In our final interview for a while I wanted you to meet one of the sweetest women I know and best Bible teachers that I feel there is. Lou Murchison and I met a couple years back at our annual “fun and frolic” event that I share with amazing ladies who are laden with wisdom and have hearts for ministry and I simply fell in love with Lou. She has been teaching the Bible for over forty years and recently I flew to Dallas and spent the day with her and it was like drinking from a rich well. I just let her talk to me and share the things God had been laying on her heart for the new year. I want her to do the same with us…Welcome my precious friend Lou Murchison…
Beth- Lou- Me(Denise)- Marta- Packer - Barbara
Hey sweet Lou…
Thank you for being with us this month- I wanted to know if you would share a little of your story with our friends this month. Maybe a little of how you became a Bible teacher, and about your marriage and the loss of your husband to death.
It's my pleasure, precious Denise. I started at an early age loving Jesus and seeking Him. My mother said I'd be behind the pew at 2 yrs of age with my finger pointing and saying, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus>" I'm still doing that.
My testimony is that I was sprinkled a Methodist, got saved in the Mennonite church, got saved (again!) at a Baptist church camp, got married in the Presbyterian church, sent our three children through confirmation in the Lutheran Church, all of our family ( 5 of us) was baptized by immersion in a YMCA swimming pool, got baptized in the Holy Spirit in an interdenominational church, saw our daughter married in a Catholic Church, our son married by a Lutheran pastor, and our other son back to the Methodist Church for his wedding. In each of those instances we were seeking a deeper and more revelatory experience with our Savior.
My husband was moved a lot as an executive with an oil well service company and the children and I followed him and the paycheck to whatever destination it led us. We always found a body of believers to fellowship with. The denomination was irrelevant.
My personal walk with Jesus grew deeper as my husband and I had no idea how to live together in harmony and mutual agreement. We had a wonderful family but our relationship was tumultuous and volatile. I was self-righteous and judgmental. He was flagrantly rebellious. We both demanded from the other.
But, in that walk I ran into the grace and mercy of God and went from what I perceived God demanded from me into His grace that was always giving. I learned to stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ instead of my own rightness and trying adherence to the rules. I found unconditional love. It changed me, it changed my relationship with my husband, it changed my children, and it's still changing us.
I participated in Bible Study Fellowship as a group leader and a substitute teaching leader and then as a leader in Precepts and during each of those I was maturing as a teacher. I taught one class for 19 yrs. in one church every Friday.
My husband and I were separated for three years and reunited and spent 46 years married before he died with COPD and being on hospice for 2 yrs. During those latter 15 or so years we learned to live together in harmony and acceptance. It was never perfect because if it was we wouldn't need Jesus. But, he died in peace and forgiveness and he and our children were reconciled and he rose up and called me blessed.
The 6 1/2 yrs since then have been fabulous because I practiced living in God's provision and solace and comfort for my life while living with Winn many, many years before he died. I had already learned how to seek the Father for my provision and my contentment. I had already learned to be happy when in the midst of trial and tribulation. I had already been practicing using the joy of the Lord for my strength yea many years.
Before my husband died I asked him once if he didn't want to go to a bible study with me and he said, "No, I don't really enjoy any bible teacher but you." This, after years of storming and ranting about my "religious fanaticism."
So, I continue to teach--sometimes as many as 4 times a week. I believe my teaching role is one of discipling, of translating bible truths into practical ways of hearing and acting out those truths.
THE MAN WHO HAS MADE UP HIS MIND TO WIN WILL NEVER SAY "IMPOSSIBLE".
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