Hey, Girlfriends! It’s Sunday and I’m writing you from an airplane seat on my way home from Boise, Idaho, where God threw a party of His Presence for 5,000 of us gathered there. They were a phenomenal group and, for me, it was love at first sight. My whole team and I really dig serving off the beaten path, so we were very anxious to get there but wondered if we should prepare ourselves for a fairly quiet group. Let me be clear. That is not what we got. I named them Noisy Boise within the first five minutes. They wanted Jesus and were willing to practically jump out of their seats to grab a word out of thin air from Him. Oh, man, I am so grateful to God for allowing me to worship shoulder-to-shoulder with such an incredible group. I will remember them (you, if you were there) for a very long time.
This weekend I did something I almost never do. I stayed over on Saturday night to have a retreat with my LifeWay team. To tell you that I’m crazy about them is a gross understatement. Through the years we’ve become a team in every sense of the word from the guys that do the set-up, sound, lighting…to the computer technicians that do the graphics for praise and worship and the power point for the messages…to the event team that actually puts on the conference and mans (or womans) it…to the entire platform team who walks into a very well prepared-for environment. Everybody does their part and, incidentally, nobody’s part is for sissies. We work our tails off. As I told Noisy Boise, we aren’t very slick but we aren’t minimalists either. We don’t give a group the least we can get away with. We drag our nearly dead bodies out of that auditorium on Saturday afternoon. The members of the team are as different as our roles and, joyously (and even unexpectedly), everybody from the truck drivers to the artists have become family. The down side for me is that the most sanguine of the siblings, yours truly, is one of the very few who lives outside of Nashville. They get to spend a ton of travel time together while I go solo. They often send me texts and cell pics from the airport and it makes me so jealous I can hardly stand it. This time we decided we’d all stay after the event, eat pizza together, play games (Travis hosted a rousing round of Fish Bowl and the card game Pit) and, my personal request, learn to do the Cha-Cha Slide. Play that funky music, white girl. It was hilarious. (And modest. Don’t mess with me here. It was just plain fun.) We had the best time ever! I laughed myself silly and dropped in my hotel bed last night thoroughly exhausted and deliriously happy. Full. God is so good. So fun. I think He had a blast last night. Maybe even laughed out loud.
But now for the primary reason I’m writing to you. Early this morning I realized that I had an all-day plane trip (HOURS!) in front of me with no extra reading material for a poor, exhausted mind. For an obsessive reader like me, that’s not a flight. That’s a train wreck. I’d studied all the way up so I hadn’t thought about the oversight till it was time to go home. Adding to the annoyance was some excellent reading material sitting on my back porch that I’m in the happy middle of right now. (I think I’ve told you before that, at almost all times, I have two books going that are totally separate from my research books: a Christian inspirational book of some kind and a novel. Forgot both.) I resorted to the magazine rack, grabbed three decent looking selections, slapped a fortune on the counter, and headed for the plane. One was Time’s 40 Anniversary Special, another was a Vanity Fair edition that looked more interesting this time than inappropriate and the third was a magazine my personal assistant really loves. It’s kind of a health and fashion thing with an over-40 flair to it. The cover looked pretty hip so I pitched it in the mix with a “What the heck.” Thumbing through it, I happened on an article that was not only well written. It was one of the most thought provoking secular articles I’ve read in a good while. (“More,” May 2008 Issue, p.90)
In the article entitled “My So-Called Genius” author Laura Fraser recounts her remarkable journey from whiz-kid-dom to an adulthood of unmet expectations and fairly ordinary life. Don’t let my crude synopsis keep you from reading the article for yourself because I won’t do it justice. I’d like to recap enough, however, to explain why I found it significant. By the time she was five she’d already been labeled “precocious” and told repeatedly how special she was. The next years did not disappoint. She was brilliant and darling and surpassed her peers impressively, drawing the attention of adults who conveyed to her in a myriad of ways that she was destined for greatness. Then came college where she entered an academic world of peers who, not coincidentally, were told the same thing. By her late forties, she’d accomplished many good things but the expectation of greatness and the sense that she’d never quite achieved it (despite a best seller) haunted her with feelings of failure. All the well-meaning forecasts had done nothing but cast a pall of perfectionism upon her and, as her consultant so aptly pointed out, “Perfectionists always lose.” The consultant confronted her with a very important challenge that I’ll paraphrase: “Must you write a great book? How about writing a good book?” Fraser describes how age and time had become precious gifts and how she’d come to reconcile the unreasonable expectations with her reasonable success. In doing so she really made me think about some things. Here are a few:
How careful we need to be – as parents, teachers, relatives, leaders, or observers – about telling gifted children how great they are going to be. It is a trap and a forecast Fraser claims rarely pans out. She points out the monumental difference between talent and having a clue what to do with it and (again paraphrasing) how genius rarely exempts people from having to work hard just like everybody else who wants to make it. I’m a big believer in encouraging young people and imitating the Apostle Paul with Timothy by telling them that they are extraordinarily gifted. BUT, as we learned this weekend in Boise, every gift is a trust placed in human hands by a holy God and it is up to each individual to develop the integrity, humility, and work-ethic to know what on earth to do with it. A gift never guarantees success. In the long run as well as the routine day-in and day-out, those with the grit to just keep doing the hard thing will often prove more effective. Gift without grit is a dang waste.
