AND THE WINNERS ARE…

Hey y’all! Lindsee here! You guys sure love a giveaway, don’t you? I hope you know that I laughed my head off at this post. Honestly, I wish I’d of thought of grabbing a copy before heading off to the beach because that would have been brilliant. One thing I learned to be true, you just never know what you’ll miss at LPM when you go on vacation. I’m seriously considering never leaving again for fear of what I’ll get blamed for next. Oh, I kid, I kid.

Without further ado, here are the 20 random winners! And when I say random, I mean random. Only the Lord knew who’d receive a copy. I am posting the comment number and the name beside it so you can double check if YOU are the winner or not. There may be a lot of “Kim’s” out there, so make sure you’re the “Kim” that is #531. Make sense?

#1161 – Missy S.
#174 – Angie McGuffee
#921 – Robin
#882 – Linda E.
#1737 – Wendi Gale
#991 – Michelle Ochoa
#531 – Kim
#400 – Donna
#274 – Carolyn
#1352 – Diana Vigil
#1191 – Elizabeth
#1695 – Ginger
#372 – Lauren Gilliam
#293 – TAMMY
#1870 – Kristi Thetford
#1396 – Susan Lawrence
#1288 – Niki
#543 – Stacee Showalter
#865 – Kristi Steawrt

And last but certainly not least, the winner of the mysteriously gone missing, sandless and plagiarized autograph copy goes to…

#368 – Jodie Luna

If the lucky winners would email me (Lindsee) at [email protected] with your mailing address we’ll get your book to you ASAP! We love y’all so much.

Hey, Darlings!

Don’t you love free stuff? Especially really great free stuff? And what if it’s really valuable great stuff? That’s the kind of giveaway we’re having today!

I just happen to be holding in my hands 19 copies of Christine Caine’s brand new book Undaunted.

Woooohoooo! Because my ministry brain automatically thinks Siestas (for any of you visitors today, that’s the term of endearment for our LPM bloggers), as soon as the book was out, I told my staff that I wanted to give a stack of copies away to you guys. Undaunted is such a great book and, Child, even if your soul feels like wood that’s been soaking for six months in a tub of water, it will fire you up. If it doesn’t, you better let your Mama take your pulse.

AND because Christine was in Houston on Monday after we’d received the copies in the mail, oh, yes I did indeed have the boldness to say, “Hey, since you’re right here, would you mind signing these?” (Pushing the stacks forward and holding out a pen.)

Maybe you noticed the random number 19. Actually, I ordered 20 to give away but one was missing when I snagged the opportunity to have Christine sign these. We suspect that a copy may have gone with one of our staff members on vacation which we were really happy about because, for starters, we all share books and there were plenty of them so that would be completely normal (it’s a wonder 15 of them weren’t missing). But I am mainly happy about it because it’s making for a much better and more awkward story and I dearly love awkward. As soon as Lindsee that staff member gets back, we’ll see if she if she happens to have it and, if so, it will be too late for Christine to autograph but I will have much glee plagiarizing her name on that one and write underneath it that I did. I might get said staff member to sign it, too. (Please don’t miss the endnote on this post.)

We Moores-Jones-Fitzpatricks got to have the whole Caine family – Nick, Christine, and their daughters Catherine and Sophia – out in the country at my house on Sunday night. I knew I didn’t want to cook supper because we’d have such a short time together and I meant to immerse myself in those kids and my own grandbabies.Here are the Caine girls. Aren’t they adorable??? Catherine is the oldest then that’s Sophia right in front of me. I heard multiple Scripture memory verses from them both and with the sweetest thick Australian accents you’ve ever heard.

SO, I ordered pizzas a day ahead at a really great place in our area and asked Keith to go pick them up after the Caines arrived. At my house we call what I did here “a Moore-der” as opposed to an “order.” If a little is good, more is better. There were also several orders of pasta. It was humiliating and I was made sport of all evening.

In my own defense, we were expecting Keith’s parents who were unable to come. However, they don’t usually eat a large pizza each. We would love to have had Priscilla and Jerry Shirer and their three boys, too, but they had school the next day and their oldest, Jackson, also had football practice. And that is not to be missed. I remember that well, having raised a couple of athletes myself. I wish I could say that we were expecting the Shirers to come when I made the order but alas. No. It was just a tad of an overshoot.

To say we had leftovers is an understatement and I sent them home with the Jones to give to some fun church members who live nearby with a house full of high school boys. I don’t know if the pizzas survived the night. I hope not for my own dignity. Even though I didn’t want to cook supper, I did indeed want to bake. And why??? Because. I am a kickin’ good baker. That’s why. Once again, a Moore-der. That’s two Arkansas buttermilk pies with homemade, rolled-out crust, one 5-flavor pound cake and I don’t have to tell you what the other one is.

Now, how on earth do you get me off track like that?? I constantly chase rabbits with you guys.  This was actually about a book giveaway and a mighty good one at that. Here’s just a page for a teaser.

OK! Go for it, Sister Friends! We’ll do a random drawing of 19 books! Or if the book should appear, we’ll blow the beach sand off of it, plagiarize a signature (and tell you so) just for fun and make it 20!

**Endnote: As it turns out, Lindsee said Staff person did not take the book at all. Yet another had absconded with it. We are in hysterics.  Welcome to Living Proof Ministries.

