Hey, Sweet Things!
I’m writing this to you the afternoon before Thanksgiving. I will be too covered in family to have much time for written reflections on the actual day. I’m here by myself at my house of so many years. From where I’m sitting at our big round dinner table (my favorite piece of furniture in my house), I can see the top of the stairs. It seems like only yesterday, two little blond girls stood at the top of those stairs with their nightgowns on, their blankets clutched tightly in their arms, and adorable little bedheads, looking down at me in the kitchen, saying, “Is it morning yet, Mommy?”
It usually wasn’t what any decent sleeper could ever call morning but who can resist warm, snuggly preschoolers fresh out from under the covers? Especially if they hadn’t wet the bed? And, thank God, I was spared a pair of bedwetters. It really was yesterday that I saw two other children those same ages apart at the top of those same stairs, both with an uncanny resemblance to the first two. “Bibby, can I have a treat? And milk? Or juice? And can it be chocolate?”
“The juice or the treat, Buddy?”
Thinks for a moment.
“The TREAT!”
Good choice.
Well, that’s what the oldest one said anyway. The younger one just echoed, “Treat, Bibby! Treat!” I was standing within three feet of that one. She only gets to be arm’s distance from Bibby most of the time.Her smile melts my heart. Her little short pony tail slays me. And her miniature track suit is more than I can bear. I can’t stop laughing over the mysterious fact that, when you ask her what her (hard-to-pronounce) name is, she emphatically says, “Paw Paw.” You can imagine that Keith isn’t about to be the voice of reason. He likes things just like they are.
I feel so thankful today. And not because it’s been a sparklingly spotless year for the extended Moore/Jones/Fitzpatrick family because it hasn’t. Is any whole year like that?? Any whole month?? It’s certainly not for this flawed crew. I feel gratitude because God has been gracious to us and right there with us through every up and down. I don’t know about your house but life can be a roller coaster here at this address. He’s kept His word to us even when we didn’t keep ours to Him. He is always better than He has to be.
Sometimes we just need the quiet to reflect on His goodness. I’m getting that today. Keith’s running errands. The dogs are outside. Sweet potatoes are cooling off on the kitchen counter and I just pulled a large iron skillet of cornbread (yes, drenched in bacon grease) out of the oven.
It’s everything I can do not to tear off a piece of that hot cornbread and butter it and shut my eyes and be back for just a moment in my mama’s kitchen with her and my grandmother. They’d crumble theirs up in “sweet milk” and eat it with a spoon but I wouldn’t. I’d just laugh at their wonderful countryside and eat mine like I was mostly city side, except for licking my fingers and maybe my hand. And they’d say in unison, “Well, you’re snubbin’ your betters.” I miss them so much today but I’ll try to do them right with my turkey and dressing. Thoughts like these make me grin really big and feel like I could cry if I’d let myself.
But I won’t. Because I’m too busy.
Georgia Jan (who I became friends with through Siestaville) and I have already compared notes today on our dressing recipes. The holidays make us want to reach out and connect with people who have touched us through the year. Or through a lifetime. Thanksgiving is about so much more than cooking and traveling. We all know that. It’s about being audaciously deliberate in celebrating the goodness of God with at least a few people you really love. Or maybe just really like. Even for one day. People as quirky as you are. And probably because they’re kin to you.
Here are a few things I feel especially thankful for today:
For a belief system where we can have absolute certainty of our salvation.We know this isn’t it. We know where we’re going and it’s good. We know that this turns out very well.
For a belief system where nothing – not even your worst disaster or failure – gets wasted.
For a belief system where every day is a new day and every act of repentance is a brand new beginning.Who has that but us???
For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the entirety of my belief system.
For His indwelling Spirit who enables me to be so different than the old me. And different tomorrow from today’s me.
For the sacred holy Scriptures. Oh, thank You, Lord. My food and my drink.
For my man. Every year we defy the odds. He just walked in the door and kissed me on the forehead. I’m thankful we’re at it again.
For the inestimable, ongoing gift of my blood daughters, Amanda Moore Jones and Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick. My best friends. I really don’t know what a soul mate is exactly but, as best I can tell, they’re both mine. I never have a thought they’re not some part of, in this way or that.