How profoundly wise God’s way is. If we’re willing to follow His paradoxical path on the winding roadmap of Scripture, we have the joy of side-stepping this ankle-breaking trap. So will a few children we’re privileged to train. Living just to be great will prove at least empty and at most unbearable. Spending ourselves for something infinitely greater, however, still fans our parched souls with the God-given need to matter, but relieves us of the relentless pain of being the “It” Person at the center of it. To live for the greatness of God IS to live the great life. Oh, I know we’ve heard it before but what if something in us clicked all the sudden? What if we all at once awakened to what a dream-killer perfectionism is? And to how pitifully small and unworthy a goal personal greatness is? We were meant for so much more. Every one of us who embraces the glory of God as our lofty purpose for living will end up doing great things precisely because we end up doing God-things. His holy hand rested on the least act renders the ordinary extraordinary. Far from the least but sadly uncelebrated, spooning soup into the mouth of the weak and bed-bound or manning the church nursery so a tired mom can go to Sunday School are acts of highest worship when offered in the Name of Christ. Though the arrogant and ignorant minimize and miss it, Christ beholds the sight like a breathtaking work of art, tilting His head and squinting His eyes to study each subtle detail. “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6).
Christ, the very One who called us to abundant, effective life and commanded us to splash in the cool springs of joy while living it, announced the secret to the great life without a hint of contradiction:
Pour it out lavishly, sacrificially for the glory of God and the good of man. Those with presence of mind and semblance of health are called to pour out the drink offering of their lives until the cup is turned completely over and every last drop of energy slips – perhaps unnoticed, uncelebrated – into the vast ocean of earthly need. The last imperceptible drop of your well-lived life will sound like a tidal wave hitting the floor of the Grand Canyon to the hosts of Heaven.
“I’m already great enough for both of us,” Christ says in effect, relieving the willing of their woeful burden. “Just follow Me.” For “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
Your fourth paragraph explaining about the ‘child’ who was always told how beautiful and precocious and genius and destined for greatness ~ was my life! And I’ve never been able to quite figure out in my own mind why I always felt I had to be more, do more, achieve more and on and on and on! I entered college two weeks after high school graduation, got my Business Degree, then went straight on to Nursing School for four years and had to be THE BEST at everything I did or touched! Yet there was always something missing…some vague sense of failure, because as I grew older, there were no longer those people coming along side me telling me what a genius I was. It was simply life and a job and a sense of failing at it! I don’t know if any of this makes any sense, but I WAS that child the article was talking about, and I now have a new understanding ~ Even if I can’t express it adequately! Thank you for writing about this. I believe it was a word meant for me this late night! I will be out there tomorrow hunting down a copy of that magazine to read for myself! Praise His Name for this valuable insight! And thank you Beth for being my ‘personal Sunday School teacher’ for over ten years! I have ‘sat at your feet’ and learned from you and you have mentored me in a myriad of ways! I love you for that my dear Sister in Christ! And I am eternally grateful! Cheryl
Beth,
Your words hit a deep cord – awesome, awesome, awesome with the power of the Holy Spirit! You gently remind us that we are called to live lives of service, not of greatness as the world sees it. I loved this statement:
Those with presence of mind and semblance of health are called to pour out the drink offering of their lives until the cup is turned completely over and every last drop of energy slips – perhaps unnoticed, uncelebrated – into the vast ocean of earthly need. The last imperceptible drop of your well-lived life will sound like a tidal wave hitting the floor of the Grand Canyon to the hosts of Heaven.