Surely you know I’m nuts about you.

My beloved Sisters, I’ve thought about you so much since our day together on September 15th. What we studied together is still throbbing in my heart even in the midst of new challenges. We knew there would be some, didn’t we? Any time we determine to take God at His Word and believe a specific promise He has made to us and we pick up our feet and step further into our callings, the powers of darkness descend around us to threaten the work. Greater is He who is in you, Sister-Girl. The questions in Isaiah 53:1 echo to us today, urging us to answer boldly “I have!!” and “Me, Lord!”:
Who has believed what we have heard?
And who has the arm of the LORD  been revealed to? (HCSB)

I pray you are standing strong with the Shield of Faith in one hand and the Sword of the Spirit in the other.  Isaiah 7:9b (NIV) has been on my radar often lately:

If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.

Then, Romans 14:4 right on top of it: To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Amen to that.

And this phrase out of Ephesians 6:13 – STAND YOUR GROUND.

Keeping our faith in the driver’s seat of our faithfulness, Christ’s own Spirit breathing through us, we CAN do this in His great Name. May He make Himself so obvious to us today. Then may He make Himself so obvious to someone else through us today.

Here you go, Sweet Things:

Click here to download the Simulcast Commission:  Simulcast Commission
Click here to download the Simulcast Prayer: Simulcast Prayer

Living Proof Live – Simulcast – Reading PA from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Because we love you guys, too! And because, dang it, I felt bad when a number of you on Twitter said, “Is anyone doing any scholarships for men?” I hope others are going to jump in there and offer a lot of them but, in the meantime, this will get 100 of you on your way to Atlanta on New Year’s Day. Here are the eligibility requirements. Sorry that we can’t make any exceptions!

1. A young man 18-25 years of age.

2. You have never been to a Passion event before. (This does not include concerts or regional events. We’re talking here about the big one that takes place in early January.)

3. You would not be able to go without a scholarship. (If you or your parents are able to afford the ticket, even sacrificially, please save these limited scholarships for those who absolutely cannot. So many people out there flat-out can’t afford it.)

4. If you had the scholarship, you’d otherwise be able to make it to Atlanta for Passion 2013 on January 1-4. In other words, the event ticket won’t be wasted. You know for a fact you’ll use it.

And that’s all there is to it! Is that you? Then…

Here’s the link! to our LPM website for scholarship registration. Watch for the slider where you’ll see the limited scholarships for men captioned. It’s in the very first one but if you miss it, it will come right back around. All applicants need to go through this link for Passion 2013 scholarships. It is a separate feature that we’ve created in partnership with the Passion staff. WOMEN: please see the previous post for your scholarships.)

Applicants will receive an email confirmation directly from Passion, letting you know that they have received the scholarship application and that it is being processed. Within a matter of days, you will receive another email informing you whether or not the scholarship was available and accepted. If the criteria as listed in this post is met, the only reason for a decline will be that the 100 spots have already been filled.

Our efforts around here at LPM are mostly targeted toward women but we love you guys and believe in the work God wants to accomplish through you. There is nothing on earth you could possibly pursue that will give you the future and purpose that a life fully given over to Jesus can. He really is everything. Take it from a few of us who’ve been around a good while.

Blessings to you, Brothers!

Beth

Hey, Everybody! I am thrilled to have the God-given opportunity to write this post and all credit goes to Christ alone. May He be outrageously loved and lifted high.

Many of you are familiar with the Passion Conferences that God has used wildly among 18-25 year-olds for well over a decade. (If you’re not, see 268generation.com to learn all about it. You’ll love it.) God placed the vision in the faithful hands of Louie and Shelley Giglio and they have continued a long obedience in the same direction to see God’s name and renown become the desire of many hearts in the rising generations. God has shown outlandish favor on these events and He alone knows exactly why but this is the feeling that I get every time I observe a Passion gathering: He likes it. He likes coming to it. He likes brooding over it. He likes filling it. His glory is jealously guarded and His fame is generously spread. God also has the open invitation to reach into lives at one of the most strategic seasons of all. At what age are people more inclined to make completely life-altering plans and decisions?

Imagine what would happen if God completely captivated thousands of lives in that 18-25 year range and ruined them for anything less than the well-determined plan He had in mind when He created them. What if nothing less than the flagrant fame of Jesus Christ became their life ambition? That’s exactly what has happened thousands of times over at Passion Conferences through the years. At these events, the wholly surrendered life in Christ is captured for what it really is: the most exhilarating adventure available for human flesh and blood. It is the offer to live for something so much greater. It is the offer for a life that matters here long after we’ve vacated this planet.

Last year at Passion 2012, Louie announced that God was giving us the green light to head back to the  Georgia Dome in Atlanta for Passion 2013 but, this time, without restrictions on the number of seats we could occupy. Come this January 1st through 4th, we have access to that entire enormous house. Picture what that means! We can open the doors to tens of thousands more. We were ecstatic. And here at Living Proof Ministries we want to be used by God to help fill that place up with young people so they can witness God filling it up with His glory.  The driving goal of our existence is to encourage women of all ages to come to know and love Jesus Christ through the study of His Word. Because we know for a fact that everything about Passion lines up with everything we’re passionate about here at LPM, we want to see 2000 eligible women get to go to Passion 2013 by scholarship. This is the heart of “The 2000 Women Campaign.”

