Good Tuesday morning, Dear Siestas!
I pray your week is off to a great start! Mine started with a powerful sermon by my pastor, Gregg Matte, and an equally fabulous worship service on Sunday next to some of the people I love most in the world. Like numbers of you, I’ve been in the same congregation for many years and have deep investments in relationships there. Within six or seven rows of where we usually sit, I have dear friends from kindergarten to their seventies (yes, in our contemporary service). I’ve known many of the adolescents all their lives and have watched some of the young couples grow up, fall in love and get married. In fact, I stood with a few of them. My church is a wealth to me. I had the privilege of praying with one of my close 8 year-old friends at the altar on Sunday whose granddaddy is in the hospital and has her scared half to death. There’s just no way I can tell you what those moments mean to me.
I’m an early riser by habit but I was dead to the world Sunday morning and way overslept the clock. I got up rubbing my eyes and said to Keith, “Blast it, I’m up too late to get ready for church.” He very uncharacteristically said, “You can make it!” and I got ready in a record 45 minutes. (Keith does not have a churchy background and is not very churchy by routine. He is often very amused if I play hooky then act guilty about it all day. He’ll think of things to bait me then laugh his head off when I fall for them.) I told him never to expect me to get ready that quickly again but I was so glad we went. It was a truly great service.
My man is one of the most unique people I’ve ever known. He’ll say absolutely ANYTHING which means he’s been known to hurt my feelings on (frequent) occasion…but then he sends me a text while I’m out of town with just one sentence: Come home to me. And I do. I love him so much. He also does really unique things. When I got home Saturday night, I saw this pile on the kitchen counter:
He saw me staring and said, “Oh, I cut the fringe off that fancy pillow on the couch.”
I’m sitting here speechless just as I was that night. But I am bent over laughing. That’s my man. He thinks an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.
OK, my other random thing is that I have a new travel case for my Bible and computer. I AM SO HAPPY! Perhaps you are not a traveler and do not understand the great importance of your carry on. It is your best friend on the road. It’s under pressure to meet all manner of requirement like fitting in the overhead and going under the seat and rolling down an Express Jet aisle. It also has to be cooperative in the security line when you’re trying to pull your laptop in and out and put it on the conveyor belt. These are not small matters. It also has to fit the large box of Hot Tamales one of the guys from the production team gives me as a reward at the end of most conferences.
To tell you how challenging it is to find exactly the right bag, I have carried the same one for some 12 – shoot fire, maybe 14 – years. The handle is almost impossible to get up and down any more and it’s beat nearly to oblivion. I love it so much though. It’s been good to me. Loyal. I even feel a little guilty about the rest of this story.
Sabrina, my coworker, has tried so hard to get me a new one through the years but I always have a reason for rejecting this one or that one. About a month ago, Hawk and I were at the airport on the way to a conference when we spied a woman with the cutest powder blue bag I’d ever seen. It had never hit me that my bag could be useful AND darling. What was I thinking??? Anyway, we attacked her, got the information on the brand, and ORDERED THAT BABY. Rich and Ron from the LPL team have helped me haul that one black carry-on all over the United States for years. They were so shocked to see the new one, they were too frozen to even lift it in the car. “Whose is this??”
It’s mine! I just love it! And so far, through two trips, it’s passing all my flying tests. It’s a bit too wide for my taste but its cuteness is giving it the advantage at this point and is making it worth the trouble to turn side-ways down the aisle. I may get annoyed with that after a while. We’ll see how it goes.
My small group and I are loving our Ruth study so far! Like some of you, we are meeting each week with one another and every other week with the Siestas at large. The first week of homework is fantastic. Don’t you love it? If you’re doing a different study this summer, tell us what it is!
