Hey, Siestas! It’s Bible study day and I don’t have three minutes to spare but I had a thought I wanted to quickly share with you. I’m sitting at my breakfast room table with my Bible, books, and notes, putting the last few sentences on my message for tonight. (Can’t sit outside because the wind is whipping so hard that I can’t keep my notes on the table! It’s nearly blowing the feathers off my blue jays!) Keith is out and about, leaving the house nice and quiet so I can prepare – which was going well until I got distracted by a particularly silly birddog.
Beanie is sound asleep on the couch but must be dreaming she’s chasing a rabbit or a squirrel. She’s barking in her sleep the way she does when she’s chasing a critter and all four legs are going back and forth as if she’s running like the wind. It’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen. She does it periodically so maybe one of these days after I master the camera, I can move to video and catch her in action.
Every time she does it I think the same thing: is that what we’re doing? Are we just snoozing our way through (purposeful) life and day dreaming about how we’re going to chase down what Christ chased us down for – or are we going to wake up and actively pursue what God has created us for – even when the path gets rough? I ask the question because I’ve faced the dilemma. See if you can go here with me a minute: We get some vision from God and get pretty jazzed about it then, as God leads, we start taking steps that direction and suddenly the path gets hard. Or LONG. We wanted to leap there. Not crawl there. Somehow we weren’t expecting it to be like this. We were thinking it was going to be fun. Always fulfilling. And, for crying out loud, not so dad-blasted hard and irritating. We didn’t want to have to learn it or live it. We just wanted to do it. NOW.
So we retreat and decide we dreamed it all up – just like Satan was hoping we would. We don’t understand that the pressures we face getting to our places of full-throttle effectiveness in Christ are crucial for developing the muscle to sustain ministry there. He’s developing the character the calling requires. The Apostle Paul knew better than anybody what the path to Christ-ordained effectiveness required. In 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, he told of a “great and effectual door” that God had opened for him in Ephesus and in the same breath mentioned the great opposition he faced there. Let me echo here on this blog again and again: Satan will never oppose us more than when he thinks we’re onto our callings. Bet on that. As L.B. Cowman said in Streams in the Desert, “Both in the physical realm and spiritual realm, great pressure means great power.” (p.9)
Read these words from Paul with a fresh application to your significant life:
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)
Let nothing – no obstacle, opposition, pressure, PAST, or passage of time – stop you besides Christ Himself. And if HE does, stop immediately. It will be only for your good and your clarification. You will know the difference as you lie on your face before Him and ask Him. To double check that we ourselves have not inadvertently caused a delay, let’s be sure and turn dramatically from pride and every hint of selfish ambition so that Christ can entrust us with power from on high…
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.” Habakkuk 2:3
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you”! Eph. 5:14
Tags: Dogs
Thank you so much Beth for your transparency and desire to see us free! You have an anointing on your life and I thank God for using you! I love when you said “He’s developing the character the calling requires”…Wow that hit me like a ton of bricks! That’s why, God, that’s Why! Thanks and Much Love to ya!
Amean and Amen Siter…You have NO IDEA how I needed to hear that this morning!
Perfect!
Thank you,
Melissa
Oh Mama Beth,
I needed this post the day you wrote, but alas I couldn’t get my high speed connection for goodness sake, to even connect…The road is LONG and HARD and I needed your post and my Father knew it. And from the looks of these top two comments many many other siestas needed it too! Doesn’t it just WOW you to no end how awesome God’s timing and works are PERFECT! And you get to be an AMAZING vessel to show His power and love to so many of His children! I just LOVE YOU SO MUCH, I wish I could come give you a great big hug! Thank you Thank you for always being open to the Spirit’s calling. You bless us so much by your giving and obedience.
Much Joy and His favor to you today!
Kate in Charlottesville
Beth,
I am new here. (My cousin, Maxine Williams, who goes to church with you introduced me to it) Yay! 😉 I love reading it! Anyway, I have to tell you that when I read the line about the wind blowing the feathers off your blue jays, at first I thought it said your blue jeans! So, I thought, “Wow! That must be a new style I’ve never seen before!” haha! Anyway, thanks for being such a blessing and light to the world!
Love,
Nealy
Beth,
Everytime, and I mean everytime, I feel overwhelmed, I hear the whispered words, it will be worth it.
You are so appreciated Beth, keep hearing from the Holy Spirit, and confirming what most of us are hearing.
