Me, Myself, and Lies: A Thought Closet Makeover by Jennifer Rothschild is a video-driven women's Bible study that encourages them to clean out the junk in their minds and replace hidden negative thoughts with positive truths from God's word.
Words are powerful. Especially the words women speak to themselves. All too often, what they say to themselves when they lie in bed at night or look in the mirror in the morning is not even close to the words God wants them to speak to their souls. According to Rothschild, what we think about often has a ripple effect on nearly every area of our lives.
Tuesdays 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., March 1st - April 12th
Video series. Book available for $13.00
Contact Tammy Magenheimer to register: tmagenheimer@gmail.com. Call/Text: 701-5472
Child Care available.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
February Book Review - "What's He Really Thinking" by Paula Rhinehart
Men are…different…from women. (Perhaps you’ve noticed?) As author Paula Rinehart says, “Men aren’t women with big feet and beards. They are completelyother.”
Faced with this knowledge, women have several options. You can:
A) Waste time wishing men were more like women (example: good with words, empathetic, etc.)
B) Try to make your man be more like a woman (almost certainly doomed to fail) or
C) Learn how men are designed and become a relational genius.
HINT: go for Option C, it’s by far the most rewarding. You can start with What’s He Really Thinking, a girl’s guide to “understanding the man you love” and “loving the man you understand.” It’s fascinating reading full of stories, principles, and scientific facts. There’s even a “Relational Genius Guide” with questions to answer by yourself or in a group. You don’t have to have a ‘man of your own’ to benefit from the book, either. The basic principles apply to relationships with fathers, brothers, sons, male friends, and co-workers, as well.
This part may surprise you: the biggest reward of reading this book and putting what you learn into practice will probably not be the more satisfying, less-stressed relationships with men you’ll undoubtedly enjoy. Paula says, “The real good is that you and I will walk through our lives with a more breathtaking awe of a God so amazing that it takes both genders to even have a peek at His beauty.”
Excerpt:
If there is one universal in any woman’s life, it’s this: she will always be relating to a man.
Fathers. Friends. Husbands. Boyfriends. Employees. Sons. Men make up approximately half the human race—and many of them are up close and personal. This man in your life. Or this man you want to be in your life.
Since men are everywhere, it’s easy to confuse the commonplace with the known and understood. But men are another species, really. Men care about different things. They are motivated by different drives. Their hormones shape their brains in ways alien to our own. Men aren’t women with big feet and beards. They are completely other.
All of this to say—men are fascinating creatures.
I admit that there are days when men seem more frustrating than fascinating. I’ve spent a big chunk of my life waiting for a man to respond like a woman would. But frustration is designed to give way to intrigue. Intrigue can serve us well. It leads to the questions that, I believe, are central to enjoying life with men. Who is this man? And how does he experience life differently than me?
Your discoveries in this search can provide what you need in order to relate to men well. Most importantly, those clues will be the basis of becoming a relational genius with the men who matter most to you—especially the man you love.
My own search for understanding has been helped by my work as a professional counselor. I listen for a living, so I’ve heard many men tell stories about themselves they don’t tell easily. Thirty-plus years of marriage to a quiet, thoughtful guy of German descent means I’ve had to learn to read a man who (like most men) is a bit of an enigma.
Letting yourself puzzle over the mystery of gender, of men and women created as they are, for a purpose, has its rewards. It leads to a God so awesome, it takes two distinct genders—male and female—to even begin to express what he’s like.
This larger picture is what you feel and intuit in many subtle forms. Think of the last time you sat with a steaming cup of coffee in a relaxed setting, talking with a group of friends. Women friends. (Chances are, much of that conversation was actually about the men in your lives.)
Have you ever noticed how the conversation changes the moment if, by some chance, a guy joins the group?
It’s not the same, is it? Something other has arrived on the scene. It’s more than the way he looks. It’s not merely that the topic of conversation may suddenly shift. This man brings a presence that just feels…well, different. Let me suggest that exploring what and why it’s different can unlock some of the richest secrets in relationships.
One can argue that men are simpler beings, and that may well be true. But the doors into their inner lives—their psyches—are not the same as yours and mine.
