My family and I recently had the opportunity to go to Disneyland in California and boy did we have a blast! Seriously one of the best vacations yet! I loved it!

When we got back home, I asked my girls what they wanted to show their friends from our trip…..their response surprised me.

“Our sea shells.”

Your sea shells……but we went to Disney!!! Don’t you want to bring one of the stuff animals you won or don’t you want to show your friends some of the pictures we took of you meeting the princesses and other Disney characters?

“No.”

They wanted to show the sea shells.

“Why the sea shells?” I asked.

“Because you helped us collect them.” Was their response.

We spent a few days at Disneyland…..and enjoyed EVERY minute of it but what really touched my girls hearts was the one day we took a break from Disney and traveled to the beach.

I wanted my girls to see the ocean. I wanted them to see God’s beauty, His power……experience what He created.

In Sally Clarkson’s book, Ministry of Motherhood, she talks about giving our children the Gift of Inspiration.  Her whole book is wonderful and I highly recommend it, but that particular section spoke directly to my heart and I wanted to open the eyes of my children to the awesomeness of their God.

“A child who does not have the opportunity to marvel at the bigness of God, the wonders of his creation, and the reality of his supernatural work will tend to measure the questions about “who God is” according to his or her finite, limited perspective…”

“When we take the opportunity to expose our children to the glory of God displayed in a rainbow or powerful ocean waves or a star-studded night sky, we are helping them understand that there is a Being much bigger than themselves who created the universe and holds it together with his power. “-Sally Clarkson

I wanted my girls to experience their God in a much bigger way.

Being at the ocean does that.

The beauty alone takes your breath away.

The sound of the ocean waves roaring to shore, the soft breeze touching your face and the birds singing above……all testify to God’s reality and greatness.

As we walked the beach picking up sea shells I talked to my girls about how wonderful and powerful our God is. We talked about how beautiful each sea shell was that they picked up. We talked about God’s creativity, about the size of the ocean and the power of the waves……I wanted them to see God in His creation.

I wanted to be intentional and give them an opportunity to experience God in a whole new way. To open their eyes to the bigness of their God.

This week we see from our verses (Proverbs 31:1-9) that King Lemuel’s mother was an intentional woman. She was a mother who was intentional in how she taught her son, teaching him the virtues of a noble wife as she taught him the alphabet,…connecting his learning to something valuable that he would later be able to easily recall.

Using her as an inspiration, here are a few ways we can be intentional with our kids……everyday

• Write “I think you’re amazing because...” notes in their lunch boxes, their rooms, their cars.
• Go out on a special date with them….
• Send them encouraging text messages
• Pray together
• Read the bible together….and discuss what you read
• Read books together
• Serve together
• Intentionally slow down……look them in the eyes and tell them how much you love them
• Give them a hug
• Talk with them and rub their backs as you do……my girls love that!
• Laugh with them
• Smile at them

Being intentional is about turning off the TV, not answering the phone or the emails, the tweets or the Facebook comments, and really seeing your family. Giving them undivided time and attention. It’s talking with them over a meal. It’s asking them questions, doing things together like coloring, drawing, tickling and laughing together. Not necessarily spending money, but spending time together………that’s what’s truly priceless.

Being intentional is about really seeing them and purposefully investing in their lives.

What are some ways that you are intentional with your kids? I believe we learn best from one another! I’d love to hear your ideas! What would you add to my list? Which ones are your favorite?

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Women around the world are IN THE WORD! Every Wednesday we will have a link-up. If you are a blogger we invite you to link-up any blog posts that you have written about your quiet time that week. We ask that you put our button in the post or on your sidebar so we can find each other. We do not have code for this link up button. Just right click and save as. Then link it to http://www.goodmorninggirls.org

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Love God Greatly!

Welcome to Week 1 in Proverbs 31!!!  We are so delighted that you are here.

I know that a lot of women have mixed emotions about the Proverbs 31 woman – I mention in the video below how some women are intimidated and even irritated at this passage in the Bible.

I want to challenge women everywhere to read it, accept it, tremble in awe of the mighty God we serve who has called us to such a high task and pray.

(if you cannot see the video click here - and if you are wondering what passage I am referring to in the video -  with a list for noble men - go to I Timothy 3:1-13.)

 This week’s reading assignment is found on our reading plan here and is also in our study guide here. (if you don’t wish to print the study guide just grab a spiral notebook and use the SOAP method below for each passage you read.)

