My beloved sisters,
I am so blessed to ring in a new year with you and to anticipate God’s goodness and faithfulness in the coming 12 months. Let’s allow 2014 to be more than the next number on a calendar. Let’s deliberately enter into a fresh season and invite Jesus to do something brand new in us and thank Him in advance for what He has planned. His ways are always right. Always fitting. Without having a clue what is ahead in 2014, you can have unshakable confidence that your God will be good to you. He holds you securely in the palm of His hand.
I am deeply thankful for you this day and all you mean to His Kingdom. You are staunch servants. Mighty, mighty women of God. I am amazed by all you do in His Name and for the beauty and creativity of His holy calling displayed and parceled among you. You sharpen me and keep me running my race at full speed toward the one and only goal worth setting: the finish line where Jesus stands, urging us forward and waiting to welcome us home.
I have a simple truth on my heart this new year but it is washing over my soul like a waterfall.
I want to obey God.
In mid-November of 2012, God dropped a word so convicting on my heart through another teacher’s lesson that my face instantly burned. You’ve had those times, too, when you look around the room sheepishly to see if everyone is glaring at you, hoping you got it so that the congregation can all move on to the next point. This was the word:
Stop sowing over and over in the exact same field.
I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t ask for it. I was happy where I was. Like many of you, I like things to stay the same. I loved my circle of relationships and the familiar places I got to serve. I’ve never lost a passion for those places and have often wept with thanksgiving to God for the privilege of walking through some of the same doors again and again. I have a history of long relationships and staying put and that’s how I like things. But I knew God was talking to me. It burned like a branding iron.
Every single day for nearly 14 months, that same word has reverberated in my soul and troubled my feet.
I have made some strides and taken some steps. The Living Proof Live event team and I felt the urging of the Holy Spirit almost simultaneously to continue to do what we’ve been doing – calling people to worship and the Word – but to become very proactive about reaching the lost and the less-discipled. You will hear us become vocal about this initiative in the coming months leading up to our new LPL calendar year that launches in April. We are passionate to still serve women who know Christ well but we’re also hoping they will join us shoulder-to-shoulder in the accelerated outreach effort that God is blazing in our souls. We are praying earnestly that women will come bringing the lost and the searching and the broken and the untaught. A dying world surrounds us. One that Jesus loves. One that He died and rose again to redeem.
The process of change is not simple. It takes forethought and prayerful preparation. We are, for instance, deliberating on ways to make tickets available because we know that lost people aren’t prone to buy tickets to Christian events. We’re trusting God to show us what to do and how to do it. The free ebooks that we’re putting out for the first 10 days of January are part of this initiative. We’re very aware that, when it comes to reaching the unreached, free is key.
So strides have been made but they are only first steps.
I shared with you the date in 2012 that this word came to me so that, if you needed it, you’d have some assurance that I’m not knee jerking or reacting impulsively. I have had all these months to pray and study and listen to Jesus and ponder His leadership.
Fast forward 12 months exactly to the most recent November. A year after hearing from God so clearly about sowing further than the field that I’d loved and served in for so long, I had a very disturbing dream. I can count the significant dreams I’ve had through the decades on one hand so I’m not prone to look for messages in my sleep to keep from having to actually pray and read the Bible. That God can speak through dreams is clear in our own Bibles, of course, but for many of us it is unusual. I don’t feel the release right now to describe the dream though I may someday. What I do feel is a strong compelling to share with you what I knew beyond a doubt it meant. I believe that I can either be obedient to God in the faith walk He is setting before me or He will take my voice. I do not feel that it was a rebuke. I felt that it was a warning.
I was saved in childhood but I was 18 years old the first time I ever had a vivid encounter with God and it accompanied my calling. Christ has been so merciful to remain with me through harrowing ups and downs, fears and failings, and flaws and frailties. Good grief, what grace He has poured on my life. What forgiveness flows from His wounds on the cross. I’ve been so foolish at times and learned many things the hard way but I am not new to the believing walk. I don’t look to the air for my words from God. I look to the Scriptures. It is my daily bread. I want revelation any way Jesus wants to give it but I’ve been around long enough to know that, if it is unrecognizable in His Word, it is not of Him.