I cannot say enough about our St Louis group. They were absolutely incredible. God was so gracious to grant us a strong sense of His Presence. He is all we have to offer. All we have of value. So many Siestas were there! We tried hard to get the Siestas together at the end of it for a clandestine group picture but most of them didn’t see the slide we’d been slipping up on the screen during break times. I didn’t get to meet Sister Lynn and I was so ticked! I did, however, see her beautiful face out there. I also got to meet five of our other regulars who were so darling that I could hardly stand it.
Well, Siestas, I better get off of here and down stairs at LPM for lunch. We’re eating in today. You are on my mind every day. Just wanted to say hello!
Sorry, I meant Chae
We are doing Priscilla’s brand new study (hot off the press) “JONAH!” We start tonight. And, to add icing on top of the cake, I got a call from a woman who was at the St. Louis LPL and she was looking for a summer bible study to join. At the event, they handed out info with local St. Louis Bible studies on it. She got a copy and when she saw our Bible study she called the church to ask if she could come. Needless to say, I’m pumped! Looking forward to what God has in store for us this summer. Yippee!!
beth, i think i might love your keith stories the most. i grew up with a deer hunter dad in NJ (which I think is probably home to more strict vegans than hunters). we were the strange family who would occasionally have a buck carcass hanging from a tree in our backyard – hahaha. my husband, true to his NJ roots, would never kill a thing. but he reminds me of keith when you share stories like cutting the fancy pillow fringe. my husband is a lawyer for a company in princeton where the parking lot is full of luxury cars. even so, my husband buzzes (literally buzzzzzzzes) to work in my 1997 nissan altima from college: chipped paint, over 200,000 miles, an air-conditioner that chooses when to work (you get the picture). pretentious he is not, and i couldn’t love him more…
Ok I must ask, what was the pile on your kitchen counter? So enjoyed the randomness it is awesome to read. Love the part concerning the 8yr old and will keep her family in our prayers.
What Bible Study we are doing this summer. We start Thursday night with your study “Breaking Free” the revised version. Because I will be the one leading the discussion I have already started. It is awesome and I am so looking forward to sharing it with the ladies of my church. By the way who are named (H.elping women, E.xplore and E.xperience the L.oving S.avoir) H.E.E.L.S.
Have a great and blessed day.
Becky
Attalla,AL
Love love the name of your study group! I’ve been trying to think of one for ours, is your name copy righted or may we borrow it too? 🙂
It is not copy writed and never though of doing that. We are a new ministry at our church and so on far to lead and minister to other ladies in our community.
I have just purchased your Devotional Book “Believing God Day by Day and is it awesome! Today’s reading was so fitting since our daily reading is in the Psalter right now. It was “Shou to God with a jubilant cry, for the Lord Most High is awe-inspiring, a great King over all the earth. Psalms 47:1-2 I had some issues in my life that became crystal clear this past few months and with the help of many people praying for me and God’s wisdom I am able to praise Him for being there with me even though I was not in the center of His will at the time and unaware that He was protecting me guiding me all the way!
I will praise the Lord and King with all my being all the days of my life.
We are doing your study “Here and Now ~ There and Then” at FBC Arkadelphia. We have a good group of women and men. It’s very good, and Beth thank you for teaching it in a way that is not so scary and threatening!
WOW!!! You know that was my home church growing up! I am floored at the goodness of God. Please give them so much love for me. I learned that Jesus loved children like me right there in that church.
Erica,
So simple to know God loves us cuz God IS Love!! Everything you see, hear, touch, feel, etc. is created by God. Try reading the Bible just for 30 days in a row, the gospels would be a great place to start. Replace the word Love for every mention of God, Father, Jesus, etc., you get the picture. I know you will feel HIS LOVE for YOU well before the end of the 30 days. He will do amazing things through His Word if you will allow Him to “talk” to you. I know us Siestas will be praying for God to reveal His love for you in such a way you will have no doubt it is from Him alone. His will is for you to feel His love, know He loves every fiber of your being, wants you with Him eternally through your acceptance of His Son. When two or more gather and pray in His name His will to be done, He will do it!! Thanking Him now for the work He is doing in your life as you reach out to us in this community and seek to know His everlasting, genuine, abiding love for You, beloved daughter of the King!!
love you and praying for you.
btw: Beth, great random post, loved it!
