**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
Happy birthday, Ms. Beth!!! Your insight & friendship with Abba have been a treasure to me as I grow in Him. I am the youngest of 2 girls & share a kindred similarity with your stories of your girls. Happy birthday. Many blessings!
Happy Birthday Beth! Your enthusiasm for Jesus is contagious! I love how you open the scriptures and make those watching on video feel part of your live grpup. Keep up the good faith!
Happy Birthday Beth, you have been a blessing to every one that has come in contact with you. God has done a mighty work in and through you. May God continue to bless you and yours. May God shine His light on you and your ministry
Happy Birthday Beth, i Pray you have a Blessed Day! Our evening Bible Study group recently completed Childre of the Day, it was Awesome!! Thanks for sharing what God has given you!
Happy Birthday to a beautiful, courageous woman! I hope today is blessed beyond measure!
Wow!! Another year has flown by. I hope this year will be filled with smiles, family, joy and peace!!! Happy birthday!! We love having a girls weekend and attending a bible study that you are leading 🙂
Happy Birthday Mrs Beth! We love you!!!
Happy Birthday Beth!!!
I am always touched by the way way God uses you. You are an inspiration. I hope you have a very blessed day.
Happiest of birthdays Beth!!! Your teaching of God’s Word has been such a blessing to me since 1995 when I did your first study “A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place”. Thank you for sharing your love and passion and for encouraging me in my own personal walk of faith❤️
The Happiest of Birthdays Beth. You have been instrumental in my spiritual growth. More than you would ever know. At a time in my life when I was ready to just end it all, I was led by the Holy Spirit to do your study, “A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwellung Place”.
I had not heard of you at that time but was obedient and did it alone . ( They were on cassette tapes) !
It brought so much healing for me to know God loved me because I felt I was so unlovable .
The second one I did was the ineptitude Get Out of the Pit. I’m sorry if the title is wrong, but it was instrumental in my healing .
May God continue to bless you with insight into His Word so that you continue blessings us.
You are a treasure and a gifted woman of God.
Thank you for loving God and us.
Happy birthday, Beth! May God continue His blessings on and through you!
Happy Birthday!! I so enjoyed reading this post. It made me miss my mom so much, but was a sweet look at Beth, who I am beyond grateful my mom introduced me to through Bible studies. I hope you have a fabulous celebration and very happy birthday!!
Happy Birthday to a lady who’s beautiful inside and out!! Love this sweet, awesome, fierce warrior of God!!
Happy Birthday, Beth! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you bringing me closer to Jesus! I went to see you a couple of years ago, and you truly changed my life! I will be forever grateful to you and your “crew”! May today and every day in the coming year see you richly blessed!
I have loved every Beth Moore study I have done and learn SOOOOO much more with each new study!! Happy Birthday Beth!!
The world was changed for good when Beth Moore was born. If I could put into words how thankful I am for Beth, I would. But I am not as wonderful of a writer as she is! Beth, happy birthday. You radiate the light of Jesus. You have blessed me in so many ways. I have never had a chance to meet you in person, but I love you dearly and through many of your bible studies I feel like we have become the closest of friends. Thank you for changing lives. Happy Birthday, the world shines a little brighter because you were born on this day!
Happy Birthday! Enjoy this special daY God has made!
Happy Birthday! I hope today you have the opportunity to celebrate your special day with your sweet family. You have inspired my walk with Jesus.
Happy birthday to you sweet Beth. I have seen you a couple of times live. I have been to several simulacast. I so love you. I love how down to earth you are. How fierce you are for God. Thank you for all you do.
I pray that God will bless you with many more birthday’s. You are a precious lady.
Words can never express the debt of gratitude I owe my Savior for so great a gift of salvation. I also thank Him for the many mentors who have drawn me closer to our Lord and Savior. Beth has been and is an awesome gift from the Father to so many lives. I am one. I have been privileged to do many of her studies, lead in some and am currently doing Here and Now…There and Then.
So it is with much joy I say “Happy Birthday Beth!” I pray the Lord will continue to bless and keep you. That His face will continue to shine on you. That He would lift up His countenance upon you and grant you peace and the best birthday ever in Jesus Christ to the glory of God!
Your sister in Christ, Donna
Happy Birthday! We are all so blessed because you were born.! I pray you have many many more of them. May this day be filled with fun and joy as you celebrate and may you be surrounded by family and maybe close friends to celebrate the blessing that is life!
Thank you for sharing your gift with all of us, my life has not been the same since I started your Bible Studies.
May His blessing be upon you this day and always!
A sister in Christ,
Joy
What a beautiful post from you Melissa and thanks for sharing your Mom with all of us! Happy Birthday, Beth! Thank you is not enough for all your have brought to so many. But thank you for your faithfulness to Christ and reliance on His wisdom, and challenging us all to have this relationship with Christ as well. You are a blessing to me and I celebrate you today!
Happy Birthday! We share June as our birthday month. In a little while I am going to meet a lovely woman I met at a “Beth Moore Bible Study” years ago. We have remained friends and are taking some time now to grow our friendship. Thank you for the blessing of this friendship. I pray you enjoy this day with your family and friends.
What a beautiful tribute from your daughter! I don’t think there could be a better birthday gift. Happy, happy birthday dear Beth. Thank you for giving yourself to all of us.
Happy Birthday to a beautiful woman inside and out! I’m still “re”fresher from my weekend in Tampa! Love you!
Happy Birthday Beth! May God continue to bless you as you serve Him. So love your studies and your heart to show love to women who are hurting and need Christ. Blessings today and always.
Happy Birthday Beth!!! I have enjoyed working through some of your Bible Studies through the years and have learned a lot in doing so. I appreciate you! Thank you for allowing God to use you to minister to others! Have a wonderful birthday and a blessed year!!