38 years have come and gone since that day I received my calling.
And I have rarely – if ever – received clearer orders from God.
I share this with you because I love and esteem you so much and want you to know that I haven’t lost my footing or had a dramatic change in my theology as I tread into a wider perimeter than I’ve served before. I say this to you before I have a single invitation on the docket that is out of the ordinary. I’m not manipulating you in advance of announcing some big plan to you. No such plan exists. No such invitations have yet come that I know of. But when they do, I will take them prayerfully before God and if He says go, Sister, I’m going to go. I must.
For lack of a better way to say it, I am not picking up and moving across the fence. I think this is more about dismantling a fence anyway. I’m not leaving Living Proof Ministries. I’m not departing from our mission statement of many years: to encourage people toward knowing and loving the Lord Jesus Christ through the study of His Word. I’m by no means leaving my beloved church, Bayou City Fellowship. I’m not saying goodbye to the blog or this community. On the contrary, we have an active year before us and summer Bible study right around the corner. I hope to enjoy many more years of fruitful friendship and partnership with LifeWay through in-depth Bible studies and Living Proof Live events. They have been so gracious and willing to exceed denominational boundaries. I praise God for them.
We must all be willing to exceed denominational boundaries. Revival is at stake. Nearsightedness will trip us and disunity will slay us in the perilous days to come. We can prioritize our denominations over the Scriptures if we want to but we will shrivel up and die on the vine if we do.
We who are called to teach must teach the Scriptures even if – and especially when – they differ from our long-held stance. That we will answer for.
These are days for bravery.
To avail ourselves to the Holy Spirit and a fresh work of Christ in our midst, our healthy fear of God must far exceed our fear of man. I say this with tremendous love. Those who refuse to rock the boat when Jesus is tossing the waves in their faces will never know the thrill of the water beneath their feet.
For without faith it is impossible to please Him. Hebrews 11:6
Change is on the horizon and certainly not only where I live and serve. The winds of the Holy Spirit are picking up. We can dig our feet in the ground and demand to stay right where we are. We can toil to maintain things just as they have been for years. And we can be left out of a coming awakening that could one day be recorded in the annals of Christian history.
We can throw our boundaries up at God, keep stacking our divisive bricks, and insist that He obey us.
Or we can obey Him.
God help me, that’s what I want to do. I am too old anymore to let the bullies boss me. And I am too young to quit.
Out of the stunning grace of God, I have had the joy of serving among some of the most well-discipled women in the Bible belt. Many of them take notes each week as their pastors preach. They listen to podcasts in their cars on the way to work. They serve their local congregations, feed the poor, and minister to the sick. Many of them have done every Bible study on the market by every teacher available. They keep their faces in the Scriptures. They memorize and evangelize and sacrifice. They are warriors. I’m not worthy of them but I so dearly love them. I have no words to convey how honored I am to have served among them and I deeply hope to serve among them still. But to serve them only – or even primarily – lacks stewardship. God is telling me to get my ear pressed to the ground for opportunities to serve in environments where women are less commonly studying the Bible in-depth. Some of those places may look very different from those I’ve visited before. I make this promise. I will hold tight to the Word and seek with everything in me to teach it soundly. I will hold onto Jesus as the love of my life. I will pray hard and you’ll never waste a prayer on me.
The days are short. The times, urgent. For all of us.
Need is a part of what steers a call.
I have no idea what the future holds. I have no idea where God will send me or if those places will seem different to many of you. But this I do know: if I do not tell Him wholeheartedly that I am willing to go anywhere He leads and serve anyone He says, He is going to do His good pleasure anyway. And without me.
I have to go with Jesus on this or my soul will collect an inch of dust on the lifeless, wooden altar of safety and sameness.
Thank you for your patience. You have been so gracious to bear with me through this lengthy letter. When all is said and done, I pray with my whole heart that this post will turn out to have been more than just about me. That’s so nauseating. I could have done that at home by myself and saved you the time. But maybe God wants to say something similar to someone else. Maybe it’s time for your next step, too, even if you have no idea where your foot is going to land.
