**UPDATE**
Congratulations to the winners of the birthday drawing! Your names are posted below. Watch your inbox for an email from Living Proof later today so that we can get you your gift!
BONUS: The wonderful people at AMG Publishers have extended a 50% discount to any of you who would like to order a Key Word Study Bible! Click here to get more information, or to order your Bible. AMG Publishers
Winners:
#523 – Carole Germain #4348 – Karen Quinn
#2282 – Merissa G. #4399 – Anna Bunch
#2321 – Marilyn Riley #4430 – Nancy Beeey
#2756 – Merissa Ury #4813 – Myrlene Darnell
#2876 – Beth Longar #5648 – Nan Smith
#3937 – Dani Turner #5798 – Rachel C.
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A few nights ago I walked my buck wild new puppy around my neighborhood, watched the sun sink deep down into the horizon, and then settled in back at home. I flipped on my favorite season of the West Wing and I ate an entire bag of tortilla chips and ¾ a jar of my favorite salsa for dinner. What is it they say again? The apple does not fall far from the tree. Or something like that?
You see when we were growing up Mom would throw us kids in the back of Brontosaurus the station wagon and haul us halfway across the city to her old favorite Tex-Mex joint. She ordered a pint of salsa and a gigantic grease-stained brown paper bag of tortilla chips for take-out and she would eat all of this and only this for her dinner. Her own dinner. I can’t remember what we kids even ate, or if she fed us at all. I’m only kidding about that last part.
My mom was born at high noon in a fierce thunderstorm, my grandfather said. Her presence still shifts the atmosphere. A few weeks ago Mom left for a week in the hill country for a time of writing and solitude. The second she got back home, I loaded up my stuff and headed out to spend a night with she and my Dad. You see, for me, going to hang out with my parents isn’t really like going to hang out with the parents. Far from duty, it’s one of my favorite things to do. We caught up on all the life stuff that night. And then in the morning we drank our coffee in our pajamas and by 8:30 a.m. at the latest we had already covered topics such as the theology in Ephesians, the New Testament canon, the Holy Spirit’s role in the interpretation of Scripture, and the Festal Letter of Athanasius.
I have to say, this woman utterly dazzles me. She is the sweetest in the land. She is gracious and sanguine and loving and kind, no doubt, but she is serious and intense and focused and courageous. She has opinions and perspective and boldness and wisdom from the ground like no other. For all her awesomeness she is not self-righteous or squeamish, and God knows I have pushed her limits.
Mom is deeply committed to our family and I’ve always known that full well but I’ve also seen that she’s preoccupied with something a whole lot bigger than us. Probably the most important thing I have learned from her is that being caught up in Jesus and what He is doing in the world is everything. It is the ultimate priority and a family committed to His work in the world will get the privilege of making sacrifices together.
Over the past few years in my own journey I found myself in an unknown place, a place where a heart could break deeper and wider and in more directions than I could have imagined possible. Mom has walked alongside me on this road further than any human could be expected to walk with another. She would have had good reasons to just sit out a while and catch her breath. But she never left my side. The road has been bumpy but also tedious and repetitive. When the landscape didn’t seem to change for a long, long time, she kept plodding along with me, carrying my burdens and helping me shoulder the grief that felt too much to bear.
Mom is tender and she is strong and she is not afraid to look pain and grief and loss dead in the eye. Even more, she is daring enough to hope against hope. To see in others, even me, the beginnings of life and growth and health and wholeness where others might only see brokenness and death. She has shined the light of Jesus on me more times than I can count.
She can fry a chicken and whip up mashed potatoes and gravy with the best of the Southern cooks. Her pleasures are simple: the reading of books, sitting on the front porch, walking her dogs in the woods, eating dinner with my Dad, playing games on the floor with her grandkids, and drinking tea with Amanda and me. But make no mistake she is wicked smart and complex and multifaceted. She is so much more than even the best caricature of her could ever hope to be.
I love her.
Yes, I love her. If one photo could capture the light and color she brings to my world, this is it:
It is my joy and honor to be her daughter and also to work for her at Living Proof. This blog giveaway is just one of many ways I celebrate her beautiful life today. The first three gifts are from Living Proof and the last two gifts are personal gifts from me.
First and foremost, we are giving away eight Key Word Study Bibles. My mom gave me one of these Bibles many years ago. It was one of the first Bibles I ever really remember being excited about. It helped me become familiar with various Greek and Hebrew words before I ever took a Greek or Hebrew reading class. Every time I read it I was reminded that the Scriptures we hold in our hands in English are a translation. Remembering this often is a good thing and will take a person a long way in the study of the Bible, I think.
