Hey, Darling Things! A quick, random post here. The last day of work before Christmas is always ministry-on-steroids around this place. We close to the public and work like crazy to get last minute details done. Several of us (yours truly included) will still have to put in a few days between Christmas and New Year’s but this is our last day of 2010 as a team. Characteristically at some point on the last day, all of us pitch in and help Diane and Evangeline with resources. Lots of people place last minute orders that they’re hoping will make it by Christmas Day and we try hard to accommodate. This year someone also came up with this insane idea that tagged on, oh, about 6000+ orders and in December, no less. (Perhaps you’ve noticed that we are having to freeze new SSMT spiral orders for a few days because we’ve gone into back order for printing.) But we are so happy and the Lord is so faithful!
Christ has called us to Romans 15:13 over the last week due to some long term struggles a few of us are having. We’ve been saying it back and forth to one another as a reminder of His blessing to us. Maybe you could use this reminder, too. Hopelessness is never of God. Never. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Nothing is beyond His reach. His restoration. Even His reconciliation. I’m going to try to write the verse by heart to you:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As you trust in Him.
As you trust in Him.
AS YOU TRUST IN HIM.
If we’ve got His Word on it, let’s not stop believing Him for our situations until our lack of hope transforms into an OVERFLOW of hope. Do it, Lord. I felt the victory begin the moment I started committing the verse to memory. God is so amazing.
Anyway, here are a few random pictures from the last two days. I had so many more but they won’t upload and I’m so annoyed. This is a quick pic of our staff Christmas lunch yesterday at Grand Lux by the Galleria:
This is your very own Siesta Mama stuffing envelopes with spirals. That’s my buddy of 30 years, Johnnie, to my right (she’s the one the David revision is dedicated to. That’s my buddy of 20+ years, Diane, to my left. She is one of our LPM managers and one of the people I trust most in the world:
These are some of the last minute orders waiting for our wonderful UPS man.
Gotta go! I get to babysit tonight! I’ll be in plenty of touch around here. I love you guys!
Merry, Merry Christmas Beth and to your family. Thank you for all you do. I’m looking forward to receiving my spiral and getting started in the new year to memorizing 24+ scriptures. It’s been great wallpapering my mind these last 2 years with scripture. Even though I continued this year with memorizing I’m so looking forward to doing it again with you and all the other Siesta’s. May everyone have a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks, Beth! I really really really needed to hear and be reminded of that verse! That IS going to be my first memory verse in my “Siesta” spiral. My mom is really struggling w/her cancer and the continuous pain it is causing her. I was just reflectling over past Christmas’s and missing that twinkle in my mom’s eyes. It’s so hard watching her go through this…I was just bawling like a baby and decided to get my mind off of it by going to your blog. That verse reminded where I needed to be – trusting in him! I need to claim it and feel His victory!
Have a Merry Christmas and thanks again for the verse!
I got my spiral yesterday and am almost giddy at the thought of filling that baby up! Thanks to all of you at LPM for doing that for us! Merry Christmas!
Okay, that’s got to be the third or fourth time in a week someone has referenced Romans 15:13…maybe I should pay attention! I somehow ran across Amanda’s blog…your grandbabies are so precious! But what strikes me most is just thinking about what God can do in a life. I’ve heard your testimony and to think about where you started and then to look at your life now (what I can see from my angle, anyway)…wow. Nothing is impossible to Him…how blessed we all are who know Him.
Overwhelmed!!!
That is the verse I felt the Lord gave me to start 2011. It’s already written in my prayer journal. He has graciously confirmed it again. I decided on the HCSB, He is my HOPE. Lord, that I would trust You!
Thank you for working so hard, and for allowing God to use you to bless us.
Love you too–merry Christmas
LOVE the spiral..got mine today. Will put that scripture in tonight..TRUST IN HIM, TRUST IN HIM!! Cracking up over Curtis’s face in that sea of estrogen! Gotta be a mighty man to hang with the Siestas. God bless all of you this Christmas.
I received my spiral in the mail the other day, only to find out a friend I told about them ordered both of us one! Praises only to my Abba.