Maybe you’ve been raised to keep your faith to yourself…and it’s time to start sharing it.
Maybe you’ve studied and studied for years…and it’s time for you to get up and teach.
Maybe you’ve been mentored so well that you know it all by heart…and it’s time for you to mentor others.
Maybe you’ve been the focal point of much compassionate ministry and you thank God for it…but it’s time now to pay it forward and minister to others.
Maybe you’ve been breaking free for 10 years…and it’s time for you to live free and show somebody how it’s done.
Maybe all our risk-free living is not really living.
And maybe I’ve missed it. But I am about to take that chance.
Thank you, Beth for sharing this. You are so loved and your teaching has meant so much to me as I’ve been breaking free for a while now. I have finally had the courage to take some definitive steps and I know that God has been working on me as well. Your words have helped me to make some choices and to begin planning toward ways to make what He has spoken to me a reality. You’re right, it’s time. God bless you as you embark on this part of your journey. I can’t wait to see where He takes us now. 🙂
God with God’s blessing!
This is coming on the heels of my post with Emily Freeman, in which I declare that I am no longer going to blog for the numbers, for the hits, or the comments. It is long past time for me to return to what the Lord has called and not worry any longer about whether or not people like or subscribe to my blog.
It is time to get back to the center of my life and declare it loud and long to others, ” you are loved by God, you are saved by the work of Christ, He sees you, He knows your name, He desires to be in relationship with you.”
God has been so patient as I have searched for my voice…the voice I had all along, and thought I was not smart enough, or that it would not be popular enough. God forgive me.
Thank you for writing this Beth. Thank you for allow God to use this to confirm to me that I am on the right track. So, I’m suiting up with the armor of Christ, because I know that I’m going back into the battle.
Love you so much, Beth! Thank you, Happy New year! XXOO
Step out in faith, O Woman of Valor and Faith! God bless you for listening to His leading and challenge for where He wants to use you. Please know there are many of us who will pray daily for you and for the next part of His journey for you and your ministry! (And yes, your post sure stirred something that He has been saying to me as well. I pray that I can push away this gripping fear and sickness in my stomach and say “yes Jesus, use me where you want me” just like you have.)
Praying you will hear His still quiet voice to lead you where He choses for you to serve.
Beth – I am new to bible studies. I’ve been attending for about a year and a half now. The last one we did was “Mercy Triumphs.” I loved your spirit and that study definitely touched me, but I felt completely in over my head. I’m so excited to hear a God is telling you to reach out to more women like me who are “beginners.” I cannot wait to hear more!!!
First thought as I read through this for a possible way to help with “ticket” issue for those who need a free invitation: have a donation option for those of us who would like to attend an event & could pay, but are not able to attend due to locations or scheduling. Maybe there are others like me who would buy a ticket for someone.
As I read this post I kept thinking, “where is she going with this?” And as I read further, I think I may have had bats flying around in my stomach and possibly my head too!! ; )) Not only have you spoken to me but I believe the Lord has spoken to me through the reading of your post in these moments. I hear and understand so clearly what you are saying–the time is now! We must act. We must reach the lost of this world. I’ve been asking God, “what does it look like? What is it I’m supposed to do?” I am not sure of the details but between what you’ve said and the inspiring message Christine Caine brought to Lifechurch this past weekend–it is taking form. Go Beth!! Go at it with all the power the Holy Spirit can pour through you! Praying for answers and direction. Wisdom and discernment. May the rallying cry of you and all who will strike out in Jesus name be heard around the world and lives changed for eternity. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yes. Amen. Go for it girl!!!!!
I’ll be praying for you Siesta Mama…..
Bless you, bless you, bless you my sister in Christ! I can hardly express the depths with which you reach my soul and how much He uses you to speak to my heart, my journey. I thank God for you and will continue to pray for you and for all He has for you in the future. Will you do the same for me? Thank you dear Beth.
