The first Bible study I wrote that I let other people read was for my women’s small group several years ago.  I was hesitant to let other people read what I had written for fear it was wrong or not good enough or downright boring.  I emailed out the week’s devotional Bible study and didn’t really get much of a response from my ladies – it was summer, after all.

But one day, one of the ladies, a friend of mine, was talking to me about it at a baby shower.  “It’s been so good,” she said, “to stay in the Word, and to learn more about the Fruit of the Spirit.  Where did you get these devotionals from?”

“Well,” I replied, “I wrote them.  I’ve studied some commentaries and some of the things others have written, but mostly I’ve studied the Bible, the actual text.”

“Seriously?” she exclaimed.  “You should publish that.”

It took one of my other friends to push me to write the study in the first place, and now it was another friend who was encouraging me to publish it.  It took a few years for me to finally break down and do what they suggested, but I did.  Since then, I’ve written a couple more studies, one of which I published just this summer.

I tell you all of this to say that I don’t write studies just to write them, I don’t write them to make money, and I don’t write whatever I feel like.  Each study I’ve written has come out of a need I see around me.  If God hasn’t stirred a need in my heart, I wait until He does.

This summer, I have been encouraged by conversations with many women about the need for joy.  The need to find joy in all circumstances and places.  And this is something that has been on my heart as well.  As I begin this journey into writing this new study on Joy, would you pray with me that God will reveal to me what we need to hear?  Not what is easy, but what we need.  Would you pray with me that He would bring revelation and understanding as I study the Scriptures and bring the words to you?

Thank you for your prayers, and may God grant us His truth as we seek joy.