Anyhoo, I wanted to say a quick thank you and
THANK YOU!! TO:EVERY LPM STAFF PERSON AND VOLUNTEER
for the extra mile you travel and everything you do for us here in Siestaville.
MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS
Oh, how thankful I am for God’s Word and His participation in this blog. My cousin took his life over the weekend and on Monday his mother found him. We have had such a roller coaster year as there is not ONE emotion, event, sad, happy or anything in between that our family has not experienced. I thought we were homefree just a few days from 2011. This will be a difficult week for many across the world, and I am hanging onto this verse as my LIFESAVER today and every day until a new one comes across my path. I too am waiting for my spirals to come in the mail. I bought one for myself, my two daughters and two extras in anticipation of two women the Lord will put in my path to walk 2011 Scripture Memory with us. Thank you Lord.
Oh, Lisa, I am so sorry. I cannot imagine. May Christ wrap all of you tightly in His arms.
Thank you Beth. I just wanted you to know I used Romans 15:13 in the Order of Service for my cousin and am carrying it on an index card to memorize.
Dear Lisa,
I am so sorry to hear of this devastation in your family.
God loves you, my sister, RUN to Him and may He give you comfort.
Pat from Kansas
I love you to Beth, Merry Christmas!
Glad you all at LPM got to enjoy lunch at the Galleria – you all deserve it! Have a blessed Christmas and thank you all for working so hard for us all year (and for working so hard to get out the many orders recently)
Maicehell from Maine
Thank you for that reminder of our hope!! I think I lost mine over this past month, and I aim to claim it back through the Lord’s promises….Romans 15:13 is a terrific place to start.
Jen N. in OH
We’ll do it together, Jen. Jesus is worthy.
Beth, It is such a God thing that I looked at this blog tonight. The verse in Romans speaks volumes to me. My husband and I lost our 20 year old son 5 1/2 weeks ago in an accident. One of the last journal entries that he wrote was on Isaiah 40:31..He was talking about everything that God provides through us calling on His name….his last line reads, “all we have to do is just TRUST Him”…We are trusting God to continue to use our son’s life and death to minister, in the name of Jesus, to anyone in need of it. We always knew he was special, we just didn’t realize how many other people felt the same way. His friends are young and old alike..they speak to us of his openness with them. They tell us that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. That he was a servant in the name of Jesus to them. There is a beautiful story of a young man who by worldly standards, should have been long since gone from this earth. I wish I knew how to share it. It would be a blessing to encourage other young people who love the Lord like our Luke did. To encourage them to simply live the love of Christ to others; and thereby making a visible, tangible choice. God has done amazing things in our town through this..we have heard from folks as far away as Boston, MA who where praying for our family and Santiago, Dominican Republic where he had been on mission last Spring..he was so looking forward to going back to see what the Lord had accomplished since last year. I feel really stupid for writing this on your blog, but wanted so much to share with you, maybe even ask you some questions, just didn’t know how..May the Lord be praised in every circumstance!! Julie
Oh, Julie. I am so deeply sorry. What a fine son you must have had. I can only imagine how much comfort God is bringing you through your son’s faithfulness to Him and the tangible evidence of the journal entry. I am also so thankful that you will indeed see him again and it will be as if no time has passed. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Julie your post touched me so. You blessed me by sharing your son’s story. I have an 18 year old son, and Praise God, God led me to Beth’s studies which have opened discussions between Brent and I. I will share your post with him, and your beautiful words “encourage young people to love the Lord like Luke did” I will take to heart and share. Thank you, and thank You Father for Luke and his story. Brent will be touched as well.
I am so sorry, Julie. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Much Love,
Patti Hayes
Julie, sweet sister, I am so sorry.
Melana
Just received my spiral – sooo cute! Thanks to you and all of your staff for working so hard to get them out! I’m so excited to be a part of this next year! Blessings!
Got my spiral today!!!! Thanks to all who helped stuff those envelopes and make the Siesta’s New Year! Love to all the LPM staff! I’m so excited for ALL of you that Melissa and Colin are back in Texas. What a Christmas Gift!
Merry Christmas!