My dearest sister in Christ, Beth
I hope and pray that you have the best birthday celebration ever! I want to thank you for spurring me on through your teaching of the Word of God. God bless you for being faithful to your calling as the Holy Spirit teaches you also. Have a super birthday and God bless!
Happy Birthday Beth. You have been a big encouragement to me over the years, reminding me that God is always with me on this road that He has placed before me. You always have reminded me to go to God’s word, and trust what He promises me. And as I deal with a son who is terminally ill, and through teenage daughters who gave me a sense of God’s true unconditional love, your encouragement to stick with Him and trust that He will get me through, has brought me to an incredible place in my love for Jesus and a trust that is indescribable.
I truly hope you have the best birthday ever, celebrating you!
A happy and blessed birthday to you, Beth. I have learned from and enjoyed every one of my journeys with you throught The Word. Though you never saw me ” in the flesh” I never felt un-noticed or unloved.
I first walked with you through the Tabernacle all those years ago in “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place. I have kept walking with you through the Word of God (with my trusty index cards in hand) and have found myself breaking free and believing God because of your faithfulness to teaching and to all of us out here who long for a deep study of God’s word. I cannot thank you enough or describe to you the impact you have had on my life and by extension the life of my family. It is my absolute privilege to wish you the happiest of Birthdays! May you truly be blessed in the coming year and continue to grow in strength and wisdom with God and man…and may His grace always rest upon you. Just love you to pieces Beth Moore; Happy, Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Beth! You are the kind of mother I long to be for my little ones! You are a shining example of God’s faithfulness<3
Happy Birthday to a beautiful teacher who makes me cry with every lesson and smile with every blog. May God’s richest blessings and mercies follow you all the days of your life!
This blog had me at tortilla chips and salsa (although in Lubbock, TX we say ‘hot sauce’) My Beth Moore bible studies strengthen my faith and soothe my soul- there is something so comforting about hearing “Me, too” or reading about someone who has shared experiences. Thank you! and happiest of birthdays!
So much of what you have written about your mother resounds in my life with my own mother. She too has walked through seasons of grief with me and I can’t imagine life without her. Your mother plays an important place in both of our lives. Happy birthday Beth.
Happy Birthday dear dear Beth.
My best friend in the world was born on May 1957- Marilyn. I was born in June of 1957, the 9th. And here you are, also born in ’57, June 15. Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu !
I love you so much for showing me that it’s OK to be passionately in love with Jesus and not be afraid to show it! HE is my only audience that really counts, isn’t HE? You have been instrumental in my growth as a Christian, now becoming a mentor myself for the babies in Christ who come through my life. My passion for women of all ages was awakened through you. Thank you Beth. Thank YOU, Lord for your gift of Beth to us♡
Feed the healthy.
Nourish the young.
Find the lost.
Your bible studies seem to be written just for me and my gifts as a teacher have multiplied since i’ve had you teaching me.
thank you Beth, for being who you are.
Love ♡ your siesta Sylvie.
Beth,
Happy Birthday!! You are a beautiful example of God’s love to so many. May your days be filled with His perfect love as you celebrate the beautiful life you live!
Happy birthday, Beth!
I loved Melissa’s tribute to you. I’m one of thousands who consider you as a best friend because of loving you through all your Bible studies. In each study you’ve shared a little piece of your life & family. I appreciate so many things about you, including your transparency, your loyalty to your family, your humbleness, and your sense of humor! May you be blessed with sweet family time as you celebrate.
I am thanking God for you…AND…for the fact that you introduced me to Kylito’s Salsa. Two of my biggest blessings!
I pray He blesses you as you continue to seek Him!
Happy Birthday Sweet Sister!
Happy Blessed Birthday to you Beth!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday Beth!
Happy Birthday!!! I wish you the most blessed day! I love Melissa’s message it was beautiful!
Beth, I absolutely love your passion for the Lord! The first bible study of yours that I did was the fruit of the Spirit, Living Beyond Yourself, I absolutely loved it I had never done a Beth Moore Bible study or even heard of you and I absolutely fell in love with your Bible studies and I did not have any kind of deep passion for Gods Word, but after that study I did! I Praise God for His Word, and you! Happy Birthday girl!! Love in Christ, Felicita Rueda
Happy birthday Beth! What fun it was to read this beautiful tribute from your daughter – I wish you the best of years to come!
Melissa,
What a beautiful tribute to your mother on her special day! You and the rest of your family are truly blessed to have a “Proverbs Woman”. Our mothers are everything to us. They also have many personalities, you know. To be able to change like the emotions all of us daughters tend to have. I know mine was and I miss her terribly. I trust that I will she her again in Heaven.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Beth!!! Enjoy your special day!!
Blessings and lots and lots of love,
Dawn Weeks
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH MOORE!!!!!
I have taken several of your Bible Studies and love them. I hope you have a wonderful Birthday just like you.
Happy birthday Beth! I hope you have the best year ever. Thank you for being such an inspiration and teacher in my own life. God bless you
Dear Beth, I wish the happiest of birthdays to you! You have helped shaped my walk with Jesus and given me much courage to confront bondage that held me captive for way too long. Because of you, I have a passion to truly know God’s Word and search it out for myself. I thank you, most sincerely, for letting the Lord use your life, your voice, your walk, your wisdom and your passion to shape the lives of so many! May God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry richly!!
I wish you the happiest of birthdays!!! What a beautiful tribute from a daughter to her mother! I had no idea yours was so close to my son’s. He will be 18 on Thursday!
Happy birthday Beth. I hope and pray you have a wonderful day celebrating with your family.