How is my favorite blog community? I’ve been keeping a close eye on all of you for the last week but I intentionally left our blog wide open to Amanda as she went on mission to Guatemala with Compassion International. I am so proud of her. She went way out – I do mean W-A-Y O-U-T – of her comfort zone to take that kind of mission trip and see those horrible conditions with her tender heart. Don’t get me wrong. Amanda’s always been courageous but she has as sensitive a heart and conscience as anyone I’ve ever known. It’s part of what makes her the wonderful person she is. She can’t look intently at something without taking it on. The only thing further outside her comfort zone than going to those projects and that vulture-infested dump was then asking if anybody wanted to help. That’s the thing about taking a trip like that. Your comfort zone is forever changed. I think God means to get each one of us to a place where we’re more comfortable asking for help than we are with closing our eyes, turning our heads, and letting things stay the same.That applies to any dimension of life, really.
We are convinced that God wants us to take time out of our regular routine around here at least once a year to highlight specific world needs and offer opportunities to help. You are never under compulsion. These are just opportunities for those in search of some. A platform of this kind comes with serious responsibility and stewardship and is meant for more than a social outlet for an isolated sanguine. It’s a frightening prospect apart from the grace and mercy of God. About four or five years ago, Travis and I also heard distinctly (and separately) from the Lord about giving to the poor at our Living Proof Live events. There are so many great opportunities for giving that we’ve chosen to spread it out a little bit through the various arms of this ministry. At Living Proof Live, we partner with Samaritan’s Purse. Here on the blog, we partner with Compassion International and, through the Wednesday broadcast, we partner, of course, with Life Outreach and Mission Feeding. Our efforts are pathetic if God doesn’t add the increase through the power of His Spirit but we trust Him to do so. After all, it was His idea. He is the one who said,
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear; then righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Praise His faithful Name.
We’ll move now from the sacred to the virtually meaningless and then hopefully back to the sacred. Since I talked to you last…
*I’ve had a weekend off. Got to sleep in. Read, read, read, and go on a walk and, afterward, drive over to see my dear sister, Gay, where she serves Jesus. I am so honored to pursue Him with my very own blood kin. She was the dearest thing in the world to me growing up. We shared not only a room but a double bed. That’s what you do in big families with small bank accounts. The word “mine” wasn’t in our vocabulary much in those days and we were the better for it. We shared the same dolls and were dressed in matching home-sown outfits a good bit of the time. We were inseparable till life took its grievous toll. Believe me when I tell you that we both earned the right to self-destruct. We never quit loving each other even through periods of hurt and silence. We just quit doing life together for a while. God is restoring to us the years the locusts have eaten. That’s another story for another time but one of the biggest things going on in my personal life. I love Jesus so much for what He’s doing. (OK, so that one didn’t turn out meaningless at all. Often when I write, I mean to head one direction and end up in another.)
*I’ve had a fancy dinner with my man. Colin and Melissa gave us a gift card for Keith’s birthday to a steakhouse in Houston that we really love and we shared a crab cake, each got a wedge salad with crumbled blue cheese, steaks (mine 6 oz filet, his, a honking – or shall I say mooing – rib eye), cheese grit souffle, green beans, and croissant bread pudding for dessert. It was incredible and so much fun. My man was so handsome sitting on the other side of that candle-lit table.
*Keith shot in two sporting clays’ tournaments over the weekend and won first place. The man can shoot. I love it when nothing perishes.
*Curtis and the kids flew back from his parents Saturday night and I got to see them Sunday at church. I so enjoyed just sitting with my son-in-law in the worship service. It’s rarely ever just the two of us and I am such a fan of his. We are blessed beyond measure to have the two sons-in-law our girls brought us. I got to have Jackson all afternoon until Curtis grabbed him to head to the airport to get his mama. I would love to have had Annabeth, too, but she’s pretty tanked after Sunday school and church and is most blessed by a nice, long afternoon nap. I’m the same way most weeks. I get to spend many Monday mornings with her anyway so that’s my consolation.
*Jackson had his very first soccer practice last night! Yes, Amanda and Curtis have entered the wild world of children’s sports. He was so proud of his shin guards that he slept in them the first night.I love the little dude so much.
*It’s still 100 degrees in Houston.Do NOT send me any pictures of autumn leaves. Melissa tried that yesterday and I called her mean names.