We encourage you to daily be in God’s word using the Bible reading plan and the SOAP method.  What is the S.O.A.P. method? So glad you asked!

The S.O.A.P. Method stands for:

1.  S- Write out the scripture passage for the day.

2. O- Write down 1 or 2 observations from the passage.

3. A- Write down 1-2 applications from the passage.

4. P- Pray over what you learned from today’s passage.

This is a place of grace – college students, nursing moms, working moms, homeschooling moms, room moms, grandma’s caring for their grandchildren or ailing parents, and women from all walks of life are here! We women are busy and doers! We need this time – but this needs to be a time of peace – NO pressure – do what time allows.

Even when you miss a day of your quiet time, it’s important that you stay connected to your group. It is very easy to lose fellowship if you do not remain committed to your accountability group. Be honest. Say you are struggling – I KNOW they will lift you up in prayer! And Girls – we ALL need more prayer – don’t we?

I’m lifting you all up in prayer this week! Now dig in and enjoy!

Walk with the King!

Courtney, WomenLivingWell

*If you have not downloaded the free eBook The Proverbs 31 Woman ~ One Virtue at a Time – click here .

**This Wednesday we will have a link-up for bloggers. If you have a blog, we invite you to write about what you are learning in your quiet time or about your GMG group. You DO NOT have to write about Proverbs 31 - we are interested in hearing from everyone about all the studies you are all doing. So please join our link-up party. If you are not a blogger, we invite you to visit other GMG’s blogs and to share here in our comment section what God is teaching you during your morning quiet time.

There are times in our lives when we wonder if one person, or a small group of people, can truly make a difference…

Today I’d like to introduce you to 3 women who God is using to make a difference in their countries for Him…..each woman is playing a part in fulfilling The Great Commission.

So yes, one person can make a difference…..a really big difference actually.

1. Please meet Edurne - who translated the ebook into Spanish!

Mi nombre es Edurne Mencía. Soy de Bilbao, España y actualmente vivo en Amazonas, Venezuela, junto a mi esposo y mis tres hijos: Yennixon Daniel (4), Nahiara (2)y Markel Elías (3 meses). Junto con mi familia, servimos a Dios en el ministerio con indígenas y oramos por entrar en la selva definitivamente. Mientras tanto, seguimos trabajando para Dios y haciendo nuestro viaje personal.

Follow Edurne on Facebook here.

SPANISH VERSION: Click here to find the link to the free Proverbs 31 eBook – translated into Spanish!

SPANISH STUDY GUIDE: Click here to download the Spanish Version-GMG Study Guide

2. Next let me introduce you to a sweet friend who translated our Ephesians document last session into German!!!  It’s Katja!

Ich komme aus Bayern. Und bin mit einen Österreicher verheiratet. Bei meiner Ausbildung zur Hotelfachfrau habe ich gelernt hart zu arbeiten und meine eigenen Interessen für die Bedürfnisse anderer zurückzunehmen. Mit Mitte 20 habe ich ein Jahr lang in Amerika gelebt. Ich bin eine typische große Schwester. Mein kleines pinkes Netbook ist mein “Lieblingsspielzeug”! Dank facebook kann ich mit all meinen Freunden überall auf der Welt in Kontakt bleiben. Ich liebe Bücher! In der Regel lese ich mindestens ein Buch – meistens ein paar gleichzeitig. Neuerdings auch gerne auf dem Kindle! Ich liebe Musik!!! Jede Art von Musik, Musizieren und vor allem Singen. Ok, so langsam ist es nicht mehr JEDE Art von Musik… In den letzten 15 Jahren habe ich in acht verschiedenen Städten in vier verschiedenen Ländern gelebt. Ich habe zwei Kinder mit 5 und 8 Jahren. Ich liebe meinen Job als Hausfrau und Mutter.

Follow Katja on Facebook here.

GERMAN VERSION:Click here to download the German Version – The Proverbs 31 Woman~One Virtue At a Time

GERMAN STUDY GUIDE: Click here to download the German Version- GMG Study Guide

3. Lastly, let me introduce you to another dear friend, Rosilind who with the help of her friend, Dajana, translated Courtney’s ebook into Croatian for us!

CROATIAN VERSION: Click here to download the Croatian Version- The Proverbs 31~One Virtue At a Time

Thank you Edurne, Katja and Rosiland!  You women are amazing!!! Thank you!!