Understanding where a man is coming from takes some real detective work. The way I figure it, though, is this: we are better able to love what we understand. And loving and being loved is the main way we reflect the glory of God.
A Man’s Invisible Need:
Understanding the man you love and loving the man you understand is greatly helped, oddly enough, by a sane estimation of yourself. As a woman, what you bring to a man is the antidote, the completion, the sheer pizzazz that, humanly speaking, he searches for all his life. Percy Sledge got it right a long time ago: when a man loves a woman, he’d trade the world for the good thing he’s found.
I bet there are days where you don’t feel quite that special. And yet, a man with any insight knows he’s missing something. We are usually the ones in the dark.
It’s crucial to realize the good and creative power God gives us women. As one guy on the verge of marriage said to the woman he loved, “You bring beauty to my life.” His fiancée was surprised to hear his comment; she’s not a woman known for her looks. He was right, though. A woman, by her very nature, ushers a man into a world that, to him, is marked by beauty.
Any reality check about your actual worth as a woman will take you back to creation. We are not the afterthought of God’s original work, like He stapled a few enhancements onto the original model for added value. John and Stasi Eldredge say well in their book, Captivating, “[Eve] is the crescendo, the final astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish, creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with Eve. She is the Master’s finishing touch…Eve is created because things were not right without her. Something was not good.”
Indeed, some of the most famous words in the creation account are the one God speaks to Adam. “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). That reality echoes through the chambers of time until it shows up in hard, cold statistics. Men who live alone, sans the company of a woman, die earlier and have greater rates of depression and suicide.
Maybe that’s why the Eagles sang about the “desperado” who needed to come to his senses and come down from his fences—he needed to let someone love him before it was too late. Otherwise his prison would be “walking through this world alone.” And men just don’t do well alone.
Without the influence of a woman—without mothers and sisters and wives and daughters—a man lives like a “naked nomad,” a rootless, purposeless existence, wandering the earth in search of himself. God said it wasn’t good for a man to be alone, and so…he created a woman. Most men know in their gut that a woman’s presence completes something inside that remains loose, unfocused, and disconnected without her.
Without you.
Excerpted from What’s He Really Thinking © 2009 Paula Rinehart. Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Faced with this knowledge, women have several options. You can:
A) Waste time wishing men were more like women (example: good with words, empathetic, etc.)
B) Try to make your man be more like a woman (almost certainly doomed to fail) or
C) Learn how men are designed and become a relational genius.
HINT: go for Option C, it’s by far the most rewarding. You can start with What’s He Really Thinking, a girl’s guide to “understanding the man you love” and “loving the man you understand.” It’s fascinating reading full of stories, principles, and scientific facts. There’s even a “Relational Genius Guide” with questions to answer by yourself or in a group. You don’t have to have a ‘man of your own’ to benefit from the book, either. The basic principles apply to relationships with fathers, brothers, sons, male friends, and co-workers, as well.
This part may surprise you: the biggest reward of reading this book and putting what you learn into practice will probably not be the more satisfying, less-stressed relationships with men you’ll undoubtedly enjoy. Paula says, “The real good is that you and I will walk through our lives with a more breathtaking awe of a God so amazing that it takes both genders to even have a peek at His beauty.”
Excerpt:
If there is one universal in any woman’s life, it’s this: she will always be relating to a man.
Fathers. Friends. Husbands. Boyfriends. Employees. Sons. Men make up approximately half the human race—and many of them are up close and personal. This man in your life. Or this man you want to be in your life.
Since men are everywhere, it’s easy to confuse the commonplace with the known and understood. But men are another species, really. Men care about different things. They are motivated by different drives. Their hormones shape their brains in ways alien to our own. Men aren’t women with big feet and beards. They are completely other.
All of this to say—men are fascinating creatures.
I admit that there are days when men seem more frustrating than fascinating. I’ve spent a big chunk of my life waiting for a man to respond like a woman would. But frustration is designed to give way to intrigue. Intrigue can serve us well. It leads to the questions that, I believe, are central to enjoying life with men. Who is this man? And how does he experience life differently than me?
Your discoveries in this search can provide what you need in order to relate to men well. Most importantly, those clues will be the basis of becoming a relational genius with the men who matter most to you—especially the man you love.
