Women's ministry part 2: So why am I here?

After I wrote yesterday's reaction, I was asking myself--Then why am I getting more involved? Why am I here? I didin't do women's Bible study until my older daughter was about one. Before that I had been working and found social interaction there. But I had become a stay-at-home-mom and figured I should get out of the house and my daughter needed to be socialized. After daughter number 2, we tried moving and building a house, so I "dropped out of life" for a while. Things didn't work out and we've stayed put. I spent some time arguing with God that I didn't need a Bible study to study the Bible. I had family so I didin't need social interaction. Well, God made helped me realize that I needed to interact with people outside my family. (And that my husband can get tired of being the only person I talk to). I learned that women's retreats could be fun--they're not all the same and not what I thought. I still didin't always fit in but I found women--Christian women in a church (imagine that)--who accepted me and loved me even though I'm a little bit different. Since I've grown up in the church, it's hard for me to be challenged or inspired by studies because I've studied the Bible a long time. But I've found that regardless of how good or bad, how deep or superficial, how organized or disorganized a study is, I can ALWAYS get something out of it if I ask God to show me something. (On the flipside, I can also be disappointed if I don't go in desiring to learn and expecting NOT to learn anything.) Then it came to a point when I realized that the only way I could be challenged further would be to teach a study. I knew I would have to dig deeper and work harder to stay ahead of those I'm teaching. Yeah, I thought God was crazy. I did my own version of a "fleece" making sure I'd heard the call right. I have found the most welcoming, encouraging, supporting, loving group of Christian women in a church. They have been changing my opinion of women. I hope and pray that I convey these things to the women in my group.