Magnificent!
Rebecca
Central Asia
From: Puzzlepiecesista-Angela
Beth this was an amzaing post! It
spoke volumes to me (I’ll spare you the details)hee-hee! But just know it was a word aptly spoken and a word in due season!! Then I am reading through the other siestas comments and Anonymous post the poem of the “Well” – That really hit me like a sock right between my eyeballs, kinda hurt, but kinda woke me up too, which is good, very good.
I have felt like I have been trapped at the bottom of my own well and it was dry, because after my mom died there was nothing left to pour out. Now I realize I am drowning in my own water that I have trapped inside because I have gotten closed off for a season and shut the door to the well and it’s getting kind-of bitter in here!! The answer is to open-up again and allow what God has put within me to spill out into the lives of others. They are in desperate need of it and so am I!!!! I need to once again begin to pour myself out like a drink offering and in turn my heavenly Father will pour back into me. He will restore me and return me to the joys of my former days, but there is something I must do first!
I am so greatful and so touched tonight, you just have NO idea really how much this lifted my spirits and inspired me tonight. I feel fresh fire falling softly this night in a home in Redmond, WA and I am so blessed to be a part of ”SIESTAVILLE”!!!!
Lots and Lots of Love,
Angela
Such a timely word for many of us who may soon be hearing from Nominating Committees regarding a place of service in the coming new church year. May we be thick in the Word, prayerful and eager to serve, serve, serve….within the body of Christ & without.
Satan will tell us we can’t do it- Christ will SHOW us we can!
From my pastor’s sermon yesterday morning, the words of Jesus to Jairus come back to me…”Don’t be afraid; just believe….”.
Thanks Beth.
Blessings & Love~
That would have been a great speech for graduates! We expect so much more out of our kids these days! All I can remember as a child is playing outside after school until my Mom yelled for us around dinner time. We didn’t have competition cheerleading, club soccer, elite dance, soccer camps – I could go on and on. We just plain played with our friends – kick ball, kick the can, etc… A’s and B’s were expected but we didn’t have AP classes and 2-3 hours of homework everynight. I’m tired just thinking of it all!!! You are awesome and I’m looking forward to Atlanta and Texas!
Thank you for your “message”…..great food for thought.
No, I was not one of those children that was told I would be “great” or “beautiful”….frankly, I’ve struggled all my life with what I call my “inabilities”…thinking that I should be better, or smarter or prettier. It has taken me a long time to realize I am who I am because of God. And yes, He has given me some great abilities but it took a long time for me to realize that everything does not have to be “perfect”, including myself….which I still sometimes struggle with! I guess it’s because I could never accept myself as I was, thinking I should and could be better. But I am becoming more accepting of myself now, through God’s help! And realizing God can use me, just as I am….
My 7 year old thanks you so very much. His mama needed it.
You are a treasure.
When things get really hard, I know that God is on to something good! Now, if only I would remember to let Him finish what He starts. Too often, I step in and ‘fix’ everything before HIs work is complete.
Wow, Beth, lots of thoughts…had to read it twice and take notes!:)
God has gifted us undeservedly hasn’t He? And the grit always comes from Him too, doesn’t it?:):) That is what I want God to make me into, Beth, in all honesty, into a person who lavishly, sacrificially pours out her life to the glory of God-I’ve found out the hard way that anything else even remotely prideful is destructive to me! I am about to cry, but I just really want to hear Him say one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant, you love me with everything you had. I love you my daughter.” That is what I want. That is what I want.:) LORD HELP ME! I want to please HIM.
Romans 8:31; Ephesians 1:17-19; Psalm 118:6; Mark 14:6; Mark 10:43-45
katiegfromtennessee
I really appreciate this post, Beth, especially in the current situation my family is praying through. My husband and I are having to deal with a school system that wants to test my 6-year-old son for ADD and have my 4-year-old daughter evaluated for Asperger’s syndrome. As a mama, it is hard to hear those things. But,we are pressing in and asking the Lord to show us how HE sees our children. It’s nice to hear someone from the author, someone from the “other side of the picture” comment on how being super successful in academics at an early age does not necessarily mean you will have a perfect and easy time of life! I consider your blog today another word of reassurance from the Father, so thank you!
‘Gift without grit is a dang waste’..