Pam
Dublin, VA
Thanks to you and all the LPM team for all you do. Also, thanks for the verse and the reminder that I’m not alone in how I feel. You’re right, I need to Trust Him over my situation. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Thank you for pointing me to Romans 15:13. Just what I need for the crisis I’m facing. Things seem so dim & others make me feel there is no hope. Trying my best to hold on to hope. Looking forward to getting my spiral soon! You are such an encouragement to me. Thank you, thank you!!! Wishing you Christmas blessings!
dear beth and all you fine women at LPM. i can’t thank you enough for what you are doing for us! (for me!) i ordered 10 for my close friends and family. somehow i messed up and ordered 20! but that is perfectly fine. we are haveing a ladies weekend and the teaching is none other than Beth Moore’s Measureless Love DVDs. we are having Texas Sheet cake on Friday night along with a coffee bar and bagels on saturday. it’s going to be fabulous… kinda like Houston. i plan on giving away 10 spirals at that even. I can not wait!!
again! thank you all! you are true servants!
love ya. each and every one of you!
jackie
Thanks for that reminder. That is the kind of message I needed tonight. Struggling a little with family issues. Needed a good Romans verse to hang on. Can’t wait to start memorizing again with the siestas. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone.
Jan
That verse just gave me goosebumps. That will definitely be one of the verses that will go in my brand new spiral which arrived in the mail today! I was not expecting it until closer to the new year. Thank you sooooo much for putting in all the hours to get them to us. (Am I the only one who tried to zoom into the picture to see if the envelope you’re holding was addressed to me? But then I remembered my envelope was white.)
Merry Christmas LPM siestas. I’m new to your blog & ministry but I love you all already. 😀
Grace & Peace
My spiral arrived today. Thanks so much!!!
My family attended an annual dinner this evening(old neighborhood group for over 31 years). I had to sell my home in this neighborhood 13 years ago, OUCH and more OUCH- My My My as we would say- so many struggles, memories and devastations shared-
I can’t EVER thank you and your team enough for sharing the encouragement of Christ-
Can’t wait to get mine in the mail and get that first verse in there!
Merryc Christmas to you all – may the Lord just astound you with His goodness!
After a year of much trial and testing and moments of “hopelessness”, in which God proved himself faithful, I want to claim this verse for 2011. I love the way God gently whispers His truth amid the world’s shouts of lies, and yet God’s whisper is louder than anything else. I am so grateful for the way he uses this ministry.
Dear Beth and LPM staff: As the year rolls to a close, it is clear that the Lord has used each one of you, individually, and corporately, to accomplish great things for Him and through Him this year. What a blessing! We praise God for His faithfulness in closing out yet another year safely, securely, and with so much love, fun, devotion, and comradery that we know will definitely overflow into the brand new year!
Beth, what an awesome privilege it is to have “friends” that have been a part of your life 20+ and 30 years. Just being able to say that is the “true” “living proof” of God’s goodness to you. Johnnie and Diane are blessed, too. To journey down life’s pathways with someone like you, each of you loving the Lord, holding onto Him and to each other, as you skip and hop and stumble and fall down and pick each other up, and so on and so forth, well, this just has to be the MOST wonderful life one can claim this side of Heaven! Can we all say, AMEN! 🙂
Remember me, and I will be remembering each of you, in my daily prayers, as we carry on our mission here on Earth for our great and awesome King!!! Who is returning SOON! Praise His holy Name!
In His mighty grip,
jean dean
Psalm 18:2
Thank you guys for all you do…I’m a lurker coming out of the shadows 🙂 but I had to tell you HOW MUCH I NEEDED THIS VERSE! I was a dummy and broke my husbands trust on a stupid thing – and I had asked God to help me out (what was I thinking lol) and He did by revealing my “issue”. Now I feel very sad for how I made my husband feel – but all is good and we are working everything out…so hope and joy – I will cling to this!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in the new year!
Merry Christmas LPM, can’t wait for you to come back : )
Beth,
This is the 2nd time I have come across this verse in the last week. I think there must be something to it. If you didn’t speak to anyone else on all of Siestaville, you were speaking directly to me. And I needed to hear it. This Christmas is especially painful. But God is always good regardless. Case in point… your words.
