(Take one: http://www.zielkehut.com/blog/2010/10/06/my-bsf-review/)
Trevor, Elliott, Simon, and I just completed our first BSF year: Isaiah. Ah.May.Zing. I highly recommend you try out a class in your area! www.bsfinternational.org
God has taught me so much about Himself this past year. Something that really stuck with me while studying Isaiah is that God will do everything necessary to dig out the “thorny” parts of me. I remember often reading God’s words to Israel thinking “Man, these people just can’t get it right!” But then realized God was showing me evidence of similar sin in my own life- arrogance and pride. Each week He would bring me to my knees realizing He still has so much work to do in me! He has really helped me to grasp that I need Him moment by moment, there is not one thing I can do on my own.
Another theme I feel like God has been working on in me is from Isaiah 14, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.” I have always have had my “plans” for my life and really always just thought God would get in line with those plans. (Ughhh, Israelite right here!!) But He has shown me that His ways are not my ways, His plan is better, and He is making all things RIGHT! There has been lots of discomfort in this process, but I trust He is sovereign and would not want to be any place but in the center of His will for my life. “O Lord, you are my God! I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.” Isaiah 25:1
Lastly, I am so very thankful for the children’s program. To think that my 5 year old, 3 year old, and my 6 week old (when he first started going to his class) are being taught truths about God and learning to praise Him, my heart swells. I pray fervently for their salvation, to the point that I become very distressed over it. God overwhelmed me in the notes one of the last weeks when it said, “The Word of God has enormous power to bring about what it announces, as it is communicated by the Holy Spirit. Have you spoken His Word to your child and been met with indifference? Will you believe God, that His Word will have effect?” In that moment I was totally in awe of the LORD. He knows my heart- my desires, my fears, my everything and meets me right where I am. All of us women studying Isaiah all have different trials- but God still meets us each where we are. God began to show me that just as He meets me right where I am- He is meeting each of my children right where they are as well. When I think of that- my heart is at peace. The burden that I was some mediator between God and them was lifted, and He showed me that He is their personal God too, and will bring about the truths He has planted. I just need to encourage them and pray for them as they seek Him.
So to conclude: I heart BSF :)