Just yesterday I realized the blog had been really quiet for an entire week. To be completely honest, it hadn’t occurred to me until one of you so sweetly commented and asked if everything was okay with our Siesta Mama. You’ll be so relieved to know that not only is she okay, she’s actually hosting “Camp Bibby” this week. Needless to say, she has her hands very full and is loving every minute! In fact, we just returned from eating lunch with her and the kiddos and no one could leave until we found the plastic, fake spider Jackson held so dearly all through lunch. Priorities, folks.
Since she is Bibby this week, and since I’m currently obsessing over the high school girls that we get the sheer joy of hosting every Tuesday, the blog, although always on my mind, suffered only due to lack of time, not lack of material or love!
What you may not know is that May 29th brought a whole new dimension to LPM. That was the first day some of the most precious high school girls waltzed into LPM. They were quiet, reserved and scared out of their mind, just as I would have been at that age. Stink, just as I am now to walk in any unfamiliar place! However, that didn’t last long before they were all chowing down on pizza and making new friends. The most ironic part about the quietness and anxiousness is that starting that evening, all of us were going to crack open So Long, Insecurity together. Is there a book more appropriate for a high school girl? I submit that there cannot. My hope and prayer is that they grasp these truths and principles at this young age so that ten or twenty years from now, they won’t have to dig up as many roots of insecurity as some of us did.
And lest you think I’ve learned all I can about insecurity saying as though I’ve already read this book once already, think again, the Lord has let it hit me in a fresh, new way that is striking all kinds of ugly chords. He knew I would need it again, and He knew the only way I’d read it again was to take a group of high school girls through it. I told the girls the first night that I was not only on this journey with them, but that I was certain I’d learn more than any of them. So far, my predictions are correct.
I’ve received a few emails wondering how we’re doing this study, so I wanted to post some fun facts so that if you’re interested, you too could lead a group of girls through SLI.
Since Tuesday evenings are always Bible study nights, that was automatically our go-to night. When we opened up registration, we had an overwhelming response, glory to God, so we decided to also open up an Tuesday afternoon study, all as an experiment. The LPM office isn’t tiny by any means, but it can only host so many people at one time before we get crazy, so fifty girls was our cut off number. When all was said and done, by the time May 29th rolled around, we had just a small group of girls that I lead in the afternoon, then at night we have our full group, along with five leaders.
For the first thirty minutes, we all just chat it up and eat. It’s what girls do best, right? When we’re all done eating, I typically make them find one girl they don’t know and I give them a fun question to discuss, something like their favorite movie. Then, for the next hour or so, they break up into five different small groups and unpack that particular weeks homework. The book now has a workbook to go along with it and I don’t have enough good things to say about it. It is such a helpful, wonderful guide with a lot of rich questions. So rich, in fact, that just last night we had to ring a bell to break up the small groups. You know what that means, it means they’re not running out of things to talk about in small group, praise the Lord!
For the last 20 to 30 minutes, we all gather back in the board room and I give them a little challenge or devotional. The last thing they want to do is listen to me talk for another hour, so I keep it pretty short and to the point. Then we all hug and say our goodbyes.
You cannot imagine the amount of food that has come in and out of this place. Girls can eat.
We’ve ordered 20 boxes of pizza.
Nuggets trays and salads galore from Chick-Fil-A.
Enough sandwiches from Potbelly to feed the staff, the girls, and the leaders for a good three days.
Over 100 potbelly cookies. I’ll refrain from telling you how many calories are in each cookie. You’re welcome.
Jimmy Johns sandwiches that were just right.
And cases upon cases of all manner of drinks, like water, coke, diet coke and dr. pepper.
I think it’s safe to say that LPM is always learning and growing, and this experience alone has been such a learning experience for me, if not for all of us. The entire LPM Village has played a part in some way, shape or form and to say I couldn’t do it without them or my leaders is a vast understatement. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I express my thankfulness enough. They are the bomb!
This I know to be so true, no one has to convince me to want to serve and love these girls. They have my heart. Boy, do they have my heart. Tuesdays are the most exciting and yet the most exhausting days of the week, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It is a complete joy and honor to serve them in this way. Oh, I pray that they would be rooted in Christ and their security would be found in Him alone. And that it would begin with me.
The first Tuesday we were ready to receive those girls with open arms and books galore!
The sweet staff made me do this. It felt so awkward that I’m still laughing.
Beth was equally as giddy and excited. She got to pop in and say hey to the girls that day. So fun!
Our typical food set up.
These Potbelly cookies are sinful they’re so delicious. And we had over 100.
If you walked into LPM on a Tuesday, this is what you might find. Isn’t it a precious sight? Brings me such joy.