Hi Erica,
I can tell you that I know exactly how you feel. It took me so long to grasp that God loves me, really loves me…and frankly, it’s a journey that only you can take with Him. All we can do is tell you how we found Him, and love you.
I can tell you that without God there are no moral absolutes in our world, and everything is chaos. I can tell you that without the love of Christ, the only truth in my world would be what other people, who are just like me, make up and tell me is truth. I willingly choose God’s way.
I can tell you that the Word of God is filled with instances, moments, and complete examples of a God who loves the world, but is forced away from it by sin (stay with me!). And I’m glad…I couldn’t love anything, even God, if He didn’t offer me the TRUE choice of deciding what I believed and wanted. Would it really be love if God didn’t allow us the right to choose him? Wouldn’t that just be…bondage?
He tried everything to get us. He created us, and there was no law given to man at that time. We can read how that turned out. He destroyed the earth through a flood…and left only Noah and his family, because man’s way always leads to destruction, hurt, pain and corruption. He gave us a little direction after the flood, and still we ended up building a tower in Babel to “give ourselves a name”. God’s is the only name that can save, change, create, destroy, etc…and yet, we seem to always want some credit. His is the Glory. His, and no one elses. That’s a very freeing statement, Erica. You don’t have anything to prove, sweet girl. God’s already done it. He’s it and thinks you are just the bomb!!
Then, He gave us the law, through Moses. And then it was more clear. We can’t do this…there must be something more. And there is, Erica. There’s the One and Only Son of God who willingly took the place that we rightfully deserve. He fulfilled every single law and commandment. We cannot pay for our sins. That, too, is outside of our control in every way. So, God Himself loved you so very much that He took your place and paid the price of your sin and mine. He, LITERALLY, took our place. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You have absolute unmerited favor with the God of the whole universe. …ok…crying…
Someone said to me once, “Can you imagine every sin you’ve ever committed being placed on you in the last five minutes of your life?” Sometimes, it’s almost crushing to imagine ONE of the sins I’ve committed, I can’t begin to think of all them, at once. And yet our sweet Jesus willingly took the burden of the whole world’s sin upon Himself, along with the punishment it richly deserved. And God was satisfied, because Christ is enough…and he’s the real deal! God said, “It is finished”. He didn’t do that for Himself, he did that for you. Personally. He knows you Erica…and faith is a choice. Believe…with all your heart.
Might I suggest you carefully read the book of John? It’s such a sweet book. See the Word from the perspective of God…not man. Have faith that Jesus is exactly who He says He is and then read. When you begin to “forget” who He is as you’re reading…remind yourself that the person being spit on, beaten, and made fun of (which is probably one of the hardest parts for me to read…I hate for people to make fun of others), is GOD. The person who saw Peter, John, James, etc…as disciples, also knew every single thing they’d ever done or would ever do. He knows you the same way…everything you’ve ever done and yet He’s still trying His best to call you to Him. You came here, so I know that’s true.
Those hands, that were nailed to the cross, are capable of the complete destruction of all we know. And yet, He CHOOSES to be a very present help and provide us with peace when our world is falling apart and He wants to rejoice with you when you find that joy he so wants to give you. He loves you very much. You can’t get what you need from anyone but Christ. He’s the only one who can provide it.