*There is a rat in my garage.
So, what are you guys up to this Fall? I’d love to hear about your plan for victory over the next several months! What Bible studies are you in this semester? Are you engaged in a small group or are you going solo? Do tell!
Sorry I’m all over the place. I think I’ve had too much coffee.
Hi, Beth!
First off…a RAT in your garage…yikes! :0) Maybe he’s a nice rat…I met a nice rat, once.
What have we been up to…Let’s see…in between the hubby working full-time and attending classes…
We started teaching the 2’s and 3’s in the second hour at our church. That has been a trip! Brian (the hubby) hasn’t been around alot of kids, in his lifetime. I tried to prepare him as much as I could…he seems to be having a good time with them, although he gets a bit nervous when a child comes in crying. The children we have in our class JUST moved up from the toddler nursery. Needless to say, it is quite an adjustment for some of the little tykes. And if you haven’t worked with children before, it can be pretty scary. (Luckily he has a wife that has ‘worked’ with kids since, well…since she was a kid AND he doesn’t have to change ANY of the diapers! :0)
Fall semester started back up and we decided that I would audit a class with Brian this time. Old Testament. I have only been to a couple of classes so far, but already loving it. It was funny this morning, sitting in class, and as the professor was talking tears were trying to well up in my eyes. I looked around (a bit embarrassed?) watching all of the students taking the lecture and study in stride, as students, while here I am welling up inside. Just can’t seem to help myself when it comes to Our God. He melts me with emotion, sometimes! Who He is and how He orchestrates not just people and their lives but even (studying the geography of the Old Testament) the terrain of the land! Blows me away! What else can I say?! By the way, this morning we were discussing the Patriarchs, oh Beth, I wish you could have been there! (I guess you were in a way :0) All of our study in The Patriarchs was racing through my mind)
And I guess, trying to figure out how to make a trip home to see my little monkeys (as my nephew and two nieces are affectionately nick-named :0) My sister called me last night, so that my little four year old niece could tell me she missed me. She got on the phone and was just sobbing. Break my heart! (I wanted to get in the car that very minute!) My sister said that she had sent her to her bed that night and the little one looked over at her night table, with a picture of me on it, and she grabbed the picture, looked at it, said, “I miss you, Aunt Chel” and hugged it hard and than began crying. Bless her heart. So her mommy asked her if she wanted to call me right then and tell me. Ask me how I did not sob, myself, on the phone with her…I have no EARTHLY idea!
Still reading through the Bible in a year (but it actually has turned out to be more like three years!!) The pace I am at right now, should be reading through Revelation around November(?) Woo Hoo!
Other than normal, everyday things, like cleaning and more cleaning and cooking and more cleaning…I think that’s about it :0)
Love Ya!
Hi Mrs. Beth!
This fall…hhhmmm…where to begin? lol Can you say SUPER busy??? 🙂
1 = Attend a local church to see your simulcast this weekend
2 = Financial Peace University class on Monday’s thru Nov.
3 = Attend Women’s Mentoring class on Tuesday’s thru Nov.
4 = Take 13 yr old daughter to jr. high youth group on Wednesday’s
5 = Attend your “Daniel” study @ my church on Thursday’s thru first week of Dec.
6 = Friday’s = free day or attend football games for my alma mater to help with the marching band (my son was in this for all 4 years of high school)
7 = Attend small group @ church & studying “How to Hear from God” by Joyce Meyer = Ongoing study group
8 = Attend church services on Sunday’s
9 = Most awesome of all === God want’s me to start a women’s ministry! Looking forward to alone time with him later this month to find out more of what he want’s to do for this ministry. I do know he want’s me to start writing books, speaking @ events and several other things within the ministry. SUPER EXCITED! (Any helpful starter information you’d like to share?) lol 😀
I wish many blessings to you, Mrs. Beth and the rest of this wonderful blog community. Happy Fall!
Wendy Sue
Rock Island, IL
I am trusting God this fall for deliverance! Jobs are scarce and I accepted a job as a Health Assistant in an elementary school. I am very excited, but what the bosses don’t know is that I have a phobia about anyone throwing up!! I NEED THIS JOB! So I am going to trust GOD to deliver me from this fear or trust him that NO ONE will throw up while I work there!
