Our Last Ruby Club Meeting

The summer seemed to fly by and suddenly we had reached our last scheduled Ruby meeting (of the six meetings we had originally planned, two had been cancelled due to vacations). We shared some of the personal growth we each had the blessing to recognize in our own lives based on the studies we had completed.

The last topic I wanted to cover involved something that pretty much all women have in their lives. In order to exemplify the issue with the Rubies, I brought a large, camping style water jug filled with water. It weighed approximately 50lbs and was a very bulky shape to hold onto for the average size adult - never mind a bunch of skinny teenager girls!

The full jug was handed to one Ruby and another Ruby was asked to look up a verse and dictate it to yet another Ruby who wrote the verse on the chalkboard:

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:29&30

The jug represented all the burdens we, as Christian women, take onto ourselves unnecessarily(we will always have burdens that God does expect us to bear, i.e. following the path of righteousness in our day-to-day lives). I asked each Ruby to consider what kind of burdens they were holding onto unnecessarily at this point in their lives. We discussed how easily our energies can be drained by these burdens. For example, worrying about the choices that our friends are making; trying to organize family members and friends lives; considering how to cause a change in way their authorities behave, etc.

All women carry some burden that God has not asked them carry. The example of trying to cause a change in those around us is a BIG one - 'how can I get my husband to (?)'; 'what do I need to do to bring (?) to see the importance of (?)'

We turned our attention to the book of Nehemiah. In chapter 1 & 2, we read how God laid a concern on Nehemiah's heart for the restoration of Israel. It was a valid burden for an Israelite man, but he was a captive servant to the foreign king. And as he dealt with this new burden, we read how he immediately went to the Lord. And again, when the king noticed how sad Nehemiah was acting and asked about it, Nehemiah went to God in prayer before expressing his burden to his captor (chapter 2:4).

Would a woman have done it this way? Or would we have made a grand plan on how to 'convince' the king to help her; 'manipulate' the king with emotions; 'lie' to the king to get what she wanted?

The scripture tells us that because Nehemiah went to God first with his burden, God provided his desired outcome and alot more! The king gave Nehemiah a free pass to work on rebuilding Jerusalem, AND gave him materials for building, AND gave him members of the army as escorts, AND gave him letters to encourage others to help his cause - because the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord! Just as the hearts of our authorities is in His hand, as well.

Again we asked the questions that have formed our studies - do we care what God has to tell us? Do we really trust Him to do what is best for us - even if it isn't what we desire in our selfish hearts?

Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

Ephesians 3:20

Finally we left with the prayer that we be found faithful in our choices, in our relationships and in our witness for Him.

For the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15:3

Ruby Club Studies

As we continued to build on our earlier topics of mercy and confidence, the next topic we studied in the Ruby Club was designed around the term longsuffering:

LONGSUFFERING - the opposite of anger; quality of self restraint in the face of provocation vs. hostel retaliation; fruit of the spirit

Alot of times the term patience is used as interchangeable with longsuffering. When, in fact, longsuffering is more of an immediate response to an adverse situation. The times when we, as Christians need to turn the proverbial other cheek when we have been offended/attacked. It is another characteristic of God that is a necessity for Christian women.

We read through Ephesians 4:12; Colossians 3:12&13; and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Then we considered whether we were applying these scriptures to ourselves or thinking about all the other people who don't seem to follow this? We talked openly about how easy it is to see other peoples' faults while ignoring our own and how important is to take God's word to our own hearts.

Then we played a game - BANG, your dead! If we died right now, would we see that argument with our sister/brother as important? How about God honouring? Was it really worth getting frustrated with that neighbour/teacher/store clerk? Did you glorify the Lord by arguing with that fellow Christian about doctrine?

Our relationship with God will dictate our ability to relate to others around us. Our success in taking hold of the fruits of the spirit come from study, prayer and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. It is the failures/sin of those around us that give us need to practice longsuffering by applying these scriptures to our hearts.

All of the girls talked about how easy is to retaliate when they are offended by both Christians and non-christians - it comes naturally with our own sinful nature. We talked about whether any of us are practicing the spiritual things we have discovered in our studies. Are we changing in our day-to-day life? Do we want to improve our relationship with Christ through self study? Are these verses we are finding just feeling good to read or are we practicing them?

The girls that attended the studies all seemed sincere in their wish to study more. They also came across as honest about their failures in practicing what they had learned from the studies, i.e. mercy vs. judgemental; faithful vs. selfish; and now longsuffering vs. angry. It was encouraging to see them return each week with completed study materials and thoughtful questions or input for the topics.

The Ruby Club, update

Actually, the Ruby Club has had it's final meeting already. We had a set schedule that ended with the summer, but since I have not posted on the studies when we did them, I get to remind myself of the lessons we (I) learned.

As I mentioned previously, here, we spent much time searching scriptures for the meaning of mercy, and for examples of it. Another topic we covered that is valid for Christian women was confidence.

We questioned what it means to be confident as a Christian. We searched the scriptures for examples of confidence, both good and bad. For instance, Jezebel (2Kings) had alot of confidence in everything that she did - but it was confidence in herself, bad example. David, as a young man, however (1 Samuel) had great confidence, as well - and it was confidence in God, good example. The end result of each of these lives speaks clearly of where our confidence is to be built.

Confidence for Christians comes from a growing relationship with Christ (Proverbs: 26&27); we find confidence in His love (Deuteronomy 7:6-9); confidence in our ability to make it through trials (Luke 1:37, Phil. 1:6, Phil. 4:13); confident in our future (Psalm 27:14); confident in our relationship with Him (John 10:25-30).