For my three beloved sons, each “my true son” in the spirit of the Apostle Paul’s words to Titus: Curtis Jones, Colin Fitzpatrick, and Travis Cottrell. They are that to me. Trav and me on a speed walk in Rapid City, South Dakota, last Friday morning:
Oh, mercy, for my darlings, Jackson and Annabeth. If life is a meal, they are my constant dessert. From the backseat of the car just a few days ago:
(At the age where he makes goofy faces but there still ain’t no denying he’s one handsome boy.)
For my co-laborers in the great Gospel of Jesus Christ at LPM. “The Village.” I love them so much.
For my extended family on both sides. Blood brothers and sisters and the same in-laws for decades. For the inexpressible privilege of having my older sister, Gay, back in my everyday life. Not a day goes by that I take that for granted.
For Keith’s parents and, gracious me, at this point my own: John and Sue Moore. We want them next to us for the rest of their years.
For the unspeakable gift of spiritual daughters. I did not see that one coming. DELIGHT.
For my dear friends. The kind that have had my personal cell number since my first phone. And don’t mind carrying on a whole lot of relationship by text.
For my pastor, Gregg Matte, and his wife, Kelly, and their two children. For the church family they shepherd. I’ve never seen one exactly like it.
For my neighbors who love me even though they think I’m a tad whacked.
For renewed physical strength and health. I was one sick girl this time last year.
For YOU.
Yep, you, Siestaville. I thank God for you. You’ve made my life richer in Jesus. And at the end of the day, that’s what I care most about.
For just this moment, I picture all of you on this list right here at my small table and I smile.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one. Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever. Psalm 28:6-9
:O) And, as many others I am thankful for you! Great post today – really encouraged me to remember how blessed we are to be so sure of who we are because of Jesus.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Oh, and thanks for bringing it at the Forum. God rocked that mountain in a way I’ve never seen.
I had my hand up in the air thanking the Lord when I read, “He is always better than He has to be.” Oh, my – His goodness to us makes me weep. Thank you, Lord – so very, very much for not treating this sinner as I deserve.
This community of Siestas has been a tremendous blessing. Can’t express properly in words all the ways each have you have touched me with your wisdom, graciousness, and loveliness as I’ve read what you have shared. And thank you so much, Beth, for loving us. You’ll just never know how much that means.
Wishing you and your family the most blessed of Thanksgivings.
Gretchen
So thankful for you…such an encourager to us, such an example to follow in a higher pursuit of a deep relationship with our Christ and Savior. You are the one who started me in bible study….your first one a woman’s heart….so many years ago….gave me such a hunger for His word and that today I have been facilitaing bible studies for 6+ years…thank you for the example that you can be a godly woman and still have FUN!!! You are such a huge blessing to me and SO many others. Thank you for being faithful…for thinking of us and being “real” with us!!! Much love to you this Thanksgiving…be BLESSED!!!
In His Love,
Jennifer
HAPPY THANKSGIVING MAMA BETH! You are so dear to me. Thank you for being you, and being you in front of us.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING SIESTAVILLE! I’m so thankful we all agree we’re normal.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMANDA & MELISSA! I’m so thankful you share your lives with us.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO THE VILLAGE! I’m so thankful for you ladies.
Thank you for reminders of all the things I have to be thankful for – I lead a blessed & privileged life!
I’m thankful, too, that you are willing to share w/us what you learn from God. I know that some of your knowledge was dearly bought & you do not waste the pain, but turn it into a means of freedom for the captives.
I will be spending the day tomorrow w/kin of Marge Caldwell (she & my husbands grandmother were first cousins & grew up together) & will be thankful for this cousin I never got the chance to meet, who raised-up a spiritual daughter that blesses me in many ways.
Rapid City, SD 5 days ago and tonight it is 5 below zero with a high of 18 degrees for 11/25. I say Thank You, Beth, for the last look at Fall weather during your brisk walk.
Thank you for faithfully serving the Lord and seeing we have a banquet to feast on in every Study you make possible. We appreciate the hours upon hours you spend studying as you fellowship with the Lord. We are truly blessed.