Dear Beth,
This post was definitely not all over the place. It’s wonderful to write about the little things that most of the time mean the most to us. Thanks for sharing. I hope to read more of your work on this blog!
God bless you,
Sara
Oh and I forgot you asked about what this year holds. Here it is: More of Christ. I’m a college student at Dallas Baptist University, and God is definitely at work in the lives of my brothers and sisters here in Dallas. Also, learning more about the power of the Holy Spirit, and just how much freedom Believers can walk in as a result of Him (which, I believe, is what you write about ALOT). Please pray that the Spirit will reflect Christ in every word and action, because I desire people to turn to Jesus.
We are starting Jesus the One and Only tonight. I am excited.
i have done six or seven from beth moore and that one is a close tie to my favorite. you will love it. i still remember so much from that study.
I am studying Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed: A Study of David from the Deeper Still Event featuring Priscilla Shirer, Beth and Kay Arthur and LOVING every minute of it with a group from church on Wednesday mornings!!!
Thank you Beth for this and all the bible studies that God writes through you!!
Deb
Diving back into round II of A Woman’s Heart, the updated version! Did the original back when I was in college and it’s so sweet to do it the second time around – continuing to unearth more treasures.
Mama Beth
for the next 11 days I’m off work I can’t wait to sleep in and spent
time will Jesus before my day begins. Tomorrow I plan on having
what I call a god day I love to study and spend time with god and
I never get a whole day to do it so . So I am planning to . I’ve been
studying on how ever the people that walked on earth with Jesus
sin and the weapon that will defect Satan . I love Jesus so much
the kids is ready for church so I better get to going . Hope you
have a blessed day
Living in central FL, I so hear you on not wanting to see fall pictures. It is so stinking hot and I am so stinking over it.
This fall I am so thankful that after three years of living here I have finally found a group of ladies to Bible study with. We are starting Priscilla Shirer’s”Discerning The Voice Of God” this coming Monday.
I am also taking one child to acting classes and my son starts soccer. Which means friday evening practices and Saturday morning games – Lord help me because I am NOT a morning person. The biggest thing we are doing this fall is counting down for hubby’s homecoming. God has blessed me and loved on me so much these past months and I know he will continue in the remaining months.
Cara
Cara- where in central Fl? I’ve been in Orlando for 2 years now and have had a very difficult time breaking in. People here are too darn busy for friendships! My church is wonderful though- love my family there. 🙂
Jen
Thank you for sharing Beth! I absolutely love reading this blog and sharing with other siestas 🙂 Our ladies group at church just finished Anointed, Transformed & Redeemed (which we loved!) and now our pastor is thinking of doing the study with his wife at home.
Our ladies group will next be diving into the fourth study of a six course Theology Program (Humanity & Sin) starting in October. Michael Patton of Reclaiming the Mind Ministries wrote this program under Chuck Swindoll and it is amazing! We have Soteriology and Eschatology left to do and in the summers we always supplement with a study by Beth! I am looking forward to pumpkins, sweaters, boots, and pumpkin spice lattes! Of course, in Texas, that will be in November 🙂
LOVE LOVE LOVE Fall! Football season is here and in Arkansas the weather is starting to turn a tad bit cooler.
Bible studies are so exciting here! Wednesday mornings we are doing “Here and Now, Then and There” and then on Wednesday nights I have challenged our leaders to just lead their groups through a verse by verse study of a book of the Bible. We have Genesis, John, and Ephesians and then one leader is giving Bible 101 as an introduction to the Bible to new believers.
Again, Love this time of year!
Well, you asked so hear is what I am doing. Like you I love to read, study and have my coffee. Last year God impressed on me to start blogging and I have to admit I did not do it consistantly as He told me to do. My goal is to be consistant in blogging. If you would like to read it I would love your opinion. It is http://tracyscoffeecafe.blogspot.com/
I am finshing your book “Get out of that Pit” great stuff, I have really enjoyed it and put it to use. I am not a pit dweller and am standing on firm foundation JESUS.
I have also started my first writing project. Those are my fall plans
Tracy
What a fun weekend! As for Bible study plans this fall, I’ve decided to go through Believing God again. I ended it 6yrs ago with still many hard questions and these last few years have been turbulant. Please pray for me as I go through it solo.
