The Amazing, escaping ice cream

Well our ladies retreat is quickly approaching! I am so excited for this weekend to come. If you are taking the time to read this, I envy your prayers this week. Many of you have already told me that you are praying for me and I want you to know how much I appreciate that. I have spent much time preparing for my lesson. It wasn’t flowing as well as I would have liked, but I think I finally have it about nailed down. Today we had a special service at church so we did not have an evening service. I was able to work on for several hours today. I am thankful I had that extra time. Now I feel like I can just commit the rest of the week to praying.

I welcomed a break tonight to make dinner for Brian and then we went out for ice cream. I ordered a new kind tonight that I have never tried before called mini pb cup and fudge or something like that. Well right away I noticed that it was kind of a hard ice cream rather than a soft kind that would melt easily. While the lady was making Brian’s I was licking away on my ice cream and felt it starting to fall so I tried to catch it with my tongue. Then, like a little ball the whole clump of ice cream jumped off the cone, onto the counter and rolled onto the floor! I looked down and all I had was a cone. Brian said the look on my face was priceless. Luckily, the lady got me a new one with out cost. And we call this the story of the Amazing, escaping ice cream. Ha!

I am including just a small portion of my notes for my lesson this Saturday in case you are interested. I had no idea when I started that God would deeply convict me in the areas where I need to be a more Godly woman. The places where I have added extra notes (beneath the points of the outline) are the areas that God has been speaking to me this past few weeks.

A Journey to Godliness
I. Introduction (Titus 2:3-5)
The Greek word for Godliness is eusebeia which also means holiness. And Holiness can be defined as “set apart”. The word behavior here means the same as demeanor. The women are learning in this passage that God is calling us women to have a holy and godly demeanor.
We are to be distinctly different. There is something that should be so different about us that it should be distinct, it is to be clear, and it is to be noticeable. We are called to be distinctly different.

II. Two Journey’s
1. An ungodly walk: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24)
2. A godly walk: Elizabeth’s walk (Luke 1:5-45)

III. Essentials of a Godly Woman
1. Our Speech
The word slanderer comes from the greek word diabolos and it means, “malicious gossip” This word diabolos is used 34 times in the New Testemant as a title for satan, 1 time describing Judas, the disciple who betrayed Him, 1 time to describe the behavior of hardened unbelievers, and 2 other times in reference to women that can be translated as “she devil.” This is not very good company is it? Women who are called to godliness and holiness should not be lumped with satan, Judas, and unbelievers!
a. Putting Off
1. Gossip and slander (James 3:6-12)
2. Joking and Jesting (Eph 5:4)
3. Murmuring and Complaining (Phil 2:14)
b. Putting On
1. Edifying and encouraging speech (Eph 4:29)
2. Praise and thanksgiving (Eph 5:19-20)
(My speech is definitely probably the biggest struggle I have. Learning the associations of the word slanderer REALLY convicted me. How can I possibly be a godly woman with speech that does not please God? I can’t! )

2. Our Purity
a. Thoughts and heart (Phil 4:8)
“The things that we submit our eyes too, lead to the things that we think about, lead to the things we desire, and it leads to our actions.”
(In Phil 4:8 it gives us a list of things we should think about. I am sure you all know the verse well. Just this past week I was pondering this verse: think about what pure, lovely, good report, honest, just, and true. Do you know what this means? And I am not sure why I never comprehended this fact before but this cuts out a lot of things that I watch, see, or hear because God only wants us to think on pure things, and ect.)
b. Actions
1. In our apparel (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
2. With our bodies (2 Cor 11:2)

3. Our Relationships
a. Parents and authorities (Eph 6:1 & 1 Timothy 1:1-3)
b. Friendships (Eph 5:6-7 & Prov 27:17)
c. Husband (Eph 5:33)
Elizabeth George said this in her book called “A woman’s high calling” and it spoke volumes to me. “To respect a husband means actively demonstrating and showing high regard for him in ways that all can see!”
d. Children

4. Our Service
a. Inside the home (Prov 31:13 & Ecc 9:10)
In Titus 2:5 we learn that we are to be keepers of the home, or homemakers. What does this mean? I have heard and read that some believe that it is wrong for women to work outside the home. They believe this because the greek word keepers at home here is oikourgous which means a stayer at home, workers at home, good house keeper, and domestically inclined. Where I am not sure if God is actually commanding the woman to not work outside the home or not, it is definitely teaching that keeping the home is the woman’s responsibility. Her home should be a priority over her work outside the home.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says that, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might”. Godly women should willingly care for home and do it to the greatest ability that she can possibly do it. It is always a sacrifice to do what we must do rather than what we want to do. It is also a battle. But it shouldn’t be looked at as just a responsibility it is a privilege to take care of our homes. Our home should be our life’s crowning work!
b. Outside the home (Col 3:12)
I love this saying by John Wesley.
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people that you can
As long as ever you can. “

IV. A Godly woman must:
1. Stay away from anything that will defile her
2. Come home when she strays