2000 women who have never been before.

2000 women who could not otherwise go.

Here’s how the eligibility works for these 2000 scholarships. Each applicant must meet the following requirements (and, so sorry, but no exceptions!):


*A woman between the ages of 18 and 25. (Soon you’ll see that we are going to issue a challenge to other ministries, churches, and organizations and hopefully many of them will also scholarship young men. For us here, these scholarships for women are our way of mentoring and mothering, so to speak, as we seek to be intentional in investing in the next generation according to Scripture.)

*You have never attended a Passion gathering like this one before. (This does not include concerts or regional gatherings. I’m just talking about an actual Passion event that has taken place at the beginning of the new year on this prerequisite.)

*You would be unable to attend without a scholarship. In other words, if you or your parents can come up with the money – even if sacrificially – let’s please retain these 2000 scholarships for others who cannot. There are so many of these.

*You would be responsible for additional expenses. Such as travel, lodging and meals and getting time off work, etc. In other words, you can make it to the Dome on January 1-4 if you can get a scholarship.

IS THAT YOU??? THEN, GIRLFRIEND, GO FOR IT!!!!!

Here is the link to our LPM website for scholarship registration. Watch for the slider. It’s the first one but if you miss it, it will come right back around. All applicants need to go through this link for Passion 2013 scholarships. It is a separate feature that we’ve created in partnership with the Passion staff.

Applicants will receive an email confirmation directly from Passion, letting you know that they have received the scholarship application and that it is being processed. Within a matter of days, you will receive another email informing you whether or not the scholarship was available and accepted. If the criteria as listed in this post is met, the only reason for a decline will be numbers exceeding 2000.

We can’t wait to see what God will do with this and, Sisters, we will be right there at Passion 2013 to witness it. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Please know, young women, that your big sisters love you, cheer you on, and believe in Christ’s work in you.

This next portion is for how all of you regular LPM bloggers can participate!

These next couple of months will be the time frame for the conference to climb on the radar of many young lives. LPM is launching this 2000 Women campaign in your honor and we would love to do it with your participation through prayer. It is my great hope that you would take ownership over the campaign, too, and get completely involved. What could be more fitting than for a women’s ministry to sponsor young women to attend something that has the very real potential to change the course of their lives and the rhythm of their hearts?

If this is resonating with you, here’s how you can get involved:

*Help get the word out to young women who meet the exact criteria for the LPM scholarships to Passion 2013. Please think about those who could not attend otherwise.

*Start praying for the event right away. These are tomorrow’s leaders and they will powerfully impact our lives as well as those who come up behind them. Also be watching for an opportunity to “adopt” one of our scholarship recipients to pray for throughout the event. We will give you an official way to sign up as an intercessor for a specific recipient after our scholarships are largely filled and we’ll also suggest some ways to direct your prayers. Look for these sign-ups to pop up here on the LPM blog in November but I will keep you very up to date on the progress of our 2000 Women campaign as we go.

And that’s all there is to it!

You’re such a gracious people that I already know up front that some of you will ask if you can give financially toward this fund. We have already joyfully made the financial commitment at LPM and we are not asking for any donations. Since we’re deeply committed to these 2000 scholarships, if you do have extra dollars in your pocket in these hard financial times, we’d more readily suggest that you go out there and find someone – male or female – of that age group who wants to go to Passion 2013 but can’t afford it. Send them! And, remember that many could use the extra help for travel and lodging. Our 2000 Women campaign is limited to ticket scholarships and not for further expenses, as much as I wish we could do the whole megillah.

You game?? Wooohoooo! ME, TOO!!!!!

I’m honored to do ministry with you, Sisters. Isn’t this a blast?

I love you dearly. BRING THEM, LORD! To Your great glory and honor, call Your daughters.

My beloved Sisters,

Thanks is too small a word for the privilege to serve you. You are graces of a merciful God to me. How I pray God revealed Himself to you in an intensely personal way today. Here is the equipping that I promised in the simulcast to those who are ferociously ready to forsake fear and take courage. You will find a cover sheet for your notebook, a letter from me suggesting how to use the resource, and enough verses to keep you well immersed for a good while. They are life and liberty to any of you who, like me, have battled a stronghold of fear but they are also vastly useful when you are facing a temporarily intimidating or frightening situation, like surgery or a speech in front of your class or a hard conversation requiring you to speak the truth in love. It doesn’t matter what circumstances are tempting you to fear and to shrink back from your faith and your calling, you are invited and even commanded by God to take much courage. It is your right of daughtership, “for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters!], by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15)

By all means, you are welcome to openly share this link with anyone else who could use this kind of equipping, whether or not they joined us for the simulcast.

The Great Forsake and Take

You’ll need Adobe Reader to download the booklet, so if you don’t have it already, you can click here to download it for free.

Stay in the Word, Sisters! You are chosen and loved by the sovereign King of all creation and the calling on your life demands power and insight that only He can bring. Trust Him. He cannot do you wrong.

Christ is life,
Beth

Hi, Everybody!