I love that you quoted Isaiah 58 (of course didn’t know it was Isaiah til I just google’d it…but nonetheless!) I think I’m going to claim those words of our Lord’s as MINE this Autumn (We’re in England…so they don’t have ‘Fall’:-) Me and 8 or 9 amazing British ladies are starting Breaking Free next Tuesday the 21st!!! So super excited I can’t even stand it! By the way, just talked to your sweet Vangie who came through for me….the local bookstore at the last minute wasn’t able to get the study here in time so I called and she has saved the day for me, more importantly saved it for those amazing women that will soon be Breaking Free! Thanks Mama Beth for a super star staff! Love, Cindy
I’m still wiping the tears from Amanda’s last post. I rarely respond here but am a regular reader. I just wanted to let you know that our women’s Bible study starts a week from tomorrow night and we’re doing Believing God (I think!). Anyway, it’s definitely one of your studies that I haven’t done before and I’m so excited to jump in.
Today I stated reading your book on Insecurities and really feel God led me to it at Borders. I too stepped outside of my comfort zone this summer……….. so I understand what you are saying about what Amanda did this summer. Although, my stepping out wasn’t out of the country but it was going to someplace that I hadn’t been too and all by myself. It taught me that with I can do it and that God was there along side of me.
1. Surrendering the Secret Group Bible Study
2. BSF Childrens 2/3’s Leader
3. 7/8th girls Gems Leader
4. Mom of 8 & 9 yr old girls
5. Wife, unpaid cleaner unless you count love:)
6. Currently babysitting 5 extra children
7. Driving to Chicago this weekend to see you & PRAISE My Father, My Reedemer, & the Restorer of my Soul with the Praise Team & thousands of other women!
Drinking lots of Coffee during all of the above!
*looking for 2 extra tickets so I can take 2 ladies from surrendering the secret! They have never heard Beth!
Here’s the Reader’s Digest version: Homeschooling 3 boys (1st, 2nd,3rd), have a Sophomore and Junior attending “school”, they play Sr.Hi. Football, the 9 year old talked us into playing pee-wee football, exclaiming “all my dreams have come true, I prayed and the LORD said,’Yes.'” (how could I say no after that response?!?), I just started Breaking Free (I did it 10 years ago and felt like it was time for a refresher course), there’s life with my pilot husband who is gone 3-4 days a week leaving me a part-time single mom, church, working as an RN 3 days a month on a heart floor, subbing at the olders boys school once in a while…..it is a FULL, blessed life! Your sister in Him, Tonya
I was so touched by Amanda’s posts that I sponsored a child from Compassion international. A little boy with my grandfather’s name… he has such a sweet face I could not resist… Thank you Amanda for sharing your experiences with us…
I’m asking the Lord to help me gain victory in a relationship that is just not going anywhere… I am turning 50 this year on the 18th of this month to be exact and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for MY Year of JUBILEE!
Love this blog… and your teaching… May the Lord continue to bless you as you follow Him!
pg
I was very touched by Amanda’s experiences and I thank her for sharing them. Soon an area church is going to be doing “Faithful, Abundant, True” our Women’s Bible study has members from many area churches (once we had 10 different churches represented) This begins in October and I am excited. I am blessed to be one of the small group leaders.
Last Saturday and for most of the year, I am working with our church’s TItus 2 program, teaching quilting to the ladies and girls. It is a blessed and fun time. We have some very special ladies in this group. One of our members had me laughing with joy. She began 10th grade and one of her teachers had the class play 2 truths and a lie. She said, “I wasn’t named for a week after I was born, I spent a week in Brazil, and I am not related to an ape.” The class thought the lie was the not related to an ape, so she got a chance to minister to the class the truth of Creation. And her teacher told her that she was really impressed with her answer to this question for it showed she thought outside the box. God is so good, I was so proud of her. Titus 2 is where my heart is now that my children are in college. The young women need mentors and it is an honor to be invited to this group to share. We talk, laugh and learn. The women in charge of our group do an incredible job mentoring.
I am also blessed to be able twice a year to go into the middle school and help with the sewing class, that means I get to sit in the room with every seventh grader, lots of prayers go up as we work on their sewing projects.