Bethie,
Thanks! These words are so timely as I have taken a great leap of faith in the past six months to follow a God with a big vision. I left a job ‘at the height of success’ (This job was in Outreach ministry.) God had used me to bring thousands together to build and sustain ministry ‘outside the walls of the church’ across denominations.
Then He began breaking my heart for the nations. Africa and beyond. A door opened for me to leave my position at my church to ‘regenerate’ business with a sister in Christ who had been on leave to raise her children. This business recovers monies for hospitals, clinics and physicians offices. The ‘bad debt’ is recovered primarily from BIG insurance companies through appeals. The commission we make from recovery primarily goes to world missions. That is the heart of this company…the heart of God Himself.
I like to think of it as a Jesus/Robin Hood venture. Taking back from the rich and giving to the poor. Do you think Satan wants this type of business to succeed? NOPE.
I am a single mom who has worked now for six months now without a paycheck. I need a contract for commissions. Depression has tried to come down on me. I keep declaring to the enemy: “I know my Shepherd’s voice!”
This vision/mission is so great and so many obstacles have been thrown our direction. I would appreciate any prayers on our behalf.
We need a miracle.
thanks mama beth
…i experienced a one-two punch attempt from the enemy just last week. i have started working on a project, i call it ‘operation unknown’ (’cause i really have no idea what it is yet just that i’ve been called to do it), and right as i got going, the enemy tried to push me back into the pit i just got out of–the very pit that the Lord used to bring this project about. wow. i have never experienced such inner turmoil and discomfort.
but what a joy to know even in the worst moment of it, my guy could take on Rocky 1,2,3,4…and the enemy all at the same time…all the while drinking a starbucks and eating a burrito, if he wanted.
ps..i just got back from a bus trip (with my nanny job) from houston and i had the privilege of experiencing my first meal at a papasitos (sp?) good stuff 🙂
Habakkuk 2:3 is the verse God spoke to me through an 18-year old girl to stay in my marriage after adultery.
Love that verse.
I was just saying to my husband the other night how I was going to pack some things away because I just don’t seem to have time for them, and how I feel like I have totally missed who God wants me to be, and that nothing ever seems to work out right. Then the next day I read this and God once again speaks to my heart telling me to press on. Everything will be according to His perfect timing.
In the Spring of 2005 I was getting ready for the day and had been struggling with finding God’s purpose for my life (again) when a baby robin got it’s foot stuck in the screen of our bedroom window. The momma (or daddy) was sitting on a branch of a tree just “talking” away to the baby as if to say, “come on, you can do it!” Before long the baby got it’s foot free from the snare and the parent joyfully sang it’s success. God clearly spoke Hebrews 12:1 to me at that time and when I got in the car to leave for work I offered up a prayer and started clapping and crying because I invisioned that great cloud of witnesses cheering me on saying, “come on, you can do it!!” So, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2) Glory!! He is so wothy of our praise.
In Jesus name we press on. Blessings to you in His name, Patti
It seems no matter what is going on in my life you have the right words to encourage me for that moment. I have realized the phenomena you are talking about in many things: mission trips that I think will be so cool, teaching Sunday School about a topic of passion, writing a book…Whatever takes a commitment of consistency and time seems to be what drags me into thinking maybe I was just dreaming. I needed encouragement today to continue on in something God told me to do, but I am having to discover HOW to do it and it is hard. Thanks again Beth for being who you are and letting folks in on the small details of your life. It’s a blessing!
Beth,
This has nothing to do with your post, but I had something to share with you that I thought might give you a laugh and this was the quickest way to get to you. Here goes . . . My “siestas” and I were working on the 8th week, 4th day of the Daniel study. We’d been talking about some really heavy stuff; premill, amill, pretrib, etc. We got to the verse in Revelation 19:11-16 about the “armies of heaven” on white horses and we were talking about how they were dressed in white linen and how it was white and clean. We were saying praise God that it would be clean and we didn’t have to wash it. Then one lady said, “It may be white and clean, but I hope it’s wrinkle free!” We all had a good laugh! Just thought I’d share with you so you could laugh with us!