I pray everyday that God will give me passion and follow thru equal to a huge task I’m currently undertaking. I like your wording much better…:))
Lisa
Thank you sweet Beth. You are a good girlfriend who “spurs us on toward good works”!
Oh Beth I sit with tears in my eyes as I reflect on how badly I wanted a gifted child. Instead, in His infinite wisdom, God blessed me with a disabled child that would serve to empty my cup of every drop of pride and arrogance. His theme throughout it all…”Serve your daughter as I have served you. This is my call for you.”
Thank you for your precious insight. May we all humbly serve the King with the talents He has given.
In Him,
Nancy
I am sharing this one with my gifted photographer son. Thanks Beth.
Blessings,
Dana
Thank you so much for those encouraging words this morning. Especially when thought of in regards to my children (or even myself–a full-time stay at home homeschooling mom).
P.S. PLEASE come to NC this year!!!!! (Charlotte, NC really needs you 🙂
Thank you for this post. As someone who has lived most of her life doing things to be “seen”, your words are greatly appreciated!
Beth,
I can’t tell you how much this post has spoken to me. Thank you Thank you!
Perfectionism is probably my greatest enemy…as it has sucked the life out of my mother, mother’s mother…and has greatly attempted to suck it out of mine. I have fought and fought becuase it is so ingrained in me, yet it feels so slithering icky and wrong. What the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me is that this whole perfectionism thing can be nixed by a whole new mindset – Romans 12:2. The hardest thing for me has been HOW????
((I just spent 30 minutes thinking this thing through and God gave me an AHH HA Holy Spirit moment.. and the answers I needed. PRAISE GOD!!!))
Oh love you so much, Beth. I pray that you have a terrific day – one of peace, brilliant joy, and some good time with your loved ones!
I am coming to Houston next week for the Four Square Church Annual Convention, Downtown. Any chance there is a Starbucks you might visit down there??? 🙂
ONLY 3 MORE MONTHS UNTIL SIESTA FIESTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BLESS YOU ALL,
kate
Oh, Beth, thank you sweet sister for sharing God’s heart…
And a shout out to the Noisy Boise. {My parent live in Boise, but are visiting this weekend in Tulsa}
Have a great week sis,
love you
Brenda
Amen.
I thought I’d post a link to the article online:
http://www.more.com/lifestyle/memoirs/my-so-called-genius/
Beth, thank you for being willing to speak when spoken to. From the other posts I read and for myself, this is definitely a much-needed and appropriate message. So many times we view success/greatness through the lens of this world and this society. If only we could see, I mean really ‘see’, what greatness really is, through God’s lens. And we can, in His Word. Those stories of great people in the Bible are not just stories, they are truth. and not just truth in thier lives. God desires to do great things in our lives. Those stories are a “Look at what I can do when you choose to obey, when you choose Me above all else,” from God. He anxiously awaits our total surrender to Him, and He will give us the desire of our heart, HIM!!
Thanks, Rebecca
“I’m already great enough for both of us”… beautiful.
It is wonderful to hear that people have such joy and have fun. Thank you for reminding us of that point, as well as serve God in all area’s of our life. He is the only reason we are here.
bi h brenda
Miss Beth, I stayed too and never do. I was having a hard time though. I started feeling for the first time in my life at your conference and was in pain. I wanted to get home and find a counselor, before I shut down again. I’ve been like shaking the last few days all the time the pain is just sooo intense.
Oh, I just love being loved on by my Heavenly Father!!!! I can just hear Him gently and lovingly speaking these words to me.
You have no idea how much I needed this. Thank you, Mrs. Beth.
P.S. Yesterday my 9th-12th grade Sunday School girls told me that you are “trendy and cool”. 🙂
-Sunni
Your post reminded me of something my dad (who’s a preacher) said about you the first time I pulled up an audio clip from one of your 30 min spots on the website and let him listen to you. He said, “boy, I didn’t know she was so preachy.” Consider it a compliment. And keep “preachin'” it.
Don’t even get me started about the time my daughter came in the room and asked me why you were yelling as I listened to one of your audio clips. Or the time back in ’98 or so when I was at my first “Beth” event at a church in Birmingham, AL. I overheard a couple of sweet little older ladies in the bathroom great the services were going and how anointed you were. The conversation ended with one of the ladies saying, “I think she’s got the baptism of the holy spirit.” Being brought up Assembly of God and then switching to Southern Baptist when I married, I just smiled and laughed to myself. You’ve got it alright.
