Hey, my beloved sisters!
Though I won’t publish this post until Tuesday, the first day of October, I am writing to you on Sunday. I have the house all to myself today – not even a dog in sight – and I am sitting on my back porch as a generous rain soaks the ground, polishing the wide leaves of sweet gums on its way down. Our trees this far south are still plump and green and, right this minute, I don’t mind because the leaves have such a sheen on them in the rain that they look like vinyl. The temperatures will drop one slow degree at a time over the next month but we usually don’t have what people call “Autumn” here until as late as November. And it’s almost unrecognizable even then. Suddenly you just look up and the trees don’t have leaves and it hits you that you probably missed Fall on your way to work that morning when you ran into Starbucks for a dry cappuccino.
An Arkansas girl by heritage, I am on the hunt for Red October by mid September but I can’t think of a time since I’ve lived on the Gulf Coast that I’ve ever found it. Well, except when I close my eyes and look. And it is beautiful there. I do love Houston though, despite how season-challenged it is. Good people. Many, many who earnestly love Jesus and crave the sense of His presence and serve Him with both life and heart. Its diversity kicks up a rich climate for faith and a prime place to meet people very different from you who seek Jesus feverishly. It’s not as easy to keep your stereotypes tidy here.
In the early years of speaking, God purposed that I’d accrue copious hours of experience serving at various churches, women’s breakfasts and luncheons right here in our city limits and still get home to greet my children after their school day. I often pulled out of the driveway when they hopped on the school bus and squealed my tires back on the concrete just minutes before they pulled up at 3:15. My kids loved riding the school bus and, as it turns out (I write this with a smile), it was a grace to me. On paper, our lives shouldn’t have worked but somehow it worked (apply the term loosely) in practice. That’s the beautiful oddity of the will of God. What should easily work doesn’t work when He’s not in it and what should never work does work when He is. It’s crazy to think about in retrospect. He has been so faithful, just as He will be to you as you try to balance it all and seek His mercy through the insanity.
I wish I could somehow add the soundtrack of what I’m presently hearing to this post. I wish you could listen to the comfort of the rainfall, especially if you are feeling chaotic or anxious right now or frantic about how something’s going to work out. The water is falling steadily, not a soft shower or a downpour. Constant and consoling, almost like one of those sleep-settings on your iPad. And I wish you could hear 4 male hummingbirds competing over the feeder that is hanging about 8 feet from where I’m sitting. It mesmerizes me to watch them and I think you might like it, too, once you adjusted to the pace out here in these woods.
Sometimes we really do just need everything and everybody else to shut up for a minute and let us listen to the sound of God being God around us. These moments are brief for all of us. Just five days ago I was fit to be tied over something. I do mean fit to be tied and, over the weekend, greatly concerned about a situation even while I served. But I am going to sit here for the next few minutes and pour myself a cup of coffee while God pours these woods a cup of rain.
Well, I guess you can tell that I’m in a musing mood so perhaps I should wrap this post up before I work my way over to subjects like world peace and dark nights of the soul and existential crises and the beauty of aging and the delights of youth. Honestly, I can feel a poem trying to write itself in my head. This post must end with perfect timing before, indeed, my words start rhyming. Run for your life. It’s almost too late.
Here’s my Scripture for this October 1st!
Beth Moore, O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them. Psalm 68:9-10a The NET Bible
Amen, You do, gracious, merciful God.
I love you, Sisters. You are a joy to me. The next post will be registration for our SSMT celebration so we can get an idea how many to prepare for. Wooohoooo! It’s almost time to kick up our heels!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Michelle, Frisco, Texas
Luke 21:34 – Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down.
Thank you for your musings, Beth!
Leah Cullen – Ramona, CA
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. – Psalm 63:7-8 (NIV)
Phyllis, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Psalm 92: 1 & 2 ESV
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises
to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your
faithfulness by night,
Arlington TX
Ephesians 1:17-19 NIV
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know HIm better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and His imcomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength.