Praying for you and yours. Your teachings are a blessing and have impacted my life so much. God bless you
Without a doubt, fall is my favorite season! As it turns out, it is my dog’s favorite season too since she seems to enjoy much longer walks as “mom” enjoys the weather…
Plans for this fall include attending Beth’s conference at the Rosemont this weekend (am very excited about that!!!) with a group of other ladies from my bible study group at church. I’ll also be leading Anointed- Transformed & Redeemed this fall starting next week. In addition to that, I plan on continuing to work with God to transform me into the person He wants me to be.
Be blessed everyone!
I am amazed at reading your Guatemala mission experience. Amazed because I just took a team of 12 ladies to Guatemala on Sept. 2nd. We too visited a dump site. My photos are much the same complete with buzzards! The day we went it was pouring rain but the people were there working and received us graciously. We handed out bags of food and supplied them with first aid kits, gloves, flip flops and t-shirts as well as toys for the little ones. We huddled under a tarp in a smokey, fly infested area where they were warming coffee or something they were drinking and shared a quick lesson from the bible. These people had already heard the plan of salvation and we chose just to do a bit of discipling and try to meet a few of their needs.
We did 2 more days of ministry in other areas but when I saw your pictures and read the posts it was strange to see the same thing going on in another area of Guatemala at about the same time.
Lets see…..homeschooling my grandchildren once again….12-1/2yrs old (7th Grade), 9 yrs old, (4th grade) and 8 yrs old (3rd grade)…..they keep me busy…and sharp or at least gaining on the sharp side!! I’ve said this a dozen times….I’m learning everything I always wanted to forget!!
I also have a Bible Study in my home on Wed a.m. A small group of 8 other women….we’ve been together for yrs. We are a “Prayer Warrior” group. We have chosen to do Dr. David Jeremiah’s study “Escape the Coming Night” on Revelation….it is so great. Sorry Mama Beth we aren’t doing one of yours this time. But I do believe I have heard you say repeatedly to do others so we are following your orders.
Can’t wait to hear more from Amanda…..
Blessings from the “getting cold” north…..
Bible Bunny in NO MI
P.S. I am likewise attending the simulcast on Sat!!
Getting ready to start the updated “Breaking Free” with a group of about 30 excited ladies from my church next Tuesday!
Just praying that God will show up and do “His thing” again this year. Last year was our first year of doing Bible study together and it was absolutely amazing to me how God worked in the lives of women and in my own life as I led it. I have a teeny tiny sense of how God has to work in the leader’s heart to make the message even more applicable to the group – I can’t imagine how you go through it on such a larger scale. But I say a HUGE THANK YOU for letting God work in you so that you can pass it along to all of us sisters. I had one lady from the group, who I’m not sure is a believer yet, even tell me she missed the homework so much over the summer that she had to go out and buy some to do (She did “Living Beyond Yourself” with us last winter as her first Bible study ever). Pray for us as we begin another journey together in Breaking Free as I pray for you, your ministry, and as you write the James study (which I cannot wait for by the way)!
We are doing Priscilla Shirer’s Jonah study @ Wellspring Church (pastored by your friend, Jack Deere) in N. Richland Hills, TX.
I am anxiously awaiting the study of revelation ( your newest?)with a small group of ladies in a local church. My husband and I are facing many life changes in the next 3 months and look forward to the consistancy of Sunday night study.
“Mama” Beth,
I love it when you’re all over the place. It’s awesome! Sounds like so much going on for y’all!
This fall is a continuation of getting healthy in every way and figuring out the next steps. I’ve spent the last 2 yrs intensely going through your studies and breaking free out of tons of pits. God has been so sweet to me. As I’ve been shedding the emotional issues, I’ve been shedding weight that I allowed them to put on. It’s been such a journey to getting healthy.
I’m 28 and single. Never even had a boyfriend. Weird. I’m the Yenta. I always match all my friends up. And this fall, my two very best girlfriends will be having their weddings. That being said, I’m experiencing a deep searching. As much as I long to be married, I can’t sit around waiting for my man. I must serve the Lord with my gifts as much as I can and with all my energy. I’ve been aware of the call of the Spirit on my life and working hard to follow for several years.
I recently had a moment of conviction. A moment of realizing I can’t and have no right to continue living as if I don’t know better. I have a calling to be in full-time ministry. I HAVE to figure out how to do this. I have no option. So, I’m in the process of giving up my house and car. I don’t need debt. And I’m searching to find where I need to be. I have a good friend in Houston who wants me to come live out there.