Boy did I need my heart to hear that…not just for me, but for how I’m teaching my kids to be too. I finally realized not too long ago that I was wishing for the experiences in life and the relationship with God that others had. I realized that I can have that kind of overwhelming joy too, but I have to be willing to give God control. So I prayed for a change of command(that’s what they call it in the navy when a new captain takes over a ship). What a relief it is to let God do his thing in my life, knowing it’s not going to get messed up or fall short. Whatever I have, I want him to use.
-Rachel
Beth,
I feel as though this blog (and that article) was written just for me. My 4.5 year old son is extremely bright; he was given an IQ test last Tuesday and we got the results a mere 5 days ago… he has an IQ of 143, which puts him in the 99th percentile among 4 year olds. It’s wonderful to know that, yet I’ve had on my heart a bit of heaviness. I want him to remain challenged in school and for him to exceed and to know he is gifted. But most importantly, I want him to know his efforts are for the Lord. I told him that God has given him the ability to learn a lot and learn quickly, and that he needs to work hard. I also reminded him that he can be whatever he wants to be when he grows up, whether it is a doctor, baseball player, missionary, etc.
There is that fine line of encouraging him, in the Lord, for greatness while not crossing the line by always expecting greatness or perfection.
Oh, the joys and struggles of parenthood. God is good and we cannot perfect His plan for our lives. I’m excited to see my son exceed in school, but so much more excited to see his knowledge of and passion for the Lord take root and consume him. 🙂
Blessings to you and LPM,
Joy
Dear Ms. Beth,
I just needed so desperately to thank you for coming to Boise this weekend. About two years ago, I attended one of your conferences in Utah. It was amazing. What was so amazing is that God clearly spoke to me and moved me. Two weeks prior to your conference in Utah, I went to a cousin’s wedding. When she got up to dance with her Father during the reception, I had to turn away because I was so upset at what could never be for me. My Father was a lifelong violent criminal, my stepfather sexually abused me and later killed himself. On the plane ride back home from the wedding, I was looking over the rocky terrain below me and the old hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand†was playing in my mind. At the time I thought it was very weird because I hadn’t heard that hymn in years. Then two weeks later I found myself in Utah at your conference. Your message was wonderful and was about how God’s love was immeasurable. At the end of the message, you were speaking to us and you said, “He wants to dance with youâ€. Immediately I remembered seeing my cousin dancing with her Father two weeks prior and I pictured God and me dancing instead. My eyes filled with tears as Travis and the worship team sang “In Christ Aloneâ€. I was standing just taking it all in when the song transitioned into “On Christ the solid rock I standâ€. You can believe that I was trembling with the awesome realization that my God had prepared me for the weeks prior to your conference. I have never in my life felt so moved and so loved. It was an amazing experience.
In the two years since, I had some rough times and began to doubt my faith. Whenever I would get really down that song would play in my head and I would remember how undeniably God met with me that weekend. A few months ago I was talking to my Mom about the experience and she wanted so badly to see you speak. I looked on the internet and saw that coincidentally (Ha!), you were coming to Boise this May. We immediately got tickets and we were overjoyed to see you this weekend. This message was equally as special to me. For years I have felt like I was “going out of my mind†because of all of the hurts of my past. I’ve been so afraid that I was going to repeat the history of my childhood in my adult life. Also, I’ve been asking God why he let so many terrible things happen to me as a child. You’re message this weekend was exactly what I needed. Again I felt like God held this whole conference just for me and I am amazingly overwhelmed by his love and goodness. Thank you for taking the time to come and for doing what you do. I am so excited to one day become a Paul and find out my purpose in Christ. Ever since I saw you, I’ve been fanning that flame…big time! I’m sure you touched a lot of ladies lives this weekend, but for me, you reunited me with my Lord. One day I will see you in heaven and tell you about the purpose that God worked in my life.
Your sister,
Candace
If this is posted twice..I’m sorry….
I am one of the blessed ones in Boise. When I registered for the conference in June of 2007, I was so excited and could hardly stay in my skin. I had this deep sense that God was going to come like a fire into “Treasure Valley”, and that He was going to be unstoppable. Just like the wildfires that we experience here in dry seasons. That is what I have prayed for during the year of anticipation.
I can not describe how my jaw dropped when the message for the weekend was announced. I am still stunned, boy did HE ever come through, my head is still spinning. I totally echo with my siestas from Boise…it will take weeks to digest.
