**Siesta Celebration is January 20-21, 2012**
Hey, Darling Things!
I’m writing you from about 28,000 feet in the air, glancing out at a sunset heavy with steely thunderheads and striped in army blues. I am on my way home the long way from Columbus, Ohio. After our Living Proof Live ended and we ate lunch at the arena, we all headed to our various vans so we could make our ways to the airport. I hopped in the front seat with Rich because Ron and his darling wife Nancy had already headed home. Several of our other buddies were in the back chattering away when Rich overheard me say to my man on the phone, “Honey, I won’t be late! My fight is at 3:47 and I’ll pick back up an hour so I’ll have a nice long evening with you.” Keith was feeling poorly with a chest cold and laryngitis and I really wanted to get back to him.
(Rich) “Beth, you have a layover.”
“A what?”(Like I don’t know what that word means after nearly 30 years in thin air.)
“A layover in Denver on your way home. I think you get home kind of late.”
“But I had a nonstop flight to Columbus!”
“Well, you don’t have a nonstop flight home.”
And he was right. I hadn’t even looked at my arrival time in Houston. So, this afternoon I flew from Columbus all the way to Denver and now I’m on my Denver flight making my way to Houston. This weekend I’ve lost an hour, picked up two, then given one up again. Try to do that math.
But to say it was worth it is an understatement. We had 7000+ women in Columbus, Ohio who were in the mood to lift up some high volume praise to the God who is worthy. We knew we were going to love them within 15 seconds flat. And they were my favorite kind of group in Bible study, too, because they got involved the way a small class would. Super interactive. God so graced us in Ohio and we will remember the time we had with those believers for a long time. I knew God was up to something good when I looked at the stat sheet that K-Mac prepared for me and noticed that the six biggest groups attending the events were six different denominations. There are no words to express to you what that means to us. To God’s credit alone, that’s becoming more the rule than the exception in this season.
I’ve had a very interesting flying day. If you’re on Twitter, I tweeted that the people watching had been extraordinary. You know, I struggle a tad with eavesdropping as it is but when everyone is sharing very big feelings at a very high volume, what is a woman to do? But stare? And so, I nearly cried while a young 40 something Dad with shoulder length hair hugged his varsity baseball-type looking son goodbye as he took off for college for the first time. Both of them had tears streaming down their cheeks. It was a most moving scene and one that I had to restrain myself from joining. Of course, I don’t know if the young man was going away to college or not. I made that part up because it was the best possible scenario to fit the high EQ. The part about the long-haired dad and the varsity baseball-type son was true, however. And they were both crying. If I wouldn’t have to stop and explain when I’m making something up, my posts would go smoother. But somehow I feel an obligation toward confession.
What is indeed an absolute fact is that there was a little girl about six years old that nearly made people punch the windows out of the plane and parachute to Beulah Land while her mother chatted with a friend. Mind you, a six year-old little girl would have to work hard to push me over the edge. I love that age in the largest way. But I was nearly overwrought with the teeming desire to give that darling child a spank offering. But, of course, I wouldn’t have. Goodness knows, I have a deep commitment to all things politically correct.
Well, guess what day it is? August 15th and you know what that means! Spit out your next Scriptures, young ladies, and do it with some fervor. His words are Spirit and life to us. Let’s give them some respect and expect them to do the kinds of things He promised they would. Here’s mine:
Beth, Houston. “Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 The NET Bible
A loved one and I are memorizing this together as he seeks to take the next step in a victorious life that demands sobriety. For some of us, it’s all or nothing. Jesus is the only reason some of us are not passed out in an alley with a newspaper over us. If you have struggled to stay sober and the enemy is doing everything he can to suck the life out of you and steal everybody you love, one by one, don’t stay in the shadows. Get out in the light. Own up and let some people cheer you onto sobriety and victory. YOUR GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER YOU. Do what you have to do so that you can do what you want to do. You have a calling to fulfill.
I never want to get where we’re playing church around here. The salvation of Jesus Christ is real and it has huge practical ramifications in everyday life here on this fallen planet. Let’s not just talk it. Let’s do it.
Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober.
Amy, Lakeland, FL. Ephesians 3:20(NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us
Leslie, San Antonio: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” NKJV
Dyane, Edmond, OK: “…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.” 2 Peter 2:9
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the sea, though it’s waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah” Psamls 46:1-3 NIV
“If we live; we live for the Lord; and if we die; we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Romans 14:8 NIV
Rachel
Fullerton, CA
“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
~ Ephesians 1:4 (ESV) ~
Sue, Texarkana. “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” Deuteronomy 30:6 NIV
Joy. Whitehouse, TX
I Chronicles 29:10. NIV
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to You, Lord, the God of our Father Israel from everlasting to everlasting.
Vickie in Louisville: As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” Romans 10:11 NIV
Annette, Maplewood, Minnesota
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:8 NIV
Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
Deuteronomy 10:20 NIV
Rebecca in Birmingham
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17 NIV
Christine
Wichita, KS
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 NIV
Kendall – Huntsville, AL
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us
Ephesians 2:4 (NASB)
Darl, Bakersfield, CA “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8 ESV
Crystal-Milford, IA
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 43:25 (TNIV)
Pauline, Kearney, NE
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1: 1-2 NKJV
Midland, TX
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Ephesians 3:17 (NIV)
Stephanie; Utah; “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory…”; Ephesians 3:20-21a, NIV
Amy, Cleveland, OH
Psalm 25:4-5, NIV
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Meredith, Fayetteville, AR
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ” Psalm 139:12-16 NIV
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31 NLT
Betty from Austin, Texas In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33. NIV
Juliana, Dahlgren IL
‘Santify them in the truth, thy word is truth’John 17:17
Kay, Richmond Hill GA, 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV-1984)
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Karla, Sheboygan. “…for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.” Mark 9:40-41 (NIV)
“Therefore, set your minds ready for action by being fully sober and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 (NET)
“Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.” — Job 11:13-15 (NIV)
Ingrid Lathrop, Frenchtown, MT
Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. NLT
Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober and set your hope completely on grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13NET
Paying for the supernatural to be revealed!
Susie, Columbus, Ohio
Now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 2 Corinthians 8:11 (NIV)
Alisa Taylor
Clinton, MS
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Eph 4:29 KJV
Jill Z., Gulfport, MS – “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10 NKJV
Psalm 131:2 NIV
But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Andrea
Woodstock GA
Lindsey, Lincoln, NE
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Shaunta’, Montgomery These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Col. 2:23 (NAS)
Susan, Holland, MI – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Proverbs 8:17. The Message
I love those who love Me; those who look for Me find Me
Nicole/Dallas/NIV Proverbs 25:15 “Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.”
I love you little sister! and am so proud of u!!
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NIV
Linda – Boulder CO
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John1:17 rsv
Makaela, Lynchburg, Va
“I love you, Lord, my strength.” psalm 18:1
Stacie- Cyvadier, Haiti
Romans 10:11b
“Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disappointed.”
NCV
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.”
Psalm 28:7 (NKJV)
Valerie, Altoona, IA
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV
Anita, Lehigh: God does not want us to be shy with His gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.
2 Timothy 1:7 The Message
Sedrone, Arp, TX
Psalm 119:105 NIV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Cherie-Odessa, TX. “Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:13 The NET Bible