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.
I am speechless. My heart is beating wildly and I have tears in my eyes. I feel the same urgency! I feel the desire to be fruitful in the Kingdom! I’m still waiting on the specific calling. But after a year of intense healing and the process of gaining freedom, I believe I’m nearing the corner for which I have longed for so very long. I can’t wait to see what He will do!
I am right there with you, Beth. Responded to the call at 18 and 32 years later God is moving me. Prayers that have been impressed on my heart, “Be the Blessing” “Do NOT put new wine in old wine skins” “Tradition can be the enemy of Doctrine” and just yesterday from John Piper- “pray that God would identify and exploit my weakness, to fulfill His purpose and for His glory.” Time to be BOLD, not waste the days for they are short. My prayer has been much like yours in that I will go where you have called me… at 50 years old. He is enough.
I haven’t been on the blog in a long time… stumbled onto WOF in Houston in February. That was a Divine find that I wasn’t looking for, grabbed a couple of friends and made plans in a matter of minutes. What an amazing group of sisters to hear from, will be praying for all of you as you listen and prepare. Eager to share in the Word with all of you. Thank you for your continued faithfulness and partnership in ministry all these years, Beth. Blessings to you and your girls!
Kathleen from Albuquerque
Wow. I am sitting in my quiet bookkeeping office trying to keep the tears from running down my face in case someone suddenly drops in! My throat is tight and I feel a swelling in my chest. This email spoke to my spirit like an arrow of destiny.
I have been struggling for the past year and a half with my current circumstances, not because I feel God isn’t in them, but that I am being held back almost beyond what I can bear. Your email revealed that God will do what he means to do in HIS timing, and the refinement is almost more important than the work, because without it I CAN’T actually do the work.
Its been so hard. I have almost lost faith on more than one occasion, but held on only because I KNOW there is nothing else to hold on to. I have felt so alone. I believe God is calling me to a group of young women to mentor, encourage, bring comfort and provide support but haven’t seen the bigger scope of this manifest in my life as of yet, only in small places and encounters.
I have been on a long journey of heartbreak, loss and fear. I know God is restoring and redeeming, but the journey has been fraught with battle. I too have had Isaiah 43:18-19 given to me as a hope for the future.
This email was like balm to my soul. I felt the spirit stirring in me the same call to those who are lost, who are lonely, who are without hope.
Thank you Beth. I believe this is the year for me to break free and live out God’s truth so I can show others how it can be done. Nothing is impossible with God!
Dear DJ, What an amazing thing to mentor younger women! And, then, in turn, they mentor those in their lives. We are believing God with you to see the lost come and experience the unmatched love and hope of our Jesus.
“change is on the horizon”….you are so right; let us all be ready and willing to do what the Lord leads us to do this year (and always). It is scary but I want so much to be in the Lord’s will and your words help me to see I am not the only one stepping out in faith into the unknown this year. Keep up your great work, we need a Siesta Mama to teach us, thank you!
Hi Beth,
I saw on twitter that you were offering the free books. I was really excited. I was wondering to God what new studies I should do, but then I think He spoke to me to tell my mom about them too. I believe my mom is undiscipled although she does faithfully attend church and prays for us – her kids. I pray for her and my sisters to really know the Lord. I am praying also that I not miss this move He is making and just to fall passionately in love with Him again. The Lord basically took me by the shoulders in 2013 and snapped me out of a decade-long stupor. My return has not been without a knock-down, drag-out fight from the enemy. I am so sorry I wasted so much time believing lies. I know I have missed much of what God wanted to do in my life. I pray that I can by Jesus’s strength take back twice what the enemy tried to steal. Thank you for all your encouragement. It was several of your bible studies that God used to help me back up.
Beth, I love your heart. After reading this, with tears in my eyes, I thought of the army of sisters you have behind you. God has built it, but he has also built you as a leader of those women. You have led all of us to love the Lord and love the Word. Lord, help us to love others out of that overflow.
Thank you for your obedience.