Saturday is almost upon us! In a little while I’ll zip up my suitcase and head out for my flight to Reading, Pennsylvania. After having this on my radar for so long, I am now in the process of steadying myself in Christ and trusting what He’s given to us for this weekend and thanking Him in advance for His faithfulness. The segment we’re studying is strongly impacting me and I pray God will use it to strongly impact you. I don’t like a lot of hype because I think it sets up expectations in the human realm that mostly can’t be met. But I believe strongly in the power of the Holy Spirit released on a sincere and seeking people through the Word of God and the saving Name of Christ. My hope is steadfastly in Him this weekend. As the psalmist said in the 62nd chapter, my expectation is in Him alone.

The entire team has prayed hard and planned hard and studied hard toward this weekend but that’s not a drop in the bucket toward what we’re really asking. We don’t want a blessing in keeping with our preparation. We don’t want what we deserve or what we have earned. God help us, no. We want a full-fledged visitation of Jesus. FAVOR. The kind that reveals and heals and steals back everything the enemy has stolen.

I am leaving this post for you in hopes that you’ll let the Mama around here know where all the participating blog chicks will be tomorrow. If you’re in a group, tell me where and what general size (small group in a den, larger group at a church), and if you’re participating solo, let me know that as well. Be sure and include your city so that we can place you on our mental map. You’ll see my own staff on there. They’ve already got a screen set up in our board room so picture all your Living Proof servants gathered among you as well! They totally amaze me.

As for you who are participating solo, approach the day and the study with full interaction! I will not forget that you are there for a single moment. (Nor any of the rest of you!) I know first hand that this medium can be tremendously effective. I had to fly back from Atlanta to Houston in January of this year before the Passion conference had ended and I watched the remainder of it from my home via my laptop screen. I sang with them and I turned in my Bible where they did and I totally engaged and at times I was so intimately involved that the tears streamed down my cheeks. I say this to testify that a personal livestream experience can be POWERFUL. God is not limited in any conceivable way here. Fully engage! If I ask you to repeat something, do it out loud and with enthusiasm! Look up every Scripture. Take down your notes. Enter in to every praise and prayer experience. During the commissioning at the end, I will be your partner. Stand to your feet and do the thing. R.E.C.E.I.V.E.

Oh, Sisters, I am so honored to serve you. You are a high priority around here. Pray for me as I pray for you. EXPECT God to speak to you and alter you in a vital, life-giving fashion. That’s what I want, too. Exercise some FAITH toward tomorrow, Sweet Things. And pray for the enemy to be bound from every direction and to be forbidden even an inch of ground. And, one more thing: pray against distraction. Lord have mercy, we’re so distracted these days that we can hardly focus on God long enough to get the full blessing out of an encounter. Set our chins like flint toward Your face, Jesus. We will not let go until You bless us.

You are so dear to me, Siestas. You can well know that you’re on my mind. I love you so. Lindsee will be watching over you all day and moderating. I’m so thankful for her.

Jesus, do this thing. Do it UP. We surrender.

Oh, sisters! How in the world is it already Thursday? Needless to say, the simulcast is quickly approaching. We’re exactly 48 hours away!

With that said, for those of you ladies in or near Reading, we wanted to make you aware that we have 20 scholarship tickets to give away thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund. Reading is the location the simulcast is taking place, so this is a ticket to join in live. However, please remember that these tickets are for those of you that would love to attend, but currently just don’t have the finances to do so. We’d love nothing more than to put a sweet ticket in your hand free of charge. If you meet this criteria, please call our office toll free at 1.888.700.1999 during regular business hours (8:30 – 4:30 CST) and ask for Kimberly Meyer. If you happen to reach us while we’re at lunch, leave a message and Kimberly will get back to you.

I think it goes without saying that we’re feeling the seriousness around here and have been bathing Saturday in prayer, so of course, we’d love nothing more than you for you to join us in praying for this weekend as well. Y’all are simply the best. See you Saturday on the other side of that screen!

Dear Brothers,

Something happened in the last several months of our Living Proof Live women’s events that we’ve never seen before. Groups of men felt compelled by God to band together and intercede for the women attending the event in their city. The occasions were completely unrelated to one another. We knew God was stirring it up when the lead-out event with a covering of men was in Canada. Not only were we thrilled and grateful for their participation around these events through prayer. We saw remarkable works of God and felt that He’d nodded over the unity and mutual esteem. And, to tell you the truth, just feeling significant to them felt significant. We believe deeply that God honored the way these brothers in Christ honored their sisters. He listened, He approved, and He responded. The willingness of these men to do the work of intercession in our behalf humbled us, blessed us, and brought us a unique joy before God. Esteem is a powerful form of love and it was not lost on us.

This coming Saturday, September 15th, well over 150,000 of your sisters in Christ will gather through a Living Proof Live simulcast for a fresh encounter with God from 9:30 – 4:15 Eastern Standard Time. If God has His unhindered way, this could be a true revival of faith for many women. That’s what I feel He’s purposed for it and called me to specifically request from Him. A goal like that is completely out of human hands. I can’t study hard enough for what I’m asking. We can’t pray long enough or prepare well enough. Our knees are down, our faces are up, and our Bibles are open but what we need is Heaven wide-open and grace spilled down in a drenching flood. We want God to reveal Himself in a way we can’t ignore or recover from the next week.

