THE GOODBYE THAT MADE ME THANKFUL

This morning I had breakfast with four friends.  It was another of my goodbye meetings, one last meeting with friends I love before Jim and I move to Florida.  Today my breakfast companions were Bible Study Fellowship women.  Anita, with whom I went to high school, currently serves as the assistant class administrator of a nearby day class.  The other three, Linda, Joyce and Ruth, all like me, former leaders in BSF,  served in an evening class together which met in Pompton Plains, New Jersey at one time.  Collectively, we represented more than 50 years of service to the Lord through the ministry of BSF.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, these goodbye meetings have primarily been sad, but that’s not how I felt coming home from this one.  All the way home I was filled with gratitude for the privilege of knowing and working alongside these women of God for all those years in BSF.  This morning was a taste of heaven!

If you have never been in Bible Study Fellowship, then let me tell you a little about it.  It’s an international group, with classes all over the world, and many, many - day and evening, men's and women's, classes - here in the US.  BSF now offers 9 in depth studies of the Bible, including John’s gospel; Romans; Isaiah; The Life of Moses; The Life and Letters of Paul; the history of Israel and the Minor Prophets; Genesis, Matthew and in September 2015 they are offering for the first time, the book of Revelation.  Each study encompasses an entire year.  None of them are fluff, all are deep, challenging studies that will make you work hard, and leave you forever changed!

There is daily homework to do on your own, which you bring along to the class.  At class, in a small group setting, you go over the answers and everyone is invited to share what they’ve been learning.  The class ends with a lecture on the lesson by a trained teaching leader who fills in many of your blanks and challenges you to apply the lessons you’ve learned to your life.

I was a student in BSF for one year when I was asked into leadership.  That’s when my real training – as a Bible student, as a leader, as a pray –er, and as a woman of God – really began.  Leaders were all expected not only to attend the class itself, but also to attend a weekly leader’s meeting.  For our class, which was held in the evening, our leaders met on Saturday morning at 7 AM – from September to May - for a two hour training session to prepare us to lead our women on Monday class nights.  

 One year, due to the schedules of one or two of the working women, we met at 6 AM on a Friday morning, and then the working women went to work from there!  I remember that year well.  Because the leader’s meeting caused me to get to work an hour later than usual, I worked an hour later on a Friday night to make up the time.  Talk about commitment on the part of these all volunteer leaders!  It was incredible!

There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  I can tell you, the same is true of women.  When those committed, prepared leaders shared their insights into whatever part of the Bible we were studying that week, I was humbled by how much of a spiritual lightweight I was, and often blown away by the depth of their thoughts!  I learned so much from them as they shared how what we were learning was changing their lives as the Lord spoke through His Word. 

And then there was the prayer time.  

 I remember the first time I joined in prayer in the leader’s circle.  Each woman slipped off her chair and onto her knees as we, out loud, worshiped the Lord in praise, and then prayed as the Spirit led us, for the needs of our class.  I discovered very quickly that though I had been praying for all the years I had been a Christian, I knew nothing about true prayer.  Hearing the intimacy of their prayers which sounded as if they were speaking directly to God Himself, and the passion with which they prayed them, made me seriously question whether I was fit to kneel among them.  I knew nothing about prayer until I prayed in that leader’s circle.

Meeting with my friends today and talking about the blessing of knowing one another and serving together in BSF made me not only long for those days again, but it also made me supremely thankful to the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be part of BSF and their lives!  My life has been abundantly enriched as a result.  BSF and these sisters and co-workers in Christ were God’s gift to me for my spiritual growth.  I am not the same woman I was before Bible Study Fellowship and these women of faith entered my life.

So I came away from today’s goodbye breakfast, feeling a little sad, and feeling a lot grateful for the lavish way in which God bestowed His good grace on me through the ministry of BSF and of these precious women whose lives have touched mine.  Thank You, Father.