Hey, Sweet things!
It’s Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend and I’ve had a really full but good day. Not that great a week, really, but a mighty good day. God woke me up with a release this morning from something that has been pressing on my heart. I just sort of heard a “Stop it” from God so I decided to stop it. Anyway, I thought I’d end the work week up visiting with you guys a bit before we lock this place up for three days. I will probably say hi before the weekend is over but I’ll have to see how the unplanned festivities go. For now, it is pouring a deluge in South Texas so whatever we’re doing, it is decidedly not out doors. No telling what my two dogs have done to my house while I’ve been at work today. (Star, my Border Collie, has been keeping Geli, Keith’s bird dog, company lately when the really hot weather prevents Keith from taking her with him in his truck. I can’t bring both of them to work without mass pandemonium.)
Before I head to another topic, I want to tell you that you really knocked it out on that last post and I’m so proud of you. Way to tell a girl how she can know God loves her. I watched some real live ministry take place on that last post (and so many others before it). I believe in the ministry that takes place here. I couldn’t have fathomed it in advance but our gracious God has lurked here and so many other places on the web and I am so much the better off for it. You know, you guys are the only reason I’ve never done the Facebook thing. I’ve always wanted to. Are you kidding? What sanguine wouldn’t? But I thought I’d end up getting so distracted by it that I’d lose my vision here. I’m so blessed to be a part of you and, for now, you are one of my biggest serving priorities.
And that’s the reason why I need to stop and say something in protection of this precious, hardworking, sincere and tenderhearted community. We exist to encourage one another to know Jesus Christ as personal Savior and to follow hard after Him. We love big doses of healthy, good, clean fun. We love to laugh. We don’t mind having a good hard cry together. BUT, we can’t consistently be a ton more than that. We can’t replace face-to-face families to many people and certainly don’t exist to take the place of our local churches. Few of us are confused about that. Here’s why I’m bringing all this up. I don’t want you to start getting worn out here or start feeling like there’s such a heavy weight of responsibility that you can’t even bear to log in. I don’t want you feeling guilty or condemned because you couldn’t read every single person’s comment. None of us can. None of us can be anybody’s everything. Let me say that again:
None of us can be anybody’s everything.
To attempt it is to play Christ. To demand it is to expect somebody else play Christ. Minister here freely and freely feel ministered to. Freely give, freely receive, the Scriptures would tell us. But do not let this place become a burden or a form of bondage to you. I just can’t have that. I speak for most of us when I say that what I write here on these posts is to every single one of you, new and old. You do the same when you write general responses. When you or I get a chance to shout something out to someone in a comment, it is never because we found her worthier than anybody else. I don’t have favorites on here. I really don’t as much as we sometimes tease. You don’t either. I also don’t get to read every single comment. Neither does Melissa or Amanda. Neither do most of you. Please know that this community exists to bring you encouragement. Not to add to your insufferably long list of things to do nor, worse yet, to add to a feeling of insignificance. Lord, forbid it. All of you are so loved and welcomed here. I would be heartsick for anybody to get on this blog that was formed to build you up and feel torn down.
By all means, please let your Siestas know when you legitimately need prayer and edification or just a big fat hug. Ask your questions! (I LOVED Erica’s question!) Seek some solid insight! Get together on the side. That’s what this place is for. But I say this to anyone with an intense emotional issue (Believe me, I’ve been there and have sought sound Godly counsel and highly recommend it): please don’t demand more (and more and more) from this sincere community than most women on here can give. Please be careful not take advantage of my girls here in Siestaville. They’ll bend over backwards for you. Don’t put more on them than they can handle or expect of them what they can’t deliver. It is my responsibility to be protective of this community. With all my heart I pray that this will remain one of the very few places in many of our lives where we don’t have to feel guilty and like we’re not enough for people. Please, not here. I say that with love. And if your comments get posted on these entries, you’re probably not who I’m talking about. Let me say frankly that there is a reason why we moderate comments.
Ladies, as you minister on your own blogs and as you participate here, please keep in mind that people can play you. One way you’ll know is if they just keep on and on with it and no answer and no encouragement ever suffices. Sometimes you can just feel it in your gut. That doesn’t mean they don’t need love and prayer and attention. It just means you don’t need to get caught up in a loop. We aren’t meant to take the place of professional counselors.
I love you guys so much. God has placed the stewardship of this community in my hands. I’m the Mama here. And sometimes mamas have to lay some boundaries. This is for your protection.
OK, some of you may not be able to get past that but for those of you who can, this is the real reason why I got on here today. I don’t know why but I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandmother lately. Maybe it’s because I’m a grandmother now and I’ve seen some life come full circle. Whatever the reason, she’s been in my thoughts more than usual recently. My grandmother was widowed when my mom was just fourteen. Four years later, Mom met my Dad and fooled around and eloped with him. When they got back to town, my mother’s mom got revenge I suppose by moving right in with them. She didn’t move out until her mansion was ready in Heaven. I was sixteen years old at the time. Translation? She lived with my siblings and me all our young lives. And, boy, was she a character.
Her name was Minnie Ola Rountree. With a smirk on my face, 30 years ago I suggested to Keith that we name our first daughter after her but he didn’t go for it. Minnie Moore. Don’t you think that would have been darling? Anyway, to us she was “Nanny.” (Not our first child. My maternal grandmother.) She was born before the turn of the 20th Century and lived long enough to ride a horse-driven carriage to town and watch a man walk on the moon. She believed until the day she died that we had a party line (you young Siestas don’t even know what that is. It’s not direct dial to Party City) and would stand over us when we talked on the phone for more than five minutes and say, “Get off that phone! Someone’s probably needin’ an ambu-lance with you on there chewing the fat!”