This fall, I want to give up my
life as I know it that I might better serve Him. I’m feeling a peace about moving, but it’s scary. So, hopefully I can find a source of income and training in ministry in Houston. And this fall will be very new and southern:)
I love you!
Beth II
Hi Beth II,
I too am 28 and single and wanted to encourage you! It sounds like God has taken you on a wonderful journey to freedom and He has amazing plans for you. I too have spent the past few years going down the wrong road, then breaking free from that rebellion. Us single girls have to remember that marriage is not the answer and that God has something for us but we have to TRUST Him. I too will be changing careers at the end of December so I feel that I can relate to your sitution. Hang in there and if you want to e-mail me feel free ([email protected]) you can also find me on facebook, Melinda Lanier
Blessings!!
Melinda
Dear Beth II,
I can so understand where you are coming from! In many ways I feel the same way.
I will be praying for you and hope that you will find the place you are supposed to serve!
Blessings,
Ann
Beth –
I will be taking your Revelation Bible study at my church (Five Oaks Church in Woodbury, MN) starting the week after next. I can’t wait! You are such a blessing – thank you for all your work and your teaching. I’m so looking forward to starting the new lesson – I’ve been DVRing all your pieces on “Life Today” so I can watch them more than once.
Last year, I didn’t sign up to do the Women’s Bible study right away because I didn’t realize it was one of your’s. Just before Christmas, I learned that it was your Esther study and the kind women at church let me jump in halfway through. I completed the weeks they had already finished during the Christmas break – Beth, I have to tell you, up until I started that Bible study, I had been having panic attacks almost daily; I was (and still am but not like before) so worried about our country and all that is going on. The correlations between Esther’s story and now are astounding. I realized that I was worrying over things that I had no control over; things that were ordained by God and until He decides to take care of things, all I could do was sit and wait for him to tell me what He needs me to do. My panic attacks stopped – I haven’t had one since – and while I still closely follow the politcal world, it is easier to say “Well, I’m just waiting for God to tell me what I need to do – it is in His hands.” I’ll tell you this, though – I write for a political website now and then, and my best, most read posts, are the ones that are God-inspired. I know that I’d never be able to come up with the posts without Him, that’s for sure.
I’m looking forward to your trip to Minneapolis – I won’t miss that for anything! You are awesome. Thank you for everything.
~Andi in MN
starting bsf new study isaiah tomorrow in Fayetteville day women’s class in georgia. so excited i get to take baby jack to the children’s program this year and he gets to learn about God right along with mom!
I’m facilitating a group studying “The Beloved Disciple”. Started last week. Can’t wait for this week.(Thursday mornings)
Really looking forward to this weekend and the simulcast and being with godly women. Praise Him!!
Thank you for your faithfulness and sharing so openly with us.
Blessings,
Julie
Good Question, Beth, we just started our 12th Beth Moore study….we are doing Jesus the One and Only (it was the 1st one we did 6 years ago and I felt we needed to do it again.) What a ride it has been. We started out with our lst study with 30 ladies counting the facilitators of 2 small groups, now we have 90 on Mon A.M. and 30 on Tues. P.M. We love how you bring the word alive to us Beth, and challenge us…I’ve seen so much growth it is awesome. We have ladies from 3 different churches and I love it. God is soooooo good and my church has been wonderful in backing this study and allowing me the freedom to “just do it”….I love being in small group study and your studies really encourage this. Thank yoou for being obedient to God’s leading, and may He continue to bless and lead you.
Beth~ You are soo funny! I love how real you are. My mom and I got to see you in Shreveport LA a few yrs ago and you are still quoted every time we are together and the humidity gets our hair looking well lets say less than perfect. EVERY time my mom looks at me and says ,” I sacrificed my do!” You probably dont even remember saying that but we do. Thanks for being a small part of my mom and I and our relationship. We are best friends and you just added a little sass in our conversations. Thanks again for being real and allowing God to use you.
I’m so glad to read that God is restoring your sister to you, Beth. I also shared a double bed with my sister when we were growing up. And we went through seasons of not talking and seasons of being very close. As the Lord has healed us of our childhood abuse, we have become very close again. This time, not just sisters in flesh but sisters in Christ. It’s been an amazing thing.
