WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING FOR THIS SPECIAL REPORT: NORTH DAKOTA JUST REPORTED IN!!! ALL 50 STATES, GIRL FRIENDS! ALL 50 STATES! YAHOO-JAH!
(Siestas: Remember that your comments to this post are meant to FOLLOW your Tuesday gathering so that you can tell us a little bit about your time together. This will be our format for dialogue on our Tuesday Bible study days. Can’t wait to hear from you!)
Welcome to our first Tuesday Siesta Summer Bible Study! I hope so much you were able to view the video greeting I did for you because it has lots of information about our Siesta Summer Bible Study. Rough as it is, it comes with lots of love! I promised to put your instructions for your gatherings today in writing in case, as usual, I talked too fast for you to follow on video. You have only two assignments for your first meeting:
A. Please share what you perceive to be your biggest challenge toward walking victoriously with God this summer. House full of children? Heavy work load? Difficult season emotionally? Just had your heart broken? Just feel far from God? Whatever it may be, share it with your small group and take some time to pray for one another in your meeting today. Also, intercede accordingly toward your sister’s need for the duration of the study.
B. Turn to Jude 1:24,25 and read your summer Bible study memory verse-segment. (Oh, yes, you can memorize!!! You just have to learn how to make fun associations that make it memorable!) This is our only memory segment all summer so it’s very doable. Spend most of your gathering time thinking of ways as a small group to memorize it. Get creative! You can make up hand motions or actions to go with it – anything fun, clever, or meaningful to make it easier to memorize. If you think you did a really great or funny job with it, here’s what you do! Fine tune it over the next four or five days then video tape it with all your siestas in mind. Save it to your computer then email it to us using the following instructions:
1. Recording should be on a digital camera with a SD card.
2. With the SD card in your computer, go to www.senduit.com.
3. At the senduit web site click browse and select the video file name (note: file
cannot exceed 100MB).
4. Next (at the senduit web site) select the “Expire” option for 1 week.
5. Click “upload.”
6. When the file is finished uploading Senduit will give a location message and the option to email this information.
7. Select the email option and send to [email protected].
Remember, this will be Jude 1:24-25 (spoken or on power point) on tape with actions that help the viewer memorize it. The video can be no longer than two minutes in length but you probably won’t need nearly that much time anyway. Our LPM staff and I will judge all the entries and choose a Grand Prize Winner. The Grand Prize Winning video will be shown on our blog in two weeks for our second Siesta Bible Study gathering. In addition, the Grand Prize Winning Group (or individual) will receive a care-package that I will prepare personally and send to your location with about ten tons of love. I’m clapping right now like a five-year-old. I love contests!!! Surely we have a few competitors out there! Put that competitive spirit to good use and help your Siestas memorize some Scripture!
Y’all are so fun. Totally jazzed to be in the Word with you this summer. Have a blast with Jesus!
Our first study was off to a wonderful start! We enjoyed Melissa’s delicious recipe for Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas! Beings it is my daughters and myself I hate to admit I bought the Queso and Salsa . . . My husband said it was best enchiladas he has ever had . . .(he could not be left out of such a wonderful dish and will be enjoying Tuesdays nights to come!) We had such a blessed time together. This is such a fun way to study the precious word this summer!
God Bless you all!
The Drakes <><
Your video was precious, as are you. You are too funny and crazy. I feel like you’re one of my best girlfriends that I can crack up with. God is bringing us together, and I am so thankful.
Oh my GOODNESS!!! I just printed out the pages Lifeway offered (Thank you, Lifeway, you are so gracious in doing that!), and started day one today. Let me tell you, I am already doing a Bible study this summer, and was not planning on participating in this one. Then I started reading the first page. And kept going.
God is so good, Siestas! Who would have ever thought that me, singer in choir, mommy of four, wifey of one, would be serving false gods???? But I was (am) and did not realize it. I am praying for God’s supernatural strength for God to change me. It won’t be easy, but I know that with HIM, all things are possible! Praise God!
My biggest challenge this summer is a house full to overflowing with boys. Did I mention I’m the mommy of four? Ages 9, 8 and 5 year old twins. They are keeping me on my toes this summer! When we get bored, the fighting starts, so we are trying to keep busy!
Love to all, Siestas, may God richly bless you through His word this summer!!!
