Ready to get started?

I'm so excited the time has come to begin our walk together through the women of the Bible! Let's run through some details of how it will work over the next 6 weeks as we cover 3 women per week.

On Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I'll be posting the scriptures we are to read here on my blog. You can look them up in your own Bible, or you can read them online. I'll provide a link to Biblegateway each time. Some of the women's stories will be a little longer than others, but none of them require massive amounts of time to read.

Begin your time reading with a short prayer such as this, "Dear Lord, I come to your Word seeking Your wisdom, to know Your will for me, and to know You more intimately. Help me clear my mind and focus in on this. Guide me into understanding what I read. Please draw me close and speak to me as I read and reflect on these words, in Jesus' Name."

The goal on these days is two-fold. One to get the reading done and post an "I did it" comment here. And two, to listen for God's voice as you read and as you continue thinking about this woman and her story through out your day. I don't want you breaking out the commentary books at this point (if that's even your thing), I just want you to encounter the scriptures with no preconceived notions from other people's interpretations, and nothing to sway your thoughts about the story but the Spirit of God Himself.

Feel free to write down your thoughts if you want to as you read or as you reflect. You can write down anything you think God might be revealing to you. You can write down any questions you have while or after reading. You can also write down a prayer you have in response if you want. Writing will help you internalize and remember what you are reading but realize this is optional ... on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays all you have to do is complete your reading and post when you're done. :)

Then, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we'll all come back here to "talk about" what we read, or what we feel we heard God whisper to our hearts, through our comments. On these days we'll learn from each other. If you are a commentary reader or a Greek-Hebrew Study Bible kinda girl, you can break those out and tell us what they say about our ancient sisters in Christ. I'll be posting on these days either my own reflections, or some discussion questions, or a writing prompt for our journals, or else some ideas for further reading or digging deeper. Won't it be fun to read all the comments, questions and thoughts we share?! I can't wait.

So that's the plan - 3 days each week of reading, 3 days of processing what you've read, Saturdays off, and over the course of six weeks you will have learned about the major female characters in God's grand story.

Please realize that some of your fellow sisters on this journey will be old pros in their walk with Christ, while others will be newbies. Some of us will already be reading the Bible regularly, and other of us will be looking to establish or re-establish the habit. We will be from varying walks of life, and varying theological or denominational church backgrounds. So the rules of engagement here are to focus on our common ground as mutual, imperfect Christians and sisters in Christ, and to continually season our words lovingly with grace.

Feel free to sign your first name if you want as you post comments, or your blog address if you'd like to invite people over to your place on the net. (Its OK to remain anonymous.) Won't it be great to come through this study having gained a few new cyber-friends?

As you can see, all you need is an Internet connection to participate. A Bible would be great to have - any translation you want - but you can read online if you don't have a Bible handy. Also, a simple notebook or journal would be useful to have a place to capture and process your thoughts. But all that's really required is a willingness to make the effort to draw near to God by reading the scriptures.

Are you ready? Your first reading assignment will be posted by dawn tomorrow (not that you have to get up that early to read it!). I look forward to our time together.