Hey, Darling Siestas! I have some really fun news! Remember last year when I began leaking to you that God was pounding a passion in my heart to see Him free women from the epidemic insecurity our culture keeps whipping up? That passion turned into a women’s survey right here on this blog where more than 950 of you lavishly and thoughtfully participated. It then turned into a men’s survey where over 150 guys were willing to offer priceless insight into their own insecurities AND what they perceived to be the most obvious insecurities of women. (That part was especially fascinating, by the way.) That continuing passion went on to become one chapter, then two, then three, then ten, then eighteen that spanned over the course of one of the most interesting years of my life. God went out of His way to trip every single insecurity switch I had and to make the pursuit so personal to me that I’d be willing to do virtually anything for freedom. This became the result:

(If you’re wondering why it has to have my big ole face on the cover, those kinds of things aren’t my idea. In messages like this one – and Get Out of That Pit – publishers often feel like a friendly face gives some familiarity to an unfamiliar message and takes some of the intimidation out of a hard subject.)

The book will hit the shelves on February 2, 2010. The reason I’m so happy to share it with you on the blog is because, Siestas, YOU HELPED ME WRITE THIS ONE! You are all over it. You made such a profound contribution that you are the very first ones mentioned on a lengthy gratitude page. Your reaction to the subject matter was so decisive that God used it to stir up the courage in me to do the research and go to the hard work a project like this demands. If I would have concluded that insecurity was just an issue to a handful of women like me, I wouldn’t have bothered with a book. I would have settled for a small group or dealt with it by myself with God as I have a few other less public and pervasive things. Instead, I knew from you that the problem was tremendously widespread and carried titanic repercussions. I knew from you that I wasn’t just imagining it to be the number one issue I saw among women across our country and across professions and ethnic backgrounds, and despite marital status or age. The research that followed the surveys only proved the point first made by you.

Since you were such a huge part of this process, I want to do something special and, God willing and ever-present, something healing here in our community. The vision on my heart is for us to go through the book together when it comes out. We will give everyone seven to ten days to acquire a copy then we will launch with a sign-up (first name and city, just to see who’s participating) and begin weekly reading assignments. We’ll read two to three chapters a week, then I’ll pitch out a couple of discussion questions per week that you’ll actually answer here through a comment on the blog. I’ll explain all of this in greater detail in January but I hope this will whet your appetite like the thought has mine. Even if you prefer to read the book in one week’s time, you can still review it as we go through it together and participate in our discussions.

Of course, just like the Siesta Scripture Memory Team and Siesta Summer Bible Study, this won’t be exclusive. There will still be other things on the blog so there’s no pressure to participate nor will it hog every bit of blog space for months. It will strictly be offered to anyone here in Siestaville who wants to take part.

We will wrap up our reading and discussion a week or so before the scheduled So Long Insecurity CCN Simulcast on Saturday, April 24, 2010. I’ll make sure we have proper closure here on the blog for our journey through the book but, for those who are able to find a location and participate in the simulcast, we’ll be able to end with an extra bang. I’ll also be able to use some of the insight I gained from you at that event. You are priceless to me. If you’re interested in finding out if there’s a simulcast location in your area or if you think your church might be interested in becoming a host site, jump on www.ccn.tv/bethlive for information. (Keep in mind that there’s plenty of time for new host locations to pop up in the coming weeks so, if you don’t see something in your area right now, give it a month or so before you conclude you have no place to attend.)

My goal here is ministry. Not book sales. Not simulcast tickets. I have certainly had impure motives in my life and impure actions in my past but God has graciously and mercifully guarded a sincere heart toward ministry for these many years. My life passion is to see people discover the power and freedom of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, and the life breath of His Word. My particular concern is women and we women have one whopping case of insecurity. It’s time we dealt with it.

Let me throw out one more detail and we’ll have as much information on this subject as you need for a while. When God began to formulate the plan in my mind to go through the book together as a blog community, I began to wrestle with the matter of finances for some of you and whether or not everybody who wanted to participate could afford a hardback book. I talked to Sabrina, my coworker, about it and that’s when the idea for a Christmas gift certificate hit us. This way, when your family members or friends ask for a few hints of what you want for Christmas, if you’d like a book, you might jot a gift certificate for it on your wish list. Just when we got ready to launch our LPM rendition of a gift certificate for SLI, we learned that CCN (the company hosting the simulcast) was totally on top of things and had beat us to the punch. SO, here is the link:

www.bethmoorechristmas.com

(If I see another “bethmoore” anywhere, I may throw up. Sorry about all of that. Not my doing but keep in mind that publishers or hosts are trying to make it easy to find or identify. Thank you for your patience.)

NOW, here’s the deal. If you really want a book so that you can journey through it with your sisters here on the blog but you absolutely cannot afford it and do not have a single person who’d get you a gift certificate for it for Christmas (or after Christmas), Girlfriend, I will personally buy you one. Gulp. That’s how serious I am about making sure everyone in our community gets one that wants one. After all other alternatives have run dry, just write an email to the ministry and let us know. Again, this is specifically and only for those who want to go through the book together as part of our blog community beginning in February 2010. If you’re reading this in 2015, the offer isn’t still good. But I love you.

This is one of only a handful of things God has ever led me to do that has some seeker-friendly possibilities. With this project behind me, I’ll go right back to my first love, in-depth Bible study. I felt as led of the Spirit to write this message as I did the curriculum for Daniel or for Esther or most of the rest of the studies. We have a serious problem and God has serious solutions. A whole lot of women out there in that big lost world struggle with insecurity. There is a very clear invitation to know Him in the book and my prayer – not my manipulation or hidden motive – is that they’ll discover what all of us so desperately need to find:

“The Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.” Proverbs 3:26 NLT

I love you so dearly, Siestas.

Your Mama.

*A note from Amanda*
Blogger is currently experiencing a comment publishing glitch. We can read most of your comments but we’re having a lot of trouble publishing them. We hope this will be resolved soon. Until then, there will be an unusual delay before you see your comments posted. We’re so sorry, Siestas! We love hearing from you!

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