Women of the Bible

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Women of the Bible) through Ascot Media.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.  🙂

Take a moment and think about how nice it would be to learn from other women of faith.   Marine Hofman takes us into the lives of several women of the bible, helping us to dig their lives and grow in our faith. Discover new ascepts to leadership, explore character traits, explore friendships and see God working in women throughout history. 

Ascot Media provided me with my review copy of Marina Hofman’s book Women in the Bible Small Group Bible Study. 112 pages with 8 chapters, a softcover book suitable for small group bible study or individual use for a devotional time.  You’ll find free videos to supplement the course.  Watch the videos before you begin your study, they aren’t long running on average about 5-6 minutes.  You’ll delve into the lives of Sarah and Hagar, Tamar, The Midwives, Rahab, Naomi and Ruth, Hannah, Esther and Mary (the mother of Jesus). 

How is Women the Bible Laid out?

The first couple of pages are testimonials to Marina Hofman and her small group ministry.  She then walks us through how to use her bible study.  She is very clear that people use it in a variety of ways such as small group bible study or as a personal devotions time.  Each chapter can be completed at one time (making for an eight week bible study) or can be broken down into two-three sessions each chapter. 

An integral part of her study are the free videos provided for each lesson.  The link for these videos is found on the page just after the table of contents.   It’s well worth checking them out. 

Each lesson begins with a thought provoking time of sharing that relates to the woman being studies.  Sharing thoughts about how you sensed God’s presence in a challenging time, a challenge God helped you overcome, or a time you had to wait patiently for an answer.   These moments of sharing give you a chance to connect with each other (if studying with others) or to gather your thoughts in preparation to learn more. 

From that time of sharing, some background information is given.

I like how Ms. Hofman wrote up her study, with scripture on one side and questions next to it.  

After looking at scripture, a time of discussion, of looking deeper into each woman and her life is given.  

If you need help in answering these discussion questions, answers are provided on the pages immediately following. 

A time of prayer closes out each lesson.  These are written out in poetic form.  I love how they grace the page, I find it draws me into paying attention. 🙂 

Should you use Women in the Bible as a bible study?

I haven’t had time to use all of Marina Hofman’s bible study Women in the bible personally yet, but I love how she put it all together.  Directly including the scripture with questions alongside walking us through the story of these women.  I love how she includes videos as it’s an added element in learning. 

As is prone to happen with many studies, it’s easy to interject your life into the study.  I found at times I didn’t quite get an element out of a story that Ms. Hofman did.  This doesn’t decrease the value of the study. Instead it helps me to look deeper, not only to see if I am missing something, but to better understand people around me.   It doesn’t mean I have to accept what the author finds if I don’t find it at all.  Rather it means that I have an opportunity to better understand God’s word.  That’s the point of bible study isn’t it?  To better understand who God is and how he acts in his people? 

This would be a nice addition to a homeschooling unit as well on understanding women of the bible.  Perhaps helping highschool students gain some deeper understanding of God’s action in our lives.