Wow! The enchiladas were fantastic! Luckily I didn’t have to cook them because it was at my house and we’re rotating duties. I was a little overwhelmed at the grocery list. We had a great mtg. 5 girls. 2 that found my name solo on the blog, 1 I invited and she brought a friend. Next week I cook. This is so much fun. I just can’t stop smiling.
We are a Dallas based group. About ten of us from 82 years of age(pray for her – she fell yesterday) to 27 years of age. Some are married, single, divorced. Some are moms and some are not. We had a great time last night! One of our ladies is moving to Portland, Oregon on July 10th. Is there a group in Portland that she could join? She is married with two kids and is in her late twenties. Joy lives up to her name and is in love with Jesus and art. Please email me if you would welcome my precious friend. My email is [email protected].
Thanks!
Hoping you had a lovely birthday!
Big hug to you!!
Anna
6 of our 7 met Tuesday for lunch at a local Mexican Restaurant (trying to keep with the fare). We are doing VBS at our church in the evenings this week so no way could we have dinner. We had a great time of fellowship.
Our biggest challenges this summer:
Change of Routine for summer (vacations etc)
Too many irons in the fire
Small children at home
Spouse difficulties
We challenged each other to be transparent and real with one another.
We were slayed by 2 Kings 17:33
And we can not wait to dig deeper in the Word….Love you siestas!!
Good morning Beth. Our group from Everett WA. had an amazing Time last night. We started with dinner..though I cheated and made my super easy chicken enchilada recipe! I did make the chile con queso and wow is that delicious. After dinner we watched your video message and boy were we inspired. We spent most of the next 2 hours comming up with ideas for a video of our own. So be watching for it! We love you and each of us shared how this summer study is an answer to our prayers. We want to stay out of the pit too!
silly question
but for those who made the butterfinger cake…
do you only put coke and egg white to the cake mix or do you also add the oil, water and eggs called for on the box?
I am cooking challenged sorry
Okay, so after the first meeting, I think all we have to report is…OUCH!!!! I guess I thought “No Other Gods” would be the equivalent of an Intro. Theology class, where we’d conclude each lesson feeling maybe a bit superior to rest of the world b/c our knowledge of the one true God. Anyone need a recipe for humble pie? This bible study is gonna hurt, isn’t it? We’ll stick it out cuz we just love that Jesus guy, but again I say unto thee…OUCH!
Sam*
we are a little ahead of you since we started before you made your big announcement, but i have to say the first couple of weeks were loved by the young women. it is hard to identify those gods and see them as such. but their eyes were opened. karen
We had an awesome time last night as we got together for our first meeting. Across the board our toughest challenge will be priorities and making sure spending time with God an on the bible study will stay at the top and not get dragged under schedules, friends, vacations, etc. We are so looking forward to doing this together and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for us.
First meeting was great! Thank God I have a bunch of single girls! We didn’t start til 10 last night…had my sister-in-law in from Germany and the kids were too excited to go down!! After the little ones were tucked in, we gathered together and watched your video!! So fun…all of us just love you and are so excited to be doing this with you and all of the Siestas!
So 3 out of the 5 of us consider managing our time/being disciplined as our biggest challenge this summer. Yea to Jesus for some small victories this morning!
Loving you all in SiestaLand!! 🙂
Well, I’m solo afterall because the young woman I was going to do the study with has decided she just isn’t ready for it. So I’m praying.
And boy… this is going to be one interesting summer. My biggest challege? Do I have to pick one? I spent the whole day yesterday thinking about it and I have to say that it would be my recurring doubt that God would actually want to walk with me. I know better, but sometimes I let it get the best of me, especially when life is in chaos.
Dear Beth: RE your comment this morning, yes the technology is amazing. What a blessing to be using it for God (we’re have a blessed time over on the Lifeway forums thread and have room for more ladies….).
Now my only problem is, trying to explain what a blog is, and how this whole thing is coming together…….!
We thoroughly enjoyed the enchiladas,chips, queso, and fresh salsa for dinner. My 83 yo father in love blessed our dinner and our study and then we headed to the lake for discussion and prayer. As you can see my English bulldog was part of the festivities including foot soaking! We figured that we have 72 years of friendship between us, that is alot of loving God and loving each other!
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbNWLVq3cMXLw
Gaila, Suzi, Ana, and April
Minneola, FL Sunset Siestas
BETH, you are too cute…
Let me rephrase that,
YOU ARE DARLIN !!!
