Many of you have requested more Bible study reviews! I’ve got one for you today!
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About two months ago I recieved an email from Kay Harms announcing the release of her new Bible study Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place
. There was something about the description I read that really struck me.
Maybe it’s because I was hurt deeply by a friend last year. Or maybe it’s knowing that many women are struggling with hard places and hardening hearts.
Here’s the description from the back of the book:
Whether your heart was broken by someone thoughtless or someone cruel, someone from your past or someone in the next room, someone who left or someone you lost, God can heal your hurting heart. And even if your pain wasn’t inflicted by a person at all, but you were the victim of cruel circumstances, your heart can be healed.
The Genesis account of Joseph – loved and favored by his father, but despised and rejected by his jealous brothers – shows us how to keep a soft and teachable heart during our most difficult days. If you’ll walk with Joseph from the pit to the prison to the palace, you will gain perspective and practical tools for healing in this seven-week, verse-by-verse Bible study. Appropriate for individual or group use, this study features an optional “zero week” to help you develop a foundational understanding of Joseph and his unique family if you are not familiar with their stories.
Join Kay as she delves beyond the facts and faces of Joseph’s story and dwells more on this amazing man’s heart. You’ll find hope and healing for yesterday’s hurts and tomorrow’s trials.
I dashed off an email to Kay asking if she’d be willing to send me a copy to review and a second copy to giveaway to one of you. She immediately and graciously said yes!
I’ve finished Week Zero (more on that in a minute) and Week 1 and have read through random lessons throughout the rest of the book. While I haven’t finished the entire study yet, I got a good feel for Kay’s style of writing and the depth of the study.
As I read through Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place I felt as if a girlfriend was sitting across the table from me – speaking frankly, encouraging me to dig deeper, and gently guiding me to uncover what God has for me in this study.
So let’s talk logistics for just a few minutes.
- This study can be done in 7 weeks or 8 weeks. Week Zero is optional. I recommend you do it if you can! Week Zero takes a look at the family history of Joseph. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get mixed up about who married who and when. There’s a great exercise in which Kay asks you to make “baby bracelets” for Joseph’s children. It really helped me to write out the names, their meanings, and note their mother’s name. If you or your ladies have a really solid Biblical background, you might not find that chapter necessary, but I still think it’s a great review.
- Each week has 5 days worth of lessons and one page of discussion questions.
- If I were leading a group through this study, I’d pull our discussion right from those questions. There are always 8 questions – a variety of reflection, application, and factual questions.
- You can do the book as a group study or walk through it on your own.
- All you need to complete the study is this book –Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place
. - There are optional DVD sessions for each lesson. Teaching sessions are approximately 25 minutes each. Once released, the DVDs will be available for purchase via Kay’s website.
Check out this short preview video below. You might just feel like I do – that you wish you could invite her over for coffee!
Kay does a great job of gathering information from us in different ways. Sometimes there are multiple choice questions. Other times she asks us to check off the items on a list. Sometimes the questions are open-ended. Other times there are fill in the blanks. It’s a lot more interesting to complete then just question, answer, question, answer.
Kay sticks to the scriptures. Be warned, your pages in Genesis may look a little more loved than when you started (as they should)! Kay also pulls out scriptures throughout the Bible that apply.
Even if this story is a familiar one to you, you will uncover new truths in God’s Word!
As I wrapped up my reading of Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place earlier today, God gifted me with a big a-ha moment. I expect He’ll do the same for you – repeatedly.
I’ve underlined a lot of passages. I think you will too!
Sorry – Contest is over! Comment to win a copy of Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place. Winner will be randomly selected on Tuesday, October 5, 2015 at 10 AM EST, will be notified via email, and must reside in the US.
Joseph: Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place can be purchased on Amazon.
You may also want to read:
How to Love Your Neighbor (Without Being Weird)
Lazarus Awakening Bible Study
Tips & Tools for Bible Study and Small Group Facilitators
*Disclosure: I received two copies of this book – one to review and one to giveaway. I did not receive any monetary compensation. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.
Thank you for the Bible Study review. This is really helpful to my Women’s group. We are often at a loss as to which to study. Thanks again.
Debbie, you are so very welcome! Be sure to check out my post on Setting Up a Bible Study Review Team – I think it will help you all as you try to decide on future studies. Here’s the link: https://womensministrytoolbox.com/bible-study-review-team/
Praying God will clearly guide and direct your group!
I’m so glad to see a new study from Kay. I loved facilitating her study, Satisfied At Last. It was used overseas with a group of precious ladies. Most of whom had husbands deployed. It was such a blessing to us all.
I got to do this study last spring as ms. Kay was writing it. The study is so great and will pull things out of you that you didn’t even know where there! She’s the best bible teacher! I hope every women’s ministry leader can get their hands on this! My group will be doing it next spring!
Thank you for your in depth review of Joseph – Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place. Definitely a Bible study I would like to dig into and share others.
I love Kay! I had the opportunity to meet her at a women’s retreat in Okinawa. Her heart for women’s ministry is undeniable! Thank you for this wonderful review!
I think these subject is timely for all woman , Thank you for the post .
I am the leader of our local ladies ministry. It would be great to have such a relevant Bible study to share with them. We have been going through a lot as a body and this would be helpful to us all. Our ladies ministry has been having some struggles and I have been praying about how to pull them all together. thank you!
This sounds like a wonderful Bible Study and I think it is a highly important issue in our Women’s Ministry today. Joseph’s example is truly important for us to follow in this hurtful world. I’m looking forward to Kay Harm’s style of bringing us these Biblical insights.
“Keeping a soft heart in a hard place” is a very difficult challenge, but not impossible and I know that through many years of experience as a pastor’s wife and walking with the Lord and in the His precious Word! As I think about the life of Joseph and the evil that was directed towards him, I always think of what he said to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-20, “…Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” We must always remember, God sees, He knows and He cares about each and every hard place we may find ourselves in this life. We must learn to have faith and to trust in Him, understanding that He is more than able meet our every need no matter the hard places we find ourselves. Nothing touches us unless the Lord allows and if He allows then
we can trust that He knows best and we can learn from that experience to have a soft, pliable heart even in the hardest of places. I have been wounded and I have experienced the mercy and grace of God. What an intriguing phrase and study topic, “KEEPING A SOFT HEART IN A HARD PLACE!” I look forward to this study. I teach Bible studies at my church and the ladies that I am with now are looking for a new Bible study come the first of the year and this one sounds so good, I look forward to this study. The Lord bless you, Ms. Kay and this wonderful study. Thank you Cyndee for your ministry to women.
Cynthia
This study looks awesome!!! I lead the Women’s Ministry in a small rural area in Wisconsin and I know this study would be of great benefit to many women in our church. I love studies that are based on God’s Word. Thanks for the review.
I am Women’s Ministry “leader” of a small church on the southern Oregon coast. I lead a Bible study on Tuesday nights, and this would be such a great addition. Lots of hurting hearts in our group.
Keeping a Soft Heart in a Hard Place …… definately sounds like a book i need to read. I have been struggling with the issue for longer than i realized, but the last 6 months it has really been tugging on my heart. Looking forward to doing this once i’m done with the War Room group study i’m currenlty involved in.
Thank you for doing this. With so many studies out there that are unfounded or watered down, it is nice to read an objective review. I will actually add this to my list because of it.