There were eight of us in all and by the time Dad would let us get two phones in the house (on the same number, of course), Nanny decided if she couldn’t beat us, she’d join us. We’d be on one phone with our boyfriends and she’d be on the other just listening in. You’d walk through the kitchen and there she’d be, sipping on her perked coffee, tuning in like it was her business. Oh, man, she dearly loved gossip. Watched her “stories” on the black and white from noon til 3:00 and only President Kennedy better interrupt her and, even then, it better be good.
She’d been raised in the country and mostly by her big sister. Her second parent was cold in the grave before she was out of grade school. Once a tall, educated man happened through those parts and took a liking to her and married her before she could think better of it. I guess she loved him more than anything in her entire life. His name was Micajah Rountree. They had seven children together. And buried three of them. Under two and a half years-old. Can you even comprehend it? She told me once that every woman she knew with a large family had gone through the terrible agony of at least one loss. They couldn’t have imagined medical care like we have today. In the cemetery where she is buried, she is one of many moms laid to rest near the graves of infants. It’s almost too much to bear to see.
But they had many good times together, too. My grandfather was quite the catch, becoming a mighty fine lawyer and serving in State government. He probably would have been a man of means if not for the Great Depression. Family legends made him bigger than life to me and, even though I never knew him, I set out to be just like him, majoring in political science and minoring in English. God ended up having other plans but not before the man’s legacy had left his mark. I am told he never saw his left palm for a book in his hand. My mom was just like him. I am just like her. Amanda and Melissa are just like me. We live to read. We are so amused that Annabeth can’t put a book down. Rountree blood has trickled down five generations.
My grandmother was a smart woman but her formal education did not quite match her man’s. We moved that woman out of the country but we never moved the country out of that woman. And we are so glad. She used sayings that my siblings and I still employ on a continual basis. When we moved all the way from Arkansas to Houston, Texas (I was 15), her world split wide open. She’d never been to a city you could call a melting pot. She’d say, “Don’t them ferners beat all!” Ferners = someone born in a different country. Of course, what Amanda and I love best about Houston is that it’s such a glad mix of ferners but that’s our taste. Nanny didn’t quite know what to do with such a big world. She never understood that they were just as American as she was.
My favorite thing she ever said – and she said it CONSTANTLY – was this: “Some folks, you just can’t learn ’em nothin’.” (Please use a long “a” sound on the “can’t.” It’s more like “cain’t.”)
I don’t want to be one of them folks that you can’t learn nothin. I want to keep learning as long as I live. Don’t you?
Now that I’ve talked on this long, I might as well tell you what’s kind of had me down this week. For the last several months, we’ve been working on the up-dated version of “A Heart Like His.” (Do not even talk to me about my hair in that video. Believe it or not, I did not do that hair. Another story for another time. Anyway, I happen to really love who fixed that hair so I’m going to keep my mouth shut.) I’ve enjoyed being back in the study of the life of David so much. Scripture doesn’t get any wilder or richer or more applicable than 1st and 2nd Samuel. What’s gotten to me over the last few weeks is not what I said in the original written version (17 years ago!). It’s what I didn’t say. Lord have mercy, I had just come out of one of the worst trials of my entire life. I cannot even express the pain I’d been through or the defeat that had threatened to engulf me. But try as you might, you could not find a single hint of it. (My Nanny would say, “Narry a hint.”)
“Woman,” I said to myself as I was recently reading through the original version and updating it, “Where on earth is your testimony about the grace of God over your pitiful, messed up life? Huh? Huh?” At one point, I read such a down-played version of some misery that I’d been in that I wrote out in the margin, “Rewrite, you big liar!”
It wasn’t really a lie. But it didn’t even begin to measure my true estate. As I’ve read over some of the early writings, I can still see a woman who wasn’t sure she could yet be herself. Thank God, the Scriptures speak loudly and clearly and they’re all we really need. But most of us could use a teacher who owns up to her own struggles and own defeats. Most of us need to know we’re in this together. Way back when I originally wrote “A Heart Like His,” I think I was too close to the fresh graces of God to truly recognize them. I hear a crescendo after that in studies like “To Live is Christ” but, not coincidentally, I don’t hear the full throttle, volume 10 testimony of what God had done for me until “Breaking Free.” There’s an obvious reason for that.
For some reason that missing element broke my heart yesterday. I’d teared up over it several times as I edited “A Heart Like His” but finally yesterday I just got up from my desk, went face down on the floor and bawled my eyes out before God. “I am so, so sorry.”
Praise His Name, He really does grow us up in knowledge and in grace. He is so patient. So merciful. But just in case some of you have only done one of the earliest unrevised Bible studies and didn’t hear it as clearly as you should have, hear me clearly today: GOD IS THE ONLY REASON WHY I CAN HOLD MY HEAD UP LONG ENOUGH TO DRAW A BREATH. ANYTHING IN MY LIFE OF VALUE IS FROM HIM ALONE. HE IS MY DECENCY. HE IS MY ONLY HONOR. WITHOUT HIM, I’M A TOTAL WRECK. I DO NOT DESERVE TO BE IN MINISTRY. I DID NOT EARN IT. ALL THAT I HAVE TO OFFER IS HIM.
He’s it. Plain and simple. Gorgeous and complex.
Some folks, you just cain’t learn ’em nothin.’ And I don’t want to be one of them. Lord, protect me from myself.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18
Thank you for being so real…so real!
Thanks Beth for being so real, for our sakes. Thanks for caring so much about all of us here in Siestaville. You are the awesomest Mamma!
It has been a joy being able to share your life with you here on the blog. Thanks for letting us in 🙂
The Lord is all the good in all of us…I completely agree. There is no denying that here in my own life.
Thank you so much for the boundaries.