We left our home church almost 10 months ago due to our senior pastor embracing the emergent church movement. Jesus was reduced to a good teacher and was no longer Lord and Savior. Leaving was difficult and our family wandered for awhile. But God led us to our new home church a couple of months ago and we’re finally settling in.
In the fall, I’ll be co-leading “Beloved Disciple” study series in our church and I could not be more excited. I’m looking forward to reading the gospel of John with the women in the group even as we go through the DVD based study. How wonderful it will be to remind one another that Jesus is Lord, the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way and He is IT. I love Jesus.
Meanwhile, I have 3 boys playing football and a girl in competitive gymnastics. My husband and I are in church choir and he’s part of a men’s accountability group as well as serving on a local professional board. I work at his office part time and meet in a prayer group that lifts the body of Christ on a weekly basis. I cannot begin to tell you the hectic schedule our family juggles. Add 2 cats and a dog and you have the makings of complete chaos! But we’ve been very committed to having family dinners at least 4-5 times a week and things are working out well. As busy and hectic as it is, I would not change my life for anything. I love it!
Doing “Becoming a Mary in a Martha World” Bible Study with ladies from my church. Just started your “Ester” study for my own personal devotion…thank you for your work!
Praying for you and your team this weekend. I am praying it will work to go see you at a local church!
Much love! Thank you for your constant example. I can so relate to Amanda’s struggles with being a stay-at-home mom. Thanks for the encouragment from this blog! Love you ladies!
This FALL I am moving in 100 degree heat, ha. Four years ago I lived in a Fort Worth 3,800 square foot happy home w/ hubby & 4 kids. Lost our job & moved to humble 1,200 sq. ft. Austin apt. to take another church job. My youngest just went to college last week. I’d say we are emptynesters but we have no current nest. Husband lost his current church job so we have to go to COBRA ($2,000 per month—UNBELIEVABLE) cause of my cancer. Had to also give up my 10-year-old constant companion Border Collie yesterday—you understand. So we moved all our possessions into a 10′ by 20′ storage unit & are staying w/friends in a holy transition. You know, I believe Psa 27:13-14—we will see the Goodness of God. He has been good to us to this day, Jer 24:6, and HE will be good to us for the rest of our days. So awesome to have a blogging community to lean on. I’m not strong nor positive nor optimistic—more overwhelmed by my sin than by my pain. Jer 31:3 – While I’ve been crying out to God juggling overwhelming circumstances, HE has actually been out looking for me in my wilderness. Found. Covered with Grace.
Oh sister, I can relate to your struggles more than I wish I could! So good to hear your faith…that you are seeing His goodness and trusting Him when things don’t go the way we want. Stay in His Word, Bev. May He get glory for Himself!
Bev, I am praying for you.
hi!
Most days I try not to comment – because, Mercy, you have enough to do than keep up with us all – but today I can’t resist.
Thank you for your sweet, tender heart. Thank you for letting God use you in EXTRAORDINARY ways. And thank you for letting Him be the EXTRAORDINARY ONE – it’s so very inspiring! What a leader you are!!
Monday mornings: Moms In Touch prayer group
Wednesday mornings: Bible study on the book of Joshua – should be interesting. It’s my least favorite book in the Bible, and God has seen it fit to fix that, apparently. I expect to learn a lot, and I expect to reveal a lot about my own hang ups with the book. I suspect I will feel a few inches taller and wider after God stretches me in this study.
Thursday mornings: Bible study Through the Bible Book by Book
Sunday mornings: Paradoxology series
I love Fall and I love the studies that come with it. I just started Bible Study Fellowship Monday night and we are covering the book of Isaiah this year. I can’t wait to dig in. I am also starting our discipleship study at church Sunday night. We are doing “Living a Praying Life” by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Can’t wait.
I am so happy for my Bible Study group to be doing Esther this fall. Saturday I will be attending Beth’s simulcast at a local church with my daughter and friends from Bible Study. I want a God to keep transforming me. I am seeking His providence.
This Fall I will be joining my church in a Wednesday night Bible Study based on the book “Radical” by David Platt. Reading Amanda’s reports from Guatelmala in conjunction with the reading of this book has shaken up my little world! God is changing my heart in regards to my worldview and in the realization that I idolize my way of life here in America.