Beth, The general can only teach her troops for so long – when the battle is on us, it is time to turn and start leading the troops into the fray. Thanks for holding that flag high. I’m following. (Along with many others, I’m sure!) Thanks be to God!
Couldn’t have said it better! I’m with you too Beth.
This is just one more confirmation to me… God is doing an amazing work across North America right now!! It is exciting, terrifying, and humbling that we should be included in His great works. Blessings to you Beth Moore for your obedience and being willing to charge forward into what might be very uncomfortable territory for you. You are an encouragement to so many of us and I pray that we would be an encouragement to you as you step out in faith (again!).
Dear Beth,
Thank you for sharing your heart. Some of the things you said were a confirmation for me. I appreciate you and Living Proof Ministries. May God bless you exceedingly, abundantly and above all you could ever ask or think!
Much Love,
Jamison
Thank you so much for sharing!! I have also been working through a period of 7 years where the Holy Spirit is calling me to move forward and upward! It hasn’t been an easy transition from staying where I was most comfortable onto untested waters – but, I knew that if I stayed only death of the spirit within me would be my future. dissatisfaction started robbing me of peace on mind and soul and I could almost say I ran with all my strength & energy left in me towards the horizon of God’s calling! I may be 68, retired, sore from arthritis, but never to give up this race set before me! I’ve been refreshed and energized so much that my desire to see where our Lord God is leading me keeps me closer & hungrier, & thirstier, for His leading me into new places where HIs glory will be seen at work in me, as His servant, but those I love dearly will give Him praise & glory as well!!! So, life with God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is excitement plus for me!! And I know He will continue working out in you His perfect will & plan – exciting isn’t it?? Love you sister!!
The Lord has been challenging me as I am in my son’s Martial Arts class. There are women in the class, and I feel the Lord is calling me to get to know the women and share Christ with them. I am not athletic and it is extremely challenging for me to be a part of this class. Every time I try to get out of it, the Lord gently reminds me of the ladies that need a Savior.
Thank you for your testimony, your transparency, and strong conviction, challenges me to follow the Lord’s leading.
“You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me”
Is. 43:10 NASB
This is such confirmation to me. I have sensed the urgency also. Thank you for your heart, thank you for equipping us well. I feel as if the best way to serve you as you have served us so lovingly is to pray and while we are waiting to see where God calls you and how we can help to serve where we are, to go out and “compel them to come in” to pass on the love for God’s Word that has been planted in us. To produce fruit according to our kind just as in Genesis “– plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” May our prodigal God see and say that it is good.
God bless you dear mentor/sister/friend as you begin this new leg of your wild ride.
Thank you, Beth for your heartfelt letter. Change demands action whether welcome or not. Obedience to Him is both rewarding and purifying. Obedience has been flashing like a neon sign for me since June.
Your letter resonated with me and is timely as our historic church burned down on December 7th. The Holy Spirit had been warning me that change was imminent for our small congregation months before. Never in my wildest dreams did think it would take a fire. However, our ways are not His ways. He is radical. He allowed this to happen for His purposes. Beauty from ashes. Change can be so refreshing. I look forward to this coming year with excitement too as we move forward as a congregation to see what His plans are for us. May the Lord bless every aspect of the work you, Beth, do for Him. Thank you for being so genuine!
Dear Robyn,
I am so sorry to hear about your church. Agreeing with you and praying to see the beauty to come from those literal ashes. Many blessings to you as you and your congregation go forth!
Thank you, Beth, for sharing your insight about what God wants you to do and where you are in that process. I am glad to know that even you take a year or more to really respond to God’s urgings. Sometimes I think I am the slowest person and God gets impatient, but you know He never is impatient. He loves us too much for that. I am with you, about not wanting to be left behind, about wanting to obey. Sometimes it is not clear what He wants, and I get confused. I am so thankful for the times He is crystal clear. For several months I have been focusing on listening for the voice of Jesus. I have been hearing Him, and that is a Joy! Beth, you are such a blessing to learn from. Thank you.
