“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:27

 

Jane and I welcome you to Week One of Simple Thanks! We are very excited to be with you during this journey into the simple thankfulness. In the weeks leading up to this study, we have been praying for you. Thank you for answering God’s  call; it is not an accident that you have joined this study. God is calling us to live fully in the moment. Life is a gift–rejoice and give thanks.

 

Introductory Video for Week One

Here is our short video with our Bible verse to introduce Week 1.

 

 

Here is our TalkShoe Webinar from week 1 if you missed the live call-in:

Weekly Homework

Each week we will add your assignments to a password-protected post. Look for the password every Tuesday evening in your email. Below you will find homework for each level of study. Feel free to change from Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3  as your schedule allows! Remember, there is no pressure to complete every activity. These are just options for your growth. They can be accessed at any time, even after the study ends.

Level 1, Study: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 1, watch  SESSION 1:Attitude of Gratitude, Ann’s video.
• Take time to notice and thank God for His simple gifts.
• Complete the study guide  and Between Sessions homework PDFs.
• Start your 1000 Gifts List in a separate journal.
• Feel free to do any of the other activities from Levels 2 and 3 as your time allows.

Level 2, Community: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 1 watch  SESSION 1:Attitude of Gratitude.
• Take time to notice and thank God for His simple gifts.
• Complete the study guide  and between sessions homework PDFs.
• Start your 1000 Gifts List in a separate journal.
• Answer the question on the Speak Your Mind comment section at the bottom of this post.
• Join the Community Call, Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. EST on Talk Shoe (Information on TalkShoe is in your weekly email.)
• Read Thankfulness, the Way of Jesus from the Soul Shepherding website.

 Level 3, Opportunity: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 1, watch  SESSION 1:Attitude of Gratitude.
• Take time to notice and thank God for His simple gifts.
• Complete the study guide  and between sessions homework PDFs.
• Answer the question on the Speak Your Mind comment section at the bottom of this post, join the Community Call on Wednesday night on TalkShoe, and listen to the Podcast at the link provided up above.
• Don’t forget to check out our private Facebook page. Leave your comments about this week’s study, post your prayer requests, or share any insights/questions you may have. Only members of our Bible study group will see these posts.
• Start your 1000 Gifts List in a separate journal.
• In the evening, do devotions 1-5 in the one thousand gifts devotional journal.
• Read chapters 1-3 in One Thousand Gifts trade book by Ann Voskamp.
• Take advantage of the Extra Simple resources by clicking on the links below:

  From Grumbling to Gratitude

 

Please take a few moments to worship and express your gratitude to God through music for His many blessing and gifts.

Questions of the Week (Please respond in the Speak Your Mind section at the very bottom of this page).

What simple gift are you most thankful for this week?

Imagine doing your Bible study with your small group without ever having to leave the comfort of  your home, dorm room — or back deck. If this sounds like your kind of study, we would love for you to join our online Bible study. Just in time for Thanksgiving, this  five-week online Bible study starts on Wednesday, November 6. We will be using Ann Voskamp’s heartfelt, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.

This Bible study will:

• dare you to live fully right where you are
• challenge you to count your blessings no matter your circumstances
• help you to develop a habit of thanksgiving and praise
• encourage you to experience the constant presence of God in everyday life

Order Your Materials

In order to participate in the study you must 1) order the DVDs (the first link below) OR the instant video downloads (second link) and 2) sign up through the registration link at the bottom of this post (registration is only $5). We will email you a weekly PDF containing your viewer guides and between sessions homework.

To deepen your study experience,  you may also order the following optional resources:

• One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are trade book ( the third or fourth link).
• One Thousand Gifts  Devotional Journal (fifth link).

We’ve included  links to the CBD online bookstore if your prefer to purchase your materials that way. CBD has the best price for the videos, MP3, trade book, and optional devotional book. Or you can purchase through your local bookstore.