I’ll be praying and lifting you up, Erica. I’m so glad you commented and I hope you’ll stay around with us Siestas. We’ve got the coolest Siesta Mama around, and I just know she, and hers, will be praying for you, too! I’ve never experienced anything quite like our little community here. We’re nuts, in a completely good way. 🙂
With joy and love,
Kristi Walker
South Carolina
This community of believers continues to blow my mind! I absolutely love each of you. Be encouraged Erica and Rebecca, God loves you desperately!! I too, often rely on feelings…sometimes more often than I should. However, as my “feelings” change so much throughout the course of a day, I have learned to discern what is a GOD thing, and what is a “mood or feeling”. YOU WILL TOO! Continue to seek HIM. I called myself a Christian and truly thought I was one for the first 30 years of my life. The Lord became “real” to me as I literally would run and repeat the following: “Through you I can”, and “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you.” Many miles were logged making this desperate cry. Sure enough, my first Beth Moore study,(A woman’s heart, God’s dwelling place) God blasted my mind with HIS love….and I FINIALLY got it!!!! INCREDIBLE!!! HANG IN THERE….He is pursuing you! You are so loved!!
Katie, I just finished A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place. It was my first Beth Moore study (Beth we need your middle initial so we can just type B-M the BM doesn’t work alone 🙂 what an awesome study it opened my heart as well Katie. I finally got it after doing the same study, and feel so blessed that it was the first study God led me to.
Your new bag is precious! It totally fits you…and I agree you can be functional and adorable at the same time.
I have found a group of lovely ladies at a church who keep a Bible study going at all times. We are in the third week of The Inheritance. I am loving it!! It is definitely a divine appointment for me. God’s timing is so perfect…but isn’t it always?! Maybe our group will join in the SSBS 4 next summer.
Beth, Thank you Thank you Thank you for doing the Ruth study. God is so faithful to know just what I need when i need it. He knew i was loosing hope and faith because of a LONG circumstance i have been going thru. I did Session 2 day 1 this morning, and my hope in the Lord is so coming back. He will never leave us or forsake us.
Love your new bag. What brand is it? I just love bags. Have toooo many but would love one like that.
Beth dear,
You can’t know how encouraged and validated I feel knowing that you have to hustle to get ready in 45 minutes! That is a feat – I don’t know if I could do it. I often find myself dashing out the door to Sunday School – thankfully the church is 5 minutes away and the 3 and 4 year olds in my class tend to be late arrivers!
Erica, I don’t think I could tell you anything more profound than all these wonderful siestas have already but what keeps running through my head is something deeply felt:”Jesus Loves Me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. YES Jesus Loves Me, Yes Jesus Loves Me, Yes Jesus Loves ME. The Bible tells me so.” I hope you have been encouraged today and that this simple truth will wash over you. You are loved!
Rebecca
Chattanooga, TN
I was just “randomly” looking at stuff online today and came across your laptop tote! I found it on allbriefcases.com for all the ladies that were asking about it. That may not be where you purchased yours but I couldn’t resist letting you know that our thoughts, actions, “purchases”, etc….might not be so random at all.
I just love reading your blog even though I don’t get to look at it everyday. Most of the time I don’t leave a comment because I not very “tech” savvy.
I absolutely LOVE your Bible studies! I’m just finishing up the Esther study with a group of ladies at my church. So much of it has been relevant to me at this time in my life. I hope to start the summer study soon although I may be a little behind where you all are right now but that’s OK because God can use your words, and His Word, at anytime and any place we are in our walk with him.
Thank you to your wonderful Siestas, too! I glean so much from their thoughts. Keep it up, ladies!
Kay
Love the bag
Erica,
So much love pouring out to you from women you have never met is another example of how much God loves you. He has you engraved on the palm of His Hand says Isaiah 49:16. I recite this to myself when I am not “feeling the love” because it is TRUE! Keep searching Erica because He will be found by you in a very personal and intimate way, He promises!
I am doing the “Breaking Free” study at my church, very powerful so far. Just finished week three and I am excited to see what God will reveal to me as we move forward. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to all us seeking siestas!!!!!!!!
WHY would he cut the fringe off the fancy pillow????
LOVE the bag! 🙂
LOL I thought those exact same words, Marcella! My hubby is about as unpretentious as it gets, but I think I might snatch him up if he cut up our pillow. I’m a horrible decorator (just no eye for color coordination at all and shopping gives me a headache…my mom still like to dress me at 40!), so once I find something I like, it’s essentially there for life!