Recently my eyes fell on a little 4-word verse (in the ESV) at the conclusion of the First Letter to the Thessalonians: Brothers, pray for us. I stared and stared at it and thought, sometimes you just up and ask for it. And that’s what your sisters are doing right now. Based on what we’ve already seen God initiating in the hearts of men these last few months, would you graciously commit to pray for us on Saturday? Or even right now toward Saturday? We’re not asking you to do anything particularly formal or in groups. We’re just asking as many brothers as possible to pray on their own for a large group of sisters meeting in the name of Christ and the Word of God. By all means, we want the prayers of many husbands of participants but we’re really asking for something broader. We’re asking for brothers to pray for sisters they may never meet. We’re asking you to pray for a harvest that you may personally never see.

We’re asking for some young men to pray and some old men to pray. We’re asking for some single men to pray, some husbands to pray and some widowers to pray. We’re asking some student ministers to pray and some senior pastors to pray. If some of you happen to feel led to go the extra mile and fast through lunch on Saturday in order to be more focused in prayer, who are we to argue? We’ll receive it! There are no rules or restraints on the process. Just do it however God leads in the name of Christ.

If you’re willing, we’d be tremendously encouraged if you’d give us an idea of the of support system we have among you by leaving a brief comment to this post. All we’d request is your name and your city. It could be as simple as this:

Keith Moore in Houston, Texas.

If you’re a pastor or you serve at a church or in a ministry, we’d also love to know where.

If you’re not that enthusiastic about signing on the dotted line here through a comment, no worries! Just pray!

We don’t just want your prayers. We need them. So many women out there feel like they’re drowning in an ocean of demands or evaporating in a desert. They need courage and encouragement. Lord, have mercy, I do, too. This is no culture for Christian cowards. You certainly know that.

Please fight for us.

We will gladly repay this debt of love and pray for you.

Thank you so much, gentlemen. Believe God for us and may God backwash immense blessing right over you. By the way, the main host site for this Saturday’s gathering is in Reading, Pennsylvania…at The Sovereign Center. Yep. We’ll take that.

“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

In His unfathomable love,

Beth

Hey, you darling things!

Man, have I missed you! I may be out of sight sometimes when my hands are too full to tap their way to the blog page but you are never out of my mind. And that’s no lie. I mean it when I say it. You’re not even out of my mind when I’m out of my mind. Anyway, these days I see enough of you on Twitter to feel like we’re not very out of touch even when I’m momentarily less active on the blog. (@BethMooreLPM or when I have something to say that is only for Siestas – meaning you LPM bloggers – @Siestaville. It’s a lot of fun on there if you like that kind of thing. Just don’t take it too seriously. It doesn’t replace our quiet times or anything.)

It’s Sunday afternoon after a fabulous morning of church, a good plate of Tex Mex with my man, and a tiny nap and now I’m outside on the back porch wishing all of you were having tea with me. I have no idea how we’d all get on this porch but, if the Lord can multiply loaves and fishes, He can provide square feet and a few thousand extra tea cups that look just like these.

Oh, I know what some of you are thinking. “Beth, we’ve seen those same cups a thousand times.” Yep. I know. I drink out of them every day – I do mean every single day – but isn’t there some comfort in occasionally knowing what to expect? Knowing what somebody’s (non-destructive) habits are can be a sweet slice of kinship, don’t you think? Keith is sitting on the other side of this wrought iron porch table so I don’t exactly know how much time he’ll give me but I’ll write like a maniac till he says with a fair amount of exasperation, “Lizabeth, how long are you gonna be doing that?” and then I’ll say, “Give me five more minutes!” and then I’ll have to say bye or he’ll get up and go to the shooting range. I only get a window before he moves on. Grin.This is one of many reasons why the man is fairly hard to take advantage of. He doesn’t put up with a lot of putting off. Never has. Which may be one reason we’re still married.

Just so you can picture our scene together (yours, mine, Keith’s, Geli’s and Queen Esther’s), I’ll give you a few descriptions. It’s the first breezy day of dropped temperatures in Houston, Texas this September and a delight to no end because it’s very, VERY early this year. It’s in the higher 80’s right now (late afternoon) but it was in the divine 60’s early this morning. Even this particular variety of the 80’s is pleasant right this second because, lo and behold, there’s very little humidity. Please be impressed. This is second only to the parting of the Red Sea. You should have seen all the great hair at church today. It is a sparklingly gorgeous day and there are about four hummingbirds buzzing all around us here in my back yard. Oh, and I just drank a bug in my hot tea. I spit it out before I swallowed it. I share this so you know that all is well but, as long as we’re here on this planet awaiting its redemption, it’s still a far piece from perfect.There’s always the proverbial fly in the ointment somewhere.

I’ve had a Life Today taping since I talked to you last. (Last weekend) I sent out a prayer request on Twitter and, boy, did you pray that one up. We had one of the best groups ever. The studio audience only has space for a couple of hundred people so it is the PERFECT size to really interact with a group. I can actually walk over and touch one of them while I’m teaching or look straight into a face or even hear a sigh. They bless me indescribably. I just love the intimacy of the setting and it makes it so much easier to forget the anxiety fostered by very large and present cameras. As time goes on, I get closer and closer to and fonder and fonder of the people on the taping team at Life Today.