Allison
This message is like water to my thirsty soul. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Beth – What an encouragement your post was to me! Even though I am just now reading it a few days later. I missed the Bible study on Tuesday because my three little boys (5,3 and 2) and I have had the flu. Yuck! I took the opportunity to catch up on the homework (I was about four days behind). My precious husband, who was home taking care of us, kept coming in the room and finding me crying. He finally took the workbook away, exclaiming that he was working as hard as he could to keep us all from dehydrating! What a hero! He brought it back to me later (with a bottle of Gatorade and some tissue).
Thank you for writing this study. I have really worked hard on some things that I have swept under the rug for a long time. God has been so tender through some areas…and has used the Yank-the-Bandaid-Off-Quick approach on others. He has been so faithful!
See you there next week. I will be the cute brunette with the big honkin’ fever blister! LOL!!!
Colleen
thank you Beth for your encouragement. I’m facing somethings in my life that I know God is pushing me to step out of my safe little box and I’ve been so fearful of taking more steps. I know that the fear is from the enemy. I only had a few minutes on here before I had to go do something that I’m dreading so I know God led me to click on your site. Thanks for taking time to write it! Lois
Amen. I am going through a season currently where I am finding it very difficult to walk in the faith that i can so easily speak of. I can write down that god is faithful and all the reasons I can trust him. I can sing songs about His goodness, but I am struggling to walk out each day in that trust, in that knowledge that He is good. Honestly, it doesn’t seem good to keep reminding me what He is calling me to but not letting me do that very thing. Six months of unemployment does not seem good. It does not feel like He is doing what is in my best interest. I spend many nights (and days) crying because this season hurts so much, and crying because more than I want a job (or a marriage), I want to see the Lord. I want to trust Him and I hate that it is so hard to do that right now.
So thank you for the good word.
Thanks. I have been having some rough times lately. As I had plenty of think time while staying with a relative at the hospital last week; I all but freaked out because this was the month I had planed ministry phase one. I’m now wrapped up in life’s issues wondering how my passion fizzled so abruptly. It’s frustrating to have to set things aside, but I realize now that all this “stuff” really is just part of the preparation process.
Thanks. 🙂
Thanks Beth so much for taking the time for that post. Another reminder that what He orders in my life will bear much fruit. I’ve been listening this week to the series you did on Jabez, etc., and at that time, you guys were thinking you might be losing Beanie. I cracked up about Keith’s prayer and how many “bullets” he had left! Anyway, it’s great to know God chose to bless you with Beanie for this long, and that Beanie is still dreaming of chasing rabbits!
Thank you Beth for sharing this word with us! It really can be distracting to take the long way to our purpose! It is nice to be reminded of the purpose IN the long way! So much growth and development that is vital for the long-term.
The worst part to me is when I am in the middle of the journey and don’t feel like I fit anywhere! The old ways are not for me (that’s crystal clear) but neither is the final destination. I’m not grown enough for that place yet either. It is so frustrating and can definitely make me think I’ve missed it all (if I am not careful to keep my eyes on Him)!
Thanks again!
I had to really process because this was such a word for me. I had really been praying for some confirmation and I know that this was part of it! Thanks so much for the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit!
Great post…I needed to be reminded of some of that.
Just wanted to share that God is doing great things in me with this Stepping Up Bible Study. I am fighting some battles, but God will get the victory! 🙂
Thanks for this ministry!
Jami
My husband is a minister and I am involved with a Christ based therapeutic riding center for physcially and emotionally challenged children and youth. This message was exactly what I needed to remember the vision and for Whom I am running the race. I am striving to be “radically obedient.” Thanks for the encouragement.
Thank you for this Beth. I agree and relate to so much that’s been said.
I too become afraid of whether I dreamed something up or God showed it to me and I should do something about it. Deciding if/when I should do something to discover if it’s Him or me is hard. I want to follow but don’t want to be seen as foolish. How prideful, but that’s the truth.
Just in the nick of time! I needed this encouragement tonight. I’m working on “stepping up” and Satan is working overtime to make me step backwords. Thank God for our sisters who keep pushing us forward on this journey!
Beth my prayers are with you and your team this weekend in Vancouver. May the Lord bless all of you and especially the people who will be attending this blessed event. Grace and love to all of you, Yvonne
Thank you for this encouragement. I needed to hear it (again!) at a time when my path is not so clear. Every year when basketball season is done, I wonder if I’ll get the privilege of coaching those girls another year. I am waiting for the fulfillment of the vision, and trying to enjoy the journey.