With Love and Respect,
Chae
Beth,
Thanks for being so candid and so protective of us. And yes you are right: GOD IS ALL HE SAYS HE IS AND BEYOND HIM I NEED NOTHING! Couldn’t have said that before BELIEVING GOD. I am so thankful for this blog and this community of women. But most of all I am eternally grateful to a God that created me, loves me (even when I’m not that loveable), and finds ways to use me with all the weaknesses and faults that I have. Thanks for showing me this.
Jan
Oh sweet girl!
I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn from a community like Siestaville and from a precious “Siesta Mamma”. Your honesty and realism is refreshing! The Siestas have been so gracious and encouraging on my pursuit of understanding god and this stuff. Thank you for just being who you are!
I loved the stories about your Nanny, I was very close to my Grandma too. Now that I am a Grandma myself I want to continue that heritage of influence my own Grandma had on me and extend it to my grandchildren.
A Heart Like His was the first study of yours that I did and I got so much out of it. Your Believing God study changed my way of walking with the Lord. Thank you sooo much for all that you do to reach women with the Word and also to teach us to get into the Word on our own. I so enjoy this blog community and was so excited to get to come to Houston in January and meet in person some of the women that I originally met on here.
God bless you richly!
A line from one of Travis Cottrell’s songs is ringing very true to this community…”I see depression replaced with joy and gladness and Satan’s lies now bowing to the TRUTH” 🙂
Yep! I love it! We’ve been dancing to that song a lot around here lately! Do it, Lord, do it–that Your Glory may be seen!
Ok Beth and all you other wonderful seistas,
It is so hard to comment, write, ask questions here. I am in tears. One of the things I believe is “I am invisible when I am not heard.” I even struggle with this in my prayer life. Where is God if I don’t hear from Him. Which then leads to How do you hear from God? Oh the cycle of deception. So leaving a reply I just have to say it and loose all expectation someone may answer. Jesus are you listening here? 🙂 I feel better now that I have just put it out there. Thanks for listening everyone.
He is listening indeed, Sweet Darcie! May He make His voice heard to you this day.
I can definitely relate. There is a wonderful song by Andrew Peterson called “The Silence of God”. It is always encouraging to me when I feel like I can’t hear him. You are absolutely not invisible. You are LOVED.
Oh precious Darcie,
I am new to the blog and don’t normally reply just read but your post brought me to tears and moved me to reach out to you.
Yes! Jesus is listening! He hears YOU! AND He always answers. It is not always the answer we want or in the time we think He should have, so we think He didn’t hear or care enough about us to bother, but siesta, that is one of Satans oldest and dearest lies!!!!! Sometimes we don’t even see the answer until much later on, but the answer is always one that works out to be for our best or those we are asking for.
How do you know? How do you recognize His work or see His hand in the midst of need? How do you trust it is Him? The answer to all these is faith. Here are some reading/teaching materials that have helped me in my struggle with these same questions. Read them and the suggested scriptures they have, for His word tells us; “seek and you will find”!
FINGERPRINTS OF GOD by Jennifer Rothschild
LOVING JESUS WITHOUT LIMITS SERIES by Shannon Ethridge (5 short books total)
CAPTIVATING by John and Stacie Eldridge
BREAKING FREE and LIVING FREE bible studies by Beth Moore
The more you read, the more you learn, the more you see His hand in the events of your life today, yesterday and in the days to come and that includes when where and how He hears and answers you!
Woot Woot! Thank you Kimberly for all of the study suggestions, I am as smug as a bug in God’s rug all wrapped up in the knowledge that I can stay in God’s Word through good Bible Study recommendations. Keep listing them Siesta’s I love the feeling of having another study just waiting to be started. Kimberly just gave me 4 more! Beth, thank you so very much for enabling us to study via cyberspace. I was beside myself when I discovered there are several of your studies online for when I need a voice or person to hear the Word between personal reading the word.
Just search Beth Moore Online Siestas. 🙂
Yanna: Here are 2 more studies that I have enjoyed so much, nearly every page has pink post-it notes flying out the edges.
Becoming Who God Intended: by, David Eckman
Deeper: by Debbie Alsdorf.
< Rebecca
‘He’s it. Plain and simple. Gorgeous and complex’! Beth you offer Him from the bottom of your heart! I love your ‘realness’ and the love you share–not only your love for God, but the love you have of your family.
I really enjoy hearing the stories about your parents and grandparents. They sound so much like mine, so many of the same ‘country sayings’ I heard all my life. No one could take the country out of my little Granny-she was a 5 ft(maybe a little less!)ball of fire with hair past her knees! She was absolutely crushed when the nursing home cut her hair to her shoulders. I remember as a young girl brushing her hair at night before going to bed! Everytime I think of your story about brushing the gentleman’s hair I think of my sweet,sweet Granny! Thanks for the memories!
Thank you, Beth for this post–it was timely for me! Happy 4th Siestas!
Beth,
“A Heart Like His” CHANGED MY LIFE!!! To me, it could not have spoken more perfectly to my heart and soul. Can’t imagine any way to improve it, but will look forward to doing the revised version. It’s one of the most obvious times that I can look back through the years and say “yes God really grew me spiritually through that study” and I will never forget it.
Thank you for Siestaville, it’s a great place to be a part of.
I to stuck in west texas in the rain! Days and days of rain – so rare for west texas! My grandmother died last year at 102. She left behind pages and pages of memories of her life and I’m spending the rainy week-end with family all around typing those pages to share with her many grandchildren and great grandchildren! God blessed us with Grandmas!
You are a blessing dear Beth. I picked the book “Get out of that Pit” yet again because I keep going back strangely when I am least aware. It’s ministering to met yet again.
My vicious cycle usually goes like: Free for 2-3 years (let my guard down) and back again into the pit. I wonder if God is tired but I am thankful Jesus died for my past present and future sins. I want to be free once and for all (is that even possible?.
