the boy from my home church – Swamp Creek Baptist.

It was hard to leave him for 10 weeks. Our phone bill was embarrassing and dangerous. This was before cell phones. I had to find a pay phone in the campground late at night to accommodate our time differences and phone rates. I called him collect and talked for hours late into the night standing outside and alone in bear country. After a few phone bills, his mother had to pay, and after he realized I was in a dangerous situation, we supplemented our calls with daily letters.

We wrote to each other every day for over 8 weeks. Thousands of miles away for a ten week stretch, before the invention of cell phones and limitless minutes, we wrote letters—every single day. Each one of those letters was precious. I read each word over and over until they were well worn. I never would think of just tossing that precious mail aside unopened, gathering dust. NO! I tore them open and chewed them up. How sad and unloved he would have felt if I had treated his letter that way. We still have those letters in our attic, still wrapped in ribbons and stuffed in the shoebox I shipped homemade chocolate chip cookies to him.

Is that how we view God’s love letters to us? What do we do with His Words of love? Do we read them out of obligation or do we passionately read them to learn more about our Beloved? Do we tear into them or lay them aside like junk mail. In this over saturated digital age, it is easy to put it aside – know I do.
It may be time to fall in love all over again, not with the Book, but with the Author. My heart’s desire is that you become passionate about these love letters, maybe for the first time.

Here is my prayer for you:
Oh great Teacher! You said in your word, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding and He shall direct your paths.” You also said in Isaiah 30:18-21 that you are MY GREAT TEACHER who will whisper directions in our ear. God, give us the answers as we study Your Word – your Love Letters! In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Read with Purpose and Passion

The each study of each of these Strong Willed Women concludes with three ways to digest your study. To say, “I Will!” and mean it, involves your mind, your heart and then your will. Therefore, this study will have three distinct parts:.
1. I Know
2. I Feel
3. I Will

I Know

Paul told the Philippians to “abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.” (Phil1:9) In Romans 12:2 he tells us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” Paul encouraged the Colossians to “increase in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10). We are to study and know what the Word of God says not just for knowledge sake, but for His sake.
I Feel

As we grow spiritually, it will affect our emotions. We will find our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control growing in our hearts. (Galatians 5). Then we will be able to say “I Will!” In the “I FEEL” section, you will be given an opportunity to write how you really feel - in private. Open up to God in authentic heartfelt emotions. Until you feel it in your heart, it will not change your will.


I Will

This is where your mind and emotions meet the will. Here is where you will decide whether or not you will do what God has brought to your mind the things He is gently guiding you to do. You will write your own “I Will” Statements for each lesson. By the end of the 8 weeks, you will have a list of things that you have added to for the entire study. Do not rush through this section. This is the relationship building part of the study. Buy a nice journal or use your computer and record your responses instead of using this book. It will mean more to you later and you can pass this book along to another without sharing too much.

Time to Meet the Strong Willed Women

There are so many wonderful women that we could have studied. I struggled with who to write about and who to leave out. I asked God to show me and show me how they all fit together. There are some obscure women you may have never met and those you know well. You will recognize yourself in at least one. Each one of these women, though different, all knew God, felt Him move in their lives and said “Yes” to Him with passion. That is the purpose of, I Will. Will you?


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Impressum

Texte: Cover Photo by Pixel This Photography Callie Messerschmidt in photo on her wedding day
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.08.2009

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