Beth,
I am thankful for your obedience in following and sharing this message. Feeding on God’s Word daily is fundamental to His call and discernment and I needed your reminder.
With regard to the new direction of His call to you, I especially appreciate the following:
“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.” AMEN.
Such a calling must be backed firmly with concerted prayer. I will pray with and for you. I’m all in.
I love the challenge of this statement: “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.” May we all experience this thrill as we move forward to wherever and whomever the Spirit of our Lord Jesus leads.
Peace,
Kris
Wow. That was so powerful. After reading through that, at first, my heart wasn’t in it. More like, ok, that’s cool. Whatever. But then I went to check my email and the encouraging Word of the Day from klove.com was this “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
~ Isaiah 43:19, NLT” THAT really spoke to me. It convinced me of what you were saying Beth, and now my heart truly wants to obey Him and reach out this year. It is so amazing how He works like that.
I’m with ya Beth ,
Today’s ( jan 2 ) My Utmost for His Highest , Oswald Chalmers says the same . Read it if you get a chance .
Yep. I was asked to do something new and bold and scary in December. I said yes but in two weeks I actually have to act on that “yes” and do it! I was laying in bed last night praying over this fear of stepping into the next field of ministry that God has for me… praying for a word of encouragement if I’m really meant to do this because it’s so far out of my comfort zone and it will take me FAR out of it as time passes…. and then I read your encouragement along with a verse that a commenter wrote before me and I know I am to do this and trust Him with the next steps. (Isaiah 43:19.) Thank YOU.
Beth…wow!!! I too had God speak to me through a dream. This is happened only one time in my 48 years. I know it was God speaking to me…He said “feed my sheep”.
I go to a kids prison a few times a week here in Indiana. I spend time with the girls that are locked up. They are between the ages of 8 and 17. Most are 12 to 16. Nearly all of them have been sexually abused. This is my 9th year visiting these girls. I tell them about Gods love for them. They share their lives with me. Nearly all have surrendered their lives to Jesus. I buy bibles and give each girl one. They treasure it and then feed on a Gods word. It is no mistake that I too was sexually abused….I have never felt love inside like the love that I feel when I am with these girls. I know it is not my love it is Gods love. Beth, will you write a bible study for these girls. They need simple but powerful and I know you are the one that can speak their language. They have been abused, thrown aside, rejected!
I too am going to step it up this year… We are in a battle and the enemy has been after 2 of my own daughters for too long…He doesn’t like me going to the prison. He has had his way with these girls their whole lives. God is so much bigger and with Him with me I will fight and continue bringing Jesus to the lost. We cannot be comfortable. We have to take back the ground the enemy had taken. I feel our kids and young people are being defeated like never before.Addicted to not just drugs but prescription medicine, sex, and anything else the devil can use.
We need to rise up and act.
No wonder I love you so much, Ms Beth.
I wouldn’t have understood this quite the way I do until a couple days ago. A good friend of ours was tragically killed. An unsaved good friend. Totally rocked our world and opened our eyes. I get it.
Love and prayers to all.
Thank you. Your honesty, devotion, and love always shine through your ministry. I’ll pray for you and the ministry. God is changing lots of things, the air is palpable with something I can’t put my finger on yet but I am willing to go with Him.
Dear Beth,
I do not know if my message will be read or heard, but I hope so!!! I do not speak as beautifully or as soul stirring as many a teacher, but I speak as one in a sea of many. Last year we were called to leave our home ( a home God blessed us with) and move to an unknown place with no friends or families. We did not know the area, we prayed and God answered…. By dropping us in the middle of the (hood). It was soul shocking… But God gave us the opportunity to get to know all the kids at our children’s school bus stop. ( mainly because we were the only parents at the bus stop) we had children from kindergarten to 5th grade. I started out our relationship by bribing them with sweets so they wouldn’t cuss or act up on the bus!! Ha! Long story short we had the chance to talk to them about Jesus and show through our lives that Jesus loves each and every one of them.