![IMG_2993[4]](https://blog.lproof.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/IMG_29934.jpg)
Second, we are giving away an assortment of several pounds of favorite Houston coffee beans. My mom is a serious coffee drinker, so this is just an obvious addition. This package will include but not be limited to one of my current favorites:
Third, we are giving away an arrangement of fresh flowers Mom loves. And, really, who wouldn’t like these?
Fourth, we are giving away a crossbody saddlebag. Mom and I both carry versions of this crossbody bag over and over again until one breaks and we have to buy another one.
Fifth and finally, we are giving away a small bottle of Flowerbomb. Mom wears lots of different perfumes, but she most often travels with this one.
So, if you’re interested in our giveaway please do pop on and say “Happy Birthday” and show Mom some love. Your comment becomes your entry into our random drawing. Comments will officially close 24 hours after the post is published, and please only one comment per person. The names of our winners will be posted at the top of this post at some point on Thursday.
I hope you all are happy and well.
And, Mom, I love you!
The best is yet to come,
Melissa
Beth, your bible studies have always been very inspiring and always right on time! I hope you have a lovely day! Happy Birthday, sister! Love you.
Happy Birthday! There is no way a short post could thank you for the ways you have helped me (along with thousands of other women) grow in our walk with the LORD. I do thank you greatly and know what you write and speak comes from a heart of someone who loves the LORD greatly and sincerely. I hope you enjoy your birthday and time with family.
Wishing you a very very happy birthday Beth. I’ve been with you since the beginning of your first Bible study and I’m still hanging…
The best compliment I could give you is that I see Jesus shining brightly in you. It has been an honor to be a sister serving the King of kings along beside you. Though we’ve never personally met, I know you AND I love you girl!
Beth, I wish you a wild birthday! I just want to say that “Daniel” changed my life. Before embarking on this Bible study with some ladies who became powerful prayer friends, I read with my Bible with very little understanding of its truth. Your incredible insight led me to see that every word of the Bible is written purposefully. It also led me to realize that I had looked at the Bible as “fairy tales”. It gave me insight into the kids in my Wednesday night classes. “Daniel” changed the way I read and dig into my Bible, it changed my prayer life, and changed the way I teach kids. Thank you.
Happy Birthday! I have loved your books and Bible studies over the years. My two favorite so far would be the study of King David and your book So Long Insecurity. You’ve made a difference in my life and my mom’s life. She and I say we think we would be friends of yours if we knew you in person. 🙂 Have a blessed birthday and year!
Happy Birthday, Beth!
Your love for the word of God is contagious and has spilled out into so many lives- including mine. Your enthusisasm and intensity for loving Jesus and people has encouraged and nourished my own passion. Your fierce commitment to finish strong on this narrow, often crushing road has often reminded me of why we are even in this race.—–i am glad you were born! Happiest of birthdays to you!
Happy Birthday Beth!! You are a blessing beyond words. You have built God’s word into my heart and therefore allowed me to be transformed in ways I would have never thought possible. Your humor and transparency are what originally caught my attention but it is your fierce love of Jesus that has captured me. You teach me God’s word in a way that no one ever has been able. I am forever thankful to you for that!!
God’s blessings to you today and always.
Happy Birthday Beth!! You are such an amazing blessing to so many! Be good to yourself today. <3
Happy Birthday Beth! Wow, I loved reading what your daughter has written about you, what love, what knowledge, what truth, what a blessing to get to take a peek into how you are with your family.
May God continue to richly bless you on your birthday and in the year to come!
A Bible study buddy from WI.
Sue
Beautiful! I am so grateful for your ministry!
Siesta Mama – I’m so sorry to be a day late! June 15 is my birthday too and i took the day off work for some much needed time with my man so i didn’t check the web. Blessings to you fellow 6/15 – what a precious time to celebrate! Our summer study group is journeying through Esther with you right now – learning about how it’s tough to be a woman! We are so blessed to study with you, and Melissa knowing she was your research aide. Love to you and happy belated birthday!!
Happy Birthday Beth!!! You are one of my heroes of the faith, and you just happen to share a birthday with my own mother who is one of my other heroes of the faith. She modeled Christ to me and gave me my first bible. And you showed me how exciting it is to study it, and challenged me to walk it out. I pray you will have a year of joy in the Lord, fruitfulness in your ministry, lots of time with your grand kids, and new and fresh adventures with your familiy and with Jesus. God bless you Beth!!!
