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
Sheila, Splendora, TX
“In those days when you pray, I will listen”
Jeremiah 29:12 (NLT)
RaeLeen Greenwood Indiana:
And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10 (NIV)
Heather from Atlanta, GA:
1 Timothy 6:18 (NIV)
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Patti, Shalimar, FL, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21 (NASB)
Wendy
Vero Beach
“Choose my instruction instead if silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold….”
~Proverbs 8:10 (NIV)
mitzi, Brandon, MS
If The Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall, for The Lord upholds him with His hand.
Psalm 37:23-24
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
Hebrews 10:38 NIV
“For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6
Pam~ Knoxville, TN
“Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” Proverbs 9:9 (NIV)
jenny
white hall, ar
“the LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in Him.”
nahum 1:7 (nlt)
Heid, Vancouver, BC (moved last month!), Canada
John 5:6 NIV
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
Kirby from Parsons, KS
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Matthew 7:7 NIV
John 15:4
Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself;it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Danielle S.
Garden City, KS
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were sinners Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NIV)
Lacy, Eugene, OR
For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)
…and for the prior Siesta verse I missed:
Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29 (NASB)
Amy G- Clovis Ca –
Let us come before His presence with THANKSGIVING.
Psalm 95:2
Jennifer in Winston-Salem, NC
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Darlene from Maine
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 1:4 ESV
Better late than never, right?:)
Erica, Huntington, IN
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Haley
Conway, AR
Matthew 11:28 NIV
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Kathi Nitzsche
lexington, OH
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 1 Peter 2:11 (NLT)
Ceffie Haught Bridgeport, WV Rev. 17:14 NIV they will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers.
Marcia from Windermere, FL
“But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions, then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you. O people of Judah and Jerusalem.”
2 Chron. 20:17 (NLT)
Wanda
Osborn, Missouri
Isaiah 26:4 (Word of God)
Trust you in the LORD forever;
for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.
Barb, Urbandale, IA
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— Romans 8:12 (NAS)
Rena, Tulsa. “My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” Psalm 25:15 NIV (’84)
Sherri Moore, Pueblo West, CO
1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Nitsa, Eugene, OR. “How blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God; who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever”. Psalm 146:5-6 NAS
Amy, Fort Collins, CO
James 3:10 (NIV)
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
Mei, Easley SC:
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, Romans 4:20 NIV
Kathryn, Oceanside, “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
Abbie, Katy “by the word of The Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” Psalm 33:6 NIV
Niki Carroll, Shelby, NC: “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6 (NIV)
Delores,Columbia,TN,
O God, You cause abundant showers to fall on Your chosen people.When they are tired,You sustain them,You live among them. Psalm 68:9-10 The NET Bible
Carol
Carthage, NY
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens me morning by morning,
He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.
Isaiah 50:4 NASB
Rhonda, Niles, MI, “Find rest, O my soul, In God alone; my hope comes from Him.” Psalm 62:5 NIV
Melissa, Greensburg, KY. – “Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” – I PT. 5:8, KJV
Laura ~ Plainfield, IN
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 KJV
(sorry I’m SO late)
Juliana
Livermore, CA
Psalm 37:23 NIV
The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him
Dawn, Beavercreek, OH
… but leaving for a ministry trip in France very soon,
so when in France … 🙂
Psaumes 34.4 (Novelle edition de Geneve 1979)
J’ai cherché l’Eternel, et il m’a répondu;
Il m’a délivré de toutes mes frayeurs.
Madelin, Thousand Oaks, CA
Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the Lord’s favor in the land of the living?
Psalm 27:13 NET
Mildred from Montserrat
What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us. Romans 8:31 (NIV)
Andrea, Gardendale
Proverbs 3:6 NIV
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Stephanie McKenzie
Red Deer, Alberta
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
(Deuteronomy 30:11,14 NIV)
Lorie, Centreville, VA
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Melisa
Waco, Texas
“Finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes.” Ephesians 6: 10-11 (NIV)
Lora
Mooresburg, TN
Romans 5:5 KJV and NKJV mix “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been “shed abroad” in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
I am sorry to be so late…my dad moved in with us a month ago. I have a whole new respect for caregivers.
Karen, Hewitt
Psalm 73:26 NIV
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Betty, Austin, Texas Psalm 25:19, NIV See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me.
Tracee, Morristown, TN
Don’t forget that The Lord is patient because he wants people to be saved.
2 Peter 3:15a CEV