Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

What do you think it means to be fearfully and wonderfully made? Welcome! We are so excited to be going on this journey together. Everything is easier to do with good friends!

Introductions
Lets go around the room introduce ourselves, noting one thing that makes you unique (maybe something different about you, or some special thing that God has made you good at). Dont be shy!
Who has a good memory? Who wants to take a stab at going around the room and reciting all of the names and something special about each girl? God is crazy about us and has given us unique characteristics and gifts that He cant wait to watch us use. The Bible talks a lot about fear of God -there are over 120 passages about it. In fact it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). God is so big and powerful. He created everything and He has the power to destroy everything. That can cause fear. But fear also means awe, reverence, respect for the powerful nature and goodness of God. So being fearfully made means we are created with that same awe and power. It is hard to wrap our minds around that. Look at the world around us and you quickly see how creative God is. That same creativity that made mountains, rainbows, tons of species of animals, colors, our complex brains and our unique fingerprints made us all special and complex and fully equipped to live out a special mission for Him.

Our Bible memory verse for the study is Psalm 139:14

Distractions
We wanted to do this study because it is hard to be a girl this age. I think even harder than being a boy this age. I still remember how tough it is. Girls arent always nice to each other this age and we seem to worry about a lot of things and focus on things that bring us down.

A lot of times we think of idols & other gods in the Bible as golden calves or poles or things that the Israelites worshiped instead of God. But the idea of idols in the Bible is broader than that. It is anything we put our trust in, our faith in, our hope in other than God. It is what consumes our thinking. It is what we would be devastated by if we didnt get it or it went away. It is such a huge part of the Bible and what God and Jesus warn us about. All people grownups and kids struggle hard with this one. We are going to get into groups and brainstorm some idols you think kids your age struggle with. To get you started, here are some of the things grownups have as idols. their jobs, money, impressing other people, houses, cars, what other people think, pleasing other people, how they look, clothes, weight, their kids. Can someone get us started with a few examples for kids your age?

The Bible talks a lot about this. In the Bible these things that consume us.things we worry about, things we try to achieve because we think they will make us happy, concern over how we look and what people think about us. In the Bible they are called idols or other gods. The first of the ten commandments tells us to not have any other gods beside the one true God.

Activity break in groups of 2 or 3 and

on the next page write down all of the idols kids your age struggle with. Take notes on the next page.

Idols / Other gods

Discussion - The groups will take turns

presenting their list to the other girls. Talk about how exhausting it is to deal with these things. What impact does it have on your happiness, health, relationships?

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus tells a man who is asking about getting into heaven

Activity In the space below, in any

way/order/spacing/creative way you want, add 25 dots that start at A and ends at Z.

Jesus was saying this to someone who struggled with money as a idol, but it applies to all of us and our specific idols and distractions from who God wants us to be. Replace money with some of your

distractions.

Do you think this is true? Do you think you cant serve two masters?

Discussion Share your dots with the

group. What does your picture look like? Is it a straight line or all over the place?

Good Plans
The good news is that God loves us and knows how unique and special we are. He is sitting in heaven waiting for us to realize all that he has planned for us. Big things that will serve him and make us happy. The good news is also that God can use those times when we are off track or when things arent going smoothly for good things. When we ask for Gods help and tell him we want to live the life he created us for, he can help us use even things that seemed bad. They can make us stronger, they can help us warn other people to avoid them, they can remind us of what we can overcome and that we can get through things. God made us the way we are and for a specific purpose. When we understand that, then we can have peace that whatever ailments or perceived problems we have in life are there because God knows how he will use them for our good.

This is like our time on earth. We have free will to live it how we choose. God doesnt force us into a certain pattern. He loves us and wants us to live out the life he created us for, but he doesnt make us do it his way. God sees and know everything, from the day we were born (dot A) until the day we die (dot B). He know what he created us for. He knows our unique gifts and skills and the amazing things we can accomplish with them. Anything outside of that direct path are distractions. Sometimes we linger for a long time outside of the path with our distractions. Sometimes we are right on track.

He wants us to explore these things the unique gifts and skills we have -- not the current idols that bog us down and distract us. They keep us from discovering the amazing parts of us that God cant wait to use. It really is exciting and I dont want to miss out on it. I dont want to get to heaven and see all that I missed because I was focusing on the wrong things things that ultimately didnt make me happy and didnt make a difference. It is important to understand that God isnt saying things are necessarily bad.God made all things and they can be wonderful. But he is saying that when we love them more than anything else including God they are bad. God created us to worship, so he knows we worship and cling to things. But he wants us to worship and cling to him, not these other things. They will never, ever, ever make us happy. They will never provide what we think they will. Throughout history, people have tried. God is the only constant, consistent, reliable thing. It is just so hard because it goes against everything in our culture. In a way, we are actually at a disadvantage here where we have so much. It creates room for lots of distractions to get between us and the life God wants us to live.

Did you know Almost half the world over three At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day 22,000 children die each day of
poverty Where many around the world worry about if they will have enough food to eat, while wearing their one piece of clothing, we worry about getting the newest pair of jeans and a cell phone, or being the most popular or looking like our favorite actress. We get a false sense that we can rely on ourselves in our culture where we have so much compared to the rest of the world. With our basic needs taken care of, we have room for lots of distractions, but whatever we get will never satisfy us. billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.

We all worship something. We must choose whom, or what, we will worship. Will it be the opinions of others, our fears, our own comfort? Or will it be the One who created our souls to worship.
At the end of the day, honoring God leads to good things. Anything else leads to confusion, emotional exhaustion and a lack of good things.

Think about the list of idols we discussed. Do you think focusing on them leads to good things or confusion, emotional exhaustion and the opposite of good things?

Activity break into groups of 2-4 and

share some special skills/gifts or things you are good at. Think about how, as a group, you can combine these gifts/characteristics to really do something specialfor God to use you to make a difference.

Doing things for other people takes the focus off of us and puts it on the things God cares about. Over the course of this study, we are going to use our gifts to do something that would please God. Research a charity and spend the next few weeks raising money for that charity Do random acts of kindness encourage someone, invite a friend over and help talk them through something rough they are going through, invite a friend to church that doesnt go, sit by someone in a group that looks lonely

Discussion - The groups will take turns

presenting their list to the other girls. Talk about what kind of impact a group like this could have in our community, our schools, among our friends, in the world. God is big and he has big plans for you. How do you think doing things like this could change your perspective and your focus?

What to do this week before we meet again

Think some more about what type of activity you want to do over the course of our study. Talk about it with your friends and your parents. Make sure your parents are okay with it.
Read the first two chapters of our study book. We will talk through the discussion questions when we get together next week. Pay attention this week to what you are focusing on, worrying about, distracted by. Say a little silent prayer every time you feel like you are getting pulled away from how God wants you to live. I promise if you keep this up, it will become a habit and you will love the new way you are living.

Work on memorizing Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Feel free to bring a pillow to sit on when you come each week. We are so looking forward to this summer Bible study with you all!

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