Kristin, Carlsbad, CA “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” Psa. 34:4 NIV
We are Christ’s ambassador
2 Cor.5:20 NI
Andrea
Woodstock, GA
“Yet to all who receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God-”
John 1:12 NIV
Chris
Canton, NC
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them.
Psalm 68:9-10a
The NET Bible
we are Christ ambassadors 2 Cor.5:20 niv
Carol
Albuquerque Nm
I Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV
13-be on your guard stand firm in your faith be men of courage be strong
14-do everything in love
Phnom Penh, Cambodia — (perfect for our rainy season now)
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them.
Psalms 68:9-10a NET
Pamela, New Bern NC
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14 ESV
we are Christ’s ambassadors 2 Cor. 5:20 niv
Karen Edlund
Rochester, MN
Psalm 68:9-10 NET “O God, you cause abundant showers to fall on your chosen people. When they are tired, you sustain them, for you live among them. You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.”
Patti Cocchi San Rafael,CA
“My Hero comes to my rescue, for the Lord alone is my Savior. What a feast of favor and bliss He gives His people.”
Psalm 3:8
Passion Translation
Ellen K., Stoughton, MA
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness. (Psalm 89:15, 16 NIV)
You see yourself,walk away,annd forget what you look like. James 1:24
Linda,Bartelso,IL My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples. John 15:8 HCSB
Anne, Frisco TX.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and He will give you everything you need.
Luke 12:31 NLT
The Lord Bless a Keep you.
Numbers 6:24
Mary, Atlanta – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. –Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)
Jane Mattox from Lubbock, Texas: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 NKJV
Jeannine Hale
Eagan, MN
All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
Isaiah 54:13-14 (NIV)
Janet from Odessa, TX
And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey.”
Joshua 24:24 HCSB
Becky, Oklahoma City
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them.
Michelle, West Des Moines, IA
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Colossians 4:15 NIV
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Matthew 5:7 (NRSV)
Caitlin, McKinney
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “’Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!'” Exodus 14:15, NLT
You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought . Matthew 5:5 MSG
Linda, Dora, Al
Romans 6:14. NIV
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law,
But under grace.
“Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.”
2 Peter 3:8 NET
Margie Allen,TX
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
Eph 1:5 NIV
Rachel, Jackson, TN
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. (Psalm 53:1 NIV)
Katy
Mount Juliet, TN
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)
Lauren from Conyers, GA
Colossians 3:13 NLT
You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Bethany, Frisco, TX.
Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Susan, Wynne
1″Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2 NASB
Norfolk, VA
Psalm 36:5-6
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the skies,
Your righteousness is like the might mountains,
Your justice like the great deep.
NIV
Mauriceville, Texas
Psalm 119:105 (NLT)
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”
Kathy Leamington Ontario Canada
Psalm 68:28
Summon your power O God
Show us your strength O God
as you have done before. NIV
Andria from Northern Virginia,
Colossians 4:22
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
NIV
Luann, Grand Junction CO
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Cor 13:3
Christina Fort Worth
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 7:7 NIV
Jen from Wyoming
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30 NIV
Susan, St. George, UT
“He gave them their request, but sent leaness into their souls.” Psalm 106:15 KJV
Robin Freeman ~~~ Garland Tx
Hear my prayer, Lord: let my cry for help come to you
Psalm 102:1 NIV
Kellye, Las Vegas. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalm 146:2 (NIV)
Psalms 126:3,5-6 (NIV)
The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.
Dana Nance
Blue Ridge, TX
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them.
Psalm 68:9-10a NET Bible
I have always loved this verse but it jumped off the screen in this translation today 🙂
WAYNE, PA
“I will bless those eunuchs who keep my sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. I will give them–within the walls of my house–a memorial and a name far greater than sons&daughers could give.” Isaiah 56:4 NLT