Oaks Bible Study Women

These beautiful women are junior bible study leaders here at PSU- we call it OAKS and we meet Monday afternoons to study the bible and help prepare them to lead thier freshmen bible studies.

This is from back in December when we had a hang out week- a belated Turkey dinner. I believe this was before Olivia knocked her tray and entire plate of food on the floor because I had forgotten to latch the tray fully on the highchair!

During this meeting two of the women recited from memory 12 verses from Romans that correlated with our Bible Studies each week- so awesome to see these women hiding God's word in their hearts!

But let me back up and try to explain why this is such a huge Praise to God for me personally... As a wife and mom I don't get to do everything ministry related I once did when I was single. This was becoming painfully obvious to me last spring, as our team met to talk and pray and plan for the year ahead. For the last two years I had helped lead a freshmen/sophomore bible study which involved heading to campus after Olivia was in bed Monday nights. At that point I realized that was not really for me anymore- I was tired when I put Olivia to bed! So I started praying and thinking about what I really love to do- meeting with women one on one and helping prepare women to meet with others. This led me to Oaks- many of the women I had had in the freshmen/sophomore bible study joined Oaks this year to reach out to freshmen- I wanted to help them do that! Great!

One catch- all the Oaks groups (there are 6 I think...) meet at the same time- 4:30 on Monday afternoons. In other words, Nate would be working and I couldn't bring Olivia- I needed a babysitter. So I started asking God about who I could ask and how I would pay for it. Most of our babysitters are either co-workers or students- who would also be at Oaks, and who often watch Olivia for free. Who else could I ask to watch Olivia for free? I remember distinctly praying about this at church one Sunday- and God said "What about Paige?"

Paige is a friend of mine from Camp Sandy Cove who happens to be a grad student here at PSU right now. She had babysat for us a few times and I thought perfect- this is definitely a possibility. Now what about money? How could I pay her? Is she even free on Monday afternoons? She might have class... How do I get over myself to ask someone for their free help on a regular basis? After over a month of putting off asking her, I finally went for it! Offering only dinner for payment...she replied almost immediately and said SURE !!! I was in awe! I felt God's provision for me so clearly and I was/am so thankful!!!!

One of the highlights of this school year has been going to campus on Monday afternoons, with my husband, to lead students in Bible study. Paige is an awesome babysitter and we all have dinner when we get home. Olivia loves the play time and I love getting to do what I love! Helping train up the next generation of women to reach others for Christ :)