The people on my team at LifeWay are like family to me. For those of you who don’t know the distinction between the two (and who would care to know this much anyway??), the LifeWay projects are the video-driven Bible studies like A Woman’s Heart, Breaking Free, Esther, and James: Mercy Triumphs. We’ve worked together for 18 years, have grown up in that genre of discipleship together, been through many ups and downs and have long since bonded as tight as blood kin. We work together throughout any given Bible study project so it’s much more involved than four times a year, which is my more typical annual schedule with Life Today. The Life Today tapings are for the Wednesday television broadcasts of my good friends, James and Betty Robison’s syndicated Monday through Friday program. (The most generous people I know on earth. Who in the world would give up 20 per cent of their entire air time?? And to someone like Blonder Than She Pays To Be??And before they had any idea whether it would even mesh with their audience?? And, no. I don’t pay a dime for it. It’s a mind boggling opportunity to reach people we might never see in our Bible studies. A true gift of grace that I will never completely understand.)

Anyway, what I was saying before I started making a short story long: we’ve developed a really neat relationship over the years of taping at Life Today. For instance, I don’t stay in hotels much anymore when I go. I’ve stayed the last few times in the tiny little guest house of their photographer, Janice Meyer, and her good buddy, Kim. I am crazy about both of them but there is one other reason why I like to stay there. Fur. And a lot of it. This was my welcome last week.

Come on, now! Tell me you don’t feel the love?? It makes me so dang happy I can hardly stand it. There’s a doggy door in the tiny guest house so they can come see me while I’m studying. While I teach, the dog hair flies all over the audience from my wardrobe but we get through it just fine. We just sneeze, blow our noses, and get to the next point. This time after the taping, someone on the video team asked me if I’d mind getting a picture made with the taping crew. Honestly, I nearly got choked up. I’m pretty sure somebody made them do it but, still, it really touched me that they cared to have it. Or at least didn’t run from it. I’ve come to love and appreciate them so much. Many of them have worked for James and Betty for years. Decades. That’s a true test of integrity in many ways in my eyes. Here’s the Life Today team. Two people to my right in the beige top is my Life Today make-up artist, Faith. I like to say that I get a work of Faith even before I open my Bible on the set:

OK. I’ve got to start moving faster through this blog or Keith’s going to shut me down before I get to the “help me get the word out” part. This weekend was the official kick off of the fightin’ Texas Aggies’ 2012 football season and their inauguration into the SEC. My firstborn didn’t start demanding to go to Texas A&M to college until kindergarten. No other university ever took her eye. Not one. Her blood was maroon from day 1. So, she absconded with the pastor of our church and headed to the game and I got to intercept the children. We snatched them from their car yesterday morning and didn’t have to surrender them until today at church. We had the best time with them ever. I could talk about them until you’d rock back and forth with boredom so I’ll try to hit the high points and I’ll be able to do it faster if I don’t pick any certain order. So, get ready to bounce like a red rubber ball.

This is the children these days. In everyday blogs, you really don’t use your professional photos. Just mostly casual pictures taken with your phone so keep that in mind. All of these are with my iPhone:

Jackson (above, shoeless – he really does have legs. You just can’t see them. He has not had a knee-ectomy as it appears in said photo) just started the first grade and is missing two teeth and another is hanging by a fleshy thread. He has a lisp that makes Amanda and me swoon with adoration. This is Miss Pris. Oh, good grief. I can barely stand the preciousness.

She talks a hundred miles an hour, very expressively, and usually with both hands. Stop it. No comments. To give you a little idea of how much nostalgia this child causes Keith and me, this is Amanda at her age. I wish you could see this better but I don’t have time to scan. I just snapped a cell picture of a picture but you’ll get the idea. Unless you’re as blind as a bat.

I could just about cry over that. But I don’t have time. Next! (***But in rereading the post just before publishing, I realized that I accidentally cut off Amanda’s legs in above picture taken with my phone. She hadn’t had a knee-ectomony either. At least you can see clearly that she and Jackson are well related.) These are two little outfits I got for Annabeth at Target yesterday. She’s got on one of them in the earlier picture. For you moms and grandmoms of little girls, the clothes at Target right now are adorable! I wasn’t as enthusiastic about the boys’ selections (come on, manufacturers! man up!) but I gave the girls’ stuff an A.

I tweeted that picture earlier today and two of you said, “I LOVE THAT TABLE!” Me, too! Listen, I’m not much of a furniture person and I’m the furthest thing from a decorator but I love that table to no end. If my house caught on fire, it’s the only piece of furniture I’d try to make my man drag out of there. Part of what I love about it is the host of memories made there. So much laughter. SO MANY OPINIONS. And some fairly fine food on occasion.

When you live in the country, there’s always a critter to look at. I caught the kids looking at a rabbit in under a tree. I don’t think you can see the rabbit in the picture but, unfortunately, you can indeed see a set of elk horns. Why, I ask you?? WHY????? WHY ARE THEY SITTING THERE??? This is life with Keith Moore. Whom I love.Those are pipes sitting there to the right side of the scene if you’re wondering. They’re for irrigating some trees. May the Lord grant them to go underground sooner than later.

I have no vocabulary to wrap around my gratitude to God for the family time we get to share with Keith’s parents. As you long-timers here on the blog know, we live right next door to them. This set of children know their great-grandparents WELL. Oh, Jesus, thank You. I don’t know why but I’ve wanted to cry every time I’ve looked at this picture since I snapped it last night. I love this man so much and, Lord have mercy, he has had so many health problems that it’s a miracle he’s alive. Every single day we have Keith’s parents is a gift to us. Sit up a little bit and have some respect. This, my dear sisters and daughters, is one fine man. Mr. John Moore and his great grandson, Jackson. A future great man, we pray.