On a brighter side, I laughed so hard about the story of the couple where the husband couldn’t stop yelling when the plane took off and went about his business afterwards.
Hard to imagine you can love someone you never met. And you are that person.
Myriam
Thank you for the dose of reality. I have only done your studies and see you live via satelite. I am pleased to see you are a real person with real emotion and problems like us all. Its refreshing to see that you give God the credit for your gifts. Thank you for having a site like this where we can see who you are and learn from you and others too. Have a Blessed weekend.
Hello Siestas, I just wanted to say thank u to everyone who wrote the encouraging posts to me on the last blog. I really do appreciate it. My real name is Dawn.
Hi Dawn
It is really nice to meet you. I hope you caught the last blog I sent to you from the other post. I am sure the books will start to help you heal. Have a good weekend….Rebecca
I will take a look. Thank u. I hope you are doing well and enjoying your 4th.
Sweet Beth,
I love how you just pour your heart out on here. “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place” was my first in- depth bible study and boy did I learn something! This was the beginning of an “addiction” for me to study His word. So, please know that God used you where you were at that time to touch my life and begin in me a desire to know Him like crazy! Blessings to you and your family for a great weekend.
Siesta’s: I have an urgent prayer request for a very very dear friend’s 15 year old daughter. She was diagnosed yesterday with Auto Immume Hepatits Type II. I had never heard of this particular one but it is life threatening and without treatment only 2-3 years. With treatment, she will have to be on chemo and other treatments the rest of her life and they do not know how long that might be.
Siests’s if any of you know anything about this, know of anyone who might, know of any resources plese please forward that to me. The family is researching in what time they can in between doctors and hospitals. We know this effects young girls between 12-14 usually, no cuase known. We know that God is the great Physician and He can direct them to the knowlege and resources they need.
God perforemd a miracle in this family over 30 years ago and we know He can do it again. 30+ years ago my dear friend was told she would not live 3-5 years…..she has raised five children and nine grandchildren. She is a miracle.
We know that God knows exactly what the future holds and what treatments will be given for this young girl who is a staright A student and wants to be a doctor. We know He knows excaclty what the family is feeling and we know He is thinking of them right this moment.
Thank you Siesta’s for praying and I love you all and this blog!
I have a friend who is a nutritionist. She is a strong Christian and believes that God has designed our bodies to heal, but they have more trouble healing if they aren’t fed the right stuff–or if they are fed too much of the wrong stuff. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer last year and given 2 weeks to live, but now, a year later, he is cancer-free and healthier than ever–through the healing power of Jesus and the ministry of his wife…helping him change his diet and helping him access some really powerful and effective dietary supplements. Anyway, I’m sure she would be glad to share her story with you and I’m thinking she would be able to point you to some very good resources that may help as well.
Her name is Janine, and you can reach her at betterlife (at) rose (dot) net
Praying for this precious young girl! May she know Jesus first-hand as Jehovah-Rapha…the Lord her God who heals!
Hi Siesta,
I was scanning the comments today and this one caught my eye. I am a physician and I saw the words autoimmune hepatitis. Briefly, here’s what I know:
This disease is caused by the immune system going haywire and attacking the liver. The distinction between type I and type II is made by what antibodies the patient is producing. In the case of type II, it is an antibody to liver/kidney microsomes, or anti-LKM. I add this technical stuff because it is something the doctors may mention and your friends may want to be familiar with. Also important are LFTs, or liver function tests, which are used to measure how badly the liver is damaged and how well it is making the things it is supposed to, things like proteins. If it goes untreated for too long, cirrhosis can develop.
This is not a cancer. Therapy for this disease is based on suppressing the immune system. If this doesn’t work, liver transplant is always an option, with very good outcomes.
I work at a hospital where we have a huge liver transplant service and tons of knowledgeable physicians who only see patients with liver disease and who see patients with this particular form of liver disease every day. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any more questions.
A good resource is http://www.mayoclinic.com. Type autoimmune hepatitis into the search box, and you should get some good resources.
We serve a big God. One of my favorite names for Him, which I use very often when I am praying, is Rapha, which means Healer. I will pray for your friend.
Thank you, Lori!
Thank you Lori! I will pass this on to my friends. God uses this blog in so many ways, I knew someone would have some information to offer to this family.
Jehovah Jireh – God who provides all!!! The Great Physician I lift up this family right now – give them the strength they need and provide the answers also. Let them see your fingerprints all over this!!!
Oh my! Thanks for your honesty. I can truly say that our Lord is the only reason I can hold my head up also. He is tenderly teaching me to trust HIM!
Well I’ll just tell you I’m terrible at comprehending what I read sometimes your talking to someone who missed 94% of the questions in the reading section on the act . Lord how mercy I can’t believe I just wrote that but it is what it is. I was better in PE and Music!!! But what I understood was that my mama has my back, to help others when I can and I make a vote (is that what you say) to… Let’s say every Tuesday morning we all pray for each other, we don’t have to know exactly what is going on but we can call out in agreement with one another that God will answer our prayers. The bible says were two or more together agree!!!! And we are definitely 2 or more!!!
I loved hearing about your grandma. I miss my Granny Rose!!! Do you ever wonder what there doing in heaven? I could tell you something but you probably won’t believe me but when I was graduating college I wanted my granny to be there so bad and I prayed all week for Jesus to please let her watch me graduate and the day of my graduation I was thinking well, now how will I know if she gets to watch me, so I prayed and said Jesus if my granny Rose will get to watch me graduate will you please let all the lights go out in the building during graduation. Okay so my class was fixing to walk in through the building and guess what???!!!! The lights went out it was dark as night. The band quit playing the speaker was like we are terribly sorry for this we can’t figure out what has happened. THe lights were out for 15 minutes. I wanted to scream I KNOW I KNOW MY GRANNY ROSE HAS MADE HER GRAND APPEARANCE!!!! I think I cried like I’m doing now and laughed! When it was all over my teacher pulled our class aside and said guys I am so sorry we have never had the lights go out during graduation and I raised my hand one more time and said I think I know and I told her just what I told you and she said give me five!!!! I think Jesus lets them watch us. I sure do love you bunches my sweet siesta mama!!! 🙂
That’s a great idea Kelly Jo! God knows our needs and He can direct our prayers if we are sincere in letting Him.