ORDER LINKS for Christian Book Distributors:

Choose between the DVD, which will be shipped to you, or the instant download videos. Do not purchase both. (The five-session bundle is the instant video downloads)

One Thousand Gifts: A DVD Study: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You AreBy Ann Voskamp / ZondervanWhat does the Christ-life look like when your days are gritty, long, and even dark? Based on Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts, she reveals the discovery that will open your eyes to ordinary, amazing grace regardless of your circumstances. This five-session, video-based study will help you learn, practice, and begin to live out the secrets of a joyful heart. Approx. 111 total minutes. Study guide sold separately.

One Thousand Gifts: All Five Sessions Bundle [Video Download]By Ann Voskamp / Zondervan

If you wish to order the trade book, please choose one of the following:

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You AreBy Ann Voskamp / ZondervanDiscover a way of seeing that opens your eyes to everyday amazing grace, a way of living that is fully alive, and a way of experiencing the constant presence of God that will bring you deep and lasting joy. There is purity in simplicity and a breathtaking beauty that can be found even in life’s slightest details. Ann Voskamp welcomes you in to explore her grace-bathed life of farming, parenting and writing and encourages you to draw nearer to Him and experience your own life in a deeper way, no matter where you are. Renew your appreciation for the beauty that permeates all creation with the wisdom-soaked pages of this Christian Living treasure.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are – eBookBy Ann Voskamp / Zondervan

Finally, if you wish to participate in daily journaling, please order the following (I highly recommend the devotional!):

One Thousand Gifts Devotional JournalBy Ann Voskamp / ZondervanRenew your appreciation for the breathtaking beauty that surrounds us in life’s simplest details. Encouraging you to ruminate even deeper on the concepts explored in her best-selling book One Thousand Gifts, Voskamp offers 100 wisdom-soaked devotions, complete with Scripture verses, prayers, reflection questions, and space to record your own insights. 208 pages, hardcover from Zondervan.

A Bible Study for All Levels of Maturity

Challenge your faith by choosing one of three levels of involvement.

• Level 1:  Study. Simply order the DVDs and complete the work in the weekly PDF email.
  
• Level 2: Community. Order the DVDs and complete the work in the weekly PDF email, and participate in weekly community conversations (blog/Facebook) and post what you’re learning.
• Level 3: Opportunity. Order the DVDs, the trade book and the devotional journal.  Each week complete the work in the weekly PDF email and five days in the One Thousand Gifts Devotional Journal, participate in the weekly Community Calls on Talkshoe and read the correlating chapters of the One Thousand Gifts trade book. Please tailor the work to fit your weekly schedule. There is no pressure to complete everything!

In addition, each Wednesday evening from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST, Jane and Mary will host an optional call on Talk Shoe that will include a teaching time on that week’s lesson. But remember, you are free to do your work at any time during the week that fits your schedule.

REGISTRATION Sign Up for Giving Thanks Online Bible Study
The cost to participate in the online Bible study (same price for every level) is only $5 (in addition to your book fee that you purchase). If you’d like to join us in this fall’s study of Simple Thanks, please click on the button below. You will both pay and register through this one button. Once you have signed up, you will be emailed a link to confirm your registration. You must click on that link to be put on the list for the Bible study. Each week, for the duration of the study,  you will receive an email that contains the weekly Bible study page password, Community Call information, viewer PDFs and Between Sessions work. Look for your email every Tuesday night.

Thanks so much for your participation. Feel free to invite your friends! Please click on the link below to register and pay. You will be given the option to pay either with Pay Pal or with your credit card. If you don’t have a PayPal account, simply click the option that says “Check Out.” Clicking on that will then open another screen and one of your options will say: “Don’t have a PayPal account?” Click on this option, which will bring up a screen that will let you either pay with a regular credit card or open a PayPal account.Questions or problems with registration? Click on this contact button to email Jane. God bless you and thank you!

Click Below: Simple Thanks Online Bible Study Registration

The Freedom of Abandonment and The Sacred Present

” Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise.” Psalm 90:12

Can you believe that we are more than half way through our Bible study? Jane and I pray that your life is beginning to change for the Simple! We are very excited to continue this journey with you. This week we are focusing on abandoning ourselves in God and living in the present. May you continue to answer God’s call God to leave the complicated and embrace the simple.

If you missed the Week 4 Community Call, here it is. In this call, we discussed Chapters 5 and 6.

