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
Beth, Thanks for your honesty. I was encouraged when you said “He really does grow us in knowledge and grace.” It was a great reminder for me that we don’t have to be perfect for God to use us to point others toward the salvation and healing that is only found in Jesus. Many times I get discouraged about the weaknesses I see in myself, but 2 Corinthians 12:9 comes to mind just now “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Beth, thanks for writing this. Very encouraging! You da bomb girlfreend! 🙂
Amen. Praise Him for His gorgeous-ness AND for his magnificent complexity. I am grateful He sees Jesus, in me.
Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly love you anymore!!! I got a triple scoop of you this morning! 1st at 5:00 am on Life today, then at my 5:45 am Wed. morning bible study where we just started Stepping Up, and then the Ruth video and this blog was the extra scoop of ice cream on a triple layer cake! Thank you for loving us and caring for us and thank you for meaning it! Mostly thank you for showing us how much you love God and how much he loves us back!
My heart is just breaking in two! My mamaw was born in 1924 ‘up in the hollar’ in upper east Tennessee and lived there until all her kids (5) were grown, gone, and had kids of their own. She moved ‘to town’ in the late 1970’s. She was the hardest working woman as I imagine I’ll ever know.
The first 2/3 of her life were what I would call unbearable, but she would just call life. They were dirt poor, uneducated, and worked ‘like dogs’ just to get by. They had no plumbing in the house, which meant they hauled all their water from the branch and used an outhouse for their ‘business.’ For food, they raised their own garden, their own animals for meat (which they butchered themselves), milked cows, and gathered eggs.
I never knew this kind of life. My mom ran off when she was 15 and never looked back. She had me a month before she turned 18. By the time she ventured back ‘home’ Mamaw and Papaw had moved out of the hollar.
I loved them better than anything, especially my mamaw. By then she had a job in a factory, lived in a new mobile home instead of the ‘little house’, had running water and all the conveniences of modern living including an electric stove! But she was still country and stayed that way until the day she died. She continued to raise a garden and can vegetables for the winter. There was always food on the stove waiting for you no matter what time of day you came to her house.
She taught me how to make cornbread, she played with me, she read to me, and best of all she took me to church. She gave me a dollar to put in the offering and taught me that you wear a slip and pantyhose to church no matter how hot is is!
Other than me, she was the happiest person on earth when my boys were born. They spent the first years of their lives playing with the same nicknacks in her house that I’d played with when I was little. She even taught my oldest how to make cornbread, too.
I absolutely loved the things she would say. In honor of her life I’d like to share some of them with you…written phonetically of course!
“Laws a mercy” (Lord have mercy)
“Well, I swan” (Well, I swear)
“I hain’t got narry a one” (I don’t have any)
“Well, I hope to my never” (Can you believe that?)
“Have ye ever seen the likes” (same as above!)
“I’m a tellin’ ya what youngens” (It’s the truth)
“Yuns had better’n git in thar an eat” (Dinner is ready)
“Let me hug your neck” (Give me a hug)
I could go on and on. I loved her so. She outlived Papaw by 10 years. Alzheimers ravaged her short term memory in the end. She couldn’t remember take her medicine or how to make cornbread, but she still remembered telling me ‘monkey stories’ when I was little. I was with her last November on the day she had her stroke. I was by her side at the hospital when she left this world. There will never be anoyone else in my life like her. She loved me so very much.
I loved these – how special of a gift!
And you can make that cornbread for any Beth event anytime!
Wait. Did somebody say cornbread???
Oh, how I needed those words today. Today started good but somehow I found myself, miserable, longing to surrender to the grief that strangled me, but knowing all the time that I was a coward for giving in and a big disobediant baby disrespecting God. Praise God that He is who He is, He does what He says He does and oh how He loves me. Thank you for sharing your testimony so honestly…
Loved your thoughts – love to read the comments more than add to them most of the time but had to share my Beth Moore Lifeway experience yesterday. Our family stopped by Lifeway yesterday afternoon to pick up a few gifts and as we were standing at the register by 6 year old yelled a bit loudly “Hey mom, there is Beth Moore” I replied what? “There’s that Beth Moore lady” and pointed to her book on the best seller rack. Everyone standing around began to roar. Then my 3 year old got in on the act and yelled – “she’s over here too!” a devotional book by the register. More laughter. Then we walked to the back of the store for a “quick” trip to the restroom and my 3 year old pointed to “So Long Insecurity” and said “that’s the book we take to Bible Study (Book Club) – why?” I loved the oppourtunity to share with her that I go to BS to learn more about Jesus. We then stopped for me to see the workbook for Esther and they saw all the Beth BS books and Lilly (3) replied – “Man, she must have a lot to say about Jesus” lol – they made my day – at least they know their momma loves to learn about Jesus and Beth Moore has lots of resources to do so.
