In Your Kindness

In your kindness, dear friend, would you spread the word about this Bible study being released today? Please feel free to share the link to all the information about it at PhyllisKeels.com

In it, I am convinced that the Lord will perform His promise through this lovely prayer found in Jude:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,

to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

be glory, majesty, dominion and authority,

before all time and now and forever. Amen.

(Jude 24-25 NASB)

This is also my prayer for you as you come to know Him better and love Him with great joy!

Thank you for all the encouragement you have given me, and your faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.

Phyllis Keels

Bible Study Guide Release

It’s finished! The Bible Study Guide to “The Lady of Daldriada” is being released this Friday May 24th. Click here for all the information about it, what it is, how to use it and where to purchase it.

I am forever indebted to the pilot group who did the test run for the study. I can’t thank those wonderful ladies enough for their time and for all the great feedback they gave me.

I was touched beyond description at the beautiful things the Lord showed them during our time together. I want to share with you what a few of them said:

“The study was wonderful! Using your book and the Bible together made a great study! We were blessed to have you with us! May God continue to bless you as you serve him!”

“Thank you ‘Gifted Writer!’ What a great way to intertwine God’s Word with such a sweet story/study.”

“Phyllis, this study, especially, has taught me how to look for Jesus and biblical truths in everything I encounter.  I am seeing the world through new eyes! The Lord has used you to write a beautiful book AND study! Thank you for the blessing!”

“Phyllis, You are so deep in your faith… Keep going the distance. Blessings to you.”

“It’s been a real joy to ‘take your book apart’ together!  I really enjoyed reading ‘the lady’ and I hope that the end result will be an awesome inspiration for many women’s Bible study groups.  You’re a gifted writer and I hope that God leads you to write many more books.”

“Thank you, Phyllis for allowing us to do the Bible study in our group. Thank you for being who you are and letting God use you in such a mighty way! We love you!”

“You are such an inspiration! Having been through deep tragedy, you have exemplified your life for Jesus and his faithfulness to you. Your faith did not waiver. I have thought about you and your witness numerous times as we have gone through our challenges.”

The only way I can share these precious comments and also ask that you spread the word about this study is this: the Lord Jesus is the One who made this happen – the novel, the study, the results. I am only the pen that He used to create something to encourage, strengthen, enlighten and comfort others.

Jesus is the One. He wrote it, He is in it, and He will do with it whatever He will. Only because of His love for me can I even take a breath, dear friends.

When I tell you that He is real, oh, you can believe me. When I tell you that He is faithful, it is an understatement. And when I tell you that He loves you, well, that is the mother of all understatements, my precious friend!

My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. (Psalm 119:50 NIV)

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. (Psalm 145:21 NIV)

Phyllis Keels

TLOD Bible Study Guide Excerpt

I thought you might like a little preview of what’s coming from the Bible Study Guide to the Lady of Daldriada. Here is just a taste:

From Session 6:

John 4:10 NASB Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

What quality from the scriptures above do you see revealed on page 136 (second scene of chapter 17)?

It’s easy to trust God when we are walking through a paradise. How about in the desert places?

Poor Anwas (friend of the hero) has been tossed around, backhanded, thrown in a cell, and chained like an animal by the enemy. Even so, he recognizes the loving kindness the Lord who provides water for his thirst.

What the Lord did in this scene for Anwas is such a beautiful picture of the living water Jesus offers us. No matter where we are (in an emotional or spiritual prison; trapped in a lifestyle of sin like the woman at the well), Jesus gives us the clear, sparkling, pure, thirst-quenching water of life. He gives us Himself.

Dealing with grief is like living in a desert all the time. On one hand, everything seems dead, dry, and hot. Everything you touch burns you, because it has been scorched by the sun. Or it pierces your skin like the thorns of a cactus. Everywhere you look, there is the lack of water…

But as I travel through the desert of grief, the Lord Jesus guides me straight to oasis after oasis. He covers me with His wings so that I walk in the shade. He causes springs to come up from the dry ground, and He feeds me with sweet dates from the palm trees.

I meet other travelers there. We talk mostly about how much closer the Lord Jesus is to us here in the desert, than we’ve ever felt Him anywhere else. We start to focus less on how little green grass there is and more on finding others to show them where the oases are.

But it takes trusting in your Guide to live in a desert that you know you’ll never leave. It takes choosing to stay by His side in the shadow of His love and gentle kindness, where you don’t merely survive, you thrive.

Question: What kind of emotional or spiritual desert have you been in?

Application: Take a moment to number the blessings your Heavenly Father gave you in that desert.

Phyllis Keels

In the Glade

A while back, I wrote about the Bible Study Guide I’ve written for The Lady of Daldriada. The ladies’ Bible study at my Church group who agreed to pilot the study is now in session 5.

I’m already trying to figure out how not to fall into a depression when this study is over.

Every week I can hardly wait for the day that we meet as a group. These women are so insightful and they love the Lord! Do you know how happy that makes me? I absolutely love hearing about what the Lord is showing them in this study.

These women are fun, too. Their humor is contagious and each week we somehow end up with a theme for the turn of our discussion. I can’t remember what weeks 1 and 2 were, but I’ll tell you about week 3 as an example.

The setting in the novel is this: Fyrddin (the hero) tells Nina (the heroine) to pass through a glade in the woods, follow the trail, and come out to the road. He stays behind to fight off the men that pursue them.

Nina instead stops right in the middle of the glade to wait for him. One of the enemy soldiers gets past Fyrddin and attacks Nina in the glade.

Here is the answer to the question in the workbook, along with my follow up notes.

Question: Which spiritual quality/qualities do you see displayed in this scene?