Weekly Homework

Remember to check your email every Tuesday evening for your new password for the week.  Below you will find homework for each level of study. Feel free to change from Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3  as your schedule allows! Remember, there is no pressure to complete every activity. These are just options for your growth. They can be accessed at any time, even after the study ends.

Level 1, Study: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 4, do chapters 7 and 8 in Becoming A Woman of Simplicity.
• Remember to focus on Jesus.
• Feel free to do any of the other activities from Levels 2 and 3 as your time allows.

Level 2, Community: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 4, do chapters 7 and 8 of Becoming A Woman of Simplicity.
• Answer the question on the Speak Your Mind comment section at the bottom of this post.
• Join the Community Call, Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. EST on Talk Shoe (Information on TalkShoe is in your weekly email.)
• Listen to the Podcast for information on casting your burdens on the Lord . Simply click on the link below.

 Level 3, Opportunity: Weekly Goals 

• For Week 4, do chapters 7 and 8 of Becoming A Woman of Simplicity.
• Answer the question on the Speak Your Mind comment section at the bottom of this post, join the Community Call on Wednesday night on TalkShoe, and listen to the Podcast at the link provided up above.
• Don’t forget to check out our private Facebook page. Leave your comments about this week’s study, post your prayer requests, or share any insights/questions you may have. Only members of our Bible study group will see these posts.
• Your Simple Challenge activity for this week is Submission. “Submission: Not asserting ourselves in order to come under the authority, wisdom, and power of Jesus Christ as our Lord, King, and Master.” Click on the link below for an excellent resource and ideas on how to practice submission.

Submission

• Take advantage of the Extra Simple resources by clicking on the links below:

       Wall of Fear

 

 

 

    The Father’s Hand

 

 

 

Image courtesy of David Castillo / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of domdean/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For your listening and worshiping pleasure, please abandon yourself and enjoy this breath taking video and music by Paul Cardall–simply beautiful!:

 

Questions of the Week (Please respond in the Speak Your Mind section at the very bottom of this page).

1. What activity did you choose to do this week for the discipline of submission? If you are comfortable, you may share what you learned from the experience.

 

 

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of evgeni dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When my children were little, I would often find their little sticky handprints all around the house, especially on the windows and sliding glass door in the kitchen. I could see the perfect outline of their tiny hands and noses where they had leaned in to the window pressing against it to eagerly watch snowflakes falling or a hungry bird at the feeder. Those little prints said, “I lingered here. This was important.”

Last Wednesday, Mary and I launched our first online Bible study, The Simple Life (still plenty of time for you to join us if you would like). In the first week’s lesson, author Cynthia Heald asks a question on page 16 of Becoming a Woman of Simplicity: “What do you sense the Lord is saying to you about what a life lived in single-minded devotion to Him would look like?”

To me it looks like a handprint ~ God’s handprints.

I like looking for God’s handprints in His world, particularly in the little, simple, often-overlooked things in nature. They’re there, all around us, but it takes time and intent to see His handprints in the small things. And in a typical over-scheduled day in my life, I don’t leave myself much time to slow down and savor things.

I wonder how much I’m missing.

What small gifts has God put right under my nose that I’m missing because I’m not looking for them? Instead, I have my eyes firmly fixed on my schedule, complete with my check-off-the-next-thing-on-my-list glaze in my eyes.

I love that this study makes me reevaluate what I’m doing. And one thing I want to do is to put my eyes on God so that I don’t miss His handprints that say “I lingered here. This is important.” Each one is a gift. Sometimes the gift is purely for my enjoyment, as when I bask in the radiance of a creamsicle-orange sunset. Or when I see the smooth, mahogany acorn nestled among the rocks and leaves in the woods. Other times these small gifts hold a lesson for me to discover, like the methodical persistence I see in the caterpillars I captured in the amazing video below. I almost missed that, but fortunately, God got my attention.

I want God’s sacred and my everyday to meet in a holy collision of life lived in single-minded devotion to Him. I want to see His sticky handprints wherever I go. That’s my answer.