Well Kathy pink bicycle arkansas I’ll be praying every Tuesday!!!!
Kelly Jo,
Thanks for sharing your sweet story of your Grandma Rose. I always wonder too if my sweet Nanny can see me and my girls.
Kelly Jo, I LOVE your story! Brings tears to my eyes. And reminds me of when my brother graduated from college 13 years ago. My mom had just died 2 or 3 days before, but when the ceremony started, I just had this vision that she was looking down from heaven and seeing him. It was so strong. Hearing your story confirms that even more to me.
I just love you Beth, and I love your Lord and I completely agree, the Lord is the good in all of us.
Happy 4th to all!! It’s a blessing to be here in the USA but really are freedom only comes from Christ. Please pray for me, because as I struggle with the waywardness of my oldest daughter, I sometimes am weighed down with such grief that I don’t walk like a freed one. I so need your prayers for victory here, and as Beth reminded through a recent DVD, as overcomers, we must overcome something…..HELP Jesus!!! xoxo Roseanna from Bloomington, Indiana
Your authenticity is what young women (my age) needs to see. We are done with facades. Thank you for showcasing Jesus by telling the truth.
My darling Beth,
Thank you for this mornings post. Well done and spoken like a true Mama!
I am in the midst of my own trial right now and so needed the message in it! First, let me say, I love the story of your grandmother! Sounds a lot like mine and I often quote her words of wisdom in all their flavorful “country” glory to my friends and co-workers, much to their enjoyment. Lord, please help me, I never want to be one of them folks who cain’t learn nothin’!!!
One thing I have learned about our gracious and oh, so patient God, is that He doesn’t break our hearts, He merely opens our eyes. It is what we see in ourselves that breaks our hearts, and how we see what He has done for/with us that humbles and heals that broken heart!
I needed to be reminded today that all I am is because of HIM! HE is my breath. HE gives me value and brings value to my life. And though totally undeserving, HE is the bond that pulled my many broken pieces back together and “WHOLES” me up!!!
Yes indeed, to HIM be all the glory now and forever more!
I have “A Heart Like His” (the unrevised edition) and can’t wait to start it. I know how much you love your hair, girl, but it doesn’t really matter what your hair looks like or what fashion statement you’re making, you have a spiritual beauty that runs so deep inside you and surrounds you like a shroud that nothing can touch it or take away from it!!!
Thank you for giving to the Lord and allowing Him to give to the rest of us through you! Love you much and praying for you daily, Kim
Sweet Beth,
I love the post — I am just saying. I sincerely pray you keep saying and never stop. The good in you which I know is all Christ shines brilliantly. It has shine on me like you would never know. Thank you for opening your mouth and” just saying” what the Lord has on your heart. You help me be the wife, mom and most important child of the Most High I so desire to be. Without your knowing you have helped me break free from the fear of the cancer I was diagnosed with 2 years ago. This ministry is so sweet to me. YOu are so loved and it is my joy to lift you up in prayer. Thank you for helping me to grasp in such a deep way that Christ is my VICTORY! What a gift it is to praise him.
This is my first post — I had to finally put my 2 cents in!
Your testimony was always before us because the Holy Spirit kept it before us. Those women who only did the one study, I imagine they knew more and suspected more and understood more about your testimony than you could ever know.
For me, having done your studies at different times, actually going backward and forward, one of the best things about watching/reading them was watching a woman become a woman. I, and my Bible study partners, actually commented on the growth of YOU (not in neglect of God’s Word, lest you fret about that). We watched a more demure person in the early videos become an all out woman of God in later ones. That brought us comfort because we’re on the same path.
It takes guts to be that vulunerable in front of that many people. To allow people to witness your personal growth in the Lord is no easy thing–and sometimes it is a testimony without words. Readers are notorious for reading around the edges. We are as curious about the author as the subject. I imagine many, many people saw more of yourself than you realize and indirectly more of your testimony than you realize.
You have done a brave and good thing by not only sharing the gospel, but your life as well. (1 Thess 2:8).
As I sit reading Beth’s words about her Granny in Arkansas, I am sitting in a hospital room in Fort Smith, Arkansas with my wonderful Daddy, typing this out on my iPhone. I have done Beth’s studies since she was preparing for “Breaking Free” all those years ago. Excited and waiting for the next on to arrive. I have never asked for any prayers from this wonderful community of believers. Today though I am coming with a broken heart asking you to join me and my family praying for a miracle in my daddy’s life. He walked into this hospital 2 weeks ago for surgery and the day before he was to be released he had a stroke. We are having to start completely over. Walking, eating, speaking, remembering. At 78 years young that is not an easy task. But with God ALL things are possible!
Praying for you guys, Jonna! May Jesus be your strength!
Johnna,
praying for your sweet daddy and you as well.
Kerri
Jonna,
I am impressed at you being able to type all of that on your iphone!!
I am so sorry about the setback of your sweet daddy. Praying for God to heal Him and see you/your family through this. I am in agreement with you, our God makes ALL things possible.
xoxo rene
Praying for a full recovery and your eyes to get to vividly see the hand of God working all around you !!!!