M in the OC
Study is online for us. Start was pretty iffy. Hoping the ladies will get more motivated and focused once we start the study. Thanks Beth.
Opps, I think I posted my comments under the wrong heading which was the one about the books.
Anyway, I started this Bible Study last night (all by myself). I am going to see if a couple of my friends will join me. If not, I reckon I will join the LPM group.
I know this is going to be an awesome study and to tell the truth my toes have already been “stepped on”.
Love to all,
Bobbie
We meet last night for the first time, however b/c we havent seen each other all summer we kinda just caught up! I got to explain what the study was about and what we would be doing, we are excited! Most of our struggles we the same- keeping our lives surrendered to Christ in a busy busy life!
Thanks, bowling green, ky!
All of us made it to the first meeting (thank goodness-since there are only 2 of us) :)! We ate the enchiladas (delicious!!!) and our common trouble spot seems to be daily time and devotion to the Word.
We are so pumped to be a part of this!!!!
I “met” with an online forum of ladies doing the study “solo” yesterday. So far, over a hundred ladies have posted comments, so it’s a little overwhelming to get everyone straight. In any case, reading through their challenges helped highlight the real issues in my life (just like in a “real” Bible study). It’s also just so neat how God is using an internet Bible study to grow us…it’s just such a new concept to me…
I loved the video! Even though I am going solo, God is going to do a # on me. God knows exactly what I need when I need it.
I didn’t exactly know what to expect, but this is definetly going to be one for the ages and hopefully a lifetime!
Thanks again!
Lvoe you!
Amanda in SC
Flying solo here in NC. : )
My biggest challenge this summer is staying focused on what God wants me to do. Lots of distractions…kids, outings, summer activity. All boils down to lack of a regular schedule and busyness.
Sheri in NC
Ok, can I just tell you that God is truly up to something BIG here…
Down here in Sunny South Florida I had two good friends ask me to lead a Bible Study, we agreed to lead one together as a trio (each using our gifts for His glory), and were lead to the blog post about the Siesta Summer Bible Study. (Go God!)
We each prayed and asked God to show us who HE wanted us to invite, between the three of us we could have easily had 100+ women in the group, but that is NOT a small group, so we strategically prayed for the “women God wanted there” and we proceeded to invite the lady that cuts our kids hair, the school teacher we see in car line, and others that are “around” our normal network of peeps.
Our invitation list ended up being 27 women, all who WILL come at some point during the 5 weeks.
Last night 5 of us met 30 minutes BEFORE the group started at 7pm and sat in a circle with the list of 27 names on it. We held hands, bowed our heads, and asked God to break us so that we could be used by Him and for Him. We prayed for the women who would be there, we prayed for the women who wouldn’t be there, and we prayed that He would be in the middle of it.
We prayed for 30 minutes…tears streaming down our faces, full of humility that God would use us, (what was He thinking?), to do anything for Him…
It was absolutely AMAZING!!! We had the BEST discussion based off the question that you gave us, and it led into a whole dicussion on quiet time, how to have it, how long, where to start reading the Bible…etc.
It was real, it was honest, and it was incredible.
I can’t wait to see what God does through this series, what I can tell you is that already, in one night, 17 women have bonded, opened up, and shared our hearts for Him, and there was such an amazing spirit through it all.
Go God!
Go team at LPM…thanks for all you do!
Serving Him,
Melissa aka Mel’s World
PS – Sorry this is SO long, I just HAD to share with you!
OH…I totally forgot…the food was A-MA-ZING!!! Thanks for the great recipes, holy smokes was it good!
We’ve watched the Intro video and Praise God our books arrived today. We can’t wait to get started. Blessings to all.
We met last night with 7 out of our 10 ladies present. Great discussion and all are looking forward to what the Lord is going to show us over this summer!!
Cola., SC group
We started our study today (Wednesday). My two girlfriends & 11 kids in all!! We knew that we didn’t stand a chance of a scented candle or our feet propped on the couch for long. But we are determined to do this study. This is our season of life….
God bless you all!!
Donna Ott
Four DBU siestas met at lunch today (2 more to join next time) and thoroughly enjoyed the queso. Our student workers finished off the rest and begged for more. Awesome stuff, Melissa!
