{"id":5653,"date":"2012-12-07T00:30:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T06:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2012-12-07T00:30:56","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T06:30:56","slug":"lady-in-waiting-introduction-to-meditations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/07\/lady-in-waiting-introduction-to-meditations\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady In Waiting: Introduction to Meditations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Diane\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just like anything else, if you keep God out of meditation there is absolutely no point in doing it.\u00a0 Meditation is defined as a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject.<\/b>\u00a0 I find it HIGHLY important that discourse is defined as written or spoken communication or debate<\/b>.\u00a0 Meditation is not about feeling relaxed or a place where you can be calm.\u00a0 Meditation is an opportunity for YOU to communicate with GOD about any subject you or He would like to discuss.\u00a0 It is easy to think it is about us: our calmness, relaxation, peace from our craziness.\u00a0 When in reality, it is all about being with and sharing with our Divine Lover, Jesus!<\/p>\n

When you sit down for quiet time what does it look like?\u00a0 Is your cell phone right next to you just in case your future husband decides to call you while you are trying to hear from God?\u00a0 Are you alone or in a crowded coffee shop because even this is an opportunity to be seen by God\u2019s man for you?\u00a0 More importantly though, can I ask you what your heart looks like?\u00a0 Is your heart open for what the Lord wants to share with you?\u00a0 Are you willing to be patient and not leave your quiet time until you hear from God?\u00a0 Does your heart desire to soak in all that God has for you in this moment?<\/i>\u00a0 We must empty of \u201courselves\u201d and fill up with the Spirit of the Lord!<\/p>\n

This week we have been talking about patience.\u00a0 I was looking forward to this week because this is where I most struggle.\u00a0 Can I be honest with you ladies; I have not read one blog post this week so far.\u00a0 Despite feeling the need to read what these women have openly prepared for us to read, I want to wait until I am ready to open my heart for the words God speaks through each and every one of their fingertips.\u00a0 My heart wasn\u2019t ready for what may be revealed in those posts.\u00a0 I struggle with the waiting part of being single.\u00a0 I do not so much struggle with actually being single, just with thinking I will be single forever.\u00a0 I believe that as much as we are to be patient with God, He is always willing to be patient for us.\u00a0 He is waiting for me to open my heart to the hearts of the ladies that have shared this week in our study.\u00a0 He is waiting and His Spirit is praying for me that I will talk with Him about my struggles with patience.<\/p>\n

I truly believe the best meditation with God is when we have the ambition to be beyond honest with ourselves and with God, trusting that no matter what the true state of our hearts are at that moment, it is safe to say God will surely transform them into more like His heart when we commune with Him.<\/b>\u00a0 He rejoices in the moment we turn to Him for communication.\u00a0 Just like our Father in Heaven waits patiently for our hearts, so we wait patiently for the heart of the man He is preparing perfectly for us.<\/p>\n

I plan to spend quiet time with God, when I know I am ready to get rid of all hindrances, reading the blog posts from this week.\u00a0 Praying that God will bring out the important truths that I need to let sink into my heart.<\/p>\n

Throughout this study of A Lady In Waiting, I just know each one of us struggled with something more than another.\u00a0 That something more for you, please go back to this weekend or whenever your heart is ready to.\u00a0 Go back to the chapter; go back to the blog posts for that week.\u00a0 Most importantly go to God in meditation.\u00a0 Seek His face in your time alone with Him.\u00a0 Find out what is in the way of your heart being controlled completely by the perfectness of God and give it over to Him once and for all.\u00a0 You will find in your moments of complete surrender God\u2019s loving presence.<\/p>\n

I pray that we take advantage of the opportunities in the back of the book for meditation with God.\u00a0 As you work through each meditation, open your heart but also open your ears that you might hear what the Lord has been patiently waiting to whisper in your ear.\u00a0 I promise it will be just what you need and it will sustain you in the struggles of singleness.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father God, I thank You so much that we have the privilege of talking to You every moment of every day.\u00a0 I ask that You prepare the hearts of each and every one of these ladies for the words You want to speak to them.\u00a0 I ask that they can clearly hear from You.\u00a0 Lord, Your faithfulness and patience truly take my breath away!\u00a0 Your love for us is incomprehensible.\u00a0 I pray that inside of all of us is a desire to spend time with You, growing closer to You, and feeling Your presence in our lives making You more and more real to us.\u00a0 Bring to light the area we struggle most with and help us to have the courage to spend time talking with You about this area.\u00a0 I pray all of these things in Your precious name, Amen.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re Assignment:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Look back on your journey through this study.\u00a0 What are you struggling with still?\u00a0 What area of your life is God not present in?\u00a0 Go back to that chapter or topic, and spend a lot of quiet time with God being honest with Him about these struggles.\u00a0 Ask God to make your heart ready to hear from Him.\u00a0 Let His presence fill where that struggle once was.<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/b><\/p>\n

Our Next Single Women\u2019s Online Bible Study<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cCaptivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman\u2019s Soul\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

by John & Stasi\u00a0Eldredge<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

Begins January 6, 2013<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

To sign up for this Online Bible Study, click HERE<\/a> and follow the instructions. You will also be given a link to where you can purchase this bible study. We\u2019re looking forward to studying \u201cCaptivating\u201d with you!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just like anything else, if you keep God out of meditation there is absolutely no point in doing it.\u00a0 Meditation is defined as a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject.\u00a0 I find it HIGHLY important that discourse is defined as written or spoken communication or debate.\u00a0 Meditation is not about feeling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[146,147,1164,207,218,293,308,365,379,425,436,442,454,487,545,554,593,620,673,723,861,879,968,1020],"class_list":["post-5653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible-studies","tag-bible-study","tag-bible-study-2","tag-christ","tag-christianity","tag-debby-jones","tag-diane-meyers","tag-faith","tag-fellowship","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-gods-presence","tag-grace","tag-hearts","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-jesus","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-love","tag-meditation","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-quiet-time","tag-relationships","tag-singles-bible-study","tag-struggles","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/diane.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-1tb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}