Many of you were in attendance at FBC Woodstock, GA, back in January when Travis Cottrell recorded his new album, Jesus Saves Live. My mom and sister got to be there and had an incredible time. I’m so jealous I didn’t get to go, but I was just days away from having our baby girl! I’m excited to tell you that the CD became available today on iTunes and in Christian bookstores. Travis, we’re all so proud of you! And we can’t imagine our iPods without you!

*Update*
The workbooks are no longer on backorder and are currently being shipped.

Good morning, ladies! I want to make sure that no one missed Beth’s post that gave all the details about our Siesta Summer Bible Study. Here’s the link in case you missed it over the weekend.

If you’re having trouble finding the Me Myself & Lies workbook, our friends at LifeWay would like you to call 1-800-458-2772. They will help you get a book from a store near you or arrange to ship from a store. Basically, there are 10,000 books available right now, but they’re scattered across the country. LifeWay wanted to make sure all their 100+ stores were alerted to the fact that the Siestas were about to come looking for their books. So the stores ordered large numbers to have them on hand and that basically wiped out the stock at LifeWay’s headquarters. The reprint is supposed to arrive at the headquarters in a few days.

And that is probably much more of an explanation than y’all needed. I’ll stop now. Have a great Tuesday!

Hey, You Scripture Memory Buffs!

You girls are ON IT! I’ve been so proud of you all along but in the last month I have seen a significant resurge in commitment. Way to go! That’s exactly what it takes. I have heard testimony after testimony from Siestas about how God has been using your memory work. He’s sure used it in my life. I keep my spiral right by the gear shift in my car and try to say my verses over and over when I’m driving…if I’m not talking to one of my girls on my cell. One thing you do in Houston, Texas is DRIVE so it’s the perfect place for me to keep my spiral. The kitchen would be a waste for me. Then again, next to the coffee pot could work.

Scripture memory is the difference between day and night, isn’t it? The only person who could possibly think it couldn’t make all that much difference is somebody not doing it. The harvest is HUGE. Btw, did you see the short testimony/comment on the previous post from Siesta “Texatheart” who said she’d lost 52 pounds in the last seven months? She believes a significant part of the success God is giving her is Scripture memory. WOW! You never know how God will use His Word! One thing for sure: it never, ever, ever returns void.

Can you believe we are nearly to our halfway point? By the end of this month, we will have stockpiled 12 verses in our brains out of our 2009 commitment to 24! Here’s the cool part: really and truly, how many of us would have memorized 10 verses in the last five months without one another? We would have wanted to, but how many of us would really have done it if we didn’t have each other holding us accountable? That’s the Body of Christ at its best. We cheer each other on to the finish line.

I’ve chosen a portion of Psalm 112 NIV for this segment. Since I can’t decide between verses 1, 4, 7, and 8, I’m just going to bite the bullet and try to memorize the first eight verses over the next month. It’s my birthday month (I love birthdays) and sometimes it’s fun to do something special and particularly memorable to end one year and start another. I’m about to break my own loose rule about Siestas not committing to more than we can reasonably handle but, since God has given me a passion for the whole portion, I’m going to believe Him to give me the unction to memorize it. There’s an even better reason to post the whole segment: You’ll find so many rich verses in it that some of you who haven’t chosen a Scripture yet might grab one that resonates and go with it. Take particular notice of verse 7.

Like most women (and especially mothers, perhaps), I’ve always dealt with fears of varying intensity over something happening to – or with – one of my loved ones. I don’t deal with it all the time or even give way to it much of the time but there are nights when I can’t even go to sleep for imagining what could happen to someone I love. Most of that kind of thinking is our own natural human tendency but some of it is how the enemy preys on naturally selfish people who have finally come to love a handful of others more than themselves. When a wave of totally unfounded fear hits me, if I do not immediately check it, pray, or meditate on several of my memory verses, my heart will even begin race and butterflies will swarm in my stomach. All over something I made up!! I think part of it is being in the information loop of so much bad news with a full-time women’s ministry. For many of you, it may be reading one sad blog after another until catastrophe or loss seems to become the everyday norm instead of the extraordinary. The information age has placed our imaginations on steroids.

No matter what sets a woman up to live in fear, it is NOT the will of God for us to give way to vain imaginations and waste our valuable mental energies dreading all sorts of things that may – but probably won’t ever – happen. And, if they do, we’ll have the grace to handle them at the time but we don’t get the grace in advance to cover our fear and dread. We’re just out there on our own, wrestling made-up angels. It’s exhausting. SO, if you resonate with that, consider Psalm 112:7, Girlfriend.
OK, so here goes mine. Remember, I’m taking the whole month to memorize it.

Psalms 112:1-8 (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.

2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Note: from a New Testament or Covenant point of view, I think of wealth and riches in spiritual terms like 1 Cor. 1:4-9 describes.)

4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.

6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.

7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

Now, let’s hear yours! Name, city, verse and translation!

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me.