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

“I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest.” Psalm 55:8

When I see a storm approaching my first impulse is to flee. I run around my yard, picking up toys, putting away bikes, closing the doors to the shed and workshop, moving small potted plants into the garage, and bringing my border collie, Daisy, into the house. Before I go inside, I shut the garage door.

Once inside, I watch the storm in all its fury play out across my yard. The wind blows leaves and branches everywhere. Lightning lights up the sky and sometimes strikes a tree close to my home. Thunder booms and makes me jump. The rain beats relentlessly against my windows.

Despite the destruction of the storm, I’ve noticed that storms also bring good things.

• No matter how much I run my sprinkler on my vegetable garden (especially this year in the drought), my plants always seem to be stronger and healthier and grow faster after they have been watered by a storm.
• Storms clear the air and bring a refreshing breeze.
• The sun returns after a storm.

Perhaps the same thing can apply to the storms we experience in our lives. Nobody likes bad things –accidents, illnesses, death, divorce, job loss–all of these things are difficult to walk through. Yet just like my garden plants, I find that my times of strongest spiritual growth come from weathering the storms in my life. After I have suffered through my storms, God brings a refreshing breeze of peace. The depression lifts and joy or contentment returns.

What do you notice about the storms in your life? Can you see any good come out of them?

Welcome to Day 30 0f our Lent Devotional! This week we are studying spiritual growth, and today we look at how the inductive Bible study method works, Just click below to join us.

Lent Day 30, Inductive Study Method

Welcome to Day 29 of our Lent Devotions! This week we are studying spiritual growth, and today we are looking at the power that praise can have in our lives. After writing this devotion, I am revved up and praising God! I hope this devotion sets you in an attitude of praise today! Just click on the link below to read today’s post.

Lent Day 29, Praise the Lord!

As an added bonus, here is an oldie but a goodie song by the Imperials called Praise the Lord. Listen to it on YouTube. Even after all these years, this song is anointed and the words are powerful. If you need some encouraging, really listen to the words. My favorite verse says the following:

Now Satan is a liar and he wants to make us think

that we are paupers when he knows himself

we’re children of the King.

So lift up the mighty shield of faith, for the battle must be won.

We know that Jesus Christ is risen, so the work’s already done.

Praise the Lord.

He can work through those who praise him,

Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise.

Praise the Lord, for the chains that seem to bind you

serve only to remind you that they fall powerless behind you

when you praise him.

Image: Chaiwat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Welcome to Day 29 of our Lenten Devotions! For the rest of this week, we will be studying the topic of spiritual growth, looking at practices that will help us to grow in our faith. Just click on the link below to read today’s devotional, as we explore the topic of mentoring.

Lent Day 28, Follow Me As I Follow Jesus

Thanks for joining us. May the Lord bless your day!

Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. It is a reflective time, where we focus on getting our “spiritual houses” in order. This year of 2012, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22 and goes through Holy Saturday, April 7. Mary and I would like to invite you to join us each day with a scripture reading and a focus for that day. Just click on the tab Devotions and then Lenten Devotions for that day’s reading.

We will be exploring these themes during Lent this year:

• Self-denial
• Fasting
• Simplicity
• Spiritual growth
• Seeking God’s will
• Repentance

We are praying that all of our hearts will be changed as we embark on this journey together.

Won’t you join us?

Image: Janaka Dharmasena / FreeDigitalPhotos.net