If you know of someone who speaks Croatian, German or Spanish, please pass along these documents to them! I’m sooo excited to see how God is going to use these 3 beautiful women’s acts of service. That’s the wonderful thing about the time in which we live. Because of the internet, we can now reach THOUSANDS of women for God, encouraging them to read His Word and doing all of this from the comfort of our homes! No traveling required!

Please make sure and stop by to thank them for the resources they have provided our community!

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To learn more about Good Morning Girls, click here.

To sign up for Good Morning Girls, click here.

Documents to download for Proverbs 31 Study
1. Proverbs 31- One Virtue At A Time ebook by WomenLivingWell
2. GMG Study Guide
3. GMG Reading Plan- if you’d like another copy to have in your bible
4. If you are leading a GMG group, download the GMG Leader’s Guide

For GMG Leaders: If you are leading a Good Morning Girls group, I’d like to invite you to join a special GMG Leader’s Group on Facebook. To join please add me as your friend so I can place you into the group. This group is a private group only for GMG Leaders.

For International GMGs: If you are a International GMG, I’d like to invite you to join our international group also located on Facebook. If you are an International GMG and would like to join this group, please add me as your friend and I will place you into that group.

Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions about our upcoming summer session!

See you on Monday!!!!

Love God Greatly!

The popularity of Facebook shows our desperate desire for community. As women we are created with the longing to connect, to connect with our Lord and to connect with those around us. We are made for relationships.

The problem occurs with the busyness of our everyday lives. The demands of raising our precious children, taking care of our homes, and being a helpmate to our husbands. As we strive to serve and meet the needs of others, we can find ourselves depleted and lonely. If we’re not careful, we begin to neglect our time with other women and especially our time with God…..the very relationship we so desperately need as moms.

Join me today at The Better Mom where I’m talk about making time with God and our girlfriends a priority! We are not alone!!!

I’d love to have you join me in the discussion!

Love God Greatly!

Let me just say that I am so excited to start our next session with you on Monday! God is yet again doing amazing things through GMG! It truly is an honor to be a part of this wonderful ministry. So far we have over 3,500 women enrolled from around the world! If that isn’t amazing enough, God has also raised up women from within our Good Morning Girls community to translate Courtney’s ebook Proverbs 31: One Virtue At A Time, into 3 different languages! (Croatian, German & Spanish) If you’d like to download either the German translation or the Spanish translation, make sure to visit Courtney’s blog today!

For our summer Proverbs 31 session you will need to download:

1.Proverbs 31: One Virtue At A Time ebook- subscribe to WomenLivingWell.Org to receive the free ebook. Once you are subscribed and received her email make sure to look at the very bottom of that email, there you’ll see a link to download the free ebook.

2.GMG Study Guide (click here to download)

This study guide includes:

• The Proverbs 31 Reading Plan (click here to download if you’d like a copy to leave in your bible)
• An explanation of the Good Morning Girls SOAP Bible reading method
• 14 weeks of SOAP journal sheets as well as weekly questions for further reflection!

I encourage you to print the study guide, 3 hole-punch it and place it into a binder!

I’d LOVE to see pictures of you with your binder if you make one- please send me a picture at: LoveGodGreatly@gmail.com and I’ll share them with our GMG community!

If you would rather not print the study guide at home, you can also have the guide printed and spiral bound at stores like OfficeMax or Staples. I choose that route last time and loved it!

Not up for printing the study guide? Then try this new resource! Check out: SOAPstudy.com

Using SOAPstudy.com you can type in the scripture, observations, applications and prayers using your computer! Just another handy tool to use as you dig deeper into God’s Word.

3. Optional: If you are a GMG Leader- make sure to download our Leader’s Guide (click here to download)

For GMG Group Leaders: Please ask each of the women in your group to subscribe (located in the top menu) to our blog, that way they will get our Monday-Wednesday-Friday blog posts in their inbox and easily be up-to-date with what’s happening in our GMG Proverbs 31 study as well as “Like” our Facebook page so they can receive further encouragement and support from the Good Morning Girls community.

Now it’s your turn, what do you love about GMG? Please answer in the comment section below! I’m going to share some of the answers in my Friday post and maybe even on our Facebook page!

Love God Greatly!

I am sooo excited to announce, for the first time ever, we are providing a special GMG Leader’s Guide!!! Woohoo!