It is not easy, but I knew in my heart we were obeying Gods will for us.
I would also like to mention that at one point I had a question about one of your events (I was very new to your blog) and not one person attempted to answer the question. Are we so comfortable even as blog readers that we fail to see the people who are not in our circle of comfort? Are we so busy trying to relate to each other that we forget to take the time to look at Gods people? ( oh sister, I’m as guilty as everyone) God knows I’m a hot mess!!! I just wanted to let you know this is where the rubber meets the road and I’m believing God is who he says He is…. My entire life is set to change again this year because we are obeying God…. All I can say is…. Hold on girls…. God is better than any roller coaster…..at His feet, Shannon
Hi Shannon! I am so sorry that you asked a question about an event and it was left unanswered. I’m not sure if this question came through the blog comments or you sent an email to LPM, but sometimes questions get overlooked here on the blog because we simply can’t keep up with the amount of comments flooding in. So, we do apologize and hope to assist you. In the future, if you have a question about an event or product, the best way to get a hold of us is either to call the ministry or email us through our website. I hope that helps. Blessings to you!
Ditto!
Encore!
Nailed it!
The Lord has asked me to bravely pray: Complicate my life.
God can move in comforting the afflicted or afflicting the comfortable
I say, “bravely” because I am of the latter. I want to finish this race to Christ, strong. In that, I am being called to higher, harder ground. I don’t want to be lax in approaching His word nor in my day to day living. Exclamation point living isn’t for the comfortable. Give me complicated if that is what it takes to move me for His honor and glory.
Thank you for sharing, Beth. Your passion and sincerity are obvious. You set a Christlike example for us all. I am thankful for your faithfulness and challenge. I pray for you now as you seek, trust, and obey.
You are a so courageous for sharing and taking that step of faith! I WILL pray for you and your ministry team.
The past 5 months have been eye opening and God has me in a place of complete dependence on Him. I’m looking forward to this New Year and I believe He will use it! I feel something in my soul too Beth and I know I can’t keep doing the same thing I’ve been. The time is now, time for change, time to love, fight, pray and believe harder than ever! The time is now!
Much love!
Dear Beth, if I hear you correctly you are wanting to get out of the comfort zone and bring the gospel to more women who wouldn’t normally go to your events, the unsaved. There are so many places and peoples in our individual states that need the gospel. In my area of southern California there is South Central Los Angeles, North Long Beach, Compton, Hawaiian Gardens just to name a few. There are so many homeless women all over the US that need the gospel. How awesome to have Living Proof in these parts of every city. Just thinking….
I keep having this thought of me standing on “the rock” and reaching down to pull another woman up there with me. Beth, I will be praying for you and for God to show both of us what He wants. I can’t wait to see you in Hershey, and will be praying God will show me someone who needs your message so I can bring them along.
Beth – Thank you for your wonderful heart to follow the Lord! You are not alone. I too have been feeling like I need to do something different and totally out of my comfort zone, but I don’t know what that is yet.
All I know is I want to obey Him and be part of what He is doing. So I am moving forward and prayerfully looking for the doors He will open.
Thank you for all you do for Him!
Yes and Amen! It seems God is speaking more and more, preparing His Bride for Himself, and it makes my heart race to think of what He has in store!
This my song through endless ages,
JESUS LEAD ME ALL THE WAY!
Beth, I was in the middle of an ordinary day, and while hearing the “watch me’s” from my children at a recreation center in the middle of a snow storm, God whispered to me in the words you obediently penned through Him. I felt a charge, and it was exciting. Such a great model of servanthood you are, using the power of words strung together so brilliantly. I will pray for you, knowing that Satan will not be too happy about this. “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.” Blessing to you and your family!
Amen!!
Thank you for sharing this, Beth. It was not just for you; it is for me. I’m about to make a dreadfully unsought and unwanted move on account of my flesh, but a much needed change on account of my spirit and ministry. I too want to obey God, at any cost. In the trenches with you sister. Much love!
