Study the Book of Philippians With Me!

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I’ll never forget the day I learned the difference between happiness and joy.

A woman was holding a balloon to represent happiness. Each time something good happened to make a person happy she’d blow into the balloon.

You got up without hitting the snooze button
Your hair cooperated and your favorite outfit was washed and hanging in your closet
There was no traffic on the way to work
Your co-worker said you look pretty
You got a raise

And on your way home from work, your happiness balloon is nicely filled.

But all it takes is your kid walking into the kitchen, while you’re preparing your favorite meal, and handing you his report card with a D in math to pop your nicely filled happiness balloon.

And BANG!

Happiness is replaced by frustration.

Joy, on the other hand, is not circumstantial. Joy doesn’t require pretty outfits, kind coworkers, and pay raises to grow.

Joy is something that only God can give and it is steady despite bad report cards, joy layoffs, car accidents, and bad diagnoses from the doctor.

Happiness comes from the outside and influences our emotions.

Joy flows from the inside and influences everything around us.

The Letter to the Philippians is a book about joy – true joy – despite bad circumstances. Paul wrote the book of Philippians while in prison.

I don’t know about you, but with all of the craziness in our world today, we need joy more than ever.

If we’re not careful, the junk of the world will stick to us and make us angry, cynical, and afraid.

And while there are things going on today that should concern us and even raise up a righteous anger inside our hearts (human trafficking, sexual assault, murder, etc.), we can intercede for these horrors and the victims and still live with God’s joy in our heart.

Would you study the book of Philippians with me?

September 11, 2023, we will begin a study through the book of Philippians.

You can download the journal here.

When: We will start on September 11, 2023

Where: You can find our private Facebook Group, Whatsapp, Telegram, and as an email group at [email protected].

What Do I Need? Just grab the optional Philippians SOAK journal, your Bible and a pen. Find a free version here.

What can I expect? Both Courtney and I will be blogging through Philippians – each on our own blogs.

Each Monday, Courtney will provide resources on her Good Morning Girls blog

Each Wednesday, I’ll be blogging here about what I’m learning through what we’re reading and through the Philippians study

Each Friday, Courtney will be sharing a wrap-up of the study for that week.

A Little More About Good Morning Girls and My Groups

Good Morning Girls is an online Bible study for women. Began by Courtney Joseph in her church, she took the Bible study to the Internet in 2009 and invited ladies all over America to join her in keeping each other accountable to their daily time with the Lord.

Little did she know that this Bible study would extend beyond the borders of America to literally every region of the world!!

In 2014 I joined Courtney, together with my dear friends Misty, Mandy and Bridget, in helping to lead Good Morning Girls. It has been an amazing journey as we’ve watched Good Morning Girls not only grow beyond what we could have dreamed or imagine, but we’ve had the amazing honor to see women’s lives changed by daily digging into God’s Word!

Good Morning Girls is a simple study – we simply read the Bible.

We believe that there is power in the Word of God and the Word of God alone can defeat the enemy. So we read one chapter a day 5 days a week. And we will continue this method until we’ve read through the entire Bible!!

All the materials are free and are available at Women Living Well!

In the summer of 2012 I opened the very first Good Morning Girls group in Croatia.

12 women, all members of my church.

I had no idea where it would lead. But by the following summer it exploded to cover the countries of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

You can read the story here