Thank you for this post. I just completed the decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought I would check your blog site for a bit of lovely girl reflection. I live in a world of men in my family. So, I love your post and appreciate it more than you can imagine.
We turn on the Christmas lights ( all over my house) after our Thanksgiving meal. My nieces love the tradition, not sure about my two sons and husband- hard to know, unless I do not produce the extravaganza and then I hear complaints. God Bless you and yours and what a delight to have you share with us in the Siesta Hood. Lots of Love
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. As I read it tonight my thoughts went back to my two children when they were small. I am blessed. We did our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday and my daughter and I had such a good time cooking our meal together. We cooked early because on Tuesday she went in for IVF transfer of embryos. She and her husband have tried for 6 years for a child. This year more than ever I am thankful for what I had always taken for granted before….the miracle of children. I ask for prayers from all my sisters out there….that the outcome will be my grandbaby or grandbabies. If it is not part of God’s plan for my daughter, pray I can be the mother he wants me to be for my daughter. Blessings……
Almost 6 years ago my husband and I survived a head-on collision. I am so thankful to God that He spared me at that time because my spiritual experience is so much richer and continues to grow. I think I wouldn’t be close to Jesus if it wasn’t for the accident. I am so thankful that He wasn’t ready to take me home. There are things He still needs to teach me. I prayed for a home church and a womens bible study and he sent me to my sweet Harvest Church. That’s where I did my first bible study over 3 years ago and met you, Beth. I’m very thankful for you and feel like we’re best friends. I am thankful to be a Siesta.
Love to you all and Happy Thanksgiving!
That’s my scripture for this week, too. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. We all have so much to be thankful for. I have rejoicing the last few days in the answer to prayer for the salvation of my best friend’s husband. I have been praying for him for 19 years. He is 83 years old. What a blessing to receive the phone call with the news of his salvation!
Plan to see you at the Deeper Still conference next weekend in Birgingham.
I loved the sweetness and nostalgia of your post, Beth. I have been feeling the same way. This will be the first year with the holidays that both of my parents are gone and it hurts. I have been SO blessed, though. Sometimes, I guess, your feelings catch you off guard. I wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving. You are an amazing woman that God has used beyond belief! Thank you for allowing Him to use you…in a mighty way!
Happy Thankgiving to the Moore family!
Blessings to you Mama Beth and my fellow Siestas!
My heart is too full of love and gratitude and my eyes too full of nostalgic tears to post more but I want you ALL to know how grateful I am for all of you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Casey
Fort Pierce, FL
Oh Siestas…Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you, Beth, for such a sweet and beautiful post. I am sitting here in the darkness of Thanksgiving morning listening to Travis sing “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” with tears of gratitude just streaming down my cheeks. I am thankful for friends and family and the blessings of this life. He has blessed me beyond measure, especially in the toughest moments. But when I think of what Jesus did for me…His mercy, His love, His sacrifice, and the FREEDOM my soul now enjoys…I just don’t have words. I could never sing loud enough, pray hard enough or dance with enough abandon to ever express the overflowing of my heart…it just can’t leap high enough today!
Blessings girls!
Love,
Ginny
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in Siestaville! I am so blessed by everyone here. Thank you Beth and family, (to include LPL team), for your tireless dedication in leading us closer to Christ!
I pray each and everyone of you have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving today.
In His Agape,
Donna Benjamin
Beth, Amanda and Melissa,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. You all, three, have been a huge blessing to not only myself, but others in Siestaville. Thank You for loving Jesus as much as I do & then some, as well as your willingness to be crazy enough to not care what others think of your whackiness of that love for Jesus and others. You are the best! You encourage me so!!
Lovingly,
Yolanda
Happy Thanksgiving to Beth and all the beautiful Siestas out there! Whether you’re jammed in a house full of friends and family or watching the parade on TV snuggled up with just your dog or cat or if you’re like us and are hunkered down on a cold and rainy day with just your hubby and little kids…thank God for all He has given and have a peaceful, wonderful day!