Thanks for being so real with us. I need to see that in a spiritual mentor 🙂
Thankyou for this post, I needed the encouragement-I understand-I’m with ya sister! I am at that point now where I have decided to keep going in that right direction no matter what-and, yes, I can feel the spiritual battle-but God is for me. Who can be against me? My God is able.
katiegfromtennessee
I just finished “Stepping Up” and have started reading “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” by Eugene Peterson because you quoted it s often in the study. Your comments go right along with his first chapter. So good! So GOD! Thanks for sharing. Determined to sow the seed from this study instead of eating it, as I have done so many times before. Have a great day!
I join in the chorus w/ my siestas in saying ‘that’s just what I needed to hear!’
Thank you Beanie – for dreaming – and thank you Beth, for being obedient in sharing your thoughts w/ us siestas.
…even though this was so encouraging and uplifting to hear I STILL find myself reluctant to pursue what I know God has called me to – o Lord, help my unbelief!!
PS – this is my first time to comment, but i’ve been reading the blog for about 8 months. thanks for letting us in on your lives. I don’t always get the chance to paruse the comments b/c i’m on dial-up in a far-away land (the ME), but i’m always blessed when I do take the time to glance over what the sisters have written – i was MOST ESPECIALLY blessed by all of the breaking free comments – oh what the glorious Lord has allowed us to overcome in Him!! Glory! Aleluia!!
Wow now THAT is a good word Beth… a prophetic one for me personally…. as I am walking OUT into things I never dreamed possible ( speaking, writing, coaching others) the pressure is increasing… and come to think of it, so is His power. Like you His call on my life is scandalous …… He has so repaired so much in this broken, leaky, messed up life of mine. There was a time when I had to have a spiritual LABOTOMY! Praise you God. And now to be able to teach…. to lead…. to walk others to freedom in Jesus…. amazing stuff.. But it doesn’t come without pressure and to think that ease is the portion a teacher gets… all I can say is NOT!
Love to you! Thank you!
Sandi
Beth,
God always knows what we need and when we need it.
I just finished “Stepping Up” and my next study doesn’t start until next week so I thought I would just read the Ascents again, but God had another plan as I started reading He told me to go back to Ps 119:169-176 just before the ascents. Just what I needed a prayer for me to pray every day because this is just where I am, needing deliverence as He promised.
I then go to your blog and again what I need to reminded of that I need to stay alert on this path I have been on but seem to always walk off when the going get tuff and thinking that what I heard God say to me must have just been a dream or a lofty thought. And then the verse you ended with “Wake up, O sleeper..” was the verse He gave me last year when He first showed me where He wanted to take me.
Please pray that I will not listen to Satan and his lies anymore and that I will go on to what He wants me to do.
Thank you for listening to the Lord and shareing what He give you!
Thank you for this very encouraging word. The Lord has been telling me the same…ministry is hard, and always opposition, my humanness wants to rethink the direction, and the Lord says no-get in there, and believe me..so WE (myself and the LORD) were are going in, and HE will give me the words and grace for that moment. Hearts are changing to Glory to God!, and we are just not home yet..running this race to win (I am going to be so ripped up til I get there-glad he has a new body and some new robes for me..I will be needin them) 🙂
Beth,
Thank you for the fresh word. I needed it today.
Cindy
Wow I need to read that today. I just stumbled apon your blog and I’m so glad I did. We are working on the Daniel series in our ladies group right now and I really love how you teach it. My hope and prayer is that I will be an escivator(sp) like you one day. I can see a teach in my head and know how I feel about it but sometimes not know how to clear away the clutter fast enough before I have forgotten what was downloaded in my heart. Then it takes me alot longer to try to recapture what the enemy was trying to steal from me. I wonder if it’s me being easily distracted or if it’s like you say wanting it to happen in my time and not His. Something for me to think about for sure.
Beth, Thanks for your comments today. We have been going through a few things at our house. I know that they are hapening for a reason, and the Lord is working it out for our good. It does get hard sometimes. He wants to see what were made of. Thanks for all you do for women around the world. I am studying the Psalms of Ascent with you. It’s great encouragement!
Love you, Melissa Sugg
after leaving what you need to at The Cross, google over to you tube and listen and watch the many verions of Lift us up where we belong by Bebe and Cece!!!!!!