Pray warrior on duty Jonna. Father, I ask that You cover Jonna and her daddy with Your feathers, and as they find refuge under Your wings Father give them courage to face each day with the knowledge that Your faithfulness will be their shield and their rampart. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen. Jonna what is your dad’s name? My dad recently experienced a stroke as well and I know how frightening it all can be. Psalm 91:4 has kept God real during this season of my life, I memorized it and recalling it at night and when I felt anxious always helped. I am thankful you have Him to lean on too.
ooh and Beth, we have a local (Alabama) county District Attorney who is a Rountree and I believe he’s from Tx. Interesting……
Thank you for sharing Beth whats on my heart. Being your same age, with 2 children the same age, much of your life parallels the flow of my own. How the same we women are and what a blessing to feel the strength of shared paths.
I love you SO much….MOORE!
I love hearing people reminisce about grandparents. It brings mine to mind. I always think of a line from a Sandra McCracken song, “I hear your voice in my head, but I miss the sound.”
I made American Flag cookies today, from scratch. They were a lot of work and actually I had been working on them all week. I nearly had a break down when I realized that I baked half of them backwards with the blue on the right side. I am recovering perfectionist. Then a friend pointed out that when the flag is waving you often see it from behind. Break down averted. I have got to CHILL! Just a random thought for the other recovering perfectionists out there. And I will not be offended if no one reads this comment!
Holly I read your comment and your cookies sound exactly what I, a recovering perfectionist would do! I feel ya Siesta. What a good friend you have. I just had an idea, if they haven’t been eaten yet! Sandwich them between ice-cream!!! ha ha ha God is so funny, how He can bake cookies the right way, nothing is backwards if we look at it from God’s viewpoint. 🙂
Happy 4th!
Amen Beth! To Him be the glory! Thanks for that – what a sweet memoir of your grandmother. Ferners…I love it!
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this blog and all the women that are here with me!!! Until recently I did not feel comfortable sharing my comments with others. It is such a comfort to read the other comments that are posted here. Everyone has their problems lord knows I have my share. Today is not an exception, I just learned that my husbands uncle has passed away from a long illness. Even though I know that he no longer suffers, he was not saved. I do thank god that I was able to visit him last saturday in OSU hopital. He thought the world of my husband and I.
Thanks Beth for this blog, I just wish I had found it sooner. You are truly amazing women on here. I have a facebook account but these days I come to this blog for fellowship and uplifting if not to offer some uplifting of my own.
Please pray for the family of our uncle. Praying that everyone has a blessed holiday weekend!!!
Oh Beth, you are so loved. Not just by Almighty God but by all us Siestas! I’ve been part of one or another of your studies for the last 3-4 years and have loved and been convicted in one way or another by each one and as they get more current (meaning more recent I suppose) I can see how God has freed you to be more open (and even specific) about some of your struggles and how you’ve been released and renewed through them. I know there are those who want all the gory details and you’re wise to not go there. But there’s a difference between being real and transparent and just plain gossipy. Thank you for allowing God to grow you right in front of our eyes. I guess that means you can blame all the frustration and downright pain on us because it grows us too to know that if you and those in your position have to go through junk in order to come through victorious on the other side – we must and can too. You’re right – He is so worth it!
I’m from Arkansas, lived and ministered in Arkadelphia for years. I’ve struggled my entire life with not being ashamed of my heritage, so I thank you for always allowing God to use that place to make you real. God really is it, no matter our heritage, isn’t He?
Thank you so so much, Beth. I needed your reminder. If only I had a dime for every time the Lord has had to nudge me and say, “It’s not your job to fix people, Kath. That’s My job and My job alone.” I’m pretty sure it’s my plain old presumptious pride that even considers trying. Wish it weren’t true but you best know who you’re dealing with here.
And bless you for weaving your loving boundaries with some homespun stories about your darling “Nanny.” In my time in Ruth this morning I actually laughed out loud when I realized that she was a “ferner.” And then giggled more at the thought that spiritually, we’re all “ferners” to begin with. And then God brought us near.
You’re a delight, Beth. Thanks for once again keeping this a guilt-free zone.
We’re headed to the beach in a few days, so I’m off to splurge on a pedicure. I’m thinking stars and stripes. What do you think? Too much?
Happy Sparkelers!
littleladybug = Dawn = a new day! God is so funny.
Hmmm…. Yanna …. I like that thought. I need a new day. I hope I can learn to be a blessing to others. I was watching my little girl swim in the pool the other day. I said to the Lord and myself, “Oh she is so beautiful.” I heard him say so are you. I first thought was that me or was that really him. I am pretty sure Satan wouldn’t tell me that. I am still learning to distinguish his voice. But it had to be him because I would never tell myself that. Then I thought how. How could he think so when I have so many issues to deal with. But it has to be because he sees what I can be. He sees the Jesus in me even when I don’t. I don’t know if that makes sense. I have a tendency to tear myself apart and God keeps bringing a scripture to my mind. What God has called clean let no one call unclean. (I don’t know where in the Bible that is at but I get the point) I need to start seeing myself the way he does. That must be a matter of choice. Choose you this day who you will serve?
Dawn of a new day, God is knee slapping funny. So if you heard God just the “other day” I’m assuming it has been since you have been in a family of Siesta’s who are praying for you? “This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it” Joy! Now that you are searching and looking for Him you will see and hear Him so much more every day – wake up and think today is a new dawn and even make it a game God is so fun and funny. He can bring joy when before everything might have looked gloom and doom. You are right it’s God who delivers good news and loving messages in our heads (heart, soul and minds). Enjoy this new approach and keep this siesta posted on the funny/fun side of God you’re
experiencing. I love it!
By the way Dawn you are blessing me! I am just grinning from ear to ear. Wish I knew how to type that in Granny Rountree accent. “Grenin” from “eeer to eeer” with Joy and blessings after reading your post God Loves You!!! I may have to change my tag name to hippityhophappy.
I think hippityhophappy fits your pic. You look really happy and like you love to laugh.