Lovingly,
Hillary Humberson
Castle Rock, Colorado
Whoa. If I would have sat down and penned it, this is what it would have said. My soul leaped as did John in Elizabeth’s womb to this move of obedience that indeed MUST become contagious!! Thank you Beth. For so much. Praising the Lord for His annointing upon you.
This hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t comment a lot but I have to share this today.
I have been pursuing God like a hound dog for about six or seven years now and have LOVED doing so. I’ve been to many a church service, bible study, womens conference, etc. You name it, I’ve done it.
Earlier this year I felt called to DO something, however I didn’t know what it was. My children are both in preschool now so I thought I would get my nursing license and apply for a part time position. I interviewed and afterward felt like pulling my application from what seemed like the perfect position. Kept studying my bible and praying trying to follow the leading of the Lord.
Back in December my husband and I volunteered at a homeless shelter and we both left with a sense that we needed to go back. Often. Maybe on a regular basis.
It’s been an exciting journey and tomorrow night I am supposed to begin this work with a group of kids from crack houses downtown.
Earlier today I asked God to let me know sometime before tomorrow evening if this was just me on a wild goose chase or if it was Him really calling me to do this.
Then I sat down at the computer, clicked on the LPM blog to see if there was anything new and….
BAM.
I am thrilled that the Holy Spirit has called me to be a fisher of a wonderful group of kids!! Going to go tomorrow night with holy anticipation.
Thanks Beth, and more importantly Thanks GOD
I’ve been sensing a change in direction too. The question in my spirit has been ‘what are we supposed to be doing?” My spirit has been saddened by the division of His church. How much more effective could we be if we stepped beyond our denominational boundaries and joined together as one? Lord I desire to follow you wherever you lead. Thank you for sharing what the Lord has been speaking to you Beth. It helps to validate the stirring I’ve been feeling in my soul.
Beth, this is EXACTLY the way the a Holy Spirit has been speaking to me. The word that keeps coming to me is it’s not the time for “buisness as usual” I’m so ready to put the word into action like never before!!!
Sweetest Beth,
I was reminded of the definition of insanity: I do the same thing over and over and expect different results.
My ruts are so comfortable, like an old soft pair of loose jeans.
I ride a merry go round, and it is pretty and fun, but I am going nowhere.
Sometimes the most obvious things are hard for me to see.
So I can only say a sincere and heartfelt thank you……
Oh my, the Lord has been pressing on my heart for several years now the need to break out of tradition and accept that the church is where He makes it, not in the 4 walls where I worship on Sunday. He used a very specific and non-traditional act of serving to show me that what He requires us to do to reach the lost may look very different from what my religious past has shown me. I readily welcome that but it does stir up unease yet it reminds me that I am accountable to Him and what He is asking, not what others deem appropriate. Still, being raised in church, it’s hard to act in a way that may seem defiant to those leaders whose views may be otherwise. Prayers to you and your staff. Stay the course and walk where He leads. Much love!
What a Word from The Lord!!! Yes! Obedience is the key to our spiritual growth. I receive this Word and will be praying as He continues to lead you sweet Beth!
xxoo – praise God!
Amen!!!
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. (The Gospel according to Matthew 9:37 TLV)
Dear Beth,
Thank you for sharing with us. Its amazing how the Lord confirms and uses others in our lives. The Lord has been preparing my family and I for what He is about to do. It is all unknown to us for sure and we are ready to follow Him. I cant tell you how burdened I am for the lost, the Lord is showing me how I need to be ready to tell them about Him. I will continue to pray for you and lift you daily as you seek and follow Him. I am excited for all that the Lord has planned.
I love this and am not at all surprised. I just looked back and in July 2012 I sent you a “cryptic” tweet saying that if God began to change your direction not to be afraid to go with it. I don’t know if you even saw it and I surely wouldn’t have blamed you for disregarding such an odd statement from a stranger. That’s so not my normal but it was something I felt strongly that particular day, that He would change something about your ministry, for whatever reason. It was either the Lord or I just didn’t have enough to do that day 🙂 I’m excited to see what happens. How merciful of Him to give you a dream, disturbing as it was, to both warn you and invite you to obedience…to go along for the ride and come fully into what He has prepared you for. For the King!