We will keep fanning the flame, we will stay in His Word, we will love Him forever! How else can we possibly respond to such and incredibly wild and amazing, “take your breath away” kind of God?
/ Ann-Christine in Meridian
This message on the heals of my 8 yr old daughter receiving the highest GPA award for the 2nd grade. They start indoctrinating so early, don’t they? And it broke my heart when my daughter said there was a little girl in 1st grade that was crying because she didn’t receive any awards. I’m thankful God has shown me that perfectionism is not for us, but for Him alone. And the glory belongs to Him alone. I remind my children that we have the intelligence, the gifts and the talent because God created us all uniquely and we are to give Him all the praise, honor and glory for all of it. May we remind ourselves of the lessons we attempt to teach our children.
I love the Word you shared with us! To be honest anytime I have followed God I have been mistreated badly. Some family members quit talking to me and that was hard to work through and it took lots of prayer! I so enjoyed that you wrote we don’t have to do the things in life for others to approve of but to bring glory to God! That’s it. My sons are in the season of their lives where they are trying to figure out what they want to do in their lives. Their father and others keep giving them the advice to pursue some field where they reap a lot of money. I have drilled in their heads that they need to pray and ask God what His will and direction is for their lives and do it. I have told them that if they are in God’s will they are successful, not by their income because that can disappear quickly, but because they are doing what God called them to do. That is success and brings glory to God. Sometimes when we walk in God’s calling on our lives we will not have the approval of man but that is okay.
Also, I am glad you had time with Travis and the Lifeway teams. You all need that. You all work so hard and it’s fun to get a chance to play every now and then!!
Have a great Monday.
Love,
Patty
Thank you.
Thank you! I needed that today…
I have been so weary and overwhelmed by life lately… with four kids (three of them teenagers (goodness just the culture they are facing) one just driving, end of school activities, class parties, recitals, lacrosse and sports banquets, summer camp forms, my house is a wreck, I could go on and on …)
Been feeling so guilty about being overwhelmed! I needed that to help me refocus! I just need you Jesus!
I too am one of the 5,000 noisy Boise girlfriends … Beth, I have all these WORDS from God rolling around in my heart, soul and head … God Himself woke me up in the wee hours of the morning as a reminder! Thank you and thank you! Please consider returning to Boise soon!! My FOO and FOF have had wide-angles .. and I never considered God would use my misery to my ministry all for His glory. Yet, in studying, reading and praying and asking God “I need your Word and I need You” …He has begun to show me! Thank you. I was considering stepping out of the mentoring mom role but this weekend God clearly said NO! I just couldn’t hear it but in the NOISY BOISE arena I heard it clearly, thank you for teaching the Words God put into your heart and mind! I had to hear that gift without grit is a dang waste. I am a transplanted TXN (have been one now for 25+ years!) … and all Gods’ girls said AMEN!
Beth,
Thank you for getting out of the “belt” and coming to the great State of Idaho! Thank you for being obedient to the Lord and speaking the words God wanted us in Boise to hear.
As others have mentioned my head is still spinning from all that you shared. But God used you mightly in my life and confimed in me that a Sabbath rest is needed and the reason our flames are going out is because we are exhasted! And that it’s okay to not think we have to do everything, especially in the church. Thank you for reminding us to do a couple of things for the glory of God.
The commissioning service at the end was so special because I repeated those special words to my beautiful daughter. We were both bawling. It was a great time to spend that weekend with her.
Special thanks to the worship team for the awesome music.
Blessings,
Devonne
Thanks Beth. The part about knowing what to do with your giftings… Much of a “kick in the pants” that I have needed lately. Exhortation is a good thing… very good.
I am going to have to come back and read this post. Thank you for sharing with us the insight you gained from this article. What a blessing you are.
I am reading these comments…I love them and I am burdened too.
Shellie Paparazzo-hold on tight to Him and don’t let go! HOLD ON TIGHT and SATURATE YOURSELF WITH HIS WORD! He’s healing you. I feel for you-it’s going to be okay. He will save the day, He will save your very life!
Candace-I don’t really know what to say, I understand exactly what you are talking about. It’s a relief to really know I am not alone. He does love us and that makes me want to cry out of happiness:) He will restore us to wholeness.
