Beth Moore Bible Study...Children of the Day

I'm currently participating in my first Beth Moore Bible Study.  We're using Children of the Day to study 1 & 2 Thessalonians.  I'm learning a great deal!  And though I didn't plan it this way, it's very timely according to the season and other happenings in my life.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says,

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,^[d] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

I keep rereading this verse and every time, I am more encouraged.  Here we have Jesus' death and resurrection tied to the coming of our Lord to give us new life, as well as those who've gone before us.  It's a beautiful thought!

Paul wrote 1&2 Thessalonians around 50-51 AD, at the time of his second missionary journey, both from Corinth.  This was approximately 15 years prior to his persecution and death under Nero.  I didn't purposefully plan to read Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz at the same time as the Beth Moore bible study, but in the end, the two fit perfectly to aid in my understanding of Christian persecution at that time.

In Children of the Day, Moore offers various levels of participation, with level 3 being: "handwrite the two books to the Thessalonians".  Of course, this is directly in line with our Charlotte Mason study and her idea of copywork and commonplace journaling.  I've chosen to copy 1 & 2 Thessalonians in my best penmanship.  I find this slows me down in my reading and helps me to focus on each individual word.

Celebrating Holy Week, studying 1 & 2 Thessalonians, and reading a novel set in the same time period with the same characters seemed ironic when unplanned by me.  However, my dear friend says, "There is nothing ironic."  After pondering this, I think she's right.  God has my back and I believe He has a plan!