You don’t have to publish that comment. I think I was just so happy to find out that I might not be as weird as I thought I was, that I wanted to share it 🙂
Laura from Madison, MS: I was absolutely floored as the Lord showed me about a week ago that my word/task for the next year is: obedient: to be obedient to God!
Wow! I will be praying for you and LPM.
Becky, Lynchburg, VA
Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice. (Isaiah 41:10 AMP)
Mrs Beth, I cannot tell you how much your letter resonated with me. Almost 3 years ago, I fell on my face asking God to wake us up. My church, my family and me. I felt such a sense of urgency, that God was moving, His Holy Spirit was stirring and I had better follow. Since then my life has been one crazy roller coaster ride. I wish I could sit down just one afternoon and talk to you about it, but I must say as upside down as my life is, I have such peace. Peace I’ve never felt before EVER. God is about to do something, and I want to be a part, in whatever way possible. He took me out of my comfort zone to place where I had to absolutely depend only on Him and walk by Faith. It is the best place to be, but oh man how hard it can be at times. I’ll be praying for you and waiting to see what God has in store for me as well. But you are so right. I believe so strongly our denominational walls have been up too long. They must come down. And our walls some of us build up to the lost or ones who are saved but have lost their way. My heart aches for the lost to come home. The ones, who have chosen a hard and lonely path. I feel like shouting and crying from the roof tops for them to see the misery they are in and come to Jesus. The answer to every ache and wound and broken heart. Oh may His spirt fall on us and may His wandering children come home. Hallelujah! Praying for you Mrs Beth. And for all of us who are sensing the winds of change coming. May our lights shine so bright for Jesus!! Love ya’ll. Thanks for inspiring and letting us know we aren’t alone.
Thank you Beth for sharing how God is leading you. God is doing a lot of stirring up and preparing His servants for what’s to come. Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young it said,”Come to Me with a teachable spirit, eager to change. A close walk with Me is a life of continual newness”. God is moving! Praise His Mighty Name! Then when I was walking my dogs ( I live in the country)singing away the song in my playlist which I listen to everyday,”You Said” sung my Hillsong, I’m sure you all know it but its just about this very subject. I just stopped and asked God, give me a heart for nations.
“You said, Your glory will fill the earth
Like water the sea”
“You said, Lift up your eyes The harvest is here, the Kingdom is near”
And then your post….
Lord let that be the cry of our hearts!
Beth, Thank you so much for sharing your journey, your insight, and your wisdom with us! I am always so moved by your transparency and your openness. I share many of the struggles that you talk about and encouraged by you every time I read one of your books or your posts. I want to thank you also for the amazing gift of the free books. I have downloaded Praying God’s Word and have started reading it and it is already changing the way I see my problems. I am so excited to get further into the book and actually start practicing what you are talking about in my daily life. I have no doubt that the power of God will overcome any issues that I might face in my life. Thank you again and may God just pour His blessings down on you and your family.
I feel it too. I keep saying “what, where, how?!” I feel God pressing in and saying dont just minister only to ourselves. Blessings and prayers over this as you step in faith! Change is a scary wild ride. I don’t want to just sit on the side lines! Can’t wait to see. Give us eyes to see how to move out wider or in closer to the places we just don’t consider, and give us hearts to go, Father! In Jesus name help our hands reach
🙂
Beth,
First of all this is going to be a some what frank talk and it might even be abit on the tone of sounding offensive but if it does this is not my intent! I love you and your ministry to death and will always be an ardent follower of this ministry come good times or bad. I will continue to pray and support all I can but I need to say this and I pray it will be received in the love I am wanting it to be!!