Jennyhope-Praise the LORD! HE provides! That is a God thing if I’ve ever seen it:)
((HUGS)) to you all. Love,
katiegfromtennessee
This is a topic that I have been struggling with for quite a while. I have gotten so focused on reaching my goals and being a success. It has almost become an obsession. Thanks for your insight.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! As always, reading your posts are such a blessing! I have never even met you or talked to you but yet feel you are such a spiritual mother and at times sister in Christ!
May He richly bless you always!
Dear Beth –
Thank you for your words of encouragement. And for loving us…
Much love,
Sharon, NC
One of the reasons I’m an avid reader of your blog. You can go from a “redneck” ice cream scooper one day to a profoundly moving, humbling and though-provoking post the next.
I am so grateful for your minstry, wisdom and willingness to serve. Thank you so much for the “reality check” in this post.
Lisa
Thank you. I need to read this post again to allow what you said to sink in more. I really really struggle with this probably more than anything else, to the point of being paralyzed. I often walk around with a constant self loathing attitude, inwardly of course, because I’m not perfect. I’ve read books. I’ve prayed. I’ve had moments of relief. But it is a daily battle. When I was a child, I had a joy and freedom and tenacity. As I’ve grown up, I realize that life isn’t so joyous all the time. It is full of decisions, heartache and frustration. I so want to just be free again.
This post encouraged my heart today. So much is going on in the lives of my young adult/teen children around this very thing-pursuing your interests-fear of failure-what makes their life a success-feeling like you have to be “perfect”. I feel overwhelmed in trying to help them navigate the murky waters of life after college; life after high school; just life choices in general. Thanks Beth, for the words to what I hope to convey to them.
profound. thank you.
Just to echo John the Baptist here, “He (Jesus) must become greater, I must become less.”
— “Every one of us who embraces the glory of God as our lofty purpose for living will end up doing great things precisely because we end up doing God-things.”
What a pleasant thought…to be embracing the glory of God AND to be doing God-things.
Without Him it’ll be like “chasing the wind”.
Thank you for sharing…lots to ponder on. Now you got me thinkin’. 🙂
Blessings.
Awesome Beth…once again Jesus speaks to us through you. Thank you for being a willing and open vessel.
I have struggled with perfectionism for years….and years….I am 62. Mine went to OCD all to try and prove myself worthy to everyone and I do mean everyone. I was never quite good enough when growing up….you know you got an A- but you could have had an A or an A+. If I did a household chore, I could have done it a little better. So of course I tried to do it better and better and better. This obsession has kept me from risking life because if you don’t get it right, why try it? If I can’t do it perfect then I won’t try it.
Praise God he got ahold of me a few years ago and really started to work on that facet of my life. I have come a long way, but have a long way to go. It did finally dawn on me there is NO perfection until I see Jesus. It is a daily walk, one flesh dying session at a time. HE is so wonderful….never takes us there until HE has already prepared us to some extent.
I wish I had a nickel, well maybe a quarter for everytime HE speaks to me and says, Georgia just try, it doesn’t have to be perfect….I will lead you, just be my open vessel. So I am. At least I am most of the time..:)
Thanks again Beth, for your openness and your Godly wisdom. You are the best.
If your team ever want to really get away…come to Traverse City, MI….God’s country. Beautiful blue water and gorgeous rolling green hills. We love you here….
Sisters in Him….
Blessings,
Georgia in MI
My heart is overwhelmed after reading your post. I almost can’t put into words what’s in my heart except that I was encouraged. God sees even the smallest detail of what we try to do to serve Him. I am exhausted after a 3 day 12+ hour a day work weekend on a busy oncology unit. Discouraged because I feel that I can’t do enough. Jesus can work in any situation and that brings my focus back in the right place. He gave me grace so I can thank Him for what He is doing. Thank you so much for sharing those insights!!! God used you in sharing an articles from a magazine! How cool is that! In Jesus’ Love Kathy Knoblock
Dear Beth:
I too was among the noisy Boiseans, and I came away so blessed by the worship and your teaching. As I wrote on my own blog, you unpacked a lot out of 14 verses, and God spoke to my heart in several ways.
My love affair with the written Word of God began the moment I accepted Christ over 30 years ago. I am always hungry to hear and learn more. Your teaching on Friday and Saturday made for a great meal!
Thank you for your obedience to Christ.
In the grip of His grace,
Robin Lee Hatcher
God’s been trying to get this through my head for awhile now. Praise His Name, He gave me ears to hear! By His grace may I live it well.