The Gathering Place

Hey Girls!  Not sure how many of you are actually checking in to The Gathering Place these days (you are such a quiet group), but just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten about you... not for one second!

September has always been one of my very favourite months for a number of reasons.  As the shadows begin to lengthen and the days grow shorter, I enjoy so much the nip in the air and the settling down of the often chaotic activities of summer.  I'm a girl that really appreciates structure in her life and so September seems to usher that in for me... plus, I have always enjoyed the yearly migration to the store that offered the best prices for fresh new lined paper, pretty binders and notepads, new pens and pencils with those colourful little erasers that fit like a hat over the pencil eraser... the above picture is from my newly acquired stash... hot pink and lime green being my particular favourites!

September has also held special meaning and anticipation to me these past 22 years as the turning of the calendar page had me excited to start another Bible Study and gather once again with my sisters to tuck into a heaping helping of God's Word together.  Well, I am still excited in eager anticipation over Bible Study this September, however, this is the first year that I have not been part of a group... I must admit I have had moments of, what I would describe as, tearful loneliness.  Kind of like when you were little and you saw all your friends, dressed in their prettiest clothes, heading off to a birthday party that you weren't invited to... and you spent the next two hours with your blue, red and white-stripe-down-the-middle sponge ball playing "One, Two, Three O'Leary" and imagining all the fun times they were having without you.

But these have been brief and passing moments, as the assurance of the leading of God is very much upon me.  I am embarking on a personal year long inductive study of the Sovereignty of God, beginning with Joel and moving through Ezra, Zechariah, Isaiah... and I will be keeping The Gathering Place open as a place where we can all continue to come and share as a way of encouraging one another in our common faith.

Just recently, I was greatly encouraged when someone told me about Beth Moore's Scripture Memory Verse Team.  These are a group of women, who are committed to memorizing scripture verses that most apply to their present lives and circumstances.  They gather together on Beth's Blog twice a month, on the 1st and 15th, and give their name, memory verse and translation and then encourage and hold each other accountable to get those verses hidden in their hearts for keeps!

I'll be here on October 1st with my memory verse and I am hoping that some of you will join in as well.  By the time that we gather together again in 2012 for Bible Study, we will have committed to memory 24 scripture verses that have wielded the power of God in our lives!  I'm just getting my brand new spiral ready, and my heart is set on pilgrimage and anticipating the blessing!  

I love you all so much...

Hope to see you here on the 1st!

love,