Oh LORD, I hear You speak
I’m tired of being feared a freak
Bring me fully into Your calling
Where Your land is abundantly sprawling
To be “entrusted with Your power from on high”
Help me Lord, not just to dream, but by Your power, to fly
Help me Lord to get up and not snooze
Nothing You have for me, do I want to lose
By Beth’s illustration of Beanie the dog
Somehow You’ve lifted the enemies fog
His lies have deceived me into this “innocent” slumber
But, thank you Lord, I’ve woke up and see the enemies dialed the wrong number
Help me to rise from the proverbial couch
To serve You with gladness, to stand tall & not slouch
I’m done with huntin’ all the enemies rabbit trails
The devil’s had me dreamin’, going slower than a snail
But Lord, leave it to You, from this dog’s nappin’
To see how the enemy has at Your plan, in my life, been hackin’
And though I’ve felt the furrow is long
You gave the vision, so help me be strong
No, the way is it not what I expected
But Your plan gives hope, I no longer feel dejected
Thank You Lord that “great pressure means great power”
Reveal in me Your way, Your hour
So Lord, like Paul, I press on
Singing always, writing down Your song
Glory to Your Lovely Name
As You help me step forward For Your glory and Your fame
Lovingly Yours,
For His Name
And Lord, might I add, because Lord, it’s true
Thank you for using a dog story to help me see You
Yes Lord, I am awake
And in Your calling, I will not quake
This is EXACTLY what I am going through right now. I am excited about God’s calling for my life, but the learning along the way is harder to enjoy. Thanks for the encouragement.
Beth,
I just found out about your blog this week and have thoroughly enjoyed reading a lot of the entries and looking at the great pictures! I can’t believe I didn’t know about this sooner! It’s great to be able to hear about your personal life and know that you are just like the rest of us in so many ways! I think sometimes we get a mindset that a woman in the spotlight like you must lead a “charmed” life of ease and luxury. It’s good for us to realize you are only a “Siesta” with ups and downs like us….so we don’t forget to pray for you.
It has been a real blessing this week to peruse the pages of your blog while I have been pretty much confined to home nursing a bad cold. I was in the middle of researching material for a lesson on obedience for my ladies Sunday school class when I read this post. It just seemed to fit right in with some of the thoughts I had already written down for the lesson and was very encouraging.
Thanks so much for taking the time to blog. I know you’re one busy woman!
May God bless you today!
Beth thanks for the encourgement , I needed it.
Love ya!
Beth, thank you so much for this great word. This is exactly where I am at, and the Lord Himself has delayed a certain vision from becoming a reality in my life for a season. Thanks again for the encouragement. I needed it!
Ilove your blog and read it often. Today I had to comment. My hubby and I have really caught on to purposefully parenting our children and in January we put our best feet forward in making it happen and not more than a week later we got slammed. Our heater on our roof caught on fire and did $600 of damage, worse than our repair guy had ever seen. My 4 kids got sicker than I’ve ever had to deal with nearly all at the same time. I was 8 weeks pregnant in the middle of February and miscarried and now as I slowly recover my husband will be going in next week to have his whole thyroid removed with us wondering if it’ll be cancerous. I joke around that I know it’s the enemy because he is always so darned obvious. We were right on track, and I know the Lord wants us not just on track, but strong in that place where he’s called us. Your comments hit me right where I needed it. Thank you.
Dear Beth,
Here it is just after 11pm and I’ve somehow found the message from God my heart has been searching for all day. I was seeking direction in a specific area that I felt needed answers TODAY – had written a post on my blog about it – and I’ve been waiting for God to speak. Through this post I hear Him answering me. God provided this answer 3 days ago on your post, and I’m just finding it – God’s timing is never late. Thank you. There’s so much that has encouraged my heart, but this is the verse the Lord has spoken to me: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.” Habakkuk 2:3 He is confirming to my heart that delay is not denial and I will continue to hope in Him.
Thank you – and bless you.
Joy
Thanks for the “anonymous”, Lord Lifs us up where we belong” Bebe and Cece..made me cry to the Lord, and just refocus. Touched my heart like only can do..so now on with what HE has laid out for me…we are just not home yet, and its going to be worth it! Thank you
I know you didn’t have three minutes but I am so thankful that you took the time to write this. My hubby and I have felt VERY called to adoption. We have three children of our own but we are just so moved to add to our family. My hubby is a minister and I stay home loving our three so $$ is super tight. And that means that we don’t have the $$ to pay any upfront adoption fees. We have prayed and prayed. Now we have just laid it all down. I told the Lord the other day that it will take a miracle for us to adopt but I am waiting for Him to do it. I trust Him. It just seems so long some times. The thing is though, I love Him. He is what I crave and so I can wait and be patient in knowing that His ways are always the best. Praise be to Him for all that He is. I am lost without Him. M
Beth, you have no idea what a word from the throne this was for me. I plan on printing this out and putting it in my prayer journal.