Lack of confidence comes with a limited relationship with the Lord, or no real relationship at all (Ephesians 4:14). As a group, the Rubies considered how easily Satan can pull our focus away from Christ and onto ourselves and our weaknesses/failures. Each of us had an example from our own lives where we were not confident enough to accompish "something" for the glory of God; whether that be missing an opportunity to witness, ignoring God's lead to serve in some way, or following our friends in an action/behaviour that we knew was wrong.

To end our meeting on a positive note, we helped each other find areas in our lives where we were showing confidence in our faith and therefore being the peculiar people we are called to be (1Peter 2:9).

As Christian women we can stand up to adversity and criticism because...God loves us, that makes us valuable - that is where our confidence is found.

The Ruby Club, continues

As I mentioned before, here, I have started a club for young women to look at pertinent topics in their lives through a scriptural standpoint. We started off with a general meeting to toss around topics to study. The number one topic, in varying fashions, was relationships. In particular, two of the three girls were having tremendous difficulty in relating to their own fathers.

This was an amazing notion to me. As I mentioned, these girls are from professing Christian families with long-standing relationships in church and they were in tears about how they felt so distant from the man that should be the closest to them. I was stunned, they were describing how the relationship with my father had always been - and he is not Christian. But, after the kleenex was passed around, we determined that we would look at how relationships should work when approached from God's way.

Our first homework lesson was to find the meaning of mercy and search out verses and examples of mercy in scripture:

MERCY - compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, a enemy; compassion, pity, benevolence

- the descretionary power of a judge to give a pardon to an unworthy offender

Some of the verses that were chosen by more than one of us were:

O give thanks unto the Lord: for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.

Psalm 136:1

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Psalm 86:5

And the examples of mercy we pulled from scripture included the life of David, the apostle Paul and several prophets.

We looked at Psalm 90:14,

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Then we asked ourselves, do we as Christian women seek this? Are we satisfied with the mercy that the Lord has shown to us? Do we rejoice all our days?

Of course when we looked at the feelings that had been brought forward in the first meeting of our club, the answer was 'no' - there was no rejoicing in those relationships. So we began to look at our roles in any relationship, starting with our relationship with the Lord.

We read Matthew 25:31-46 when Jesus seperates the 'goats from the sheep'. We looked at how the sheep were perplexed about when they had 'served Christ' only to find that they had served him by showing mercy unto others WITH NO EXPECTATIONS from it.

From there the girls began to discuss how they did have expectations of their fathers and others they had relationships with - they were coveting attention or jealous of how they perceived other families operating. Each time they related a story of how they had initiated fellowship with their fathers, they had been disappointed with the reaction or the return on their efforts.

By reviewing the verses and examples of mercy each of the girls had brought forward, we began to shape the conversation around what the Lord expects FROM us to bestow His mercy. The answer, of course, is nothing. There is nothing we can do to earn His mercy or make restitution for it - it is a free gift that we, as His chosen children, receive unworthily. This is a relationship that the Lord initiated and continues to perservere with even when we distance ourselves from Him. What an example of mercy to follow.

Then we looked at Luke 6:27 &28, where Jesus instructs:

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use.

If we should treat our enemies like this, how much more should we be treating those we love in this way? Giving mercy and serving those around us although they may not deserve it or appreciate it; serving without expectations for return. Easily said, hard to do. But then again, the more we improve our relationship with the Lord, the easier it is to follow that example, i.e. 'draw nigh unto the Lord and he shall draw nigh unto thee' James 4:8.

So do we, as Christians, care what God has to say about giving mercy to those in our lives? Are we sheep or goats? That is the question for all Christians. As for the Rubies, they left the meeting with a new perspective on how to view each of their relationships. They all determined to give of themselves without expectations from others - because...

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

Psalm 62:5

The Ruby Club

Recently, I have felt a burden to reach out to younger women and attempt to live out Titus 2. I have always found it difficult to accept that I would have anything of value to pass on to girls who are not my daughter. That is one of several excuses that has helped me to avoid this responsibility for many years. This summer, I took a leap of faith and started "The Ruby Club" (i.e. Proverbs 31:10).

This club is meant to encourage girls 14 - 17 years old to discuss issues in their lives from scriptural standpoints. Our goals are to strive toward the verses: 1John 5:1-3 and 1Corinthians 10:31 - to study our lives as Christian women, young and old, through the wisdom of the scriptures.

Specifically, I asked the girls a simple question; "do we, as Christians, really care what God has to say about...". And if we do care, lets find out what He does have to say. We discuss opinions and convictions - with the understanding that we may not agree with each other, but we present the scriptural basis for our beliefs. All this to encourage our growth in a relationship with Christ.

Being the inaugural run of the club, the 3 young woman that are attending are kind of my guinea pigs for finding topics that they are interested in discussing. We've had two meetings now, and these girls have alot to say - I am learning alot! I had no idea the troubles these girls would be struggling with at their age. Perhaps in my own version of naivete, I imagined that my non-christian upbringing would have little to do with the lives of these girls from professing Christian families. However, the issues that were prevalent in my teen years are present for them, as well.

Maybe, just maybe, God planned for me to do this study in order to share the mercy and forgiveness that I have learned to embrace from Him for my life so long ago. Our first topic was on mercy - receiving and giving. I'll share the thoughts from that meeting on another post.

For now, I continue to pray about leading these young women in the way
God would have them go.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13