Reflect on your own experience of going face down [before God]. Did it have any impact on you? “yes” If so, describe how it affected you.
“It helped me focus my entire attention on him rather than have my mind wandering as I tried to pray.”
How have you grown as a worshiper and psalmist in the last six weeks?
“I’ve been trying harder to really focus on the words I’m singing and truly mean what they say.”
Which of the following is most accurate as our journey draws to conclusion? “I think more often than I did about this life as pilgrimage and not destination.”
Others of us may have entered the journey bored or busy and in need of a spiritual kickstart and a personal revival.
What about you? In our climb up 15 stairs of ascent, have you recognized any specific area in which God was beckoning you to take the next step? “yes” If so, please share it.
“Day Three of Week Four challenged me to strive to yield fruit that will last, lack of fruit shows lack of loyalty (as does being afraid to speak of Him), and I must not be afraid to speak Jesus’ name and proclaim Him boldly.”
Now list three of the fifteen psalms that God used to speak most clearly to you and write the same statement aside each that you wrote on the stair graphic:
Psalm “121 The Lord is my Protector”
Psalm “127 Build your life on the Lord”
Psalm “131 Rest calmly [in] the Father’s arms”
What about you? What has God made you that you know you couldn’t have been?
“When I let Him, patient, loving, kind, and forbearing with friends my old nature would have severed ties from years ago.”
What has He given you (beyond salvation) that you never would have possessed?
“Pretty much every element of my life as I know it. (If I hadn’t been my new self in Christ, I doubt Randy and I would’ve had much in common. God only knows where I’d be now.)”
The more we learn about God, the more we understand that the primary reason He asks us to surrender everything to Him is to make room to receive what He wants to give.
God doesn’t consider us selfish and immature when we admit we want his blessing! He considers us obedient. 
What is your primary fear when a shared journey like this comes to an end?
“It will be harder to keep up the routine of study without the group accountability. (Also, I fear I won’t remember enough of the deep and introspective moments we shared in discussions)”
Where could you use a blessing from the storehouse of God’s omnipotence right now?
“Right now I feel I need more minutes in my hours, more hours in my days, and more days in my weeks. (Maybe even more weeks in my months.)”
Dearest Rachel –
Well; another study concluded, another book of notes from you that I need to set down (and look for another tranche of notes from you to either God or me – most likely the latter, given your propensity to take notes during such studies, as opposed to your preference to simply talk with me, rather than writing). It’s reassuring to see that you feared forgetting about what you’d learned and discussed even at the time, just as I do about the time we spent together (although what one learns from Bible study is inarguably more important than that of any human relationship).
It is wild to realize that this study was years before ever thinking that we could make the pilgrimage ourselves up the steps of Jerusalem to the Temple Mount, let alone actually going there (and I know that, not just from the copyright date, but because if the women’s group at church had simply done the study years after its publication, you would have sprinkled references to the places we’d been to and seen throughout it all. Not as a boast, of course, but actually doing so really does help one understand the imagery described in scripture). And it’s sad to think that it will (likely) never happen again; not only are you gone, but the conflict in Israel has rendered the area unsafe to visit. Daniel and I may (whether separately or individually) may eventually get there again, but it’s not going to happen for a long time to come, most likely.
To be sure, one such visit ought to theoretically be sufficient to give one an idea of climbing those steps, head bowed as much to keep from tripping as in proper reverence to the God Whose house we would be visiting; the Israelites were instructed to go to Him three times a year, but as He has stated that He is wherever two or three of us are gathered together, such effort is unnecessary these days. Still, one always welcomes a refresher course in what the experience entails.
On a wholly separate note, I can’t help but pay attention whenever you name-check me, honey. I have to admit that your assertion that we would have no connection if you were not a new person in Christ makes me out to be so much more virtuous than I was or am. It’s true that we met (and continued to meet) through the Baptist student group on campus, so your guess is not without a certain amount of accuracy. At the same time, if I had stayed true to my non-denominational roots, I should have been going to the InterVarsity group meetings every Friday instead – the fact that I preferred to keep my weekends available for other options was also part of the series of events that brought us together.
I don’t know if you ever got relief from your need for more time; while we did get to the point where I didn’t have the same time issues you felt (thanks to being able to leave my job), managing a household is a career that you can’t walk away. Maybe it got easier when there were more – and more mature – hands to help you. On the other hand, there’s no question in my mind that you got shorted on the overall amount of time (although considering how late you tended to stay up, maybe I have yet to catch up with you in terms of waking hours). Perhaps that just means you have all the time you need or want in heaven, but what’s a few more years on earth compared to eternity?
Anyway, I’ll be looking for another trove of notes for next week and beyond, so I’d ask you to direct me to one that’s meaningful. In the meantime, keep an eye on me in general, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 