I have recently attended a writer’s conference and believe the Lord has put a burning passion on my heart to get out a specific message to mothers.
Thank you for blessing me today. In Him, Joanne
“Blessed is the woman who believed that what the Lord told her would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:48
beth
thank you so much for you post. i know in my own life i feel like i’ve lost the direction God has for me. i think maybe i got off track somewhere. heck, marriage, kids, and financial hardships can do that to a person. i appreciate the encouragement and reminder.
on a lighter note. could i ask… for my husband, what kind of dogs do you guys have? we have an english pointer which is not the most common hunting dog up here in idaho, but he says they are very common in the south (which is where we got ours – elhew line) and he thinks there’s a good chance you may have one. just curious
Wow, I found your blog today and just found the weekly bible study materials on Romans as well. I have been listening every spare moment I have, trying to soak it all up. LOVE it! OK, so I read the post today and like several here, I think you must be speaking to me. God has done some major open heart surgery in me and I have worked with Him on redeeming my past and using it for His glory. I feel completely called to some kind of ministry. I am sure I heard from Him….or did I?? He just moved me and my family to a “foreign” place and I was expecting great blessing for being obedient to the call. I was waiting with great expectatation to hear from Him on what it was He was going to open up. Little did I know, I was about to open up the gift of suffering instead of this blessing I was looking for. I am hearing you say that this could only be preparing me for what He truly has for in store for ministry. Thank you for speaking this truth into my life at a time when I am utterly confused about what God has for me. I will hang on, be patient, and resist the temptation to doubt His plan for me. “Never doubt in the dark what you saw in the light.”
Dear Siesta Beth,
I just read this post for the first time tonight, I guess this was the night I was meant to read it. After exactly 1 week of asking the Lord to reveal and remove the last bit of “leaven” I may have left in me (Our other siesta, “hisfivefooter” is my prayer partner). We want to purify ourselves so that nothing can stop-up the POWER of the Lord working in and through us. It has been an unusally long and painful process of being sifted by the enemy and refined by fire from the Lord. Never dreamed I’d still be in this process three years later, but that is exactly where God still has me. This is the hardest and most excrutiatingly painful period of my life EVER!!! This hurts and I’m really weary from this one. I can honestly say I almost got to the place where I said Oh forget it!! I must not have heard God right when He told me what He was planning for my future. Don’t get me wrong here, I am NOT retreating, the devil is not going to get that kind of victory!! The Lord brought me a dream in the night this past month and He said “Angela if I said what I was going to do three years ago and you have gone through this season to get there I am NOT changing my mind or my word now. What I said then, I still say to you today so “Be still and know that I AM God. “I will trust in the one who is called “Faithful and True”!!!
Thank you for being another confirmation of this very thing
God has been in the process of doing for the past three years and please pray for my obedience and my ability to perserve and to keep pressing on until I get completely crossed over the Jordan and into my “Promised Land”!!
I love you friend!
Angela in Redmond, WA
Beth, thank you for the encouragement, I seem to constantly need it. We have begun a “Celebrate Recovery” ministry at our church, it’s a great ministry for those w/ hang ups,addictions, just anything that has you bound, buried beneath what you cannot get up from. Our first official meeting is tonight and I have been attacked by the enemy from the very beginning stages. Sown many tears,and fearful I would fall back into the bondage of alcohol. If this were the only burden, attack, life is just hard. But my desire is “to know Him” and do His will, to dream the dreams He has for me and walk in the reality of His dreams.
again thanks for the encouragement.
Blessings,
Jackie
I am reading this 3 wks after it was posted & I soooo needed the encouragement and the reminder. I have felt about as tired & defeated as a human being can get. Isn’t it just like God to bring a word of Truth at the most appropriate time? I love that about Him & I want to say ‘Thank you’ Beth, for being obedient to His calling on your life. So many other servants have been blessed by your servanthood. God bless!