Spiritual Formation

Some of you may know this already and some of you not, but it is required of us, in order to graduate DTS, to complete 4 semesters of Spiritual Formation. This is essentially a small group. We meet once a week for about an hour and a half. There are 7 of us in my group and it is all women. At first I did not want to do this. See we don't get credit for it and I was a little erked, if you will, that they would add something else to our list of requirements that fill our schedule and not give us credit for it. Oh yeah, did I mention we don't get credit for it. I guess you could say I had a poor attitude about it. Well as usually happens when I have that kind of attitude, I was wrong, and for those of you who know me well, you know that is not something I like to admit ;) .

Today was the second time I have met with my group and again I throughly enjoyed it. We have a good range of ages and definitely a huge mix of backgrounds, but that is what makes this group so perfect. I can totally see how God brought this group together and I'm so thankful for that. These women are already challenging and stretching me in such a good way. I know I'm going to learn a lot from them this semester and I'm just so excited to see what God does with our group.

I will share just a little of what we talked about today. (Nothing personal because confidentiality is part of our covenant.) At the end of our hour our group leader asked us to think of our "happy place". The place that just makes you feel at peace and closer to God. The place that brings rest to your soul. Do you have a place in mind yet? Go ahead and get one. . . . . .

Did you ever notice that when asked this question most people pick a place outdoors? Nobody ever says that their special place is in the bathroom or in the kitchen. Now it may be on a porch or near a window, but usually it is some place in nature, some part of God's creation such as near the ocean, in the mountains, on a lake, looking at the stars, etc. . . It is usually some place where we are in awe of God's creation. Now think about the fact that above all these things You, man, is God's crowning creation. We are His greatest work. Think about that for a second and how amazing that is.

Yes we have fallen short of God originally intended us to be because of sin, but that is why as Christians it is our goal to be more like Christ. He was perfection and without sin. this is our spiritual formation, our growth, our goal to be like Christ. The problem is the more we study and grow closer to God, we realize how amazing, how wonderful, how maginificant Christ is and that there is a huge gap between where we are and where we strive to be. Even with that gap, God still loves us and still considers us His crowning creation. Pretty awesome to think about. What an amazing love.

So for this first semester of Spiritual Formation we are talking about Identity. Our Identity in Christ. And I will write more as I grow and learn. That's all for now. Don't want to be late for class. :)