Miss Beth. Merry Christmas! I feel like I say this every time you encourage us with a verse, but it was “so timely!” OUR GOD IS SO FAITHFUL. (I accidently started typing that in “caps,” but left it because it seemed appropriate.) I love you in a way that is only possible because of Him. Thank you for your faithfulness to Him.
The staff picture is so cute, and as I looked at it, I just imagined for a brienf moment the time you guys had together.
Much, much love to you and everyone at LPM.
And, you’re girls are beautiful. I’ll turn 24 next week (the 28th), and always enjoy the brief glimpses into their lives.
Love, Taylor
Beth,
Please tell that sweet Johnnie that she made my day! I called from the UK (we are an American familiy posted overseas) and she just talked to me like I was her very own-as if she had known me forever! She was trying to help me sort out the very best way to get the spirals here in a timely manner for me and a few friends. She was so patient and attentive, moreso than any ‘phone order’ I’ve ever had to place. Now I know why you love those ladies so much. It must be such a blast working there with each other. God surely does bless us with beautiful friends!
Merry Christmas and Loads of Love from England,
Cindy
Hi, Cindy! She told me about your call! God used it to keep us stuffing those envelopes with great joy! You are loved here.
I was so excited to receive my spiral notebook! I already know the first verse I’m going to write in it and I’ve already started to memorize it!
I just wanted to thank you for the prayer written out on the invoice. It blessed me so!
Merry Christmas to you and everyone at LPM!
So, if I trust in Him, I’ll be filled with joy and peace . . . and then, I will get to overflow with hope because of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of me. What a deal! Gotta love Him – thanks, I needed this verse!
Bless your hearts- thank you for working so hard to get our orders to us! My spirals came today!!!!!! THANK YOU and may you all have the Merriest Christmas you have ever had.
What a great and timely verse for me! I wish you, your family, and all of your staff a blessed and joyful Christmas.
Wonderful verse that needs to be taken to heart in my own life….
Thank you!
Merry Christmas~
~Beth
SO GLAD you’re taking all the extra work with a happy spirit. I have four kids (one year apart) and have learned the hard way that frustration and losing my joy is never going to bless me in the end. God is amazing in His faithfulness. LOVE seeing pics of the outside in Texas. I’m in Jersey now but miss Houston so much! Merry Christmas
Thanks LPM staff and Beth for your ministry. I hope you and your families feel Christ’s love wrapped around you this Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you all…..
Someone sent Romans 15:13 to me in a Christmas card a few days ago, and it gripped me as if I had never read it before. Now, you sent it, too. . . I guess God wants to make sure that I hear it! Definitely one for the memory spiral :)Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much for that reminder Beth. I’m going to write that verse out and stick it to my visor in my truck. I needed that this morning as I’m about to go have a root canal- I have felt peace only because I know the Lord will sit with me in that chair today. I was also reminded that we find favor with God when we trust in Him. How can I be afraid of that little dentist chair, when I know I find favor with the God who created me and knows me better than anyone! Thanks for all you do. Merry Christmas!
Beth,
Isn’t God AWESOME!! At the exact time you were sending out this blog post I received a phone call telling me my sister, Debbie, who has battled breast cancer this year and had bilateral mastectomies in October was being put in the hospital for a post op infection. I live hundreds of miles away and could not be by her side. When I talked to her last night she was very discouraged. She feels like Job from the Bible and wonders why God is allowing this after going through so much this year. Then I read the verse in the post…Romans 15:13. It just leapt from the page and I knew this is a verse for her (and me). I’m sending it to her this morning and I think I may start my scripture memorization early and start with this one.
Thank you for allowing God to speak through you to me today.
Merry Christmas!