HAHAHAHA! Well, I hope so much that if I’m going to continue to be so woefully verbose, let it be about Jesus. Please, Father!
Great story!
Bless You!!
I love this BLOG and I am always encouraged. I have a great Tuesday night group that I look forward to every week and I look forward to reading here.
I look back on my life and I am amazed by God’s grace. He is all we need but I think he is glorified and smiles upon a group who can seek and encourage one another in His work in Cyber World.
Thank YOU for sharing your life with us, and showing us how GOD loves us and how we can love others through him! You and your family are such wonderful BLESSINGS! 🙂
Wow, Beth! As always I appreciate your transperency & desire to speak your truth. It encourages me to continue to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings even if a lot of humility is involved!
Beth–
Thank you. WOW. Thank you, thank you. Love you, precious woman of God.
Speak TRUTH to me! Wow.
Beth,
I wanted to thank you for being so understanding and so real to say that you have gone through seasons of being emotionally needed. I am just leaving(Thank you God) a season like that. It has not shown up here but with people I minister to and with.
It has come with so much shame and with a feeling that I can’t be used in the Kingdom because my reputation will be scared for the rest of my life.
I praise God for the people in my life who were patient with me and for the Lord who showed me the root of it a few weeks ago.
Thanks so much!
I was thinking as I read your post – -wouldn’t it be sad if we all didn’t grow beyond who we were years ago? I am so encouraged that you shared this with us . .that you are different (not just your hair!) 🙂 now than you were back then. I know each time I study His Word something new jumps out at me . . His Word is active and alive . .meaningful for today. I want to keep growing in Him . .thank you for being the instrument that helps me grow and challenges me each day . . . you are a blessing!
Thank you, Beth, for your transparency. I struggle with being leader. What does that mean, anyway? Just a server/learner who’s out in front, I think. Anyway, thank you for being someone I can learn from. I don’t want to be one of those that just cain’t be learned, either!
Dear Beth – So many thank yous to the Lord for your greatly encouraging obedience to Him. It shouts Hallelujah to me as I push the resistance to transparency out of the way. Bless you in Jesus.
Mary Amber
Oh Beth, this is why I love you and your ministry. Look how you want to show us all the truth, not just the pretty truth. God is pleased, so pleased with you!
Thank you, Thank our beautiful God!
Now, I didn’t read the whole post, but the 1st and last quarter. 🙂
Love Lisa, from Canada (Let us know when you’re coming back to Ontario)
Just wanted everyone know I am thinking of all you Siesta’s out there and keeping you all in my prayers… May you know how much Jesus loves you… I know that may sound sappy or weird coming from someone you don’t know… but He does… He really loves you!!!!!… May you know it deep down to the very ends of your toes tonight! LOL… Sweet Dreams Everyone…!
Amen !
Beth-
1 Cor 15:10
By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace was not given to me without effect. Bless you for your tender heart. May you know that He rejoices over you with singing, He is ravished by just one glance, and you are the apple of His eye! Thank you for saying “yes” to Him. I have been so blessed because of it!
Isn’t it great that God uses us in spite of ourselves! You may not have said all you wish you had said, but God used it to teach us just the what He wanted to!
We love you, Beth, and watching you grow and mature right along with us is what makes us love you! Thank you for being willing to be vulnerable in order to teach us.
Love you!
Tracy
Fort Mill, SC
Thats why I love you, that post right there!
Hugs, Suzi
Dearest Beth,
I call myself a follower of Jesus (of course, I’m Catholic….smile) but as having Beth Moore being one of my great inpirational leaders in His kingdom’s army here on earth. After healing and renewing myself through seven bible studies of yours and four of your books, I must say you are one of my best friends ever. How can I ever thank you for all you have done and continue to do!?! …Yes, I am now crying as I keep attemting to type….ten words per minute…Ha! I just love you and yours!!!
I am 52 years old, was married to my high school sweetheart for 37 years, have seven children and eight grandchildren. ….You keep me “plugged in” to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and strength for all of them….It would take days to write all the healing and renewed strength your wisdom sharing has brought us.
I truly love you Beth!!!
May Our Father in heaven bless you BIG time!!!!
