**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, Beth!
What a tribute and how absolutely awesome to be such an inspiration to so many, but how precious to be adored as you are by your family! Blessings to you in your new year!
Happy Birthday Beth . Hope your day is filled with love and laughter and those you love most!
Thank you for take me on countless journeys through the Word!
Grateful,
Jan
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Beth!!!
I would like to extend warm birthday greetings to you, Beth. I’ll never forget my first Beth Moore Bible Study (Revelation) when I held the Bible up and said, “Holy Bible. I’ve always known that. But it has never been more real. These are not just stories to guide our lives this is actually ONE story and it comes from HIM. This is GOD speaking telling one story. He’s telling us, right now.” I felt like falling on my face right there in that room. I couldn’t stop crying from the beauty of the realization. For that I will always thank God for your ministry. May you feel His blessings wash all over you, my sister!
Happy Birthday Beth. Your Bible studies have been such a blessing for me. You’ve strengthened my understanding of The Bible and God’s wonderful love. May your day today be as wonderful as you are and the coming year bring you great joy. Hugs and much love!
Happy Birthday to you Beth! I want to thank you for all the hard work you put into your Bible studies to help us understand and apply God’s word. God has truly blessed you with the gift of teaching, and because of that gift you have blessed many of us through your Bible studies. Thank you! May God bless you richly in the years to come!
Happy Birthday, dear sister!! I pray for you often and for your ministry. My own journey has been so enhanced by yours and by your love and obedience to the One who showed us how to love and obey. Thank you, thank you for being the godly woman that you are and for allowing God to use your brokenness to help us other clay pots! I’ve learned so much and in my own walk can see how God redeems the broken places to help others come to healing and wholeness.
May you have the most beautiful day today!! ~Kristi
I hope I am not too late to wish Beth a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy Celebration of your FIRST Birthday! What a lovely message from your daughter!!!
Praises for this happy day and the blessings we see on your ministry!! May you remain in His will!!
Wow what a blessed woman you are. I wish my children will some day write such honor about me. Isn’t God good Beth? Isn’t he? We feel like such trash and wonder how God could ever made it all right. And then one day, as the days roll into years all the fretting, crying and heartache give way to your daughters honor. Oh He is good. Happy birthday beautiful.
Best wishes for a birthday filled with love and good cheer! I loved this post!
Beth Moore. What a blessing you have been to me. I am so very encouraged in my faith walk by you. God definitely uses you to bless me when ever I need it. The last 5 years have been very difficult for me; my mother died, I was diagnosed with stage IV peritoneal cancer and given 18 months to live, my brother died, my marriage has been on the rocks….. I could go on, but these are the “highlights” . Throughout this journey, time and again, your words have helped to see me through these difficult times. I have read or listened to many of your books, bible studies and my two sisters and I even attended LPL in Eugene Oregon. Many times I didn’t even know what I needed to be studying in God’s word and I randomly picked up something that you wrote. Every single time, without fail, some gem would be exactly what I needed. So thank you, Beth. I hope that you have a wonderful Birthday. Enjoy your family! And above all else, be blessed.
Happy Birthday Mrs. Beth! I, with so many others, appreciate the sacrifices you make in your life to love people every day! I hope you are celebrated so well today!!
I cried the Oprah cry when I read this. I was raised by my grandmother after my mom passed away in a house fire when I was seven, so I deeply appreciate how you honor Beth here, showcasing all of her wonderful qualities in a way that only a daughter can describe. You are so blessed to have a Christ-centered mother in your life…and we are all privileged to share in that experience. Happy Birthday, Beth! Thank you for inspiring all of us to be our best and to live for Him.
Lee Ann Kelley, Fairhope, AL
Happy birthday Beth! I met you almost 16 years ago as a young college freshman at Union University, when you came and spoke in our chapel. It was a Friday morning, the day of the Living Proof Live conference in Jackson, TN. My mom drove four hours from home that morning to attend chapel and the conference with me, and that was one of the most incredible weekends of my college experience. Not just the two of us getting to meet you (our campus photographer took a photo of that moment and I have it in my college scrapbook, lol), but most importantly that was precious time spent with my mom. I have loved the studies you have written over the years, and I so appreciate your influence. Hope your day is beautifully blessed!
Happy, happy birthday to a wonderful woman who has touched my life in many wonderful ways. God put Beth there for me, she has provided answers to specific questions and given me such delight in studying God’s word. Keep doing what you do! Hope you had a wonderful day!
Hope you have a blessed birthday.
What a sweet tribute to your mom. She has been instrumental in my study of the Word and love for Jesus, so I can only imagine what it has been as her daughter. Happy Birthday Beth and may God bring you many more years filled with love, laughter, hope and joy.
Happy Birthday Beth!! You have been such an inspiration to me for years. Especially during the time I lost my daughter. Thank you for your all those studies. I have learned so much. I started out as a baby christian and still growing. Again, Thank you!!
I so wish my children would speak of me with this much regard. Though I have not done nearly enough to earn this kind of praise your words have inspired me to do better! Happy birthday to your sweet amazing talented mom !