My own search for understanding has been helped by my work as a professional counselor. I listen for a living, so I’ve heard many men tell stories about themselves they don’t tell easily. Thirty-plus years of marriage to a quiet, thoughtful guy of German descent means I’ve had to learn to read a man who (like most men) is a bit of an enigma.
Letting yourself puzzle over the mystery of gender, of men and women created as they are, for a purpose, has its rewards. It leads to a God so awesome, it takes two distinct genders—male and female—to even begin to express what he’s like.
This larger picture is what you feel and intuit in many subtle forms. Think of the last time you sat with a steaming cup of coffee in a relaxed setting, talking with a group of friends. Women friends. (Chances are, much of that conversation was actually about the men in your lives.)
Have you ever noticed how the conversation changes the moment if, by some chance, a guy joins the group?
It’s not the same, is it? Something other has arrived on the scene. It’s more than the way he looks. It’s not merely that the topic of conversation may suddenly shift. This man brings a presence that just feels…well, different. Let me suggest that exploring what and why it’s different can unlock some of the richest secrets in relationships.
One can argue that men are simpler beings, and that may well be true. But the doors into their inner lives—their psyches—are not the same as yours and mine.
Understanding where a man is coming from takes some real detective work. The way I figure it, though, is this: we are better able to love what we understand. And loving and being loved is the main way we reflect the glory of God.
A Man’s Invisible Need:
Understanding the man you love and loving the man you understand is greatly helped, oddly enough, by a sane estimation of yourself. As a woman, what you bring to a man is the antidote, the completion, the sheer pizzazz that, humanly speaking, he searches for all his life. Percy Sledge got it right a long time ago: when a man loves a woman, he’d trade the world for the good thing he’s found.
I bet there are days where you don’t feel quite that special. And yet, a man with any insight knows he’s missing something. We are usually the ones in the dark.
It’s crucial to realize the good and creative power God gives us women. As one guy on the verge of marriage said to the woman he loved, “You bring beauty to my life.” His fiancée was surprised to hear his comment; she’s not a woman known for her looks. He was right, though. A woman, by her very nature, ushers a man into a world that, to him, is marked by beauty.
Any reality check about your actual worth as a woman will take you back to creation. We are not the afterthought of God’s original work, like He stapled a few enhancements onto the original model for added value. John and Stasi Eldredge say well in their book, Captivating, “[Eve] is the crescendo, the final astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish, creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with Eve. She is the Master’s finishing touch…Eve is created because things were not right without her. Something was not good.”
Indeed, some of the most famous words in the creation account are the one God speaks to Adam. “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). That reality echoes through the chambers of time until it shows up in hard, cold statistics. Men who live alone, sans the company of a woman, die earlier and have greater rates of depression and suicide.
Maybe that’s why the Eagles sang about the “desperado” who needed to come to his senses and come down from his fences—he needed to let someone love him before it was too late. Otherwise his prison would be “walking through this world alone.” And men just don’t do well alone.
Without the influence of a woman—without mothers and sisters and wives and daughters—a man lives like a “naked nomad,” a rootless, purposeless existence, wandering the earth in search of himself. God said it wasn’t good for a man to be alone, and so…he created a woman. Most men know in their gut that a woman’s presence completes something inside that remains loose, unfocused, and disconnected without her.
Without you.
Excerpted from What’s He Really Thinking © 2009 Paula Rinehart. Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Monday, January 31, 2011
January Book Review... review
January's Book Review "Faithful" by Kim Cash Tate was held on Saturday, January 22nd and was absolutely delightful! Eight Cooper ladies sat around a table in Fellowship Hall over coffee and pumpkin bread and discussed (in between all the laughter) how we could relate to the book's characters and storyline. Everyone seemed eager for the next book review, which will be Saturday, March 5th @ 9:30 a.m. Book recommendations are encouraged. Until then, February's book is: "What's He Really Thinking" by Paula Rhinehart. Book description and excerpt to follow. Happy Reading!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Book Club
Do enjoy reading? Do you enjoy spending time with friends? Do you enjoy sharing thoughts and ideas on how God works in your life? Why not join our book club. Our first meeting is Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 9:00 a.m., Cooper Avenue Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall.