This is part of our Saturday night ritual at Bibby’s house. Annabeth gets a warm sudsy bath, shampoo and conditioner, a good blow dry from a near professional (laughing), and a mani-pedi. Jackson is a breeze! A bath and a towel dry and we’re DONE! It ain’t easy being a woman.

This I took this morning. I escorted both children outside when they each got up so that I could help them formally welcome “Mr. Autumn.” Oh, I realize, you cynics you, that it could be 95 degrees in Houston by tomorrow but you cannot take a Houstonian’s joy away at the first cool breeze. It’s an earnest deposit on a Fall sure to come…at least by Christmas.

We then got dressed and ready for church and headed into town for a glorious morning. My pastor DROPPED a word on us this morning from the pages of 2 Corinthians. Sometimes I can’t even fathom that I’m related to the man up there preaching. What unfathomable grace. He has blown our minds this year. Bayou City Fellowship celebrates our first birthday next Sunday. It has been the dearest, most unforgettable year of my church life and, girlfriend, that’s saying a LOT. I have loved church all my life. It has been a harbor to me through innumerable storms. We sang a song that was new to me today but the lyrics fell on me with such power. Here is the part that got me the most. It’s a terrible picture but the words are why I want you to see it. Oh, and by the way, that’s our Lindsee Lou’s darling little face in the left-hand corner of the screen. She’s one of our very gifted worship leaders.

OUR GOD HAS SPOKEN. Oh, indeed He has. And the chains are BROKEN, bless His unfathomable Name. I was overcome as Keith and I sang those words with our two daughters – embodiments of such redemption – standing right next to us. The four original Moores worshiped together this morning, then three of us – Keith, Melissa, and me – received communion from Amanda and Curtis. “The Body of Christ broken for you. The blood of Christ poured out for you.”

Oh, God. Thank You. You are my entire life. The breath in my lungs. The only good in me.

Well, wouldn’t you know I’d run out of time before I got to the news I wanted you to help me spread??? OK. I’ve got to give it to you quickly. The simulcast is this coming Saturday: September 15th. For the first time, you can even tune in as an individual. I mean, by all means, get to a group if there’s one in your area or if you can manage to pull one together. The sense of corporate worship is ideal for something like this but, if you can’t get with others, come by yourself by way of your own computer screen! I’ll get Lindsee to stick a link in here tomorrow for those of you who would still like to look into it. (For those waiting for it, here is the link to all the details on the simulcast.) The individual price isn’t much more than a trip to the movies with a coke, candy, and popcorn. I wish so much we could do it for free! But at least it’s fairly affordable. As I told them on Twitter, I have nothing fleshly to gain from more people participating. I’m not driven by numbers. Just too old to be and been around too long, I think. And not a single dime from a Living Proof Live goes into my personal checking account. The only reason I’m inviting anyone is because I pray – oh God PLEASE – that He is the one inviting all of us. Listen, the least that can happen is that we come together and worship God and open His Word and He is faithful to His promise that His Word will not return empty. You can’t beat a Saturday like that! I’m promising no bells and whistles. No dog and pony show. I don’t know how well the messages will be put together but I promise you I’m studying hard and trying to hear from God. I can’t control the technology or, half the time, my own mouth, God have mercy on me, but I am believing God for this Saturday. He IS faithful. That I know. And I believe He’s put this together and not we ourselves.

I am asking God for something huge to happen to us. I am praying with all of my heart for a revival for women. The news I’d like you to help me to spread, however, is to the men. To every man you know who might be willing to pray. This summer at Living Proof Live an interesting thing happened two different times. God raised up men (of their own volition and vision) in that city to pray for that gathering of women. The Spirit FELL on us and I cannot help but think that one reason why we sensed Him so powerfully was because brothers joined in and prayed. He esteemed it highly I believe.

I feel like God would do the same thing if we women banded together and prayed for a move of His Spirit among our brothers. On this coming Tuesday (the 11th), you’re going to see a post I’ll have written called “Brothers, Pray for Us.” I am asking men to commit to pray for us (just individually, informally on their own as they feel led) on Saturday, September 15th. It can be a one-time prayer or maybe they’d remember us several times that day. Maybe some of them would even feel led to fast through the hours of our gathering (I’ll post those hours on Tuesday) but I don’t want to put any kind of restraints on it. I’m just asking men to intercede with faith for us and I believe God may well respond by doing something in our midst we otherwise might not experience. I’m not just looking for husbands of participants to pray though I hope they will! I’m talking about men of God of any age, married or single, that would simply care enough to lift up their sisters in Christ before the Throne of Grace.

It would really build our faith if they’d sign in on the Tuesday blog with their name and city but we want prayer whether or not they sign on the dotted line. Would you help us get word out and encourage as many men as possible to join in with us and perhaps let us know on the Tuesday blog that we have their support? They wouldn’t need to leave a big comment. Just a “Keith, Houston, Texas” kind of thing would be sufficient. I’d love to know if it’s a pastor though. Ask him if he’d tell us the name of his church as well. I want to tell all the sisters on Saturday at the simulcast what kind of covering we have, at least by estimation. Do you get the vision or have I rushed it too much? You’ll see me put it out on Twitter Tuesday morning right after the blog goes up. Please wait to get word out on Twitter until the blog is posted on Tuesday so that the guys don’t get all confused about where they’re supposed to sign in.