Dearest Beth,
I can hardly believe this but I sensed this a long time ago about a change being needed! You see, I am a more recent follower of the teachings you do. Having been locked into a stubborn depression for so many years I was out of the loop in women’s ministry for some time. When I first heard of your venues, and how Lifeways set up venues it was so completely foreign to me as to almost seem absurb. I could not understand how we were gona reach the lost for the Lord when we charge them X amount of dollars to see a teacher at a big sports arena. Now, you have my permission not to run this with other comments that is fine becuz I may raise afew hackles here but isn’t that what we as Christians are to do?? Reach the lost?? How many lost women or hurting women are going to come to a venue when you need tickets?? I always felt that the speakers who visit these cities need to not charge for admission to the event. When I understood later the mission of Lifeways etc I was more comfortable with how it conducted the veunues but still it has bothered me. I am all for having some seminars etc in which indepth Bible study is done for we who are in the trenches of ministry and need equiping. But, at least some of the time we need to step out of our comfort zone or we are not doing what our main mission work is. That of reaching the lost for Christ.
I feel this urgency too. I am going to crank out devotions this year and small Bible studies like I have never done before. I am facilitating a small group in my own church for young women who are not having time for indepth study but need some study just the same. I want them to see how life changing Bible study can be. I am continuing to teach my little Sunday School kids and teach them to memorize the Word. Time is short I am instilling in them the need to have the Word written on thier hearts. The Word may not always be so available. The kids did so well with Luke 2 for the Christmas service I was just beside myself! Yes kids can memorize and they are!
I applaud you for taking these couragious steps,Beth and God love you for it!! I would love to see you run venues like the old evangelitic services were at one time! Look how many people came to hear Billy Graham and his ministry was so blessed. He (Jesus) will provide the way for it to happen there is never any doubt about it the question is are we strong enough to shoulder the task!! You bet we are!!! EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS!!!!
The best of every thing He has for you in 2014!! I have and will continue to pray for you and your team. Please let me know you are not angry with me being so blunt??!!!!
Your friend forever in Jesus,
Betty M
My Beloved Beth/Mama-
I don’t know what it’s worth, really, but you have been that for me over the last few years! You have been a tool in the hands of our loving Father to bring me closer to Him, to showing me what relationship with Him could be, to showing me and encouraging me and spurring me on to memorize His Words and to study them and to believe Him and to walk in faith. I thank you!
May your new directions and endeavors continue to bless His holy name!
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/end-times-will-bring-greater-persecution-to-christians-pope-says/
This is why it is so imperative that you continue on in whatever God calls you to do. I am alarmed at the number of women I know that use words like “sending you positive thoughts” instead of saying, “I’m praying for you.” I’ve known Christians who won’t speak openly in fear that they might offend someone else. God’s message is being diminished.
I will be praying for you most fervently, so that you will know God’s plan for you.
Yours in Christ,
Karen
Dear Beth,
I so appreciate your frankness and honesty. I was challenged about a month ago when as Godly friend said he and his wife were talking and she had a revelation after her prayer time of this: “I am light among light…when does the light shine in the darkness?”.
Whoa! Bam! I here You, God. Clearly–“shine for Me!”
Amen…God, help us to be brave in Jesus’s name. We love You!
Wowser!! Well I selfishly hope your adventure includes South Korea.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand,
than to be a king of a vast domain,
Or be held in sin’s dread sway.
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
this world affords today.
–George Beverly Shea
Believing God with you, Beth, for 2014 and the work He wants you and all of us to enter into by His grace and for His glory.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1
Run with Jesus, sis. May He get all the glory and may the nations rejoice!
The words of God telling you to “stop sowing in the exact same field” hit me like a ton of bricks. I now understand why God had me leave the church that I have been attending & serving at for the last 14 yrs. Our new church home is 85 miles closer to home & needed Awana workers. It just so happens that I’ve been serving in Awana for 22 years & I firmly believe God moved me so I could reach a “new field” and not become complacent in the routine in my service to Him. Thank you Beth! I’ll be praying for you during this transitional time for you! God bless you and LPM. Have a wonderful (and challenging) New Year, I know I will. LOL
Praise you, LORD! Bless you, Beth! I’ve been knowing I needed to invite my secular neighbor to a coffee date but have been intimidated. Gonna do it!
Follow hard after Him!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are loved!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so very much. Your words made my very own heart pound out of my chest as I read b/c it is exactly where I have felt God leading me. Such a confirmation given to me! Praying as you endeavor the new chapter of this journey and would covet your prayers for me as well.