WOW littleladybug, or may I call you Dawn? You are on to something and I just want to encourge you that you must try to keep your thoughts on God. You are soooo right. The devil never says anything nice. It was God you heard. And remember your daughter is watching everything you do, for we are the hands of Jesus. Now I will step back and take my own advice < Rebecca
I just love to watch her. Especially when she doesn’t know she is being watched. I call her my little miss priss. She loves to dance and prance around, dress up in princess clothes and tell everyone else what to do. Oh…and she loves to shoe shop. That is important of course. Just the other day I had to laugh because I overheard her tell one of Alex’s (my son) friends,”I,m gorgeous.” I wonder if she will think that when she is 12 and getting her first zit.
I like how you think Yanna! So true…God is GREAT!
Thank you for being bold and fresh Beth! Happy Fourth of July!! I am loving the BLESSED weekend, truly the fullness of Joy in Him!
Dear Siestas,
This is Joan. I came to this blog originally because I started Ruth this summer. I found so many women with such a beautiful faith and relationship with Christ. I was at a point when I didn’t feel God was hearing me and I had lost that feeling of “oneness with Christ” that the others siestas had. The beautiful peace that only our Lord Jesus Christ can give that had been in and out of my life for so many years. I kept praying and going to church and Bible study.I kept working on trying to grow my faith. Nothing was happening. My prayers for my daughter went unanswered. (Which is why I asked about the sins of the “father”/mother) Why wasn’t God listening to me, or answereing my prayers, or why was I so lost to Him? Now I know He was using this medium to try to talk to me and my thick head. Now, today July 3rd, 2010 I know. I received a BIG rebuke from God through Beth’s blog (who would have thought I would FINALLY hear him through this medium?)His message has come through loud and clear. You must GIVE UP THE SIN you are living with to move forward with me. You know you carry this sin around and won’t give it up. Until then, I know I won’t heal, move forward with Him or love myself.This is so hard to write,honesty to oneself is probably the most painful, but He is guiding my hand.
So Mama Beth, and all the beautiful sietas in Christ, I ask forgiveness.Please believe that I didn’t realize that I was escaping into the blog because I do really need prayers for my child. My hurt for her was/is genuine, but I think I did use you to all try and “make it better”. Only God can do that now. I want you to know though, that through you wonderful siestas, God placed the scriptures in your heart to pass along to me. I have written them and all the books suggestions down. Now I must confess to my Father Jesus Christ. I must bow down before Him and confess what I have never confessed out loud before. This will be the most difficult think I have ever done. How ashamed to speak the words. I know that with the love of my Father and with His determination for me to belong to Him TOTALLY I can do it. I expect many stumbles along the way (addictions, no matter what kind they are, are so, so strong) but I know God is stronger! So, as I go to start a new and painful journey, I want to thank you all so deeply. I would like to look at the blog for I am going to continue my solo study of Ruth.
May I please ask if you would still pray for my Kelly to get a job? Also for strength in my journey. I expect it to be very painful.
You women are such a beautiful group. May God continue to bless this ministry and “Siestaville”. I will return one day happy and whole.
Lovingly,
Joan
Joan, you are loved, and this prayer warrior is on duty.
They are so welcome. Thank you Yanna.
Beth, that is one thing I have liked about your studies. We have had the privilege of observing you growing in Christ as you had helped us to do. That can only come from a close daily walk with the LORD–let’s keep pressing on together.
Beth,
I have found that God takes us through a process as we come to know Him more intimately. You were talking about your disdain for your lack of truthfulness in your first study of David, but it seems to me that God wasn’t ready for you to share that part of yourself with those of us who were to read and study your insights. God used you as as He wanted to use you. Now that the process has progressed, He is showing you how to share more of yourself in a way that will glorify His grace and mercy maginifying His awesome wonder. That first study of David moved me and brought changes to my life in ways that I can not express adequately. Yes, you may have more to say on the subjet of David because God is revealing more to you. And you may have more to say about your own journey through life, and God will direct your words there too. Beth, I love the way you hold yourself so accountable to God’s direction. You are a wonderful example to us all. We all need to feel that sense of urgency to respond to God when He calls us. Beth, I can just hear God saying, “Child, you don’t have to cry for what you haven’t shared for you have shared more than you can ever realize. Arise and shine for thy light has come. Rejoice and be glad in it. I love you my precious child– you are my daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Thank you Beth for what you have done and what you will do as God leads you through the remainder of your journey.
Beth- I have a Nanny too! She taught me about Christ over and over and just as God promised I did not depart from it. She was the first person I called when I got engaged — and she didn’t complain it that it was 1am her time — and she was the first person I called when I accepted Christ as My Savior. She told me that day that she could die happy knowing I had committed my life to Christ. She is 86 and still amazes me. With touches of dementia and confusion, she ALWAYS is present with me when I visit– a gift from God every time. She is an unconditional love that God has provided for me here on earth. Love those Nannies!
I am overwhelmed by the grace and faithfulness that God has show me regarding a situation I’ve been dealing with for several years now. “Who am I, that He is mindful of me?” I just want to praise Him for that. I praise Him, I praise Him and I will keep praising Him.
Beth, my grandma is also “Nanny.” She’s still living and will be 95 years old in October.
She is one amazing lady ~ still lives alone. She calls me every year on my birthday (February 14) and says “I had to call and talk to my Valentine.” I got a card every year until just recently. It would always say “To My Valentine.” She has SO many stories. I love going to visit her and listening to her tell about her life. She also lost a child. Her daughter had a tonsillectomy when she was a little girl and died after the surgery.
I love my Nanny.
I agree with GJ. This blog has been nothing but a pleasure for me. I can’t even count the number of wonderful friends I’ve made through this blog. I am meeting another blogging friend (first time) in person next week at Falls Creek youth camp. (I’m one of the cooks)
She is coming to our cabin to eat dinner one evening.
