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
Beth – Mt. Carmel, IL
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season & whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Ps. 1:3 NIV
Psalm 116:1-2 (NLT)
I love the Lord because he heard my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath.
Donna
Ponder, TX
Mary Jane, Troy KS
“For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Isaiah 43:3a NIV
Psalm 90:12
So teach me to number my days that I may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.
Anita
Justin, TX
Debbie
Jacksonville, FL
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV
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)
Joy
Bethlehem, GA
John 16:3 (NIV)
I have told you these things so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world.
Gay
Round Rock, Tx
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
Colossians 3:12. NIV
Dimy from Griffin, Georgia
“For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.”~Psalm 48:14 (KJV)
Mary Margaret – Nashville, TN
“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3 (ESV)
Susan, Greensburg, Indiana
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ~2 Peter 1:3
Wynell
Athens, GA
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
Port Neches, TX
“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret places.” Psalm 51:6 (ESV)
Nancilea, The Woodlands, TX
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore. Psalm 86:11,12 NKJV
Rhonda – Houston
Who am I, o Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that You have brought me this far? 2 Samuel 7:18 NLT
Colossians 1:11
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
11 May you be strengthened(A) with all power,(B) according to His glorious(C) might, for all endurance and patience, with joy
Beth, Mansfield TX
“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” (Deuteronomy 33:12 NIV)
Kelli, Apex NC
but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men
Phil 2:7 ESV
Hilary, Columbus, GA
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
Jennifer Germantown, WI
“How precious are your thoughts about me,[a] O God.
They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,you are still with me!”
Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)
” NOT ONLY SO, BUT WE ALSO GLORY IN OUR SUFFERINGS, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT SUFFERING PRODUCES PERSEVERANCE; PERSEVERANCE,CHARACTER, AND CHARACTER, HOPE.”
ROMANS 5:3-4
Michelle, Alberta, Canada
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
– 1 James 1:2-3
Faye – Ocala, Fl
He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”. Rev 21:5. NKJV
Bonnie Wallace
Charleston, SC
“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.”
Ephesians 1:17 NIV
Ashley from Allen, TX
Daniel 2:22 (NIV) (part 3 of 4)
“He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.”
Susan Miles, Jonesboro, Arkansas
Psalm 33:3-4 niv.
For the Word of the Lord is right and True; He is faithful in all He does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice, the earth is full of His unfailing love.
Nancy Mulford, Lee’s Summit, MO
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Nancy Engberg from Minneapolis
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
1 Peter 4:7
Stir up yourself and awake to my vindication, to my cause, my God and my Lord.
Psalm 35:23 nkjv
Revelation 2:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
Ambur Gossen, Fulton, MO ‘Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.’ Hebrews 10:36 NLT
Jennifer in Cincinnati, OH
Psalm 30:11-12 CEB You changed my mourning into dancing. You took off my funeral clothes and dressed me up in joy so that my whole being might sing praises to you and never stop. LORD, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Isaiah 26:4 (NLT)
Gina from Ruston, LA
Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. (John 14:23 NLT)
Andrea, from Spring Branch, Texas
2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Kristin V from Greenwood,IN: I KNOW my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:25 NIV
Isaiah 26:3
New International Version (NIV)
3 You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Mikala, Boston, MA
This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 NASB
Lisa Mottin, Davidsville, PA
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
Beth, Robinson
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Tori, Robinson
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into this world and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.
I Timothy 6:7 NLT
Kelly Snodgrass
Rogersville, TN
Ephesians 1:18-19 ESV
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
James 3:17. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, imperial and sincere. ESV
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (actually just part of that verse).
I clung to those words Tuesday and Wednesday (today is Thursday). A simple oil change on my car morphed into a four-figure repair bill. Two parts had to be ordered and I was without a vehicle until late yesterday. It’s amazing how many places you suddenly need to go when you don’t have transportation. What I really needed was to “be still”. I got caught up on my Bible study and read the Psalms until I was refreshed and renewed.
You had a fantastic outlook on this delay and distraction in your day! Way to embrace this stillness!
Crystal Clark, Omaha, NE
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 (esv)
Jeanette, Mansfield, TX – Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Phil. 4:11, NASB
Christine, SLC
Ps 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.
Gail
McDonough, Ga
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Isaiah 43:10 (NIV)
The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1, NIV