Happy birthday, Beth. I want you to know what a difference your Bible studies have made in my life. I had never even heard of you (!) prior to losing my husband in a car accident 9 years ago. A friend invited me to a Beth Moore Bible study, and I was hooked. Over the years I have done many in small groups independently and through church. Probably the most life changing one was Breaking Free, the newest edition. I am so grateful for your dedication to serving the Lord and your sisters through this gift God has given you. Melissa’s tribute to you is so precious. I had the joy of raising two loving sons, and I hope that one day they will “rise up and call me blessed” as your daughters do.
Have a most blessed birthday Beth! Our greatest gift and our greatest God-job is to raise our children in the light of God. Melissa, you are a delight to your mom, for sure, and our heavenly Father! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birtday, Beth!!! Thank you for all you do. I was in Tampa this weekend and am so grateful to be refreshed and revived!!! Hope you have the best birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Mrs. Moore! You are such an encouragement to me! Always leaving me in awe of the scriptures and how they apply to me. May you have a blessed day and laugh so much you tinkle a little. Hahaha!
Happy Birthday Beth. Knowing God is everything but believing Him is the ultimate.
You have helped me believe in Him. He is my life!!
Beth, Thank you for serving God so faithfully and touching the lives of countless women. Happy Birthday!
Beth,
Happy Birthday!! You have literally been used by God to change my life! You have shown me Jesus! My hunger for His Word was spurred on by your teachings, and now my passion is sitting with middle school students, teaching God’s Word to them. Thank you for the impact you have had on my life!
There’s nothing like a Godly woman who touches the deepest places in another’s life. Beth, you have done this over and over for this Texas girl. I pray an abundance of blessings on your special day! Have the happiest of birthdays Sister!!
Just this…..that is the best birthday gift a mom could EVER get…..a tribute like that from her child. And it’s true–every word, you can just tell! Happy Birthday Beth!
It has been my great pleasure to facilitate every Bible study that Beth has published here at my church. She has taught me to study the Bible, how the Old and New Testaments are interwoven and to fall in love with Jesus! I am forever grateful for her Godly influence in my life. As a fellow coffee drinking sanguine, I would like to say “Happy Birthday Beth!” You are loved and appreciated!
Happy birthday Beth! Your passion for God and for sharing His word repeatedly blesses me, and I am so thankful for how you have shared your journeys. Hope your day was filled with not only the opportunity to reflect on your year but to get excited about the year to come. 🙂
Happy Birthday Beth! Hope you have another great year!
Happy Birthday Beth! I am so grateful for you as many are. I cut my spiritual teeth on the study of David with you, got the love of scripture from you and am continuing to serve women because of you. Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ, your family and those of us who have learned from you. May this be the best one yet!
Happy birthday Beth! I’ve always thought that you and my Mom would make great friends. She reminds me a lot of you…her faithful relationship with God, and her loving relationship with her daughters. My Mom has become my best friend, and I can’t imagine doing life without her. As I read this blog, I could relate to each part. My Mom has made a tremendous impact on my life in ways she may never know. I feel blessed that God so perfectly picked her to be mine.
jami
shelby, nc
Happy Birthday, Beth. Your Bible studies, teaching and conferences have been an encouragement to me. The LPM siesta memory verse challenges have truly been life changing. Thank you for allowing God to use you for His great glory. God bless you.
Happy Birthday Beth! Your ministry and Bible studies have breathed new life into so many women who long to walk closer with our Lord. Your knowledge, wisdom, real life experiences, and humor can not be compared. You have been a huge vessel for our Lord to use to grow us more to be like Him. I praise our Lord and Savior for you and your ministry. God Bless you and again Happy Birthday!
Happy belated birthday to you, precious Beth! I was so blessed to spend a little time with you & 6,999 other women in Tampa this past weekend. I left a different person! Re-charged!! RE-the most beautiful prefix in history! Thank you, Beth, for selflessly giving of yourself for His Kingdom. May you be richly blessed.
Happy Birthday Beth! May this be the best year ever for you. May the deepest desire of your heart be met and unanswered prayer be finally fullfilled.
Happy Birthday to a lady who has been a huge influence in my life. May God Bless you with many more.
Happy Birthday! Thank you for the influence you have had in my life as I have studied God’s word.
Happy birthday, Beth! I am so thankful for you and for the many lives you touch. May God bring you a wonderful new year ahead, and may you see Him everywhere you look! (Keep looking, you know He’s always there.) Sending His love to you, Midge
Happy Birthday Miss Beth! May your next year be beautiful and glorious. We love the way you love Jesus and your family. Much love to you from us!
Happy Birthday, Beth. I love you. You have helped me more than I can possibly say. I have gained a love of Bible study because of you. My prayer for you today Numbers 6:24-26.
Happy Happy Birthday Beth!!!
I thank my God every time I remember you.