I am so super pumped about the Siesta Summer Bible Study starting TOMORROW!!! I just had to say so. Kelly Minter’s Nehemiah tomorrow tomorrow I won’t sleep until tomorrow….I have already learned something, how to spell Nehemiah. 🙂
As a mom of a preteen daughter, I want to say thank you to you and all of us who invest time, love and godly influence into the lives of our future women.
As a long time youth worker with high school girls it so warms my heart to see them all sitting in that room!!
This is my first visit ..in a long while .. well actually it may be that I just breifly visited about a year ago… but anyway… ha ha ha..
Lindsee,
my heart just bubbled listening to your heart pour out on to this post. So encouraged and blessed to hear there are sisters, like you, that have such a hunger and love for this generation (in the bigger picture this world) broken and in deep need for the Security and Freedom only found in the ONE true Lover of our souls>> the Lord. 🙂 My mentor and best friend just went through that book and I am still feeling the blessing (and work) of the journey. 🙂 Thank you for posting the pictures too… You are darling and the room full of girls ready to dive in was AMAZING… seriously BOMBDIG Radtasticness taking place and the Holy Spirit is most definitely doin’ his thing. 🙂
Be encouraged and know that you are encouraging others to boldly go where God calls us to impact those around us for His glory. 🙂 Happy Terrific Tuesday!! May you and the LPM staff know that you are richly blessed and are being used to RICHLY bless others! 😉
I’ve had this book in my possession for a while….and I just happened to come across it a few days go. The same exact day I was ready to just lay down and let life steamroll me because I felt empty and with zero hope left.
I prayed so hard for strength and glimmer of something to keep my strong as the waves of hardship kept coming….and I found So Long Insecurity. I am and will forever be a work in progress, but this book gave me the umph to stand again and be strong for myself and my daughters.
The cycle ends here.
Thank you!
Excited about much needed summer study.
Lillian,Alabama , Marilyn
I have never heard of potbelly cookies before. They sure do look delicious. Is there a recipe floating around out there that can be shared?
The girls look so precious!!! And those books are looking pretty wrapped up in those cute ribbons! I just started reading the book and up until I picked it up, I didn’t know what I had was insecurity but I knew it was ugly and I wanted none of it! God bless LPM! I found this blog awhile ago and I’m absolutely thrilled! Love you, siestas!
Please pray for me I have interview with United Airlines
I am 58, trying to get a job that will help me to travel so I can see my mother ( she older now ). I only get to see her ones a year. I don’t do very well at group interview, so I could use some prayer. My interview is in Houston on Friday July 20th. My job has cut my hours and have taken some of are vacation time away, so it could take another year before I see my mom. Plus, I am no longer married and I am in Oregon having hard time living here (but I do have a great church) the rain has me very very depressed. So, send out prayers my dear sisters. Thank You Diane
I puchased So Long Insecurity about 2 yrs ago (cd version) so I could listen on on my commute to and from work. Well, I guess I thought thats all you had to do was listen and then on the last CD I would be fixed. Well it doesn’t really work that way. So for the past two years still messed up!! Well, I started listening to them again….Some people need things bounded in their head over and over before they get it.
I am a 44 year old mother of 3 boys. My first husband left me for someone 11 years younger and now they have a new baby. I was no angel in the relationship so, I thought God was punishing me for the bad I had done. I remarried a man who said all the right things… Im pretty, sexy etc…all the things I thought I wasnt when my husband left. Turn out this man who said all the right things to this very insecure woman, was an alcoholic. When he drinks (which is daily) he turns into a very mean person…I have been called names I have never even heard of,+ fat, ugly, old….I have been spit on hit and alot of my things broken. I felt like God put me here for a reason mot sure what maybe to try to wittness to him..I felt sorry for him. He would always say he had very bad childhood and I didnt know what he went through…So I thought thats why Im here.
He recently lost his job and left me with all his debt!! I was somewhat releaved but heart broken.???? Well he had went back home to stay with his parents, that lasted about a month and one day when I came home from work he had brought all his stuff back…I spoke with his mom they kicked him out because of all the drinking and his behavior..I no longer need or want him in my life…this is not the role model I want for my children..Please pray for me and my children that God will protect us and perform a miracle in his life! (not for me)
Beth, I just wanted to thank you for this book…I felt like I would find my name ingraved in the back.. Pray God will work in my life and show me the steps Im suppose to take to follow him.
I needed the message in “So Long Insecurity” badly. The one thing that made a huge difference was Beth’s honesty about her own struggles with insecurity and healing from past abuse. Also, the specific descriptions of how other women feel insecure or how man view insecurity in women have been helpful. I just finished reading this book and now I keep telling myself that my security is in God and that “I am clothed in strength and dignity”. It helps chin up and choose to focus on the right perspective.