Oh sweet Beth, how is it that your words bring tears almost every time? My sweet momma in Christ, how I am thankful for YOU and how you have helped me to grow! Did you know that you would? Somehow, in my darkest, most painful moments, many times it is one of your books or one of your Bible studies, drenched in God’s Spirit, that helps to pull me out of the darkness. Although I am under no delusions that somehow we are “soul sisters,” – for we don’t even know one another – somehow I cannot help but think that many of your words have been written just for me, in my time of need – as it is with so many thousands of women. And it thrills my heart to think that, when we are all home, and after I melt into my Jesus’ arms, and after I kiss my grandma, and after I dance with my sweet best friend Sherry I lost so many years ago, I will be able to go looking for Beth, and find her, and shower her with gratitude for allowing the Holy Spirit to use her to make my walk with Jesus that much deeper, and richer, and sweeter, and sure. What comfort there always is, and how my heart has been THRILLED at the visions of WHO AND WHAT my Jesus really and truly is! Oh glory! How I love you, sweet Beth – I love you for always pointing me in the right direction – into the safe and comforting embrace of my Father. A happy, happy Thanksgiving to you, sweet lady, and I sincerely pray a special blessing upon you and your beautiful family during this season! xoxo
Well said, my sweet friend!!! That’s really all I have to say and that is a first.
Such a sweet list, Beth. I am thankful for YOU. I have to take today to ‘thank you’ for your ministry. I am better because of it. May you and your precious family enjoy this day to the fullest. I love you.
I love you so much. I thank God for you, Beth Moore, He has used you to keep this girl hanging onto her faith when nothing else around me has given me the desire to hang on. Because of your bible studies, I have been able to keep the word going in my life through a time when I haven’t much time. I have 5 kids 8 and under, and it is busy here!
Love to you and your family…. they are treasures!
Happy Thanksgiving Siestaville! God has blessed my life in so many ways and I count you Beth at the top along with my new found Siestas. I’m also thankful for Beth’s hint a SSMT Celebration 2 whatever that is! I didn’t make SSMT 1 🙂 I’m am most thankful today for my Lord and how He has fed me with His Word this past year when I was invited to my first Beth Moore study – I am grateful to tears. Have a blessed day everyone wish I could reach through cyberville and hug each of you really good.
Yanna, the SSMT Celebration comes at the end of a year (2011)of Scripture Memory. Beginning Jan. 1st, twice each month we post a scripture that we will memorize and then the following January we all meet at HFBC and celebrate. You’ll see women with their spiral index cards learning as they walk throught the grocery stores, waiting in cars…wherever you may have a quiet moment. We did this in 2009 and it really changed my way of thinking about a lot of different areas of my life! God’s Word is amazing and FITS every situation in our day to day living!! You’ll love it!!
Thanks Bobbie for explaining! I carry verses on a 2 x 2 card in my pocket to memorize. It has changed my life learning a scripture at at time and pondering over it’s meaning and what the verse that week will mean personally. I am so very excited about being a part of SSMT! ccountability will be a blast with this bunch.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! When are you going to share that cornbread dressing recipe with the rest of us??????
Dear Beth,
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, PLEASE
I am lying in my bed reading your blog. Two dogs are at my feet and my precious, sweet, godly husband of 18 years lightly snoring beside me. Our man child of 16 years is just down the hall and in deep sleep. I was up early this morning to let the dogs out and awaken Mills to say how thankful I am for him. I spent some time with our Lord in gratitude and thanksgiving and then I grabbed my iPhone, jumped back under the covers and looked at my favorite site; LPM Blog.
Now as I write, tears are flowing down my face and I’m feeling the sting of another family gathering without my mom. Oh if you only knew how God used that incident to totally transform my life! I would not go back, not even for a moment, even if it meant having my mom here. I know where she is and I would not do that to her or myself. What is so painful for me is how out of whack my family is without her. My dad, who was always so full of joy and life, still DEEPLY grieves his enormous loss. Even though I try to lovingly tell him that God was so gracious to receive Mother, he is mad at Him for “taking” her. Our family really did Whig out 5 1/2 years ago and life is just really hard at times.
