Hey, Sweet Things!
You guys are so much fun. Thanks for getting excited with us about the app. I’m just thinking about how this whole technology thing was in the mind of God centuries ago when He inscribed His words on the sacred page through the pens of men. Too much to wrap our minds around, isn’t it? He is the One who knows “the end from the beginning,” and “from ancient times, what is still to come.” He says, “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” (Isaiah 46:10)
At the moment I’m typing up this post, we have a whopping 9250 entries under Verse 1. Never in my wildest imagination did I picture this. I was pretty blown away by our strong and steady couple of thousand in 2009. Keep in mind that the 9250 is not an exact reflection of participants because there are some replies under comments, like, “I’m copying yours!” and “I’ve never even heard that verse!” I’m not going put a restriction on that because community in Christ is what makes Siestaville work. We do know, however, that way over 8000 are participating because that many women ordered spirals or downloaded the artwork. Others who are participating grabbed their own spirals the easier way from the store. I also want you to picture the many preadolescent girls we have on our team. Don’t you remember loving stickers and pens and school supplies when you were that age? I should have known they’d take to the spirals. Just close your eyes and imagine them reciting some of the verses dearest to your heart. Many of us have lived long enough to know by life experience what they are reciting by faith. It’s such a precious thought to me. They will find Jesus faithful just as we have. Yep, we have junior Siestas but we also have plenty of senior Siestas which delights me just as much. Our joy in standing shoulder-to-shoulder with this mighty band of women is indescribable. I wonder how many football fields we would stretch across. Whew. For just a split second I saw us all in my bright red college drill team uniforms. Scratch that thought.
OK, before I call for your second verses, many of you asked for the exact date of the SSMT celebration next January. I double-checked the weekend with Sabrina and it’s January 20-21, 2012 from Friday evening until Saturday noon. Of course, we’ll get you the proper information starting early next Fall but, if you think you might want to come, put it down on your calendar, start saving your expense money, and plan to memorize your darling little head off. The event itself is our gift to you and your ticket in is your well-used spiral (of either kind).
Are you ready for SSMT Verse 2? I’m giving you a heads-up that I plan to target a lot of James verses this year so, while I’m still going to tell you mine each time, I’ll also suggest a good alternative for those of you who could use an additional idea. Remember! Limit your comments to Name, City, Verse, and Translation. Here’s mine:
Beth, Houston. “My brothers and sisters, do not show prejudice if you possess faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” James 2:1 The NET Bible
Here’s an alternative I really love and memorized a couple of years ago. My dear coworker, Diane, is memorizing it right now so it’s washing back over my mind:
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” Psalm 40:5 NIV
And that, O Lord, is the gospel truth.
OK, Sisters! Bring on Verse 2!
I pray that Christ is so pleased. I feel in my soul that He is.
Have a great weekend!
Leigh, Olathe, KS “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage and He shall strenghten your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” Psalm 27: 13-14, NKJV
Micah 6:8, NAS. In preparation for the Justice Conference in Bend I will be attending next month:
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
Tina, Odessa, NIRV,
Lord, hear my voice when I call out to you.
Show me your favor and answer me. Ps. 27:7
Internet down all weekend. Sorry for the late post!
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Psalm 51:10 MSG
18″Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19″Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert. (Is. 43:18-19) NASB
From Murfreesboro, TN: ‘Neverless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman (is) of the man, even so (is) the man also by the woman; but all things of God.’
1 Corinthians 11:11-12 (NIV)
Heather Tumwater, WA
God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him. Phil. 2:13 NLT
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) NKJ
Brenda, Dallas, GA, Psalm 91:2 NKJV I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him I will trust.”
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; See if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23-24 NAS
Katie Morris, Etna, CA
Charlotte, Hamilton, OH
Romans 1:16-17 kjv
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23 NIV—Martha, Birmingham, AL
Tracy Leigh-Paris, MO-“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Joshua 1:5-NIV
*Sorry I’m late!*
Romans 8:28
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
Jenni, Great Falls, MT
Why so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 142:5 NIV
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 NIV
Brandy- Prattville, AL.
Sandy from Amarillo, Tx
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips.
Psalm 141:3 NIV
Ashley, Deer Park, TX
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NIV
Tara, Monett MO
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:37 NLT
Leanne
Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada
…For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world….. 1John 2:16
Birmingham, AL
“You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O lord, will keep me safe.” Psalm 4:7-8 NLT
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. NIV
April, North Carolina
Joy, Durham, NC
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13) NIV
Praying HS will show me my broken cisterns….
Katherine, Russell
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, we who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.
Philippians 3:3 NIV
Stephanie
Abilene, TX
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6, ESV
Joy, Durham, NC.
I changed the version to The Message vs. NIV:
“My people have committed a compound sin:
they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves. Jer. 2:13 (The Message)
Joanne, Dallas Tx
Cease striving and know that I am God Ps.46:10 NIV
Tammie, Cleveland, MS
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3 (NKJV)
“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” ~Acts 4:31 (NASB)
Megan, Covington, WA
Psalm 16:5&6
Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup.
You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines you have fallen for me in pleasent places. Surely I have a delighful inheritance.
Janie
Belton, Tx
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. 2 Peter 3:18 NAS
Michelle, Moultrie, GA
Ephesians 1:18-19 NASB
(18) I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (19) and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. THese are in accordance with the working of the strength of his migh.
Ps. 33: 20-22 (NIV)
We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
Soozi
Houston, TX
Jennifer O.
Janesville, Wisconsin
Ephesians 2:8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Cindy, Dallas, TX Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Is. 43:18-19 NIV
Stephanie Solomon, Morgantown, WV
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
(2Timothy 1:7)
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past saying,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past saying,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple; and my cry for help before Him came into His ears.” Psalm 18:6 NASB
(This is a prayer for my friend, Janet, who suffered a brain aneurism last week and is in ICU. Please pray for her recovery)
Victoria, Canton, Ga.
“Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline, but he who regards discipline will be honored.”
Proverbs 13:18, NAS
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV
Cindy Gandy
Hazlehurst, MS
John 14:27 (NKJV)
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Amber T – Saint Louis, MO
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” -Proverbs 16:9
Cheryl – Yakima, WA – “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure: then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17
Tammy, Indianapolis, IN
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)
“The Word of the Lord is right and true. He is faithful in all He does.” Psalm 33:4 NIV
Teresa Stout
Texarkana, AR
The Lord is my portion; therefore I will put my hope in Him. Lamentations 3:24 (HCSB)
Teri — Opelousas, LA
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 NRSV
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 ESV
Marie, Post Falls, Idaho –
“She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.” – 1 Samuel 1:10, NKJV