Thank you so much, Sisters! I am convinced that the impact of their prayers could be dramatic. God has placed this so powerfully on my heart that I’d have to wonder why He’d bother pressing it upon me with such force and not intend to respond to it. That’s just not the way He works. “The prayer of a righteous man has great effectiveness,” James says. Let’s see some of that effectiveness!

Oh, mercy, I’ve got to get off of here before Keith goes to the shooting range!

I LOVE YOU. That’s the absolute truth. So much. Talk to you soon!

One year ago today I walked into a house-turned-office for my first day at Living Proof Ministries, and my, what a year it’s been! (Fun side-note: Within an hour on the job, I filmed this video. On my very first day of work. I was terrified and can now laugh hysterically at my professional head nodding.) This year has easily been one of the most exciting, fun, challenging and neat years of my life. I’ve grown in ways I would have never imagined, been challenged to increase my faith and believe God, and on top of all that, made a handful of new best friends. What you may not know is that not only did I enter into a new job, after 26 years of attending, serving and working at a church I was raised in, I became a member at a new church as well. So, to say it’s been a new year and a new season is a vast understatement. But I wouldn’t trade this year for anything in the world.

There is no way I could let this day pass without sharing what I’ve learned about this ministry in just one year. Though I’m only going to share three things that stick out to me, what you need to know is that this list is the bare minimum.

L is for the Lavishness of LPM

I may hear the word “village” around here a lot, since we do refer to ourselves as The Village, but more so than that, I hear the word lavishness. I don’t know a word that describes LPM more accurately. Not only does the Lord lavish His love on us, but His lavishness towards us means that we can generously give to others. Living Proof gives more than anyone I know. And I mean that in every sense of the word. They give of their time, their love, their resources, their energy, their wisdom, and especially their prayers. You can’t walk through the doors of LPM and walk out without receiving a blessing, which is their goal. They do it with intentionality and grace. And lest you think for one second they do it to make a name for themselves, think again, it is all to make God’s name great, because He is the one that so lavishly and generously loves and gives to us.

P is for Prayer Warriors

My very first day of work happened to be on a Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. On any other given Tuesday, you would find us scurrying out the door at noon to head to lunch, however, on this particular day, since they had missed their typical Monday prayer time during lunch, they dove into prayer time on Tuesday instead. I think you know where I’m going with this. Instead of eating out on my first day of work, I prayed with my new found co-workers. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared and intimidated out of my ever-loving mind, and sometimes I still am. What in the world had I gotten myself into? I was sitting in the red room with 10 other ladies I barely knew and they were praying their heads off. If I can say one thing about these ladies, it’s that they’ve taught me how to pray. And not just pray, but pray with boldness, belief and for heaven’s sake, a little bit, or a lot of faith. Are my prayers eloquent? Heck no. Do I soak in every word they say and pray? You bet I do. I’ve witnessed miracles because of their mighty prayers. One thing I know to be true, you want these ladies praying for you.

M is for Mothering and Mentoring

September 6th, 2011 I gained 14 mothers and 14 mentors. Please note, I have a wonderful mother who I love dearly that lives 20 minutes from me and we talk often, but this was a no brainer given the territory I stepped into. I am the youngest on staff and each of them could be my mother. I say that in the most endearing, respectful way. The way the care about the little details of my life, the way they scratch my back, they way they send texts because they can’t bare to wait until the next day to hear about a certain this or that, are all things any mother would do. Do I hate it? No. In fact, I consider myself ridiculously spoiled in the spiritual realm. I’ve been known to confess during prayer time just how unique my situation is. What 27-year-old girl gets to be surrounded by this much wisdom? Does it mean we sit and chat over coffee on a daily or weekly basis? Well, not really. Unless you take into consideration our lunch hour, but what I mean by mentoring is I get to watch (and watch I do) the way these godly women handle their husbands, their children, their times alone with the Lord, their reaction to all manner of circumstances and so on and so forth. I get a front row seat to their daily, personal lives, and not one of them has left me disappointed. Are they perfect? Far from it. But they’re real. They’re authentic. I want to be like that.

The Lord has extended His faithfulness to me in more ways than I can count. I will boast in the Lord alone, because He alone did this.

Working alongside these women is one of the greatest privileges of my life. It’s life giving and water to my soul nearly every day. Not one day goes by without receiving encouragement, truth, wisdom and you better believe it, laughter. When I leave, I feel like I’ve been near God. Not to mention, we can talk for hours without gossiping, a miracle for 14 ladies if you ask me. Thank you, Jesus.

I don’t want to fool you into believing that life here is perfect. We’re human, flawed, we are all but a vapor, dust, bereft, and deeply in need of Jesus, without Him, every minute of our work here is in vain. However, it is my greatest desire to honor God and this ministry by celebrating God’s faithfulness to us.

Thank you, LPM, for accepting me from the minute I walked through those front doors. I feel like I’ve been here for ten years. And I hope I’m here for ten more, God-willing.

Thank you, Lord, for planting me here for such a time as this and doing greater than I could ever ask or imagine. You alone are to be praised. You are what LPM is made of.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17