I feel “guilty” for having and living such a blessed life. My pain is for my dad and my siblings who haven’t really tasted and seen how great the Lord is. I have one brother who is mentally ill and was declared incompetent. I have another brother who was just released from prison last week for his 3rd DWI. A brother who just got divorced from his wife whom I love as the sister she is. A baby sister who will not have anything at all to do with Shavonn and me. If it were not for the great grace and mercy of Jesus, I could very well get overwhelmed and stay in my bed all day and cry. But the truth is I am personally so extremely blessed and thankful for the life I now live. It is found in Christ Jesus. I encourage my siblings and tell them that the abundant life in Christ Jesus is for everyone and it is not found in things, only in Him alone. He does indeed give you the desire of your heart when you delight in Him because He is your desire.
I grieved my mom’s passing hard for a year and a half. Thank God I was in church and knew enough to grieve in the lap of my Savior. Now I live each day at the foot of my King’s Throne and the in the lap of my Abba.
Beth, thanks for letting me privately share my heart to you this morning. How thankful I am for the powerful and eternal role you have played in my life. How blessed I am to have sweet memories of my mom and me in your Tues night Bible studies. I was telling Victoria Osteen how my mom and I would go to your studies together and during praise and worship I would peak over at my mom and she would be standing clinching her Bible with her sweet little hand barely extended in praise and adoration. I can only imagine how she has both arms extended high in the air in adoration of the only One worthy to take the scroll. I also imagine her prostrate before Him.
My mom went to Heaven during the taping of Daniel. She never finished the series. A year and a half later I was facilitating the same series in my SS class and saw my mother’s white head of hair on the DVD. God is so good like that.
I love you, Beth Moore, and pray for you and your family every single day. No harm will befall you and no weapon formed against you will prosper in the name of Jesus.
Please pray for the Schneider Family when you think about it. Not one prayer would be wasted. I keep thinking about the prayers of the Saints in Revelation that is like a bowl of incense before God. I know I am to wait for God’s appointed time, but I have been praying for my brother’s paranoid schizophrenia for 20 years now. Still waiting, hoping, and believing…..
Happy Giving Thanks!
Roxanne Worsham
YOU ARE A BLESSING TO ME SWEET ROXANNE!!
Thank you for sharing your heart and love for your family!!!
How did I get so blessed to have such a precious friend and extended friends from this SACRED BLOG!!!!
I love you sweet Roxanne!!!
I love you sweet Beth!!!
I love you sweet Amanda!!!
I love you sweet Melissa!!!
I love you sweet “PJ” Jan!!!
I love you sweet Tiffany!!!
I love you sweet Valerie!!!
I love you sweet Lichelle!!!
I love you sweet Angie!!!
I love you sweet Hollie!!!
I love you sweet SisterLynn!!!
I love you sweet Yolanda!!!
I love you sweet Siestas!!!
In ND we are in the grips of another snow storm will it quit already? We had to scrap our original plans but never fear I can whip up a meal from nothing!!!Pumpkin pies are baking while I ready the ham (Pork producers don’t do turkey!) for the oven for a later meal. I shed some tears yesterday for those we will not have seated at the table here ever again. We carry on though and remember them with the receipes they passed down and stories they told. It is comforting to look out and see the wind blowing snow around but we are snug inside and safe. Snowstorms always make you grateful for small things. Happy TGiivng! Hugs from the Heartland! Betty M
Tears are words from the heart, so shedding them is speaking heartfelt thoughts of people whom we have been blessed to love on. I pray your day will be a time of peace and feeling blessed.
(I know you don’t know me but your comments on tears touched me, and we are siesta’s right!)
Happy Thanksgiving to you Ms. Beth and all of Siestaville. Thanks for sharing the great pictures and memories. I love your table too!
I come this Thanksgiving morning begging for prayers for my mom. She was diagnosed yesterday with kidney cancer in BOTH kidneys, very rare. They have also found a spot on her bone in her leg. She is the only parent I have left….please pray for healing and a miracle. I know God can do it….please pray that He will! I am only 31 years old with two young kids. I still need her desperately.
Yes, you do, Mary. We will pray.
Praying, Mary
Praying for your mom and your family. {{{HUGS}}}
praying Marcy
Oh I’m sorry Mary if they don’t catch it I think I wrote Marcy because that is my sister and I’ve been thinking about her.