Abiding in His grip of grace- Mandy
Beth,
Thanks so much for this word! Change is in the air in my own life, but like you, God is in the middle of all of it. 🙂 He has given me a couple of assignments – I am finishing my bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministry (I will graduate in 2015 and hope to pursue a job as a Singles Minister) and in April, I will begin teaching a group of Single Again Ladies from our church. I am nervous and excited about all of this, and I know God is at work.
Keep on keeping on, Sister! I know without a doubt that God will use you in some incredible ways that you never dreamed of!!!! 😀 Praying for you!! 🙂
Wow! Reduced to speechlessness! I have been praying and I know I have to testify to this post! I must hold onto the vision the Lord has pressed into my heart until a later time in which I will be of better use to him to share it with you! But mark this, you will hear my testimony this year! And I suspect it will edify you and bring clarity to His purposes.
Jeremiah 29:11 “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.”
I will see you on the 18th and I leave you with these words that I hope resonate with your spirit…Let the Lord be your Hero as you remove the Sword of Suffering and Wield the Sword of the Spirit! Amen! Love you Siesta Mama and all Siestas who read this!
Reckon that’s why they call it walking a life of faith? Just when we get familiar with the route, he leads us off on some dirt road to some unknown place.
Beth, praying for you! Definitely feeling the winds shifting in a big way in my own life. Looking forward to what God will do in this fresh new year. Many blessings to you as He leads you to new pastures.
The first time I hear you speak was in November 2012; the second time was July, 2013. (Lewiston, ME & Providence, RI). Both times what I heard from your message was “GO.” To me, “go” refers to anywhere/everywhere – and I always presumed that meant outside church walls. Seek & save that which is lost, to heal the sick, what good is a candle? God bless you and please advise how I may best help with the “free” mission. I have some ideas but want to be sure it fits with God’s way.
beth, maybe these new kinds of people and places will be coming in like a tide. perhaps made very obvious to you by the suddenness and the great neediness. i always felt over the years your voice would move the heart of any lost soul, especially women. i actually would watch you and yearn for the lost to discover-that the audiences would be filled with the messier looking, dirtier looking more obviously desperate and brokenhearted ones who have never heard of the real Jesus because you depict His love so accurately, taking us all into this romance with Him through His word. i believe awakening is right around the corner. and my spirit is excited at the thought of some of the newly engrossed to have their first taste of Christ’s heart and the teaching of His Word from your mouth. we need mothers and fathers who are down to earth, authentic, real, full of love and tenderness, and wisdom/experience to captivate these sheep unto the protective embrace and firm ground of scripture. i hope this encourages you and i look forward to seeing your obedience bear fruit. Happy New Year <3
Thank you Beth. I stand beside you in agreement, and with you in prayer. It is exciting to see Gid at work and your desire to be a willing vessel. Through you, He inspires me. I have been thinking it is time Christians came out of the closet and bring the Fruit of the Spirit with them. Let’s do this. Onward….
Hallelujah Beth! Yes, yes, yes! Praying for you on this new journey.
Wow and AMEN! I haven’t had any dreams about this, but I’ve been feeling that same nudge. You go girl!! Praying with you for His direction and wisdom in the days to come.
Wow what a word and thank you for sharing. Obedience is a must and I am anxious to see what our Lord has planned for you. I find it a challenging word, provoking me to seek Him. I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be a different kind of year for many.
Dearest Beth,
Thank you for sharing the word God gave you! I must say it pricked my soul!!
Thank you for your humility, transparency & obedience! Also thank you for the free ebooks!!!
God’s blessings upon you will be greater than you can imagine!
Prob 3:5,6. You are doing those verses precisely!
Love you lots!
Tanya
Midland, Tx
Joshua 1:9…”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.” I became a widow with three very young children at the age of 32. God used this scripture to lead me into very new and unchartered territory! It’s been eight hard and amazing years of his grace and provision to do what I never thought I could. Be blessed as you run this next leg of your race. And a big hug from a fellow runner!!
Isaiah 43:19
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
19 Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers[a] in the desert.
Praying and excited to see what God is up to. 🙂