Through, with and in His awesome saving love, Terri Dodge
How do you let God comfort you? Is it alright if I ask?
Oh dear littleladybug! You are precious. I think it’s perfectly alright to ask this question! God – through His Son Jesus and The Holy Spirit – longs to comfort His children. Do you mind if I ask how far along you are in your walk with The Lord?
I got saved 22 years ago. I know I should know the answer to that question by now. I have been trying to get free from some bad coping behaviors that I have used since I was 8. But when you stop using them all that’s left is the pain. I was wandering how to keep not using them and lot God comfort. I don’t know if that makes sense.
It does make sense, and your struggle sounds very familiar to a lot of us…trust me! I can tell you what finally worked for me (and this is not at all “lip service” to Beth. God uses different people to minister to His childten in different ways. Beth’s “Breaking Free” is just about the best monetary investment I’ve ever made, other than my Bible. It changed my entire prospective.
If you haven’t already, I urge you to get the book and the workbook. Really take your time with the exercises.
The NIV Life Application Study Bible, recommended by a friend of mine, has made a big difference for me too. I love how it takes Scripture and shows me how it applies to my life.
The other thing I would suggest is that you check out the free audio lectures at http://www.contendersofthefaith.org. There is a series of about 13 or 14 lectures on The Holy Spirit and then 3 or 4 on Colossians that really helped me to experience God’s comfort. The teacher is a friend of mine and one of the most anointed people I know.
Know that you are in my prayers, littleladybug. I’d be honored to walk through any of these resources with you via email or Skype, if you’d like. Please don’t hesitate to ask…as long as you’re asking questions, you’re growing!
Beth,
It is more than a coincidence that this post is up now. I had just been thinking the other day how you had gotten more bold as the years passed. But, let me give you a little insight from the other side of the video. All those years age, I (and I’m sure there were alot more like me) was not mature enough to have handled the full disclosure of all God had brought you through. In my pharasitical mind, I’m satisfied my thoughts would have sounded something like, “Who does she think she is teaching me?!!!”
Just know that maybe the Lord held your tongue until the rest of us could grow up enough to hear the truth. Maybe “Breaking Free” wasn’t just you breaking free, but Him turning you loose!!!
Keep speaking boldly in His name! I’ve grown so much in the last years ans in so many ways, not the least of which is accepting a husband who has habits I felt were less than acceptable as a Christian.
Wow, this post was so good for my heart this morning. I am, for the first time, “leading” this SSBS and it tends to frighten me. My life has been a wreck to the point of despair several times, but I know that God has redeemed me and continues to grow me. But being “in front”??? Doesn’t that require…??? And I’m sure I don’t fit those requirements. But, Beth! I can so clearly see how God uses you, how women are drawn to you and your teaching and your love for Jesus and God’s word. And to know your journey wasn’t perfect either??!! It gives hope that God can use anyone for anything. You know, these past 15-16 months, God is working so much in my heart and I’m so much wanting to be able to encourage and support other women who also walk a difficult path. My mind tends to run ahead of God and He’s always having to slow me back down to His pace. Yesterday, my best friend told me that she was asked by our pastor to be a deaconess. My heart about broke!! Not because I don’t think she wouldn’t make a great one, but because I want to be in that role! Then my thoughts went right away to condemnation of myself and my struggling past, assuming I’ll never be good enough to fit the criteria for such a role. I didn’t say a word to her about how I was feeling, but tucked it away to “fester” in my inner being. So when I read your post and saw your transparency, it gives me hope that God will not only redeem me, but also redeem my past and I already know that He can use anything for His glory. (“For His glory” being the key phrase there!) So, thankyou for your honesty. Now I want to re-do those Bible studies!!
I loved the stories about your Nanny. My grandma was from the hills of Kentucky and after she finished raising her kids (and some grandkids), she moved to California and went to college and got her degree in Elementary Ed. She started teaching at about age 60!! (Truth be known, she did teach school way back when in the one-room school house in Olive Hill, KY- when not every town could afford a certified teacher!) But it’s so true… You can’t ever take the country out of them!! (Love you, Grandma! Miss you dearly.)
Beth, I pray regularly for you and your ministry. May the love of Jesus continue to “ooze” out of you!!!