I am praying for you Mary
Praying, Mary.
Thank you so much everyone
Happy Thanksgiving Beth! Once again, you summed things up wonderfully! We love you and your family. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!
Jen N. in Ohio
Happy Thanksgiving to you Beth and all your loved ones. I want to thank you personally for being our own siestamama. ITs always fun to see a new blog and I am always blessed by what you and Amanda and Melissa put up there. I love all three of you.
I love this holiday because it is about family.. and friends.. and all that the LORD has done in us and for us. This is a time of joy for me. A time of remembrance.. no matter what has gone on… none of it has been wasted, and all of it is working a blessing in me and my loved ones.
My man is working today… flying people around from place to place. We had our feast on Monday. It felt totally like “the day”. So much so that after dinner I told my dad and my man to “go and watch the game, and I’ll bring the desserts to you”. Then I remembered it was only a MOnday. But it was good and we all had Thankful hearts.
But today is a quiet day for me with my 4 girls. And I truly love the peace. We’ll heat up the leftovvers and have ourselves another feast and wait for Daddy to call. But in the meantime, my Thanksgiving day is a special day with Jesus.
hugs to you Moores!
Heidi
Happy Thanksgiving to you! I feel so blessed and thankful to be a part of this “community” I finally got to meet you in Rapid and what a priviledge it was! I am thankful for the gifts God has given you and your ability to share them!
Beth, As I read your post it amazed me at how much of it was similar to the list I had just made this morning. We had a rough past year and a half, losing both of my parents. I was very very close with them and it is difficult celebrating without them. The joy I have is KNOWING without a doubt that they are having the biggest feast ever with their Savior!! Other troubles prevail with our daughter in college but God has been so faithful and helping me to endure. We are actually spending Thanksgiving with only the four of us in a hotel but trying to focus on the blessings we have. It just goes to show you that it’s not the way we celebrate or with who but whether we allow our focus to be on Him and His love. Thank you for this forum, and God bless all of you!
Thank you dear Siesta Mamma. I love you dearly.
Dear Beth,
Reading this post was like sitting in the biggest Calgon bubble bath and suddenly “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH”. I love you sooo much and it is a wonderful freedom to express that and enoy it too.
Thanksgiving is the time of that I first discovered that God has a bullseye aim on me. As a child I dreamed of seeing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person one day. In 1993 I moved there and lived in an apartment at 77th and Columbus Ave. Little did I know that it was where they blow the ballons up for the parade but it is where it starts.
He woos us all into His beloved family and that was where I began to get more open minded to this Lord of details!
In the Beloved,
~A~
Thankful for you, too, Siesta Mama! From your list you’ve reminded me some more things I hadn’t considered yet to be grateful for this year. As always you teach…even on our little blog “chats”!
And mercy me…are you speed walking WHILE HOLDING COFFEE??!! That just beats all, but I’d expect nothing less from you! Travis is quite the friend, and I know he forced you to double your pace. My very tall husband keeps forgetting that I have to practically jog to keep up with his stride!
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving memories for you and your loved ones today!
Happy Thanksgiving to the Siestaville! Beth, wanted to let you know that my Tuesday night Bible Study group just finished the updated Woman’s Heart and we loved it! I did the first one years ago and when I saw we were doing the updated one I told my Mom (who will be 80 next March) and sister that they will be blessed by it. And they were! I am thankful this year for so many things but especially for the King of Kings the Lord of Lords the Prince of Peace!
I am so thankful for your book So long Insecurity. I just finished it last night and I felt felt like it was written just for me! One of my biggest fears has always been to have a traveling husband that would fall for someone at work and now he has a job in Lorado for 5 weeks and hes the only male going! Talk about God testing your fears! but now after reading your book I feel like I have a way to work through them and trust God!I always feel God telling me when these things pop up to trust him! So that is what I plan on doing! Maybe after this though I will no longer fear it as much. My husband is great and I do trust him it has nothing to do with him its just something I have to deal with myself. I thought I was fine I never saw what I feared as insecurities and now I feel like I can work on them and God can take them from me with alot of work of course! I had to say Thank you though for putting it all out there in your book! I am very thankful for you and the work God does through you!