Beth, I commend you for your ability to laugh at your husband’s nerve! 🙂
Just an observation..when Beth asks us to take Erica’s question and run with it, I am so blown away with the responses. I have been busy for over 2 hours reading and writing scripture for myself too!
Women are beautiful!!
Joan
Hi Ms Beth,
Really wish i could do the Ruth study with you this summer. I’m doing the Bible Bee study with my daughter, and we’re also not letting up on homeschooling for now since we’ll be taking a long break at the end of the year to visit family in Singapore. She has to memorize 250 bible verses by August and do an inductive bible study every week day. The parents have their own bible study too. It’s been great spending time with her and digging into Colossians together.
Too funny what Mr. Moore did to the pillows, made my day! Thanks for sharing, even these little episodes.
Love ya.
Just checking by this morning to see if Erica had left any comments..we love you Erica – WELCOME to Siestaville!
Well, I am a summer late but I am doing the Me, Myself, and Lies study from last year. Yes, you got it I have had it for over a year and am now just really getting the chance to delve into it in the way it deserves. Last year we took a month long trip to my parents home. They are elderly and things were not as I had hoped. I spent the whole three weeks working my behind off. I worked so hard I lost over five pounds while I was there. That was the good part. This year my dear husband has interjected that I am not to kill myself on this vacation. So I am truely looking forward to a more restful and scrapbooking kind of vacation and my bible study definitely will be mostly completed when I return home. I have gotten a ton out of the study so far and am anxious to get on the road so that I can get more of it completed. I am hoping to get the Ruth Study and complete that next. Love to you all. And Beth, I love your new carry on. It is too stinkin’ cute!!!
Amen Mama Beth!!! Amen!
That bag is too cute! And I totally agree- a good bag is so hard to find!
I did the Ruth study earlier this year and really loved it. I am contemplating pulling it back out and going thru it a 2nd time with you guys…
Hey Beth! LOVE that bag!
I am doing “Having a Mary Spirit” by Joanna Weaver with 2 of my friends. Due to lack of summer child care at our church, we are having to meet at our gym and let the kids play in the child care there. Whatever works! (We all have young ones – ages 2 and under – and, let me tell you, we NEED some Mary spirit.) I wanted to share with you that in our recent reading, Joanna discussed how Satan puts sinful thoughts in our minds and we end up claiming them as our own and dwelling in them. Beth, for maybe the first time ever, I got good and MAD AT HIM. Now, you’ve been telling me about being mad at him for years, but somehow I just didn’t get it for myself. Today, I got it. I got good and ticked. No more letting him win! I am ready to fight the fight and stop being defeated by my thought life.
I love you, Beth!
Erica,
I know God loves because He made it clear in my self-destructive path that He wanted to pull me out. Time and time again He came to my literal rescue because, in truth, He never abandoned me NOTWITHSTANDING all the rotten, truly rotten, selfish choices I made in my ‘former life’. I cannot even begin to count the times that my self-inflicted habits could have carried me straight to an early death… but He never, NEVER gave up on me… oh! a Father this loving deserves nothing but my full devotion in return.
Mama Beth, I too would *LOVE* to know where you bought your travel bag! LOVE powder blue in bags!
Blessings to all the Siestas!!
mc
Hi Beth,
I got to meet Sister Lynn! In line the second day! She rocks 🙂 how crazy, I just sent you a letter this week with a picutre of her and her sisters with my friend and I. They were amazing women indeed! If you’re ever in Kansas City and want to say hi to her, let me know, I’d love to see her again.
Melissa
Ms. Beth, I still don’t understand? Why did Keith cut the fringe off your pillow? I acknowledge that it’s none of my business–but I am just so curious what that fringe must’ve done to him. Or, is he like my man and thought he was helping…in some way?
Great bag–I can actually picturing you walking pretty sassy through the airport with that powder blue bag. Work it, girl.