I had breakfast this past Wed. with another lady I met on the blog. Turns out she lives just 10 miles from me and we never knew each other. I doubt we would have, had it not been for the LPM blog. I love that you are blessed by being able to get on when you have a chance and can comment when you have time.
Lastly, I saw you for the first time in person in Stillwater, OK. Gosh….was it 2002?
After that I started facilitating our studies at church. “A Heart Like His” was one of the first studies we did. We all were so blessed. Now, some eight years later we’ve done them all. Thank you! I have all my past workbooks on a book shelf and get them down often.
Please pray for our youth all next week while we’re at church camp. We are taking 56 in all.
Love you Beth Moore!
P.S. I knew the sweetest little lady named “Minnie.” She’s with the Lord, but was seriously the cutest little lady. Her name was Minnie Hope. I attended Bible study with her when I was a 21 year old new mom. Those older ladies I was in Bible study with blessed me so.
Mama Beth,
That was such a passionate and powerful discussion that I really felt strange reading it from my desk in the office. Made me want to go pour myself a cup of tea–and one for you as well–probably would’ve offered you one of my son’s birthday cupcakes as well (need to go ahead and share those with somebody, as I’ve recently quit refined sugar, and the temptation of having them on my counter is about to make me crazy!)–and made me want to go sit on the living room couch with my laptop and listen.
Thank you for being so personable and so authentic!
Blessings on you this “4th” weekend! Thanks for continually declaring (and reminding us to declare) our total DEPENDENCE upon Him!
I have never posted before precisely for these two reasons: 1)it is overwhelming right now to try to keep up with one more thing 2) it would be hard for me to keep it brief
But now I am on the floor weeping before God as Beth, you speak to my heart and my struggle once again, because of yours. I cannot tell you what your ministry has meant to me personally for almost 15 years now – maybe I’ll write you a letter! But even though I only lurk on the fringes of Siestaville right now, I pray for you and this community continually, and feel a part of it because you so bless me. Maybe soon, I will be able to give back….
Beth Keener I just can’t help it…you know what happens when there are “fringes lurking” they get cut off! Mrs. Keith Moore, I think the fringes need to be framed as worthy of attention and as a future example. Tho they feel “cut off” and “unwanted” “unappreciated” they are Important to Someone (us Siesta’s grieved over each and every fringe on that countertop). Just like God sees some of us I’m sure as fringes cut off from Him we are all important. Individually, clumped on a counter or together on a His footstool/pillow to we matter.
Thank you for your transparency Beth. Because of your transparency, I am encouraged to be honest with myself, to face big issues in my own life. I have grown tremendously through your studies, because GOD has used HIS WORD to minister and heal. I am a changed woman, to which my own adult children testify to–PRAISE HIS NAME-. Thank you for allowing Him to use you–someday we’ll have all of eternity to swap stories! I am a relatively new grannie and I Praise Him that I can pass on a Godly legacy to my grandson, since I am the ‘transitional’ generation between my own non-christian parents and my family of a Godly husband and 3 believing children who love the Lord. Only He could do it–amen and amen. God Bless you!
Beth,
“He’s it. Plain and simple. Gorgeous and complex.” IMAGO DEI.
We bear His image…can hardly fathom that!!
I don’t know how many times I have shared your illustration about pressing your fingers through a balloon until all you see is the image of the fingers’ pressing through. (siestas who were there, just skip this post, and move on…haha) In fact, I was doing just that yesterday afternoon standing in front of the meat counter at Sam’s Club (like half of the city looking for something to throw on the grill this weekend)…when a man walked up and said to the friend I was talking to, if you tied her hands , she wouldn’t be able to talk. Maybe so, but evidently he was listening…maybe learned something!
That being said, I just LOVE how every woman represented here behind her little “gravatar” is bearing HIS image. In the difficult and rejoiceing alike, it is JOYFUL thing to see! I am so grateful to see Jesus doing His thing here! And grateful you keep it that way.
And as far as the revisiting the bible study thing, Job 42:2 was on my mind yesterday. “Then Job replied to the Lord:I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”
Even then.”Gorgeous and complex.” Imago dei.
Thank you for asking us to join you on this journey!!
rene : )
Thanks for all that you do!! You are truly an inspiration for so so many of us! We appreciate your help with our lives and teaching us how better to understand the scripture.
Wow! Long post.
But, I can just see you on the Oprah show and she would repeat… “No one can be anybody’s everything”
That would be one of Oprah’s “ah ha” moments.
However, I must say that is one true statement, Siesta Mama.
Praise be that we have our Lord!
Read all the blog 🙂 I had a Arkansas grandma too and she said the same things as Ms. Minnie. Beth, I remember leading my first video study when the Education pastor asked me to facilitate it years ago. We only had an hour and I didn’t really know what to do about the video so I watched it and summarized it for the four ladies in my class!!! I’ve changed all that all these years later. Lead my classes through Esther and Breaking Free-Revised last fall and spring. Man, how humbling to go through Breaking Free after 10 years of freedom!! I feel the same overwhelming sense of understanding grace as the “moments” of grace get some perspective with time. So blessed and so thankful that God has used you in that process. So thankful for our grandma’s who loved us who never would have dreamed we would see a world linked together by a box called a computer!! I pray you all have a great 4th! I will celebrate America’s independence and my freedom in Christ!!! Oh, how I am grateful!
Thank you so much for sharing. I love your blog, your refreshing realness is a blessing to me. My sister, who is married to a youth minister in Blacksburg, VA, told me that I needed to read BELIEVING GOD, she said it changed her life. I’m getting a Nook Reader next week and that is going to be my first download. I just wanted to share that with you. Have a happy long weekend!