Our current romantic fiction, "Faithful" by Kim Cash Tate, is truly inspirational.
"What’s your dream 40th birthday celebration? It’s probably not serving as maid of honor at your spoiled younger sister’s wedding. That certainly wasn’t how Cyd hoped to spend her birthday, especially since she’s not even dating anyone herself. Dana’s day isn’t going any better—she just caught her husband in bed with another woman. Meanwhile, Phyllis found the perfect godly guy . . . unfortunately, she’s already married to someone else. Will these three friends find the strength to be faithful to the covenants they’ve made with God―and each other?"
Our current romantic fiction, "Faithful" by Kim Cash Tate, is truly inspirational.
"What’s your dream 40th birthday celebration? It’s probably not serving as maid of honor at your spoiled younger sister’s wedding. That certainly wasn’t how Cyd hoped to spend her birthday, especially since she’s not even dating anyone herself. Dana’s day isn’t going any better—she just caught her husband in bed with another woman. Meanwhile, Phyllis found the perfect godly guy . . . unfortunately, she’s already married to someone else. Will these three friends find the strength to be faithful to the covenants they’ve made with God―and each other?"
Valentine's Craft Night
Friday, February 11, 2011 6:30 pm -8:30 pm at Cooper Avenue Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall
Valentine's Day is coming up and I have some really neat ideas to make valentine's for your sweetheart, child(ren), friend, family member/parent or your favorite store clerk. Come join me and get crafty! Ideas, supplies, dessert and refreshments will be provided. Just bring yourself and any pictures, quotes, or verses you would like to use. R.S.V.P. please to Tammy 701-5472 or tmagenheimer@gmail.com
See some ideas below:
Love Collage
This romantic quickie is for the creative and the budget minded. Collect magazines from around your house and cut out words and images that describe your love and relationship. Put the pictures and words together on cardboard picture frame backing and then put the frame over the final product.
Love Bookmarks
Simple and easy to make, these little love bookmarks are perfect for surprising your avid reader with a little love message. Simply cut construction paper or poster board into 6x1 inch strips. Use a romantic rubber stamp in a heart shape at the top and a few words of love to the bottom. Women, want to make special bookmarks for your man? Put on a dark lipstick and kiss the top of each bookmark leaving your lip prints. Add a note to the bottom telling him _______ ... you fill in the blank.
Love Coupons
What's cheaper - or easier - than creating a romantic book of love coupons. Add stickers and markers and you have a quick romantic gift.
Custom Cartoons
Even if you can't draw, give this a try! Draw 3x3 inch boxes and create a romantic cartoon acting out a romantic situation (possibly one that you want to occur that evening?). If you can't draw, use stick figures! If you're tech savvy, try creating it using any word processing software. Use romantic clipart from around the web to add images.
Valentine's Day is coming up and I have some really neat ideas to make valentine's for your sweetheart, child(ren), friend, family member/parent or your favorite store clerk. Come join me and get crafty! Ideas, supplies, dessert and refreshments will be provided. Just bring yourself and any pictures, quotes, or verses you would like to use. R.S.V.P. please to Tammy 701-5472 or tmagenheimer@gmail.com
See some ideas below:
Love Collage
This romantic quickie is for the creative and the budget minded. Collect magazines from around your house and cut out words and images that describe your love and relationship. Put the pictures and words together on cardboard picture frame backing and then put the frame over the final product.
Love Bookmarks
Simple and easy to make, these little love bookmarks are perfect for surprising your avid reader with a little love message. Simply cut construction paper or poster board into 6x1 inch strips. Use a romantic rubber stamp in a heart shape at the top and a few words of love to the bottom. Women, want to make special bookmarks for your man? Put on a dark lipstick and kiss the top of each bookmark leaving your lip prints. Add a note to the bottom telling him _______ ... you fill in the blank.
Love Coupons
What's cheaper - or easier - than creating a romantic book of love coupons. Add stickers and markers and you have a quick romantic gift.
Custom Cartoons
Even if you can't draw, give this a try! Draw 3x3 inch boxes and create a romantic cartoon acting out a romantic situation (possibly one that you want to occur that evening?). If you can't draw, use stick figures! If you're tech savvy, try creating it using any word processing software. Use romantic clipart from around the web to add images.
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