Pray on!

photo credit: Duncan Brown (Cradlehall) via photopin cc (Changes added in PicMonkey)

As Mary and I are preparing to kick off our first ever online Bible study offered by Only By Prayer called The Simple Life, I’ve naturally been doing some reflection on what I think the simple life looks like. I’ve come to the conclusion that I definitely know what the simple life doesn’t look like based on past and current experience. I can tell you that it doesn’t look like any of the following things, all of which I’ve done at some point in my life.

• It doesn’t look like working until 9:30 p.m. every weeknight grading students’  English papers.
• It doesn’t look like staying up until 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m. every night writing an e-book.
• It doesn’t look like doing household chores all day Sunday to try and prepare for the next week.
• It doesn’t look like skipping my devotion time repeatedly because I’m too tired to get up in the morning.
• It doesn’t look like watching the whole summer pass by with the realization that I’ve only sat down twice in the evening on my deck to relax and read a book.
• It doesn’t look like my children and I only seeing my husband every other weekend for the duration of six months while he works across the country.
• It doesn’t look like wading through a house filled with too much junk!

I’m pretty good at knowing what the simple life isn’t; it’s what it is that I need to figure out.

Now, I know that life has its seasons, and some seasons just have to be endured, but when you realize it’s gone from a life season to a life pattern, then it’s time for a life change!

So far, in my early prestudy ruminations, I’m beginning to see that simply doesn’t necessarily mean easily. Here is what I think I want the simple life to look like: To me, the simple life means 1) sitting at the feet of Jesus 2) undergirding everything with prayer 3) being intentional with my time and resources, and 4) pursuing and listening for God’s next thing for me.

Now I just need to learn how to do all that! How about you? What do you think the simple life looks life for you?

Would you like to join us in exploring The Simple Life ? There’s till time for you to sign up.

 

New! Online Bible Study at Only By Prayer

Fresh from our Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks 2013 Writers and Speakers conference, Mary and I are flush with ideas God has given us for Only By Prayer. We’d like to share with you one of the big things that will going on here this fall:

Imagine doing your Bible study with your small group without ever having to leave the comfort of your home, dorm room — or back deck. If this sounds like your kind of study, we would love for you to join our first ever online Bible study. This  six-week online Bible study starts on Wednesday, September 11, and will help you to simply your life by:

• Focusing on the One
• Living in the present
• Embracing simplicity

We will be using Cynthia Heald’s Becoming a Woman of Simplicity Bible study. To simplify the process, you will each purchase your own book from your local Christian bookstore. We’ve also included a link to the CBD online bookstore if your prefer to purchase it that way.

Christian Book Distributors:

Becoming a Woman of Simplicity

 

A Bible Study for All Levels of Maturity

Challenge your faith by choosing one of three levels of involvement.

1. Level 1:  Study. Simply complete the work in your Bible study book.
2. Level 2: Community. Complete the work in the Bible study book and participate in weekly community conversations (blog/Facebook) about what you’re learning.
3. Level 3: Opportunity. Complete the work in the Bible study book, participate in community conversations, and complete application activities that will be emailed to you.

In addition, each Wednesday evening from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST, Jane and Mary will host an optional call on Talk Shoe that will include a teaching time on that week’s lesson. But remember, you are free to do your work at any time during the week that fits your schedule.

Sign Up for The Simple Life Bible Study

The cost to participate in the online Bible study (same price for every level) is only $5 (in addition to your book fee that you purchase). If you’d like to join us in this fall’s study of The Simple Life, please click on the button below. You will both pay and register through this one button. Once you have signed up, you will be emailed a link to confirm your registration. You must click on that link to be put on the list for the Bible study.

Thanks so much for your participation. Feel free to invite your friends! Please click on the link below to register and pay. You will be given the option to pay either with Pay Pal or with your credit card. If you don’t have a PayPal account, simply click the option that says “Check Out.” Clicking on that will then open another screen and one of your options will say: “Don’t have a PayPal account?” Click on this option, which will bring up a screen that will let you either pay with a regular credit card or open a PayPal account.

Questions or problems with registration? Click on this contact button to email Jane.

Click Below: The Simple Life Online Bible Study