I am doing grad school and teaching 6th grade and trying to stay above the water with grading and staying up with all of my pacing grades, since I am teaching all of the subjects. I would like to be doing my singles’s group mid week Biblestudy, but might not be completely doable.
Hey Beth – most of my group were blessed to see you in Lexington a few weeks ago. All eight of us are going through such storms lately and towards the end of summer we stopped the homework, daily bible reading, etc & we all got kind of mean!!!! Please Jesus help us! We are back at it – studying Daniel – on the third week but I’m praying that God brings the anger out of us and back to our love for each other & bible study. We call each other BBGs – Beth’s Bible Girls, in fact Danny our Sisters hubby came to see you in KY (one of the only 3-4 guys!) & he calls himself a BBG (Beth’s Bible Guy!!!). We love you & thank you for all the wonderful bible studies that you have given us to improve our Christian walk w/ Jesus!!
Busy, Busy… In addition to gearing up for school, I am co-leading our bible study group, God’s G.A.L.S. We are doing Daniel this year. It is an amazing study. We have around 30 signed up so far and more are coming in with 2 weeks to go.
I am mentoring middle school girls at the local middle school. It was a real eye-opener yesterday as I went for training and listening to a multi-cultural panel tell us what it like for these young people. The school has Asian, Hispanic/Latino, African American, Native American, Somalian and Causcasion students with 90% of them receiving free or reduced lunches. These young people just adore having men and women who are mentoring them and spending time with them.
Then I enjoy spending time with my family, making big Sunday dinners (it’s pot roast time here). Sorry I know it is still 100 down there. 😉
That what’s going on here…
Blessings,
Mary Ann in Woodbury, MN
Going to Chicago this weekend with 34 other women from our community to Living Proof Live-can you believe it?!?! We are SO EXCITED!!!
Picking apples and making cider, I love the crisp flavor of all the varieties mixed together.
My dear friend and I are going to do Breaking Free.
My husband and I are teaching 4-5 year olds in Sunday School.
Doing a 6 week small group study “Go Fish” by Andy Stanley with the rest of our church.
Being blessed to be a part of the opening of a faith-based shelter for women and children affected by domestic abuse-October 1-Lord willing.
I think by the time I get through all of this-it will be winter and we will go snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Winter isn’t all bad:)
Reading “So Long, Insecurity” as part of a book club with some friends! Thank you, Siesta Mama, for obeying your calling to write this book.
Next week I am starting your study of Esther with a group of fabulous women at my church. We are ready to hear from God!
Honestly? I am struggling. Our church only offers women’s Bible Studies in the mornings and since we homeschool, I can’t do any of them. Then the evening ones are when the kids do soccer and I can’t do those either. I am feeling disconnected from the body and from God. I went to the first BSF meeting on Monday night and they might not have room for me. I am feeling like everywhere I turn, the answer is no.
Our women’s Bible study group at church will be doing the Daniel study, starting Oct 6.
just started back to my tuesday night bible study on revelation! awesome! love it! also doing one on wednesday nights at my church. both are great!
Hi Beth,
I am so glad you asked what our “plans for victory” are for this fall. I am excited to tell you that I am starting the makings of a book that God placed on my heart years ago for my precious daughter who is 22. I have been battling cancer for a very long time and I want to write a book for her about what I’ve learned in my quest for freedom (just in case I’m not around when she gets older and needs to know). You wrote on twitter this weekend “are we willing to be the link in the dysfunctional chain that gets broken? Crushed?”
Well, I replied that I’ve given my life for this very calling for the last 22 years and I’d do it all over again for her freedom alone.
The funny thing is I was nearly convinced that in my circumstances and with my past it was probably unlikely that I would ever be completely free but as long as she was that was all that mattered. Somehow I thought I could write the book being mostly free:) But God had another plan and as I prepare He is taking me the rest of the way. It’s so exciting to see what He can do in my weakness.
I’m listening to your book So Long Insecurity, love it and thank you for doing that online. Also listening to Eat, Pray, Love (thank you again and again for these resouces which I stumbled across). Many more things in the works but wanted to say thank you for being there and all you do. I’m so grateful that you are a mentor for me in my generation. I have lots more to say and hope to write you someday.
Amanda, when I can afford it I am going to sponsor one of those beautiful children.
Love you all!