Praise The Lord for His revelation! Go, Beth, wherever He tells you. We are praying for you.
What a confirmation for me, too! I had this exact conversation with my pastor and his wife a few weeks ago! I told them I was waitng on new orders from God. That I would not facilitate another Bible Study for women who are over fed on scripture and holding it in to themselves but that I felt like I was being called to the unchurched! WOW! I am breathless with anticipation!
Beth, thank you so much for the free e books. What a wonderful beginning of 2014 gift. God bless you for your generosity. I saw these on Facebook and am praying that those who see this and download the books will receive a blessing and that anyone who reads these who is not a Christian will come to know Christ. Again thank you!
You go girl! I totally hear and approve the call God has on your life. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow but how He ministers through us changes. I am so proud you are sharing this call and direction and hopefully we will all listen and obey as God shakes us out of comfort zone and into all the world – whatever that looks like to Him! He has called me to obedience this year and that started out by my going next door and making peace with a neighbor I had not spoken to in a year and a half. I took the guy a 1/2 a home made pound cake, told Him I was a Christian and God was not happy with me because I had said mean things to Him. I told Him making God happy was the most important thing in my life and in the name of Jesus asked him to receive the cake and my apologies and promise that I wanted to start out 2014 knowing that He and I were at peace. He received my apology graciously and affirmed that he also wanted to be at peace. I now I feel I have a freedom to minister in my neighborhood in a way that was not open to me until I obeyed God and made peace with this man. So hallelujah to His marching orders and to obedience. I will be praying for your ministry as you walk out this calling.
This just made me fill with joy and tears all at the same time. God is on the move, rearranging, changing pressing on and I feel it too. Change is coming and it’s good. Praying for you to know the joy of blindly following your beloved.
This is so…tender. The word the Lord has been whispering over me is “open.” I just have a picture of hands open, palms up — open and obedient. I’ve been teaching for almost three decades (inside the church walls) and I’ve been nudged into new territory that (for the initial fear and panic) has become so precious to me! Just being open to taking the church “out there” instead of hibernating within has just about caused my heart to explode. He is so good and He just…knows. Why have I clenched my hands tight for so long? So thankful He doesn’t give up! Love you, sister!
(Just starting Breaking Free with my new not-in-the-church-pew girlfriends! It’s been over 10 years since I did it with my church ladies and I’m excited to get into the “update!”)
Oh you are such a warrior! Quick story. I am a radio announcer and God took me out of the “comfort” of living and working in Nashville to move to WI back in March. In Oct. I found out a big radio network bought the stations I was “sent ” to work for. We all lost our jobs. The Lord has opened a new job at a station in a part of the country I have never lived before. My “comfort side” said take me back to Nashville Lord. His response – Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 He has given me my post…and a swift kick with your help 😉 Thank you for sharing!!
Yes!!! God has been urging me to get into the streets, the shelters, the prisons, etc. and represent Him to those that don’t know He exists. It is a challenge to pull away from traditional women’s ministry and go out into unknown territory, but God has been speaking to my heart the past year or so to do just that. I sense His call on you to move out, speak out, and stop sowing in the same field over and over is a similar wind of His Spirit. It is blowing and it is going to change things in a huge way! I love you so much, my sister Beth. You are a true leader. You will teach us, but in a new and fresh way. Thank you!
Thank you, Beth, not only for your openness, but also for your faithfulness. I have benefitted more than I can even articulate from your studies over the last decade+. The Lord has used the material in those studies to not only know and love Him more, but others as well. And, I have felt very built up for the ministry my husband and I are involved with.
We are involved in a ministry that helps international students as they arrive to study at our local Big Ten university. There are several thousand international students at our university and they all arrive with just two big suitcases. We pick up new students at the airport, they stay at our home for a few days while we help them get the things they need to set up an apartment on campus. Those students that are interested can also visit a Bible study on campus that we help with, designed for curious international students. Most international students come from the 10/40 window, and many are interested in checking out the Bible study. Last fall, we had over 200 students at the study.
