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
Kim; Poplar Bluff, MO. “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.” Psalm 3:3 (NASB)
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
NKJV. Susan Winston-Salem,NC
Ruth Hency from Oran,MO. “for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfect comes, the imperfect disappears.” 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 NIV
Stacy B, Detroit MI
“She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.” Proverbs 31:16 (NIV)
Kelly, Charlotte, NC
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:8 ESV
Alyssa Mochen
Rio Rancho, MM
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
Ann, SC
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ who lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 2:20
Roseanne, Tacoma WA
But He gives more grace, therefore He says;
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will
flee from you.
James4:6-7 NKJV
Jen (Prosper, TX)
Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
Romans 13:10 (NLT)
Hannah, Perry, MI
“Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you’re told so that you’ll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as God promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey.”
Deuteronomy 6:3, The Message
Peggy, Yorktown, VA
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. James 3:1 NRSV
Linda from Birmingham, Alabama
“If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;”
~ Psalm 91:9-11. (NIV)
Valerie ~ Oklahoma
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
Psalm 62:8 NIV
Chyrll, Cordova, TN: If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. John 15:19 NASB
Brandy A., Cross Anchor, SC
Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. Proverbs 19:20 (NLT)
Teresa, Walla Walla “God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 NLT
I BESEECH you therefore, brethern, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1 NKJV
Leigh, Woodway, TX
I pray that he will use his glorious riches to make you strong. May his Holy Spirit give you his power deep down inside you. Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him. And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation.
Ephesians 3:16-17(NIRV)
Bonnie B, Florence, CO
“The troubles of my heart have multiplied, free me from my anguish.”
Psalm 25:17 NIV
Connie – Fulton, KY
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Proverbs 31:26 ESV
Rachel Owasso, OK
Psalm 56:8 Message
You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn
through sleepless nights,
Each tear is entered in your ledger,
Each ache written into your book.
It’s so nice to know God keeps track of these things and nothing goes unnoticed by Him.
Shiffra Vicksburg MI
“”So we fix our eyes on not what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
Ephesians 6:13
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. NIV
Joni Clarinda, IA
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him.
Psalm 34:7 NASB
“And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we have asked of him” (1 John 5:15 NIV).
Carole, Imperial, CA: Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV
Katie g; Knoxville, tn
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
Mary S
Houston, TX
Psalm 77:13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? NIV.
Suzanne Bailey, Harrisville
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
James 1:26 niv
Jenny S, Fishers, Indiana
Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 (MSG)
Colossians 3:17 NIV
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of the LORD Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Jan Horne
Bossier City, LA
Elisabeth
Modesto, Ca
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” (Psalms 27:8 NLT)
Berni, Albuquerque
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives
way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the
sea,” Psalm 46:1-2ESV
Hebrews 12:28 (NIV)
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”
Katie Brown
Greenfield, IN
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 NIV
Amy Brown
New Palestine, IN
“But you, Lord are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.” – Psalm 3:3-4 NIV
Christy, Lima
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
Patty B, Marysville OH
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 (NIV)
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 (ESV)
Betty Clark – Ann Arbor, MI “He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (World English Bible)
Colette, Mesa, AZ.
“The Lord will keep you from all harm–
He will watch over your life; ”
Psalm 121:7 NIV
Dixie, Santa Monica, Ca
Psalm 33:22, NIV
May your unfailing love rest upon us O LORD,
Even as we put our hope in you.
John 15:10-11
New International Version (NIV)
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete
Exd 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
Ellen Forrester, Spring, TX
Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:14 (ESV)
Deanne, Laguna Hills, CA
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
2 Peter 1:2 NIV
Lilburn, GA
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalms 84:11 NASB)
Sharon, Mineola, Texas 10-1-’13
“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well
instructed tongue, to know the word that
sustains the weary,
He wakens me morning by morning, wakes
my ear to listen like one being instructed.”
Isaiah 50:4. NIV
Debbie from Amarillo
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
Delores O.
Lake Stevens, WA
I prayed to the LORD, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; He saved me from all my troubles.
Psalm 34:4-6 NLT