I have learned much through the years from Beth Moore. May her birthday be a reminder of her glorious legacy and sweet rewards when our Jesus says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Happy Birthday Beth! I have only just begun to get to know you this year as I have done three of your Bible Studies through my church. You are a joy and your studies have helped me grow in my relationship with my Savior and my hunger to know Him more. Thank you for all you do Beth! May the Lord continue to bless you!
What a beautiful birthday tribute! And what an awesome giveaway!! Happy birthday, Beth! Be blessed
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Happy Birthday to a sweet, spirit filled woman! I appreciate all you have done for me and so many others.
Happy Birthday!!!
Happiest Birthday, Beth!
I am truly grateful for your surrendered life to Jesus and the beautiful fruit it has produced for His glory. I’m but one of millions who can say, “God has used Beth Moore to help me to fall in love with Jesus…over and over again.” You are greatly and dearly loved! xo – P
Happy Birthday!!
Everyone should be so blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with their mother/daughter as the one Melissa spoke of….what a beautiful tribute.
Happy Birthday Beth!
We celebrate with you your life and love of God’s Word.
You are a blessing to all of us.
Happy Birthday Blessings, Beth
I wish you joy of heart in knowing how you have inspired and encouraged me over the years to love the Word of God and to be amazed at the unfathomable depth of His Story…that every chapter and verse point to Jesus and the hope that is ours in Him! I can’t wait to meet you one day and I pray that this is a birthday filled with family, friends, hugs, love, laughter, and kisses from little ones!
Thank you, dear sister!
Roxanne
Happy Birthday Beth!!! I can never tell how much your ministry/bible studies have helped me. They have given me such insight into the bible and I love that you make bible study fun. You have made me laugh so many times. What a sweet post Melissa posted about you. I feel like I know you from the years of following your blog and I have always thought you to be just the person Melissa described you to be. Hope your day is filled with blessings. Thankfully to God for using you to teach us the word.
Happiest of birthdays, Beth! I have admired you for years and have been so blessed by the challenges you have put out there for Christian women and mothers! Your example and testimony spur me on! Thank you for being so transparent and listening to God’s voice in your life. It would be such an honor to meet you!
Love, another Mrs. Moore
Beth,
I am even more in awe of you after reading this. It is my greatest prayer, second only to my children coming to a saving knowledge of our loving God, that my 3 will see Jesus in me daily. My heart hurts that I did not have a mom to admire and count on as your girls have had in you…but it fuels my hope that my children will!
Press on!
❤
Angela
Happy birthday Beth! We are on first name basis you know. 😉 Thank you for sharing your life, your family, your Jesus with us! May God continue to pour our His Spirit upon you and your ministry.
Happy birthday Beth!! I so enjoyed hearing you speak this past weekend in Tampa! Thanks for all you do to minister to women like me who need to be reminded of the power available to us in Christ. I’m gonna sow my seed, not just eat it !! 🙂 Praying you have a blessed birthday with your beautiful family. What a beautiful tribute from your daughter. Only praying mine will say the same about me one day!xoxo
Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you for the inspiration and encouragement you give us through your love for Christ. May God Bless you with many more years.
Your Daniel Bible Study has been a huge blessing in our church, in my heart and with every person I tell all about it…. I am amazed by your devotion to Gid, family and your church family. You are an inspiration whose knowledge has brought untold blessings to my heart. You opened my mind and my heart to our Lord God and myself. I hope your birthday is as big of a blessing as you are to me and countless others….
Can’t wait to see you in January! What a beautiful tribute to a beautiful lady- inside and out.
Happy birthday Beth!
Happy, happy birthday, Beth! Thanks for sharing, Melissa. Beth, every time your daughters publicly praise you it gives me hope that a soul like mine, damaged by parents, can be healed enough to nurture my kids instead of repeat the cycle. Thanks for being such a great example.
Happy Birthday Beth! Hope you had a blessed day. Thank you for all you do!
Happy Birthday, dear Beth! Wishing you a fabulous day of celebrating! May God richly bless you as He has used you to encourage, teach, and bless me and scores of others!
Happiest of birthdays Mrs. Beth!
Happy Birthday Beth! Make every nacho count!
May God bless you greatly on your birthday as your video bible studies have blessed me. Happy Birthday!
Happy happy day Beth! For years I have been blessed by your God-breathed studies. For the past two years I’ve followed you and your girls on Twitter and am inspired and encouraged to pray for such a beloved bond between myself and my own daughter.
May the Lord richly bless your next year and those to follow!
XOXO
Happy birthday, Beth! Be blessed!
Happy Birthday Beth – wishing you all God’s best!
Beth, you may not be my biological sister, but I sure love you like family. Your study on the book of James changed my life! Happy birthday to the best friend I’ve never met!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Even though we have never met I am blessed to call you a sister in Christ. Through your gift of teaching you have inspired & encouraged me to dive into God’s Word. To say thank you isn’t enough –