When dreams and desires converged
… God revealed her destiny
This series of Bible studies seeks to retell the stories of women who were divinely called and empowered to do great things. Many of them rose to the occasion, and a few very famously did not. Often, the tragedies and triumphs in their lives are missed, and their stories are told from perspectives other than with the honor and dignity they deserve.
After excavating their narratives from millennia of obfuscation, now meet the freshly restored, valiant, vivid (and sometimes villainous) women of the Bible.
Pastor in Philippi: Lydia
Her story can give you and me courage to lean into our own destiny, whatever that may be. Sometimes it feels safer to just do the things we know, to not make waves, to stay within the cultural norms, to let someone else do the pioneering. Lydia must have felt the same pressure, probably even more so.
This thirty-page book includes the retelling of Lydia’s story, a fifteen-question Bible study, and link to a twenty-minute multi-media presentation of Lydia, who, rose to the call of God, even when it meant being an outlier, a pioneer, and the first woman to do so.
An Outlier in Her Day and Ours
Who of us actually knows our earthly destiny? Lydia had already moved far from home, perhaps in search of her own life’s path. Lydia, named from the region where she first lived, was an independent businesswoman with a career as a dye merchant. Part of the impetus to move from east to west may have been Lydia’s desire to establish her own household.
Yet here is the crossroad where destiny and desire met. God gave the apostle Paul a dream urging him to evangelize in Macedonia, the region where Philippi was the capital city.
It is through such stories as Lydia’s that the scriptures convey the dignity God settled on women in first century Palestine, and on Lydia. In keeping with the Lord’s example, the apostle Paul also conferred dignity on women and on Lydia when she hosted the first church in Europe in her home.
Nearly forty free Bible studies on a woman in the scriptures are available through signing up to the newsletter below. What’s included:
- Access to all the Bible studies that have been made available so far.
- One new study each month.
- Early announcement of new books, published by the author.
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