Donna
Just wanted to say thank you for your faithfulness!! My daughter who has recently become engaged and I are both going through A womans heart Gods dwelling place. We have been so excited as we take a look at what God has in store for us. My homework is in the morning and she does hers during her lunch hour at work. We then discuss what God has revealed either by phone or face to face. This study not only has drawn us to the Lord but also as mother and daughter. We have shared revelation with other family and friends that family friends (men) have said..”I will not let the title discourage me and will study with you”. Thank you so much for your ministry, faithfulness, and shared memories with us. Merry Christmas from Omaha and cant wait to see you in Lincoln in 20111 should the Lord allow!
Hey Beth! I waited too long! I really wanted to get a Siesta Spiral notebook and start memorizing scripture but I had to wait till I got paid! And now when I go to the webpage it won’t let me order it! I know it will be backordered, but I still wanted to get one. Can you help? I’m new to this community but I’ve been doing your Bible studies since I became a Christian in 2000 and for the last five years I am leading Women’s bible studies (with yours especially). Have a wonderful Christmas!!!
Susan
Hi, Susan! It will only be a few days! You have a wonderful Christmas, too!
You guys at LPM R-O-C-K!!! I was actually surprised to already receive my spiral. I had a temporary system all lined up 🙂 Thank you for all your hard work this year. May the Lord bless and keep each of you as you spend time with family and friends over the holidays.
See you next year!!!
Love, Valerie in Louisville, KY
This blog is just awesome! I just love it!Its so encouraging.
Thanks LPM! Thanks Beth, our Siesta Mama! So looking forward to getting into the Scripture with all of you!
I’m so touched by the Word you shared with us…It has brought me joy and hope on this very difficult day. There is a situation going on in my family that is tearing it apart! But I have hope that Christ can mend any and all things we leave to Him! I would love to share details with everyone but it would take up tons of space and time! Thank you all for your big hearts and your tremendous faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Your faith overflows to so many. May God bless you all and have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Sacha
I love reading the blogs and what everyone shares. The love of Christ is so evident and is a wonderful blessing. I write poems, as the Lord lays things on my heart. Here is one below. Merry Christmas to you all as you celebrate the birth of our Savior.
May you feel His presence this holiday season
Enjoy each moment and remember He is the reason!
Reflect on what His birth has meant to you
Remember He is always there to pull you through
You are precious in His sight-He loves you so much
Can you feel His presence – His heavenly touch?
He wants to always be in your heart and in your soul
Remember it’s all about Jesus – give Him control
It’s easy to get so busy that we forget Him some days
Stop, take a moment and thank Him for His glorious ways
There is no detail too big or too small for our Father above
May you always seek the Holy Spirit and feel His love
And when the holidays are over and we put everything away
Store His love and joy in your heart each and every day!
I can’t tell you how I needed that verse today!!!!! I wish I could help ya’ll!!!! I am all the way in Nashville, TN but I so wish I could help stuff or bring you food or just whatever you would need! Thank you for serving!! Love ya’ll and the Merriest of Christmas to you all!!!!!
Crissy
Got my spiral on Monday and it was so…..OMS {oh my siesta!}
Have been down sick with a bad cold but “dry me up meds” and Lord willing must get up and get my Christmas grocery shopping on today. Happy and blessed Christmas to LPM!
Thanks for sharing this verse. I immediately grabbed a pen and paper to claim it as my memory verse. Trusting in Him does produce such sweet peace and unexplainable joy…no doubt my hope in Christ is what has sustained me through this difficult season of life. It is through such trials that our faith is deepened and strengthened beyond our wildest comprehension. Loving and knowing Him is the most precious thing! Lydia (my daughter diagnosed with a brainstem tumor) continues to grow in her walk with her Savior and He continues to bless us with sweet time with her. Our hope is full ~ joy and peace abound! Glory to God in all things!
Thank you Beth for giving me another verse to ponder on through the day. Have a blessed Christmas break, thank you to all the LPM staff who are working so hard up to the very last minute.
Woo hoo I just opened an email from UPS that my sprial is “in transit” and should be delivered today!!! Wake up talking to God, coffee with the blog and now a package to anticipate it is going to be a blessed happy day!!
Oh my goodness did I need this verse today! Just before I read this I was feeling discouraged and a little hopeless about some things I’m believing God for. Thank you! I’m going to be memorizing this verse for sure!