Chosen Banquet Prayer Answered

 

Our guest speaker, Emily, had us look at ourselves in our personal mirrors as she read truths that penetrated places with flimsy curtains in our hearts, sloppily constructed to manage twisted messages about who we are hurled at us by a broken world.  Each girl looked beautiful, truly stunning. Glancing around that room, with each of them looking at their own faces, I prayed they could really see what God sees.  There were pensive looks, gentle smiles, some tears and sniffles as they gazed on their own faces. Emily had also decorated the room to make it a perfectly magical place to linger together for those few hours.  We broke the gentle elegance with some raucous dancing at the end, which had us all laughing, clapping, stamping together.  What a joy it was!

Thank you for praying with us.  The night was so delightful, and the mothers of these young ladies continue to say how much it blessed their daughters. 

Our study has continued with Ephesians, with challenging statements like, "Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only that which is beneficial for building others up according to their needs."  We all spent time this praying back to God the powerful and life giving words.  It was a beautiful time together.  Thank you again, for your continued prayers for these growing beauties!  

We will be alternating weeks with the older group "Purposefully Chosen Study" and the younger girls, "Gritty and Graceful."  Please do continue praying for all these special creations as we continue growing together in Christ. 

Chosen Banquet

"Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."

These are some of the life altering words that we have poured over in the manuscript Bible study of Ephesians we are doing with a unique high school group of eight. 

The markers are scattered and we discover the passage as we read!

Tomorrow we are having a banquet called, "The Chosen Banquet" where we will dress up, eat, listen to a guest speaker, dance, and delight in the truth together. 

Please pray with us, that the truth of these words will penetrate their hearts and give them solid identity in Christ as all of them are processing change and loss.  You can pray with me Ephesians 1:4-5:

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ....

May all eight girls and the three of us leading them know we are chosen in Christ before our parents even existed, we were loved.

to be holy and without fault...

May we together know the holiness and purity we have in that position, not in anything we have done except to believe on the Son! 

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ...

May we feel strong arms of acceptance, warm, full,  and eternal, drawing us to himself

This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure...

May we understand better the great pleasure God has in calling us his own special ones!  

 and 

Ephesians 1:17-19 

"I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him."

AMEN!