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
Carolyn R.
Houston, Tx
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor foresake you.” Hebrews 13:5 ESV
Debbie, Rochester, MN
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.
1 John 2:7 NLT
Angie M – Macon, MS – For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14, HCSB
Emily, Derby, Kansas
Be joyful always; Pray continually; Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Shelley, Fort Walton Beach, Fl
“He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”
Daniel 2:21 (NIV)
Vicki from Lake Jackson TX
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.
Eph. 5:1 NIV
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
Hebrews 1:9 (ESV)
Alexia- Champaign,IL
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble, He cares for those who trust in Him.
Nahum 1:7 NIV
April
Pittsburgh,PA
(1) The wise woman builds her house,but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Proverbs 14:1 (NIV)
Monica Pribe Blacklick, OH. “I am the good shepherd . I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” John 10:14-15 ESV
DLynn; Argyle, TX
1 Corinthians 13:6
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Rhonda, Anderson, IN
Romans 6:14 NKJV
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.
Mound City, KS
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
I Corinthians 13:3-5 (NIV)
I realized that I had used the verse for this post already in an earlier post! So, here is a NEW one!!
Cindy, living in Cochem, Germany: A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
Teri S. Gadsden, AL
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11 NIV
Holly from Alpharetta, GA
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14
Lila Salem, OR
Casting all your care on Him; because He cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7 HCSB
Laura Berg, Carlsbad, CA
”But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ”
Isaiah 40:31 NIV
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4 NIV
The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.” (Micah 6:8 CEVDCUS06)
Lise, Cumming, GA
The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
Jer 31:3
NAS
Atlanta, GA
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope is in you.
Psalm 25:21 NIV
The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. (Psalm 25:14 NIV)
Odessa, TX
“Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil.”
Proverbs 3:7 NIV
Jennifer from Gaithersburg, MD
“Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 NIV
Donna, Fort Wayne,IN
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33 ESV )
Jennifer from Wilmington, DE
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
– James 1:5 (NIV/84)
Caroline, Houston, TX
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. Psalm 116:5 NASB
Cindy Franklin, Graceville, FL
Ps 91:1-2 KJV
1.He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust
Diane Wadsworth, Pleasant Grove, Alabama
Psalm 59:16, NLT
But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.
Shawn in AZ
Psalm 104:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with honor and majesty.
NKJV
Susan, Atlanta, GA
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Ephesians 6:10 ESV
Caryn-Grand Prairie, TX
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self discipline.”
2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
Karen from Unionville, PA
Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Janice, Tulsa.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 KJV
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his race. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes it circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Psalm 19: 4-6
Paula
Atlanta, Tx.
Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
Psalm 139:19 NKJV
Skeet from Monroe, GA.
James 2:6 (NIV)
But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
April
Pittsburgh, PA
Col 3:2 NIV
Set Your Mind on things above, not on earthly things.
Tiffany
Muskogee,OK
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18 NLT)
“The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a spring whose waters never run dry.”
Isaiah 58:11 HCSB
Kaiva from Chicago,
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord.
And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
Isaiah 55:8
Psalm 86:5 NKJV
For You O Lord are good and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.
Libby
Dallas, TX
Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Matthew 8:3
NKJV
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.
Ephesians 4;32 NIV
Dana
Boerne, TX
i don’t think mine posted so just in case…
Tracey Knight ~ Arkadelphia AR
Even to your old age & gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. 🙂 Isaiah 46:4a NIV
Lisa S, Plano TX
10.01.2013
James 1:16-17 NKJV
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Kerre, Chattanooga,TN. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 NIV
Lisa, Wichita, KS
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
Sara, Plymouth, IN
But we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2:15