There are currently almost a million international students studying in our country. Only a small percentage of them get the help they need from Americans when they first arrive. I wish every university in our country had ministries to offer assistance to these students. And, I wish we had Bible study materials specifically designed for this population. We improvise our own.
When these students encounter Jesus, they are uniquely able to far more effectively reach their friends and family back home, than we would ever be.
I so appreciate your ministry, and I have no idea what changes the Lord has for your ministry. And, thanks for reading my sales pitch.
Dear Beth,
Right around Christmas God put it on my heart to pray for you ever day this year. Now I know why. I have made my promise to Jesus and I will be faithful to keep it. Thank you for your words, I will read them over and over trying to soak into my very being all that God is saying through you. But all through this post all I could think about is this woman is going to need some serious prayer this year, and pray I will!
Great post. It echoed what God said to me and did in my life by His grace in the last three years. The short story is this… I was settled in ministry with a great organization that I love and has taught me much. Next thing I know He has moved me to ministry in a home setting with a small group of hungry ladies who either did not know The Lord or had just met Him. At the same time He called me to teach at a halfway house with young men and women who have been in prison and whad been addicted to drugs. All this at 67-70 years old. Ha!! Who can know the mind of God or plumb the depths of His grace and ability in our lives…. Or what He will and does teach us as we move out of our comfort zones to move on with Him. He is Lord and we cannot imagine, think, even try to guess what He has planned and waiting for us. All to Him!!!
Yes! We all need to move into outreach mode now. We need only take a quick look around to see it and I believe a time is coming in which the needs will sharply increase. Jesus is the hope of the world and His body is a close second – we are the carriers. I feel hypocritical saying that because I know it’s true but yet there’s not much evidence of it. For several years I’ve felt strongly about racial reconciliation and issues related to abused/neglected/trafficked children, but have no outlet in which to serve. I love this post and feel stirred to respond, even if it’s just praying for direction. Thank you for your bold words. God has used you to raise a potential army of women, which, if it responds, can really impact history. I believe it’s time for women to take their places on the wall.
God bless you, Beth. Anyone who has studied under you knows your heart. You share it openly. Know, dear sister, that where ever God opens doors, we will pray you right through them!
Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way,
To be happy in Jesus,
Than to Trust and Obey!
Pat
Wow, wow, wow. We have a prayer group that meets once a month and last night was our meeting. We are feeling the same urgency – to step out of our comfort zones, to reach out more – the whole theme of last night was that more needs to be done, time is short. Every year at our first meeting we pray and then write a prayer petition for the year for the things that we feel the Lord wants us to pray about. This year your name kept coming up. So excited to see what this year will bring for you!!!!LOVE the confirmation of the Holy Spirit!!!
This really resonates with me! I have been hearing the call of the Holy Spirit to bring revival to my community. I have prayed earnestly for it and I know it is coming, in fact it is here! I’ve been teaching a Bible study in the jail for several years now. To say it has been rewarding is an understatement. Seeing God’s word through fresh eyes is invigorating (Did you know that in John chapter 3 it says that God loves me and didn’t come to condemn me? Or the young woman with tears in her eyes – I’ve been reading the Bible you gave me. Did you know that Jesus is coming soon? I’ve got to get my family saved!). Now I feel God is calling me to go to the local prisons. I don’t know where this journey will end but I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for your faithful service and ministry! May God richly bless you!
Wow! Dearest Beth, Those have been my exact thoughts and prayers for the last year and a half as well! I’m still not sure exactly where God wants me to land and I’m still sheepish and careful! But your post has inspired me and encouraged me and I do believe the Holy Spirit is moving and seeking and searching for those He can use and I like you want to be one of those! I want to go where He leads, even if it is on the other side of the world or the other side of the street. Thank you for sharing your heart and what God is leading you to do and I feel privileged to be a tiny part of your walk! Thank you Beth!
Sacha