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
Cara from Houston
Song of Solomon 2:13b-14
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding-places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
Kim Beechem from Idabel, OK
“Diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.” Ephesians 4:3 (HCSB)
Cherilyn M., Colfax NC
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 ESV
Janae – Riverside, PA Romans 6:14(ESV) “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
Judy from Lake Charles, LA
“In times of disaster they will not wither:
in days of famine, they will enjoy plenty.”
Psalm 37:19 (NIV)
Jo Anne, Chicago, IL
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.
Psalm 92:1-2 NIV
Lisa Curtis
Jackson, MO
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 NIV
” Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 | NIV
Jan
Bemus Point, NY
Deuteronomy 23:5 (NIV)
However, the LORD your God…turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.
And in French:
Deuteronome 23:6 (BDS)
Mais, l’Eternel votre Dieu…a change pour vous la malediction en benediction, car l’Eternel votre Dieu vous aime.
Christina, Tyler, TX
Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with cmy righteous right hand. (ESV)
Gail Dorn
San Antonio, TX
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Psalms 103:10 (NIV)
Ellen from Chattanooga, TN
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
Pam Hendersonville, NC
“For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:9 KJV
Kay, Sheridan
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Candace
Colorado Springs, CO
“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:30
NIV
J.J. Ehr, Longmont, CO
Ephesians 1:18-19 NIV
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Elaine – Powder Springs – He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.
Psalms 62:2 HCSB
Sandy E.; Kansas City, Missouri; “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.” John 14:1 NLT
Sandi from Morristown, TN
John 16:32-33 (MSG)
I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” Proverbs 18:10 NKJ
Kem, Memphis
See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Exodus 23:20 (NIV)
Gretchen, Thousand Oaks, CA
Romans 8:10-11, ESV
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Pat, Seffner, Fl
Psalm 68: 9-10A 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.
Kim, Pearland, TX
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
II Chronicles 16:9 NIV
Genesis 9:13
New International Version (NIV)
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Colleen Duebber. Cincinnati, Ohio
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
Blanche, Pearland, TX
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glroy in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
II Corinthians 12:9 KJV
Wait for The Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for The Lord.
Psalm 27:14 NIV
Julie, Madison, 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
Ohio
Bear one anothers burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Galations 6:2 NAS
Ali C., Pleasanton, CA- Son though he was, he learned obdience from what he suffered. Hebrews 5:8 (NIV)
Missy S, Chapel Hill, NC
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'” ~ Revelation 21:3 (NIV)
Karen H., Stephenville, TX
Romans 12:16 (NASB)
Be of the same mind toward one another,
do not be haughty in mind,
but associate with the lowly.
Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Jennifer, Dallas, “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8 NASB
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. (Psalm 92:1-2 NIV)
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalms 32:7 NIV
Redfield, AR
[11] May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
[12] giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:11-12 (RSV)
Debbie W. – Prattville, AL
O God, you know how foolish I am;
my sins cannot be hidden from you.
Psalm 69:5
NLT
Lauren, Dedham, MA: “Look on my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.” Psalm 25:18 (NIV)
Ellen, Albuquerque. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. Psalm 68:19 (NASB)
Madeleine,Corrales:This righteousness from God comes thru faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Romans 3-22 HCSB
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe”.
Prov 29:25
Denise from Lenexa, KS
In His kindness God called you to His eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.
1 Peter 5:10 NLT
Ally, Houston
“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
Sarah, Colorado Springs, CO
Galatians 5:1 NIV
It is freedom that Christ set us free, stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Soni from Gulfport – Psalm 34:14 RSV
Depart from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
Lisa, Mauldin, SC
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (NIV)
Rosa, Sulphur Springs, TX
“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” Ephesians 4:14-15 NLT
Amanda Porter.
Lubbock, Texas.
Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but GRACE. (ESV)
Glennell Buda, Tx.
Colossians 2:6-7(NIV)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.