I feel compelled to comment since I just finished reading your book “So Long Insecurity”. I have read many of your books and participated in many of your Bible studies, but none has touched my heart quite like this one. I have laughed, cried and prayed my way through this book like no other. I had no idea the Lord had so much to say to me in this area, but I am so thankful to have started this journey of healing. I too have struggled with insecurity about many similar things you spoke of. But I have now chosen to “Trust God, period”. Easy to say, hard to do! But I am determined, because God is faithful. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for writing this book, and being vulnerable to put your own insecurities “out there” so that others can find freedom and victory in this area. You mentioned in the last chapter you had blogged once about songs that inspire others. This one is mine: “You dance over me, while I am unaware; you sing all around, but I never hear the sound. Lord I’m amazed by You, Lord I’m amazed by You, Lord I’m amazed by You, how You love me. You paint the morning sky, with miracles in mind; my hope will always stand, for You hold me in Your hand”.
Oh, I was so blessed by reading your post this a.m. I loved what Carissa wrote also. I too am AMAZED by all He’s done & is doing in my life. I lift you & all your LPM folks up! Thanks for all the GODSTOPS you share. I don’t have yor latest book but I think I’m going to have to go out get it!! I believe that I share(d) many of the same strongholdS as YOURSELF & feel so encouraged in the HOPE you offer thru His WORD. Thanks so much!! 🙂 Julie V.
Thanks for being so honest Beth. I’m constantly amazed at how much I don’t know yet about God and his mercy and grace. I am doing the “Breaking Free – Updated Edition” study with my church this summer. Not only do I read the scriptures you ask us to with the homework, I’m constantly looking up other verses and learning more and more about our Lord. I love reading this Blog. I laugh and cry right along with you. I’m 51 and feel like you are one of my close friends because you are so honest and encouraging. I also enjoy your daughters posts.
God Bless.
You cannot possibly know how deeply I needed to read this today. I haven’t read this blog for a long time and haven’t commented for longer… then I come back and scroll down to this.
I’ll be honest, for a long time (as in MANY years) I struggled with making the online world my entire world. Another bit of honesty – for a long time in my life, I kind of “needed” to. The real world was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on anyone. The internet was the only place I felt safe. And then, though my circumstances improved, I’d settled in to the security of habit.
But it was a false security, and couldn’t cure the hurt inside of me – nothing of this world can. A few months ago my cozy little world fell apart… and God orchestrated things so I had to lean on Him instead of my own attempts at a “cure.”
I’ve also spent too much of my life being fake… and have just recently realized that I am cheating God out of the credit for some truly miraculous changes by refusing to share them. I blog about some of it occasionally, but I can count the people in “real life” who know my story on one hand with fingers left over. Somehow that seems more tragic than any of the events of my past. God deserves the glory and I haven’t given it to Him.
Wow. I wrote more than I intended. Thank you for your words. My heart needed to hear them.
Hi MamaBeth…THIS POST STRUCK ME and reminded me of something you said in the 2009 Webinar …. “God sometimes will trump the desire of your heart with your heart’s true deepest desire” or something to that effect…I got the meaning in my heart that’s what matters. The reason I am reminded of this little blurb from your webinar is because this has been my Heart’s cry for MONTHS NOW, as I am in my late 40’s, and I have been a Christian since I was a teenager, serving Him faithfully in various ministries, etc. believing for marriage and children. I just found out that I have to have surgery making children an impossibility in my future, and I am still waiting for my future husband. My heart is BROKEN, and my heart’s cry has been the last two sentences of your blog. When I read the last two sentences, all I could think of was that as I am going through this trial, I SO LONG TO BRING GLORY TO MY GOD. I HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO TAKE THIS A DAY AT A TIME, AND I LITERALLY USE UP EACH DAY’S GRACE IN EACH 24 HOUR PERIOD, SO I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT A DAY AT A TIME. In the midst of taking this a day at a time, I SO LONG To be teachable and be able to learn what the Lord wants to teach me through this despite the intense pain and disappointment. I know that He is faithful, and I need to hear His Rhema Word for my situation with a teachable Spirit, this I know. I so relate to your heart’s cry, and mine cries in the same way over such a different set of circumstances. I appreciate your ministry, Beth. I thank God for You all the time.
I have stood for years on the Lord honoring my heart’s desire; however, I am pressing in praying for a teachable Spirit and an open heart…
Amen, Amen, Amen!!!! I simply must comment on your thoughts of your grandma. Today, we were helping clean our a room at my inlaws house. My 13 year old son, very excitedly, came running up to me with a box. He said, “Mom! Mom! It smells like Big Mamma!” It was a box of empty Levi Garrett snuff jars! Big Mamma passed away a few days after this past Thanksgiving. You never received a hug and kiss where you weren’t left with a distinct “snuff” smell. We were missing her alot today. I enjoyed reading what you wrote about your grandmother.
