MyLeslieNotebook

"My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Colossians 2:2-3, NIV). The above verse is my life calling. It's the reason I get up every morning to have an hour of quiet Bible Study before my kids wake up. It's why I spend hour upon hour studying, poring, reflecting, and praying over every single blog. It's why I teach Sunday school, why I speak, and why I write:  So that you can have understanding to know CHRIST! And it thrills me to NO END to hear all of you talk about how deeply you're digging into Scripture and how vibrant your walk is right now. (If you missed the last two blogs, PLEASE read them now!) So today we're going to look at a few more steps: Meditating and memorizing. You have the wrong idea about meditation if you pictur

Oh, so many of you have told me that you are ready and excited  to start studying God's Word! You have no idea how thrilled I am to hear it. [If you missed the Intro to Studying Scripture , please read it first.] So here's Leslie's Guide to Studying Scripture . [DISCLAIMER: This is a summary of many, many different things. Do not feel like you need to consider this a check-list of knowing God's Word. In fact, the ultimate goal is not to know God's Word; it's to KNOW GOD . ("Come to the Word for one purpose and that is to meet the Lord. Not to get your mind crammed full of things about the sacred Word, but to come to it to meet the Lord. Make it to be a medium, not of Biblical scholarship, but of fellowship with Christ. Behold the Lord." --Norman Douty) If tomorrow morning you do one thing in Scripture, and you have an encounter with God, YOU DID IT. Success.] Personally, I ALWAYS have a journal and I write EVERYTHING that I learn or hear in Scrip

It's funny to me that I wrote three posts about topics nobody asks about and you, in turn, flood me with requests for posts on specific topics. [Yes, I take requests! Yes, I will write about them...eventually. But whenever someone asks me to write about a topic, I spend as much time as the Spirit leads me to take  preparing for it. I deeply search God's Word. I pray over it. I take notes for weeks. I do not take one blog post lightly.] I will get to your requests, hopefully sooner rather than later. But today's post is something I feel every Christian needs to know how to do but very few have learned about: Studying Scripture.  Alone.  Now, I'm not against any group Bible Study. I LOVE BETH MOORE. I am currently in a Precept Study at my church, an amazing program led by Kay Arthur. I have learned so much from these ladies (and many others!) and I consider them my inspiration. And I've encouraged several of you to join Bible Study groups as you get off to coll

I couldn't find any cute artwork about this topic. [Pause. Here I am, writing the third in a series of my answers to questions that none of you ever asked me, and I feel I need to explain something quickly. I do not know everything. I don't even know remotely close to anything. The few areas in which I feel authorized to tell you what to do are based on my life combined with God's Word. So though I am naturally bossy, please know I've been fighting that tendency with all that is in me and asking God to let His Words  come through me. As Beth Moore says, what I'm writing is just the result of a holy beating that God brought me through. Amen, Beth. So don't think I've always had all this together, or that I did it all right when I was your age, or even that I do this all right now . Much of what I am writing today are things I still struggle to believe and do. But I KNOW THEY ARE TRUTH, and I pray you'll take the first step of knowing and believing them,

[Disclaimer: I have not looked at this twitter page. But the picture is SO PERFECT for today's post, I just had to put it here!] I've gotten TONS of feedback from my You Didn't Ask, Part 1 post . And if you haven't read it, please do. But I realized that Part 1 was more along the lines of "What to do when you realize you should not be where you are in a relationship." So, for some of you, it might be really helpful to have a post that was more of a "how not to even get into a mess with guys." So this is it.  Just like in Part 1, nobody ever asked me, "Leslie, what should I be looking for in a guy?" So, again, here is my unsought advice: Don't make this decision on your own . It starts with prayer. Before you EVEN GO OUT ONCE, you should be deep in conversation with God about this guy. And if you are truly believing he is date-able, ask your mentor or mom or gorgeous and wise Sunday School teacher. Do not ask your friend if she

Nobody asked me for this. I can't tell you how many girls have asked my advice over the years. I've always done my best to answer with the wisdom and authority of Scripture, with a little of my own experience thrown in for free. I've had all types of questions about everything from finance to boys to having babies to cooking. But no one has ever asked, "How do I know if I should be dating at all? How do I know if I should be serious with a guy? How do I know if I should break up with my boyfriend?" And I strongly suspect that the primary reason none of you has ever asked me this is because you really don't want to know my answer.  But there is wisdom in years and there is wisdom in experience and there is wisdom in good counsel. And though I hear you telling me, "If I had wanted your advice, I would have asked for it," I want to ask you this: REALLY? Because when it comes to the questions above, which are huge questions , I seriously th