Hello girls!!
I’m wondering…when is Melissa going to publish Part 2 of her ‘Culture of Sorrow’ observations? It was such an ‘aha’ to recognize our tendency to ‘discuss reality’ in a way that makes everything seem so trying and difficult. (As she said, egads!)
Looking forward to exploring with siestaville the place of both joy and sorrow within a Christian worldview.
Thanks!
TD
She’s working on it! Thank you for your anticipation!
You know it strikes me as I read this comment about “aha” moments regarding our reality.
I chuckle now. My pastor whom I work for (who happens to be a cousin of mine) says to me one day, “What you focus on has the power to keep us in bondage?”
WHAT? I began to weigh that out. It’s so true. When my hubs and I went through the most trying season of our marriage, I asked God to give me sustaining word. His word, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)
I thought to myself okay. So when a new detail of our painful reality would unfold I would sit and rock and cry and say, “If this is truth it will set me free.”
One night as I wrote about this very occasion on my own blog a friend commented, “The truth will set you free, but remember, your painful reality is not the same truth that sets you free.”
AMEN? My take on it now is this: “God’s truth applied to my painful reality will set me free.” And, it totally has.
Blessings.
Hi Erica! I’m a day late in answering your post…but maybe you’ll find it!
I too have struggled with knowing that God loves me. Two truths come to mind which have helped me understand:
1. His love is not a feeling. It is fact. When I stopped looking for a feeling and began to look up Scriptures which tell me HE loves me, the question disappeared!
2. My pastor shared this statement w/ us…
Always remember how much God loves you. He told you so at the cross.
I hope this helps.
Little Monkey’s Mama
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the blue bag! I am a bag lady. Not that I don’t have a home and live out of a bag or anything! I just LOVE purses and tote bags and carry on bags and pretty brief cases and all sorts of bags! I am so envious I may have to pray about this in a moment!! But I’m happy for you…
And keep that man away from those pillows! Although, I’m not much for fringe on pillows either, so maybe he did a good thing.
Wait a pair of minutes here! You show us your pretty new bag (which I love!) and don’t tell us the brand or where to get it???? OK, I forgive you for the oversight….just be sure to share it! I want one!!!! Thanks for bringing us smiles always. Hugs.
beth! i love it when you post stuff like this on here 🙂 keith cracked me up! that is tooo funny! i love the blue bag… very cute 🙂
Thanks for all the study you do. My daughter and 1 daughter-in-law did the Esther study together, my husband had given me the study for my Bday last year it was good to share with them, then I gave it to my daughter-in-law that lives away to do. I just finished your Daniel study by myself, thanks so much.My daughter and I attended the SLI simlucast in April. This summer I am doing Sweeter than Chocolate Hebrews 11 By Pam Gillaspie, Last year I did her one on Psm.119. Thanks for your passion for The Word, I love it, I too want others to know God and His Word. My Husband and I are in the Gideons and we both teach SS. I teach 4th and 5th grade and we Have the HS youth in our home on Wed nights for study. I love your comment about your family on your blog. My family is very important to me. Grandkids are so much fun.I’m glad you share what you are doing with them. I just finished a book A Car Seat In My Convertible by Sharon Hoffman.Jude 24 & 25
Hey Beth –
just wanted to let you know that I believe there was an impartation of the Spirit left behind in St. Louis just as you hoped. One of the unions in Boeing met at the Chaifetz Arena on Sunday for a strike vote. The union officials recommended a strike but it was voted down and the new contract accepted! With the economy in the shape it’s in, I’m sure the employees felt it was better to stay employed than walk off the job.
Also, thank you so much for the most amazing LPL event I have ever attended. I am still absorbing all you taught and the praise music keeps going through my head, blessing me all over again. All I can say siestas, is that there is NO DOUBT your siesta mamma gives her ALL and then some!!! Bless you, the praise team and LPL!!! God used all of you in such an amazing way – St Louis is still glowing!!!