Then, your BOLD, CAPITAL LETTER comment about being nothing aside from the grace of Jesus Christ…..well, I had to steal it! I copied and pasted it as my Facebook status. I did give you credit for the quote, but then I put the word “ditto”. Absolutely, positively, without a doubt, I am nothing without the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
I so appreciate your honesty, transparency and especially love your Mamma Bear qualities for this blog! Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Lee Ann
Beth…one of many things I adore in you is that you never stop wanting more of Jesus. You’re so real. Never any mask wearing of pride with you, I so appreciate that. Thank you for daily choosing Jesus(I mean that). Jesus has used your life & studies as encouragement to get out of pitS. It’s as if you’re standing behind Him cheering Him on as He pulls me out yet again.I’m beginning to recognize pits for what they are though and run the other way! 🙂 Please don’t ever turn your back on Him,Beth,you’ll be too much fun in heaven!:)
I so needed to read this today, Beth Moore! I am ‘with you’ in what God is speaking to your heart….I am 10 years older than you, so consider myself your’Siesta Sista’ more than you being my ‘Siesta Mama’, but our lovely, gorgeous, wonderful Lord has used you mightily in my life since you started writing studies. I anticipate the David update. Blessing to you today….
Mama Beth,
I don’t know much about your past and I don’t have to, I know you are an amazing woman of God and your love for the Lord and his word is contagious!!! I want to dive in his word and love it like I used to. Please pray I will get my hunger back. You are more than an inspiration and I am so thankful our Lord raised you up for such a time as this.
Last year I was going through some crazy struggles of my own. During that time I was also in the study “A Heart Like His.” God used that study to carry me through the crazy time with loving arms and to reveal my own junk to me. I experienced His grace like never before. Freedom began. I hope you are encouraged to know that God used it to change my life inspite of your recent evaluation! With much love…
Yes, amen!
Beth!!
Wow, how I wandered to my computer tonight and ended up on your blog for the first is a mystery to me but a nugget of joy as well! I’ve been doing your BS for about 5 years now and when I did Breaking Free – well, that was IT!!!! I have no words to tell you the heartbreak and devastation I’ve lived through and the anger, hurt and resentment towards God that I had for years. God used a season in my life during Breaking Free to completely BOMB the lies right out of me!!! I have NEVER, in 26 years of serving God, been so completely delivered from so much at one time. I, like you, believe that emotional wounding from childhood traumas takes time to ‘undo’ or ‘redo’. But, of all the things I was set free from during that time, learning to truly RECIEVE God’s love was foundational. How could I serve him in ministry for years and not realize I questioned His love for me? How could I bow to Idols over and over again in an attempt to fill my soul with broken things? HOW? Satan is such a complete destroyer of lives but PRAISE GOD, HE IS THE GREAT HEALER! I was so unbeliavably changed that I am now on my 4th Breaking Free Life Group Class, as a leader! God has impressed on my heart to write and teach and I am prayerfully awaiting His direction on exactly how He wants me to do that. I have a story, His story, and want God to use me to ‘pay it forward’ to the next generation!!!!!! Thank you so much for being such an influential instrument in the hand of God to bring such amazing freedom to my life. Oh, what is so funny is that for half a century my life scripture was/is Isaiah 61. I still remember the day a friend asked me, five years ago, if I wanted to do your Breaking Free study. I opened the workbook and the first thing I saw was, “this study is founded on the scriptures of Isaiah 61”, and I had to chuckle at God for being so amazing!
Again – thanks for reaching all the way to Tennessee with the love of God! By the way, I’m from Friendswood, TX and I sure miss me some Pappas and Pappasitos!!! I do NOT, however, miss the humidity!!!! Love to you –
Lesa Melchor
Oasis Church
Nashville, TN
Hey Beth~ I just want to say one thing. I did “A Heart Like His” the season it was first published, and God used it mightily in my life and in the lives of the women in our church. Whether you spoke what you would have 17 years later or not, God spoke through you, and affected innumerable lives for His glory. Thank you for serving Jesus from where you are in your journey.
I guess that’s more than one thing 😉
Praying so often for you~
Jennifer
Beth,
I DEARLY LOVE YOU! I dearly dearly love you!
Bought with a price, In the Beloved,
~A~
Also, I should say Waldorf fairs generally provide great activities for kids (crafts, etc).