Sunday Mornings with Kristi - Welcome!

by Kristi Burchfiel


I love to study God's Word!



For me, that statement sums up so much of my life at this point. When I was asked to be a part of this wonderful team of ladies who will write and share their passions with you, I was honored and humbled. I volunteered to write a weekly Bible study. As I sat down to figure out where we'd begin sharing with each other in the Bible, I realized that the best place for me to begin is with my beginning.


As I said earlier, I love to study God's Word, but I haven't always felt that way. For many years, even though I had accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, was in church every Sunday, and even married a pastor; I didn't love to study God's word. I would struggle through a "quiet time" trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing during that time. Most of the time, I would just skip it. After all, I had been in church my whole life, graduated from a Baptist university with a ministry degree, and had married a pastor. I knew all the answers and even though I knew I was not perfect, I would have been hard pressed to identify my wrong-doings if anyone had asked. I thought I had already learned what I needed to know about the Christian life and I didn't need to study any more. I couldn't have been more wrong.



God got my attention. If you have ever had a time when God got your attention, you know exactly what that four word sentence can entail. If you haven't, don't worry, your time is probably coming. God uses several different methods to get people's attention. For me, he took away something I thought I was in control of. He took away my control.

I'm a planner and organizer. I always have been, and it's easy for me. I have plans and back-up plans and back-up, back-up plans. The way God got my attention was to have all my carefully laid plans crumble into dust while I watched, helpless. At the end of the cascading avalanche of my plans and dreams, I sat in the rubble, looked up at God, and angrily demanded He answer for what He'd just done.

Over the next year, God slowly unraveled me. Piece by piece, I was forced to examine my life as He laid it next to His standard of perfection. I was forced to admit and acknowledge my failures. I poured over scripture, dug through it, took copious notes. I held on to God because I was still so angry and confused that I was going demand an answer from Him, even if it cost me everything. I felt like Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32). Just like Jacob, I was rewarded with a blessing. Just like Jacob, I was left with spiritual scars that I'll carry with me the rest of my life.


God revealed to me two main truths during that time. First, it's not enough to know His Word. I must be actually applying it to my life. Reading scripture, memorizing it, talking about it, all that means nothing if I'm not living it out daily. Second, no matter how hard I try, I cannot possibly hope to be able to live out His Word. I will never be able to plan enough, study enough, or work at it enough to hope to be able to apply His Word in my life daily. God's truths were only ever perfectly lived out by Jesus Christ. The only way I'll ever be able to live out the truths of God's word is for me to surrender myself to Jesus Christ moment by moment so that He can live through me. That is my purpose. I am to die daily so that Christ might live His purposes through me (Galatians 2:20).



I never truly understood faith or trust until then. I also never understood hope or peace until then. I still struggle with my desire to be in control. It truly is a moment by moment battle for me. It is my most frequent prayer that people who look at me will see less of me and more of
Christ. This is my passion. This is my calling. Writing applicable Bible studies and devotions became the natural overflow of this passion as I seek nothing more than to help others to find and apply these truths to their lives by allowing Christ to live through them.

This is who I am. I am only a person struggling to let Christ have more and more control of me and my life. I felt it was important to start here so that you can know where I'm coming from. I look forward to sharing with you each Sunday truths from God's Word as we all seek to learn more and more about God's Word and how to allow God to apply it to our lives daily. I welcome your comments and feedback as we go through this journey together.

We'll spend the next 10 weeks going over the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. The first week will be an overview of the passage and then we'll take each part of the fruit in turn.

Why do you study the Bible?
Lonely Hearts ~ a sweet Christian Romance
The Price of Trust ~ Christian Romantic Suspense
http://www.booksbyamanda.com