Acceptance & Obedience: The Life Story of Joseph by the Grace of God

By Wendy Davie Dip C. S.

Joseph’s life is an example to us of how we, too, can learn to trust God through the greatest difficulties and the most mundane of life’s experiences. This book has been designed to encourage daily devotions and can be used by individuals or groups.

The study runs for six weeks and teaches valuable lessons:

Acceptance of God’s holiness and his right to have authority over us

Acceptance of the fact that he has had control over our upbringing, our heartaches and sorrows, and our joys and delights

Acceptance of our sinfulness and our desperate need for salvation through Christ Jesus

Acceptance of our roles as men and women

Acceptance of our roles as husbands, wives, and parents

Acceptance of the situations we find ourselves in be they good or bad

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973636250

Wendy Davie Dip C. S.

Wendy has two grown sons and seven grandchildren. She has always enjoyed painting, writing, cake decorating, gardening, sewing and cooking. However, she delights most of all in creation and feels closest to God when in the bush, especially where there is water flowing. In the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, she and her husband encouraged younger people who lived with them; opening their hearts and family lives to them in order to stabilize their lives and lead them to Christ Jesus. Besides teaching Sunday School, Religious Instructions and being a Girls Brigade Lieutenant; her Church ministry involved mainly one to one as she shared in the delight of praying with and for others whenever it was needed. It has been her joy to speak at ladies’ programs and do devotions in fellowship groups as the LORD has led her. She enjoyed teaching Bible Study groups and encouraging others to learn the Scriptures. This continues today in the form of teaching English by using the Bible. In 2001, Wendy began a women’s ministry in her local Church. As part of this work for the ladies’ program she started to write a newsletter to help them take memories of the afternoon home with them. It grew incredibly, and eventually others joined her in this task in 2004. The format was changed into a magazine, named “The Heart of a Woman Inc. As the Editor, she delighted in teaching the art of Christian living through fictional stories and poems. To her amazement, God grew it to such a degree that it was classed as one of the largest Australian Christian Woman’s Magazines. Through stories, Scripture teaching, recipes, testimonies etc 3.000 people hungered for their next copy. All who received this beautifully and professionally printed magazine sent out across Australia and to missionaries still keep and fondly remember the work she and her team produced. After her husband went to be with the Lord, Wendy at last accomplished her dream of going to Bible College. She achieved a Diploma of Christian Studies; however, was disappointed not to be able to continue due to ill health. Her great love of God’s Word though has not stopped the studying. She has spent time studying Hebrew with the Israel University and is now studying some on-line courses with Ariel Ministries. It is her belief that in these last days, this and prayer, which is an extremely important part of her life, is of utmost importance to each and every Christian.

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Copyright © 2018 Wendy Davie Dip. C. S.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3626-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3625-0 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/20/2018

Contents

Preface

Apreciation

Dedication

Introduction

Study Guide

Lesson 1 Summary

Lesson 2 Summary

Lesson 3 Summary

Lesson 4 Summary

Lesson 5 Summary

Lesson 6 Summary

Teacher’s Manual

Teacher’s Guide

Bibligrophy

My Journey From Unhappiness To The Love Of God

PREFACE

For many years, my husband and I travelled throughout the East Coast of Australia from Cairns to Adelaide. We visited many with the intention of encouraging them, either into the faith or in the faith. What a privilege it had been and one we had no real intention of bringing to a halt; however, in 1997 we experienced a serious car accident and our vehicle was destroyed. This brought about a forced change in our lives and the need for us to re-assess our future. There were to be a few more trips, which would involve some extremely difficult times. Only the Lord and those involved would know just how difficult and frightening they were. Therefore, 1998 was a year when we both had a great need to be renewed and strengthened. It was one of grief and a definite need to relinquish evils done to us; thus, learning the ability to forgive. The birth of this study, then, began in the midst of trials, all far more difficult than I felt I could bear. It was sent from the Lord to one of His servants, showing her that as she trusted and obeyed, His strength would see her through. Therefore, I truly add by the Grace of God. My name is attached, but only as His servant. Since then, many of those who have completed the study have each one voiced my thoughts – God has blessed me through doing it! I give Him all the thanks and glory for the exceeding and wonderful riches of His Word and for the leading of His Holy Spirit.

The study has been designed to encourage a daily devotion. If homework is left until the day of your group Bible Study, you may find it will take much longer than six weeks. As well as this, you may find too much reading for one sitting and be left with a less than satisfying study. Feel free to divide the weekly lessons into two if this suits the group better. You will find that if you do your homework your group study will be enhanced. I encourage you individually to find a suitable time to set aside each day and I know the Lord will bless you abundantly.

May God continue to bless you all

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Wendy

APRECIATION

I wish to extend my appreciation to those who have trialled this study and have willingly given their time and wisdom. Thanks also go to my husband Ewan. Thanks to Don & Helen Stormer, (Retired Principal and his wife of Emmaus Bible College, Epping NSW, Australia), for their faithfulness in the editing of this material; Vera Thomas, a dear friend who proof read the original writing; Margaret Lepke, who is far more knowledgeable with computers than I could ever be and to all others, far too many to mention, who have assisted me in many and varied ways.

DEDICATION

I praise God for His Word, wisdom, discernment and delight: for it was from Him and through His precious Holy Spirit, that this work came into being.

I also wish to dedicate it to my darling husband of nearly 41 years. He was my bosom buddy as Anne of Green Gables referred to. It was a delight to treat him like a king, for he always treated me as his queen.

INTRODUCTION

Some years ago, there was a program on TV called Talking Heads; it was simply life experiences told personally. Each person only had his or her head in camera frame, but the stories and one in particular, were so heart rending that neither my husband nor I have ever forgotten them. In this Bible Study introduction, I give five short stories involving husbands and their wives, and others, each connected in a small way. We may be tempted to think these stories a little far-fetched, but unfortunately, they are not. They have in fact, each been written from snippets of statements made to us as we have endeavoured to come alongside others.

My Talking Heads

(Names and characters used do not intentionally relate to any individual.)

Jenny: I’m sick to death of this family: one day I might just walk out. It’s not that I don’t love my husband or children – it’s just that I’m tired of hassles, always having to be doing for others. I feel as if I’ve had to give up all my desires in order to slave after others. It just doesn’t seem fair. As well as that Bob is always at work. The hours he puts in elsewhere, I can’t help but think he must like spending time away from me. He never tells me he loves me anymore. It’s as if once we were married he stopped all romantic notions. Life just seems so busy and yet so lifeless. I’m always tired, and really couldn’t care less about doing my housework. I don’t know what to do, and these kids don’t help. I’m always picking up after them. It probably would do them good to suddenly discover I’m gone!

Bob: There’s something wrong with Jenny; I know there is, but I’m dashed if I can work out what is wrong. I know she isn’t happy; boy does she let us all know that! She is always angry and snapping at both the children and myself. Nothing seems to satisfy her anymore, I’ve tried everything I know to make her happy. In the end I just keep working and keep out of the way. When we were having pre-marital counselling, the minister told me never to forget to cuddle her and tell her I love her. However, she is not the same person that I married and it’s a bit hard to love someone when they are angry. Sometimes I wonder if the marriage will work and I worry that if it doesn’t and she gets the kids; that she will