You encouraged me so much today, Cindy! May God continue to amaze you!
I love “an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure”! Amen to that! I agree wholeheartedly! I don’t even like to get fake nails! I love them on other ladies and I think they are beautiful on other ladies but I can’t bring myself to get them myself! I have tried and got them off as soon as I could! I like that carry-on case! It makes me wish I did travel to have an excuse to get one! I am enjoying the Ruth study as well. And God is showing Himself to me already in big ways….some are hard to swallow but I know it is from God and He is doing His work!
Beth, I love you and your family!
Sacha
Love the bag….reminds me of the old Samsonite luggage that my mom had (actually still has). Hers was bright pink, but my aunt’s was the blue!!
Love the new bag! We are doing “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things” in our Women’s Ministry Bible study this summer.
Well I saw the first picture and thought someone had shrimp for supper and that was a picture of the shrimp’s peels. I am sure I’m not the only one that gasped when I read what it was! Men don’t ya love “em. I love the new blue bag. It brings to mind and how I wish I was with my siesta’s so I could share my going through the airport security story with all of you. Every time I tell it I wish I had on depends. I promise if I am ever blessed to be able to attend a LPM event I will “go forward” and tell my story after the serious “go forwards” have had their turn. So Beth, when someone fills out a card that says I’m the lady with the going through airport security story you will know. Blessings to everyone, what a wonderful week with Ruth I’m having.
Oh, and to answer Beth’s question, I’m also in a Thursday morning home Bible Study group and we are learning to Live Beyond Ourselves with Beth’s study of the Fruit of the Spirit. We’ve added to the homework a memory verse each week from out of the workbook. This week’s is…I Cor 2:12 We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God that we may undersand what God has freely given us.” I Cor 2:12. Did I get it right?
Hi Erica,
If we were sitting down at Starbuck’s over a cup of coffee, I would ask you questions. Such as, have you talked to God about not feeling loved by Him? Have you told Him how sad and confused it makes you feel? What Scriptures have you read pertaining God’s love? What is it about God’s love that seems terrifying and confusing?
You may be thinking right now WHOA! THAT’S A LOT! BUT PLEASE STAY WITH ME! It’s hard to go by what we know versus how we feel. IT CAN BE VERY HARD! I will say that love is more than a feeling, it is a demonstration. For example, a husband demonstrating love for his wife by cooking dinner for her, because she’s ill. A wife demonstrating love for her husband by holding a bucket while he catches the fish. A daughter demonstrating love for her parents by cleaning the house. Sometimes, we will not feel it. It will be what is demonstrated. My question to you is, “How has God demonstrated His love for you?” Is that enough?
I have had to learn to wait on the Lord. It wasn’t easy, especially if you have God-given desires. It’s VERY HARD! You want to do it as soon as possible! LIKE RIGHT NOW! However, this has been a season of growth. It is so refreshing and so freeing to be honest with God. He already knows, but He wants us to come to Him. NO MATTER WHAT! No relationship can be sustained without talking to the person. NONE! I looked up Scriptures pertaining to waiting on Him. Waiting has become A LITTLE easier. It’s NEVER A CINCH! Daily talking to God and reading His Word has helped. If I still didn’t understand, I kept asking the Lord for help, keeping my mind and heart open. HE WILL ANSWER!
I say all of this to say that God loves talking to you, AND He loves listening to you. He loves conversation. I encourage you to be honest with God. Tell him about your confusion. Tell Him that you feel unloved by Him. Ask Him to show you in scripture about His love. In your Bible, there’s a concordance. Look up scriptures pertaining to God’s love. If you have a topical Bible, look up scriptures pertaining to God’s love. I’ll say to you in advance that, while you do this, you will have still have periods, where you feel unloved by God. IN FACT THOSE PERIODS MAY INTENSIFY! You’re first instinct will be to stop looking. BEEN THERE! PLEASE keep looking, keep digging, keep your mind and heart open. God will show you. Keep talking to God. When God shows you, give him praise. God loves you very much!