Scripture to reference: [Jesus said] “Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” John 16:32 NASB

Answer: Faith/Trust – No matter what the danger, your Prince is always near

On page 63, when Nina had stopped “in the glade” and was attacked because she had not followed Fyrddin’s instructions, Fyrddin saved her.

Even though we often operate on instinct or choose to do something other that what the Lord leads us to do, He does not leave us alone. Jesus fights every spiritual threat against us even more savagely than Fyrddin fought for Nina.

You are Jesus’ beloved. When you belong to Him, you are the bride of Christ. He will never stop fighting for you and saving you from harm. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you!

So, our theme for that week became “in the glade.” When I wander out of the Lord’s will, when I operate in fear, when I trust what I see rather than the truth of God’s Word, I am “in the glade.”

Even so, we can be assured that Jesus will never leave us alone or forsake us, even when we are “in the glade.” Knowing this helps me more than I can explain. You see, because my Redeemer lives.

Oh, He lives. He lives to intercede, to fight for me, to rescue me. He will never leave me alone “in the glade.”

Phyllis Keels

Contentment

For a long while now I’ve been asking the Lord to help me be content. You know, like Paul was.

Paul wrote that he had learned how to be content in any situation: with a lot, a little or nothing at all. (Philippians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 12:10)

The Lord has shown me some beautiful things in this desire to be content, because this desire comes from a heart that wants to be in a quiet space, alone with Him all the time.

Well, I’m pretty sure that I won’t be able to hide myself away and spend all my days alone with the Lord. So I must conclude that what I really want is to be aware of His presence every waking moment.

No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I want to have the same joy I have when it’s just the two of us.

I can do that in more places now than I could before, but not everywhere. There are TVs blaring in every restaurant, there is music pressing in on me in every store, and my list of things to do fusses at me every time I walk by it.

So how do we be content when we’re bombarded with noise and information to process almost every waking moment?

The Lord showed me a connection He had made to something He already had me working on.

Not long ago, I wrote about a Bible study guide I was writing. It is designed to help us take what we see, read or experience, and line it up with the Word of God.

Using examples from The Lady of Daldriada, you can understand how to filter what you read, watch, or experience in light of the truth in God’s Word. It helps you process all those things you deal with each day.

More than that, it’s helping me be content.

Instead of running away to the quiet, I’m learning how to hold up my shield of faith, deflect what would harm me, and understand what I need to hold onto and why.

I’m learning that in the noise of life, there is still the soft, sweet voice of the Holy Spirit giving me the fragrant truth of God’s word all the time.

When I see things I don’t understand or don’t know what to do with and feel swept away by the current of this constant bombardment of distraction, He takes my hand. He reminds me that Jesus really is standing right beside me and that He always will be.

Content? Oh, yes. The thought of my Savior never leaving my side brings me to tears of joy every single time I remember. Nothing, nothing gives me more joy than knowing that.

Because of His presence, I can breathe. I can laugh again and even sing.

If others can know that joy through this Bible study, then my joy will be even greater. I’m seeing it already through the ladies group in my Church who graciously agreed to pilot the study.

Using their experience and their feedback, the study will soon be ready to release to anyone who wants to use it. It is my earnest prayer that all who do will find even greater joy and contentment than I have.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for already opening the windows of heaven, and pouring out such a blessing that there is not room enough to receive it! (Malachi 3:10)

Phyllis Keels

A Thing or Two

If the Lord gives us a spark, something that we know would be good to do, He always provides the way for us to accomplish it and the time to do it in – at just the right time.

While I was off for Thanksgiving week, He gave me a chance to go through The Lady of Daldriada and see the spiritual truths He put in it.

After three people told me about others using my book as a Bible study tool, and after two people told me I should write a Bible study guide for the novel, I finally said, “I hear you, Lord. I’ll do it.”

I don’t know why sometimes it takes me so long to realize that I’m supposed to do something. I’m not sure why I didn’t go ahead and write this study guide after the first person suggested it. Stubborn, I guess. Or maybe afraid.

What if that suggestion is not from the Lord? What if I start it and can’t finish it? What if… Honestly! What would have been the harm in doing it a year ago when I first got the word?

But, maybe it wasn’t time back then. Maybe I wasn’t ready to see all that was there to be seen. I’m sure I still can’t see everything. Only God can do that. But maybe now it’s time to pull out some big treasures from the book, create a template and then let other people tell me what they see?

So, last week I finalized a template. I found 118 instances of spiritual lessons in my book. 118! I was overwhelmed! Some of these truths overlap and have similar themes like, prayer, faith, wisdom, courage but that’s okay. I can do something with that.

The really amazing thing that the Lord showed me though was the structure of the template – the outline of a lesson for each week of an 11 week Bible study. It was almost a formula we can use for everything we read, everything we experience.

The formula is one for wisdom and coming to the truth.

• What do you see?
  • Look at the text you’re reading, the event that has happened to you, the trial you are in. Do you see any spiritual truth in it? If so, what?
• Run it through the filter of God’s word.
  • Does what you see line up with the truth of God’s word? Why or why not?
  • Does it point to Jesus? Does it show you how to know God?
• What are you going to do with that truth?
  • Knowing is not enough. We have to apply so it will be part of us.

If we learn how to recognize the Lord’s truth in what we see, we will grow in wisdom. We will judge rightly, we will be able to see His hand in our lives. So if I can offer this little book to be used for seeing Jesus everywhere, in order to know Him intimately and love Him more, then wow! Look what can come of that!

And the Lord is so kind. He already has a women’s Bible study group lined up to do this study in February. I guess that’s why He had me work on this now instead of a year ago. I guess that’s because He knows a thing or two about timing, huh?

Phyllis Keels