I thank you for allowing God to transform your life, so you could be living proof of the awesome powerful, gracious God we serve. Through your Bible Studies, LPL, SSMT videos, I honestly feel like I know you, even though we have never met.
So on your special day, I pray God will do above and beyond anything you could think or imagine, according to that power that is at work within us to His glory!
Again, Happy Birthday!
Love, Deneen
Oh my gosh–this post makes me cry like a baby for so many reasons.
#1) I am a Mom, a Mom who has been sloppily dedicated to full time ministry since my kids were babies. As I read this letter, I pretend that my parenting and my private life have been a smidgen as successful as this precious one you have described and that like you have done Melissa–my children will “rise up and call me blessed”. The way you have described and honored your Mom is surely one of the sweetest and best gifts she has very received.
#2) I have a tattered old Bible Study written by your Mom, sitting in a place of honor on my office book shelf, right next to every other one she has written. To the right of those studies, I have my own published books. One of them is just a few months old.
The ones on the left cleared the path for the ones on the right.
God has used your Mom’s anointing to inspire my own. He has used her transparency to make me braver. He has used her calling as an example of how precious and tender His Word is. She has taught me from afar (and sometimes from a stage), how to handle it with reference, awe and a heck of a lot of hoopla!
I am forever grateful.
Happy Birthday Beth Moore.
The world is glad you wren born and I am the gladdest 🙂
Happy Birthday Beth you look great and hope your day is amazing ^..^
Happy happy birthday Beth. You are my inspiration! Keep up the good work of Jesus!
What a beautiful tribute! Happy birthday to one of the most courageous women I know, and I feel like I do after all the studies and life we have been through together!
Happy birthday Beth! I am so thankful for you and all of the teachings that you have given me over many years. you have truly brought me closer to God’s word. I simply love listening to you at any point of my life. You have given me so much encouragement in the good and bad times of my life. You are an amazing lady, and the Lord blessed me greatly when he introduced me to you. It’s even more awesome to know that we share the same birthday month and only a few days a part. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday! Oh, and Melissa I loved your blog. Very well said! God bless all of you!
Happy Birthday, Beth. You are such a blessing to so many of us. Thank you.
Kim B. in AZ
Happy Birthday Blessings Beth! Your rich and deep and thorough Bible Studies have been such blessings for me and so much more! I have done them and started over again! My prayer is to become a blessing to others with the Word stored in my heart. I love praying for you and your dear sweet family that our Lord will bless you and His Word more than we could ever imagine and beyond our wildest dreams! And this prayer include all the ladies who study His Word with you! Jesus is our ever present help! To God be the Glory!
Happy Birthday dear Beth! I have learned so much from you over the years! I love the way you teach the Word of God, and make it applicable to our lives today. You make me laugh and cry, and everything in between. Thank you for your sacrifices on behalf of God’s girls!
Happy Birthday Beth!! what a beautiful blessing from our Lord that you have suxh a beautiful daughter who looks up to you and has such a genuine and beautiful heart. I have participated and ked numerous if your bible study and I hang on to every book and study guide I have of yours because tkme and time again I have been kn need if a quite or a scripture to lift and be courage to others and to myself. Have a very blessed birthday in God’s love and may you be abundantly blessed by His love and riches on your spwcial day and always!
Happy Birthday Beth!!! I have enjoyed having you in our home for bible study, even it’s it’s only through our tv. I was also able to visit you a few years back for a conference and received the greatest blessing. Thank you for your love of Jesus and willingness to share that love for him with us so that we can learn more of his love for us. I wish you the most wonderful of birthdays and hope that you are able to spend it with your wonderful family!
Happy, Happy Birthday!, Beth!! You have walked with me through some deep and troubling times in my life! I have been encouraged, convicted, blessed and refreshed by your teaching, and your walk with Christ!
I wish you a very Happy Birthday and may God our Father and His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ bless you and shine much love and light on you on this your birthday!!
Love you so in Christ!!
Margaret
Happy Happy Birthday Beth,
Wow, as I look back over my years of doing bible studies, it’s difficult to remember doing one that wasn’t a Beth Moore bible study. I’ve loved every single one. I’ve learned more about studying the bible then through any other study. I’m so glad the Lord is using you in this way to spead His word and to share your life with so many women across the world.
From this Texas girl and sister in Christ to you… Beth……Happy Birthday! Family, country walks, a good dog, chips & salsa, and JESUS….well, it just don’t get better than that!! This life…… a beautiful gift…..from our gracious God! Press on!
Happiest of Birthday Blessings, Beth! I celebrate you, in all that God has equipped you to be, for His Glory. Your writings have changed my life. Thank you ~