Like everyone else, we are seeing time and busy schedules as our enemy. We are praying for God to shine a spotlight on the idols in our lives and not let our pride get in the way. We had a sweet time of encouragement and prayer.
I’m looking forward to another wonderful study of God’s word and a terrific summer ahead….
Carla
Thank you for another opportunity to study God’s word together!
Checking in from Powder Springs,GA
4 of our 5 met last night. All of us are excited for the opportunity to try this new study format.
I owe Melissa a big apology…I had every intention of making her recipes. But my niece had a beautiful, 8lb.1oz. baby girl on Monday (Beth’s birthday) and I didn’t have time to prepare. So, I did the next best thing, I picked up Chicken Enchiladas, Cheese Dip, Chips & Salsa from the local Mexican restaurant.
We all agree our biggest challenge this summer will be self-discipline. Trying hard not to let each of our vacation plans get in the way of our study and meeting times. We are counting on the accountability of meeting
every two weeks to be a forced discipline.
Thanks again Beth for keeping us all out of a pit this summer. God does provide for all of our needs.
Last night turned into this morning, but the group went well. Our main concern that was hindering us, was provisional. We went over Jude 24-25, and it was glaringly apparent that the first part of the verse definitely needed to be memorized first: To Him Who is Able to keep you from falling.. Wow! We’ll see how it goes. Decided to watch “Wednesday’s with Beth” and you were just finshing up your series, “TheGod of all Comforts”. We finished our group time by just praying, ” Father, come get us!”
Love you- Thank you for a good word as usual!
Lisa in Kirkland, WA
Let’s see, Sunshine and I discussed via email and Stephanie and I met at my house- Sunshine had the idea to make a scrapbook page to help remember the verse.
We talked about our biggest challenges in our walks with God this summer. They were; letting fear, anger, bitterness etc. cloud what God is trying to show us, Having a hard time getting time to be in the Word and prayer with young kids and the busyness of life.
The first two verses from Jude especially hit home to me in terms of the struggle to be the Mom I want to be-
The idea that God says He will protect me from stumbling if I ask Him to daily and that we can stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy!!
Last night, was wonderful! I am in college, and never get to fellowship or study the Word with ladies from my home church. So, last night was just amazing! We had more ladies to show up than our leader expected. Plus, very few ladies (if any) left our study with out shedding a few tears in the lap of Jesus! I’m excited about the homework, and the next meeting!
Priscilla in Tennessee
We met pool side, as promised! I did not make chicken enchiladeas (sounded soo good!) But I did bring pieces of Butterfinger cake…oh my! We discussed the questions and are putting out heads together for a video!! Thank you, again, for the bible study, I am so glad to study the word of God!
Heather Smith in Visalia, CA
Hello siestas! I am happy to report that I have come up with the British version of Rotel. Yes, I know some of you Texans and southerners alike are probably tsk-tsk’ing in doubt, but let me tell you : the combination of Tesco’s (the equivalent of, oh.. Safeway? do y’all have SAfeways?) canned chopped tomatoes with “TescoValue” (cough) sliced canned green chilies from Essex. I tasted the outcome of this enchilada steeped with the flavors of the rolling English countryside with a bit of apprehension. But fret I shouldn’t have. it was delicious! thank you Melissa!!!
as to the question on the biggest challenge toward walking victoriously with God this summer: I think it will be my upcoming wedding to good ole Simon, my patient and unwavering strength through my years of falling into the deepest of pits and slow recovery. I’m about to marry in three months’ time and, well, it’s taking my time away from the walk I’ve so recently taken in following our Lord!
on a side note, I’m trying my dadgumest to tape myself via my digital camera, with an idea for memorizing Jude 24-25 and arrrggh! this camera machine has a mind of its own, I’m tellin’ ya!
I love you All Siestas! I feel sooo humbled and so privileged to be a part of this! I love you Siestamama Beth! Amanda, Melissa! you both are my girlz!!!
maria cristina
Joanna, Brittney C., Brittney D., and Courtney are pumped 🙂
Challanges:
routine, trusting in His timing, sharing our Faith without fear.
We’re still thinking of ideas for the verse 🙂
Hi there,
Wow, that intro was really something. I have come to rely on God to bring my “curriculum” in each study that comes my way and this is so very timely. Now I am asking God to help me get right to the bottom of every “idol” in my life. Thanks so much for letting us all be involved!!
