Simply Blessed – Ladies’ Event Recap

For this year’s retreat day, Friendship ladies ordered lunch, grabbed their Bibles, and headed for a barn venue in Willow Spring. Sharon Battig, creator of the “Simply Blessed” Bible study method, had traveled from Ohio to explain its development and to walk us through the process, using the first two verses of Philippians 1. Our goal wasn’t to learn a Bible study method, of course. Those are pretty easy to find. What we really want is to learn to meditate on God’s Word consistently and then be able to teach others to do so; “Simply Blessed” was developed with this destination in mind.

What are the steps?

• Read the passage many times (no outside sources!).
• Articulate a micro summary.
• Consider what the passage says about God.
• Consider what it says about me.
• Determine how the theme of the passage looks in my life.

The last step never fails to lead us to specific, Biblical prayer requests when we are honest with ourselves and one another.

When we read Philippians 1:1-2, we may be (secretly) less than overwhelmed. Can “Simply Blessed” show us that the verse says something more than “Simply Hello”? Most definitely! Sharon took us through a series of straightforward questions anyone can ask–not to arrive at her own conclusion, but to teach us what it is to dwell on Scripture deeply and intentionally.

In addition to Paul and Timothy’s greeting to the church at Philippi, we discovered the richness of Godly

• servanthood,
• humility,
• fellowship,
• discipleship,
• accountability,
• leadership,
• grace,
• peace

…all in these two simple verses.

Of course, we enjoyed our chicken salad, our caramel brownies, and a super-creative escape room experience right there in the barn! But we didn’t leave the Bible study there. Our Philippians 1 groups continue to meet weekly to pore over the succeeding passages in this joyful book. We also briefly discuss our evangelistic and discipleship opportunities and pray for open doors and the courage to walk through them as faithful ambassadors and disciplers for Christ.

Make plans to join us for our upcoming events:

Saturday, November 17, 2018-tba

Friday-Saturday, June 7-8, 2019 – Ladies’ Retreat at Camp Caraway.

Contact Heather Jones for more information about our events and Bible study opportunities.

Written by: Annalisa Houghton, Ladies’ Ministry Leadership Team