I’d especially like to thank Whitney and Shonda Knowlton for putting this Leader’s Guide together for us! What a valuable resource this will be for ALL our GMG leaders! Thank you to each of you for the time and effort you put into this project!!! We are so very thankful to each of you!

In this guide, we hope to address some of the most common questions you might have as a leader:

1. Why I need to know the Good Morning Girls Statement of Faith…
2. What exactly are my responsibilities, and what resources are available to me as a leader?
3. How do I go about setting up a Good Morning Girls group?
4. What important information should I communicate to my group as we get started?
5. What are some tips for helping my GMG group succeed?
6. How can I consistently engage my group members and encourage participation?
7. Keeping a healthy perspective (don’t get discouraged!).

Each session we have more women signing up than there are GMG leaders….would you please prayerfully consider being a GMG Leader? Ideally we like to keep the group sizes to about 5-10 women but because of the vast demand we have some groups that have had hundreds of women in one group! Though we are soo thankful for each of those women who want to participate and for the leaders who willingly includes them, we also want to make sure each woman experiences a “personal touch” and fills apart of their group.

We’d LOVE for YOU to join us as a GMG Leader!

Our heart here at Good Morning Girls is to reach women all over the world with the good news of Jesus Christ……one life at a time!

With that passion in mind, I’d also like to announce today that we will have our summer book club selection translated into 3 different languages!!!

This summer we will have WomenLivingWell’s ebook: Proverbs 31: One Virtue At A Time translated into:
Croatian
German
AND Spanish!

Stay tuned for those downloadable ebooks! If you have any friends who speak those languages, be sure to let them know!

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This summer we will be studying the life of the Proverbs 31 woman and using Women Living Well’s FREE ebook Proverbs 31: One Virtue At A Time as our summer book club choice!

To learn more about Good Morning Girls, click here.

To sign up for Good Morning Girls, click here.

DOWNLOADS:

To download the Proverbs 31 Reading Plan, click here.

To download the GMG Leader’s Guide, click here.

Summer Session Info:

• Summer sign-ups run from: April 16th-May 14th
• Summer session dates: May 14th-August 17th

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Until next week for other downloadable goodies…..

Love God Greatly!

I’m soooo excited to share our summer Proverbs 31 reading plan with you today!

This summer we will be studying the life of the Proverbs 31 woman and using Women Living Well’s FREE ebook Proverbs 31: One Virtue At A Time as our summer book club choice!

To learn more about Good Morning Girls, click here.

To sign up for Good Morning Girls, click here.

To download the Proverbs 31 Reading Plan, click here.

Summer Session Info:

• Summer sign-ups run from: April 16th-May 14th
• Summer session dates: May 14th-August 17th

Stay tuned…….I have a few more goodies coming your way in the next few weeks!!!

Love God Greatly!

Motherhood can be hard. It can be exhausting. Some days it takes everything that I have to give….and then some! But the opportunity to raise 3 precious little girls for my Lord’s glory is priceless, even on those days when I feel I have accomplished nothing. But there is such meaning in the mundane.

Do you have a desire to make a difference in our world?

Join me today at MomHeart.Org where I discuss the difference WE can make as MOMS!

Love God Greatly!

I’m excited to announce our GMG summer session sign-ups start TODAY!

Summer Session Info:

• Summer sign-ups run from: April 16th-May 14th
• Summer session dates: May 14th-August 17th

What is Good Morning Girls? (GMG)
If you have never heard of Good Morning Girls before here’s what we are… “Good Morning Girls” is a title for a group of women who use email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype or text messaging to keep each other accountable for their quiet times. For 3+ years, I have been a part of a group of girls who email each other each daily after we have our quiet time. We say “Good Morning” and then share what we read in our quiet time. Some of us have our quiet time first thing in the morning, while others squeeze it in during children’s naps or at bedtime. The time of day doesn’t matter…..our focus is just being in God’s Word daily!

Here is a video about Good Morning Girls and a few testimonials from my own personal GMG friends!

For those of you viewing this in your email, click here.

Who can join?
Young, old, single, married – any woman who wants to pursue walking with Jesus. (This is our belief statement- scroll to bottom of page).

Why?
Our main goal is to be accountable to each other and to help each other maintain the discipline of reading God’s word daily.