Beth you are too cute!! I LOVE the bag, well I love all kinds of bags, but this one is really cute and functional!
I also want to say thank you for how real you are with us! Not many people admit to their “normalcy” and it is so refreshing. My hope is that my relationship with my boyfriend is as cute as yours and Keiths! I know it takes work, but Siesta Mama, you give me so much hope!!! Thank you!
Just had to share. If anyone is on day 1 week 2 of the bible study and wasn’t sure if God was listening He is. I had the lifeway VBS music dvd in the tv while I was doing my homework. The song I have to lead is the song “God Cares”. Not really paying attendion until half way through that day and realized God was speaking through that song. Naomi was thinking God didn’t care and here is this song written who knows how long ago and at this moment I am sitting here doing this study and this powerful song “God Cares” comes on. Powerful! God is sooo bigger than any of our fears and has moments planned out for us way in advance any struggle we are going through. Be encouraged!
Denise, don’t you just love it when God does something so unexpected and so personal?! He is so creative in the ways He speaks to us.
I love your new bag and totally understand it’s importance! And since we are almost totally women I will venture to say one of the only other things to bring such a feeling of security is new underwear. New socks are great too, but nothing compares to a new pair of well fitting panties and a good bra.
ha ha ha Dixie! Thank you for the reminder!
Oh heavens, can you give me the brand/maker of the carryon! I have been looking for one and this could be it!!
[email protected]
Linda Matsko
Erica, How do I know God loves me? That is an honest question. I think I relate Gods love for me by being faithful in keeping his promises for me,for all believers.His promises don’t change,his promises aren’t selective to a certain group. God says he never leaves me or forsakes me. I have had friends leave me-through marriage,job transfers,changes in church. But God has been my constant friend. My mom and sister died from cancer.That in itself is horrible,but God says Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted. I have felt God’s peace over the years because of the cross. He died so that they,and myself may live with Him. God promises to always be with me,and not be afraid.Having a panic attack,driving on the freeway,God was there,I was able to drive home,and not hurt anyone during that time of anxiety. God’s love is individual because He created each one of us differently. “Seek me and you will find me”. Open your heart to God’s love,don’t be afraid of it.It is there, it is honest it is victorious!
Beth,I am in week 4 of the Daniel study.We finished our discussion about the 4 in the furnace. God has refined my faith by putting me through the fire. He has been loyal companion to me.I am determined to be loyal to the Lord of Lords,and King of Kings. I have been brought down through pride,and I apreciate your honesty in opening up to us who listened to your experience. I choose to learn….and know that God continues to teach me! Thank you.
Erica:
Hosea 11:4 talks of God’s love for the people of Israel. He says that He loved and led them “with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” This amazing outpouring of love toward you through the women on this blog is amazing evidence to me that God is loving you! – through human kindness, with ties of love.
“Ask and you shall receive.” I think you just received a huge dose of His tender yet magnificent love for you. Be blessed!
I know God loves me because instead of giving me what I deserve, he gave me His son, Jesus, and if that wasn’t enough he gave me a group of people to do life with that totally rock my world! Not a one of them is perfect, but they all love Jesus and show me every day what it means to “Do that thang”!!!! I know He loves me cause I am never alone… He is always within my reach and He never gets tired of me… I know He loves me cause He gave me a way out of the dark, and without Him I would be nothing! Guess what? I know He loves you too, and so do I!
Can some Siesta help me out…I have signed up for getting comments sent to my email but for some reason I don’t get all of them…Just a few..How do I adjust my settings?
Thanks,
Stacie
I don’t get them all either….and I get Beth’s updated blog post a day or two after they are written.
Well what brand is it ? I want a carry on like that too!
I’m doing a study with Wendy Blight on Ephesians this summer. It’s great!
I always enjoy reading the posts here!