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
Edmond, OK
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NIV)
Megan from Potlatch, Idaho : Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever, wisdom and power are his. Daniel 2:20 (NIV)
Gina from Rosamond, Ca
3 John 1:4
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
NIV
Perfect timing for me, Beth. Thanks!
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
Stacey DeYoung- Morocco,in
Luke 24:45 NET Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures,
Kathy, Lake Jackson, TX
You are my shelter and my shield;
I put my hope in Your world.
Psalm 119:114 HCSB
Schel, Bayou Vista, TX-“You also, be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand” – James 5:8 (ESV)
Sherri, Galena, OH
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 NIV
Cheryl, Houston “”Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. Gal 6:9 NIV
Lisa A, Frisco, TX, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” (Proverbs 31:25, NIV)
April, Lake Charles, LA
For from His fulness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ~ John 1:16-17 (ESV)
Judy Sommerville
Fairmont, MN
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23:5-6 (NIV)
Leslie G-Warner Robins, GA
Genesis 12:3
New International Version (NIV)
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
Erin B., League City, Tx
“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5 NIV
Joan (Coppell, TX): Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. James 4:13-17 NIV 1984
I Peter 1:6-8
You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faint – more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Caitlin Long
Demopolis, AL
“But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” Hebrews 3:6 NIV
April lopez, bonneylake, Wa
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1st Peter 4:8 niv
Emmianna Ferreria, bonneylake, Wa
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1st Peter 4:8 niv
Jennifer from West Palm Beach, FL
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 1:7 ESV
Debbie ~ Alice, TX
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV
Carrie Gill, Tyler, TX. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1 NIV
Lesley, Clinton, MS
May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in your word.
Psalm 119:74 NLT
Eph. 4:2 NIV “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Hebrews 12:12-13 NIV
Carol
Jena, LA
Jo, Columbia, Missouri
Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7 NIV
Keaton Lovell McCurtain, OK
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18 KJVA)
Marie, Easley, SC
for Sept. 15
Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
Dan. 2: 20-21
For Oct. 1
He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells in Him.
I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and now have made known to me what we asked of you, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.
Dan. 2: 22-23
Bonnie, Alexandria, LA
“O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on your chosen people. When they are tired You sustain them, for You live among them.” Ps. 68:9, 10a The NET Bible
Judy. Littleton, NC
And all the crowd sought to touch him for power came out from him and healed them all.
Luke 6:19
Dianne Jones, Fairfield, CA – “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” – Lamentations 3:22 (NIV)
Susan, Locust Grove VA
Psalm 68:9-10a The NET Bible
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people. When they are tired, You sustain them, for You live among them.
Kathleen, Phoenix:
When you lie down you will not be afraid; when you lie down your sleep will be sweet.
Proverbs 3:24 (NIV)
Patty, Granite Bay, CA “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2Corinthians 4:18 NIV
Amy, Snellville, GA
“Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise The Lord.” Psalm 102:18 (NIV)
Karla Dumal
Gulfport, MS
In whose eyes a vile person is despised. But He honors those who fear the LORD. He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Psalm 15:4 KJV
Nancy Beda, Boardman Ohio
Be completely humble and gentle, be patient bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3 (NIV)
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145:18 NIV)
Praise to The Lord and dance with my tambourine! 🙂
Tina, Zalma, All glory to him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, power and authority belong to him, in the beginning, now and forevermore. Amen Jude 1:25 (NLT)
Ally from Searcy, AR
NIV Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Ashley Pointer from Spring, Texas
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Psalm 68:9 NIV
Jan, Rockwall, TX
Whoever touches you, touches the apple of his eye.
Zechariah 2:8. NIV
Romans 8:10 NASB If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Kaitlyn from Tampa
Galatians 2: 20, ESV
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Linda Gammon, Blue Springs, MO
Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
20. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21. to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Sam, Rowley, IA
Romans 12:20-21 NKJV
Therefore, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, get him something to drink: For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Jill, Searcy,AR
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. ”
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
Kristin Cho; Northville, Michigan
Isaiah 55:11 NIV
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Amen
Teresa, Austin, TX
Psalm 16:5 HCSB
Lord, You are my portion and my cup of blessing. You hold my future.
Cathi, Morristown TN
Train me, God, to walk straight; then I’ll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear. From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord; I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to. (Psalm 86:11-12 MSG)
“For a man’s ways are in full view of The Lord, and he examines all his paths.” Proverbs 5:21NIV