Beth, I love your tabletop in the picture. Is that you actual table, or is it a table pad? Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
My actual table. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s distressed paint so it’s very country looking. I’m so NOT into furniture and I’m the worst decorator in the world but I love this table. It’s my favorite thing in my house and I keep suggesting to my girls that they should be fighting over who gets it. When we remodeled our house about 4 or so years ago, we got some new furniture. Our friend who is a decorator took me to several places to look for a dining table and nothing rang my bell. I was bored out of my mind. Finally, the owner of one of the stores said, “Get in the car.” She took me to her own house and pointed to her table and said, “Do you like that?” YES!!!! I loved it! And she ordered me one just like hers. So fun that you asked!
And so fun that you shared Beth. We LOVE these glimpses into your life.
Happy Thanksgiving, dear girl! I’ve pictured you across my coffee table ever so many times. My daughters tease me that I think you’re my BFF. I just grin and think, “Yes, I’m a bit weird, but just wait for heaven, sweetie pies. You’ll see.”
Thank you for the indwelling Holy Spirit, Lord. Have I mentioned what a brilliant plan You have? My thanks is so puny, but thank you for wanting it, all the same.
Happy Thanksgiving Beth and family… This was a beautiful “thankful” post. Thank you for reminding me of all the things that I can be thankful to our Lord for…He is amazing…I just need to remember that more 🙂
By the way, I love the picture of you and Travis 🙂 That you two are walking with coffee in your hands makes me smile…
Love you Beth…
Happy Thanksgiving Siestas!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. I’m sitting here in a quiet moment before the fun begins and needed to hear the spiritual truths you posted. I’m close to tears right now just knowing my Father is so faithful. May you have a blessed day with your family. Kiss on those babies. I have one precious grandson that I’m going to kiss on in a few minutes!
Dear Beth, Thank you for posting. What a treat this beautiful Thanksgiving Day. I am so thankful for you! And I’m thankful for a family who sleeps in and lets me have some quiet moments with the Lord before the rush of the day. We too have had a roller-coaster year! But Jesus has never left our sides through every twist and turn. He is faithful!
I LOVE your table as well; reminds me of the Fruit of the Spirit (if I’m seeing it correctly). I’m sure you’re in the midst of cooking madness right now, but wishing you, your family, and all the siestas a blessed day.
Thank you for your thankful post. It touched my heart.
Thank you, Beth! I realized today that even the olives are stuffed in my home. I wrote a little prayer, “Even the Olives,” to thank God. Here you go: http://livewithflair.blogspot.com/2010/11/even-olives.html
Happy Thanksgiving to my American Siesta’s we had ours here in Canada in October, but the thoughts were still about the same thing being Thankful. Blessings to you all.
Sweet Mama! May you have a very blessed Thanksgiving with your family!!!
In tears. The enemy of my soul has been stealing all of my joy and all of my peace lately. I have been waiting on Jesus, binding myself to Him (literally picturing us bound together as I go through my day), and trusting Him for deliverance.
Praise Him for He HAS heard my cry for mercy, He is my strength and my shield, He is my salvation.
Beth, this post is a stone of remembrance to me of Jesus beginning to restore peace and joy to me. You are right, He is way better than He has to be. I am thankful for the inheritance I have in Him.
Oh how I love Him.
Dear Beth,
As I as reading your blog and thinking of all my blessings, I am grateful for you and your ministry. Your bible study, “Beloved Disciple” was the first bible study I had ever taken- and it certainly has not been my last!! You have helped me grow in the Lord by leaps and bounds- only the Lord knows how your sacrifice of service has helped countless women know that they can be free!!! And as I saw the last picture you posted of your kitchen table, as the tears filled my eyes, I couldn’t help but think that one day we will all be seated around a grand table with all our family, siestas and friends, who have given their hearts to Jesus and will look into the eyes of our Savior Who loved us and gave Himself for us. Praise His Name forever and ever- Happy Thanksgiving Beth and family!!
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Ms Beth! Same to you, Amanda, Melissa, LPM staff, and all my sisters on this blog. I am so grateful to the Lord for you all!
Blessings,
Eposi
I love you! Plain and simple!