My biggest struggle is finding the time to get apart with God, it could be those “idols” are way to much in the forefront!!
P.S. LOVE those flip-flops.
karen 🙂 🙂
I asked my ladies:
What do you want from God through this study?
-relief from guilt
-joy
-guidance
-desire to be with Him
-clarity
Then, I read Jude 24-25 to them. EVERY desire was addressed by God in those verses. God is up to something HUGE in our group!!
We met on our cell phones. My sister was on her lunch break and I took a break from my boys at home. Biggest challenges will be demands of family (did I say that they are demanding!)and fear of just about everything. We used to call these bondages but we like challenges better but hence we believe they are our soon to be called “idols”. It’s not pretty but there is freedom to come!
We both are loving the hand gesture idea to memorize scripture. I’m all over his keeping me from falling and with no fault….Our God is AWESOME!
The Glory Revealed CD has the song “To the Only God” by David Crowder and Shane and Shane it’s Jude 1:24,25 to music. I couldn’t find it on godtube but it is on youtube. It’s worth listening to…acoustic!
Thanks Beth…loving summer…loving summer bible study…loving summer bible study with my very dear sister and all the siestas!
Charlotte in Arlington, Texas
and
Theresa in Pace, Florida
My name is Carol from Pekin, IL. Laura, who is already signed up, and I are going to do the study together at Starbucks.
My fellow nog and I met Tues am. What a wonderful time we had. We ate black beans and rice til our tummys hurt and had a slice of the Butterfinger Cake.
This is so exciting, God is up to something.
Emily in Ocala, FL
I am so excited to be a part of this worldwide group!!! My biggest challenge is finding quiet time with the kids out of school, but I’ve already completed week one and it was awesome!
I’m going solo, so to keep in step with the small groups that are meeting, I decided to serve my family the recipe of choice on each Tuesday night. We thoroughly enjoyed the enchiladas -thanks, Melissa!
Beth,
God is soooo Good!!!! I checked in on this blog yesterday to say I would be going solo if I could get the book at our local Lifeway. Not only did I get the book, but got connected to a group of ladies to do the study with!!! Now if that’s not a God thing, I don’t know what is!!! I am so excited!!
In His Love!!
For all of our siestas who are doing their summer Bible study in the morning, I wanted to share a recipe with you. My son is learning to cook with me this summer, and this was an easy recipe he did this past weekend for Father’s Day Sunday breakfast.
Tropical Yogurt Parfaits (makes 4)
2 Cups custard-style vanilla yogurt
1 sm can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup crispy rice breakfast cereal, any brand (we used Bear Naked vanilla almond crunch granola)
1 sm can crushed pineapple
Put a couple of tablespoons of yogurt in the bottom of 4 juice glasses. Top with mandarin orange slices and a few spoonfuls each of crispy rice and crushed pineapple. Add more yogurt to fill up the glasses and top off with another layer of fruit and crispy rice.
(from Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-minute meals for kids)
Enjoy!
Michelle Bengtson
Well Sweet siesta Beth,
thank you thank you…our group is meeting via forums and we are all challenged by being disciplined in God’s word and spending time with Him…whoa did it just hit me on the head.
I know this next part is little off…but I am doing your bible study on Daniel…and well I must say I feel like my mind is going to explode…we are on chap. 8 this week for homework…but I am sticking it out and hanging in there…
I just love all you siestas…I live in the country so this is where I go to meet up with my “siestas”
Praying for all of you
love to you all
Tammy
We had the most fabulous time last night with our Bible Study. How wonderful it is to be with girlfriends you love and the entire night is dedicated to Jesus! Wow – too cool for words!!
Hats off to Melissa. She is our queen of cuisine. Can’t wait to see the next recipes. My mouth waters as I wait in anticipation.
Have a blessed week and thanks so much for bringing us all together to worship our King.
Marci
Met at noon-Tuesday.
Had enchiladas-Yum!
Discussed our struggles-feeling like a bad parent, new experiences, staying focused in today
So excited about this study-Thank you, Beth!!!
My mom and I had our first Siesta Summer Bible Study meeting today. We talked about what might keep us from walking victoriously with God this summer. And agreed that some of the things might be laziness and busyness. We also used sign language and motions that we made up to help us memorize the memory verse: Jude 1:24-25. 🙂
We had the Butterfinger Cake for Father’s Day dessert. It was so yummy.
Taylor in CA