What’s the commitment?
Joining a Good Morning Girls group requires commitment. Now that Angela and I have had time to watch these groups form and grow, we are aware that some start strong but then fizzle out. As a result the entire group can get discouraged. So it is very important that if you join a group you remain committed to the end. Even if you can only check in once or twice a week – please do not quit completely. The other girls WANT to hear from you!

• This is a 3 month commitment.
• The summer session runs from May 14th – August 17th.

What To Study?
The Summer Book Club is optional. We will be providing SOAP Bible readings, videos and challenges to go along with Courtney’s Proverbs 31 ebook BUT this is optional. To receive Courtney’s FREE Proverbs 31 ebook make sure to subscribe to her blog at WomenLivingWell.Org

You can choose as a group to read through a certain book of the Bible together, to join a Bible study together such as a Beth Moore study or each do your own thing.

Let the sign-ups BEGIN!

Joining GMG is as simple as 1-2-3!

1- Find a group of friends to form an online accountability group.

• Women in your Sunday school class or church
• Friends from your women’s bible study
• Past college roommates,
• Relatives,
• Neighbors,
• Co-workers,
• Other moms that you do life with…

• Still not sure who to invite? Then visit our online message board and find a group there to join! GMG groups are forming based on location, age of children, pastor wives, homeschool moms, public school moms, working moms, stay-at-home moms, special needs moms…etc. If you don’t see a group that interests you then form your own online!

2- Once you know who is in your group, decide how you want to daily communicate to each other.

• Facebook -setup a secret group. (Not sure how? Here are the steps)
• Twitter- our hastag is #GoodMorningGirls
• Email
• Text messaging
• Skype

3- Sign-Up HERE!

After you have joined our summer session, please make sure to subscribe to our blog for blog post updates and join our Facebook community by “Liking” us!

I’m so excited to start this next session with you!

Love God Greatly!

What a privilege it has been to be a part of this Ephesians study.  The study itself has been so good for me and I have been very encouraged to see what God has been teaching all of you. I pray that your thirst for his word continues to grow.

I love how very organized Paul is in his writings. In Ephesians Paul spends the first half of the letter teaching us about some heavy doctrines and in the second half he tells us very practically how those doctrines should affect our everyday lives. (He does the same thing in the book of Romans.) Here are a few things that I am taking away from our Ephesians study.

Jesus Chooses (Eph. 1; 2:8-9)

There are moments, usually right after I have barked at the kids, or disciplined in the heat of the moment or when I have been in a generally unpleasant mood that I look at myself and think, “Why in the world did God ever chose me?” I can tell you, it certainly wasn’t because I have it all together or because I am so awesome. No, he chooses the unlovely (me), the annoying (me), the grumpy (me), the sinner (me) because of his immeasurable grace and mercy. This humbles me and gives me joy.

Jesus Redeems (Eph. 1)

Sometimes I feel like I suffer from spiritual amnesia because I am constantly forgetting how much Christ has done for me. Christ has paid a very heavy price for my release from the slavery of sin and instead of crawling back into that dark mess I need to live like one who is free. Free to run away from sin and free to love and obey God.

Jesus Forgives (Eph. 4:32 )

I am a forgiven sinner, but it is not just my past sins that Jesus has blotted out, he also willingly suffered for the sins that I have not yet committed. That is deep love and I need to imitate Jesus by making sure I forgive those who wrong me. When I feel pride creeping in all I need to do is look to the cross and I am humbled.

Jesus has all power (Eph. 1:19-20)

One thing I have learned is that life is unpredictable. It doesn’t matter how organized I try to be are or how many lists I make,  things will not always go according to my plan. I am not in control. Jesus is. He has all the power, not only to save me and change me, but also to give me all the strength I need to make it through this topsy turvy life.

I am in “Christ” (Eph 2:18-22 )

I am in Christ and so are you! We have a lot in common. We struggle with the same sins and we have similar victories. We also have the same goals. What an encouragement this is to me knowing that I have sisters all over the world who are praying, studying and striving to be more like Jesus.  We are all soldiers in the army of God, serving Christ our King and fighting sin and Satan. I love this, because it means I am not alone and neither are you.

As summer nears and the school year comes to an end it is easy to get thrown off by a new schedule.  I am going to pray and work hard to keep Jesus as my focus. I hope you will too and God willing I will see you here again for the next Good Morning Girls Bible study.

Looking to Jesus,