**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
“Thank you Jesus for creating Beth, knowing so well that this world would desperately need this one-of-a-kind woman…this unique Beth Moore expression of your heart!
Continue to shower her with Your amazing, off the charts, intimate LOVE, knowing full well she will not keep it to herself but will delight in sharing You ,so the rest of us can splash in the overflow!”
Beth, may you get a glimpse through these posts of how much you mean to so many around the world…me included! PS You ROCKED Tampa for us! Love, “a Miracle Girl!” ;0)
Wishing you the Best God’s Blessing to you Happy Birthday!!!! My oldest son Chad is his Birthday on the 15th too
Happy birthday Beth!! Looking forward to seeing y’all in O H I O !!!
Happy Birthday Beth. Thank you for all the ways you pour your heart and soul into teaching God’s Word to women all over the world. God’s richest blessings!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
Happy Birthday Beth! Thank you for giving your life to Jesus and allowing him to use you to reach me. I’ve needed the messages he has sent through you. I appreciate the glimpses of the struggles and joys you’ve experienced. It all helps me to see and feel that I’m not alone in difficulty but that there is always reason to hope. God bless and keep you and your family for many many generations. May all your birthdays be full of peace and joy.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to one of earth’s rarest and most precious gems. You turned me (a Sunday school lifer) onto a Jesus I’d never really known before. Your passion for His word, your intimacy with His heart, your love for His people—well, they’ll never be matched.
One of my favorite things about you (and there are many), is how you’ve allowed us a glimpse into your life off of the platform. How you willingly shared your people with us. As a mom of two daughters, I took copious notes during those moments of sharing about Amanda and Melissa but mostly just appreciated how never–not one time–did you betray a confidence or share a story that wasn’t yours to tell. That’s really quite something. Such class and dignity you wear so easily.
I pray you enjoy many more birthdays on this green earth. That you experience peace and joy everywhere your darling shoes take you.
May His blessings chase you down like a cool wind on a warm day. Never out of His reach. <3
Happy Birthday, Beth! Thank you for sharing your contagious love of Jesus and for being real. You are loved!
Happy Birthday Beth! I hope you had a beautiful day! Thank you for being such an inspiration to me. You have encouraged me, guided me, taught me, made me think and I could go on and on. Thank you for following Jesus and sharing your knowledge and strength. May you continue to be blessed and have many, many more birthdays!
Happy Birthday! Thank you for the life you speak over us.
Happy Birthday to the lady who translates His kingdom to this planet with love and grace. You have helped me breathe God’s fresh air coming out of the pit. ❤️
Well, heck yes I’ll say happy birthday! 🙂 May there be many light-filled moments ahead for you and your momma, Melissa! ~Lacy
Happy Birthday, Beth! You are such a blessing to me and so many others over and over and over. I thank God that he blessed you with such a discernment of the scriptures and a love for teaching. Thank you so much!
Happiest of Birthdays Beth! I’m going to be facilitating my first study ever, one of yours, this summer. You are my mentor and reason I love a Bible Study. Thanks
Happy Birthday Beth!!! What a beautiful post. She is the real deal.
Happiest of birthdays to a woman who has helped deepen my love for the Word! Through Bible Studies like Daniel and James you have given me a thirst for studying and knowing the Bible – and doing homework. So, thank you.
I pray the Lord would renews your strength and give you new dreams and songs and hopes for the season ahead.
Happy Birthday!
happy Birthday, Beth I have been so blessed by your video ministry and have heard you once in person. Thank you for being who you are and how you are used by God.
Happy Birthday Beth Moore! See you soon in Cincinnati Ohio!
Happy birthday Beth. You are an amazing woman and teacher. May God continue to bless you and your family. I love your Bible studies!
Happy birthday, Beth, and may God chase you down with blessings! Thank you from the depths of my heart for your example of obedience to the Father, for your honesty, for sharing your amazing gifts of teaching and and allowing the outpouring of the Spirit to speak wisdom to you and hsn sharing it with us. God has used you to help bring freedom to me.
Happy Birthday sweet Beth Moore, I have loved so many of your Bible studies, you have really made the Word come alive for me. Thank you for being God’s tool and for sharing your life with me and so many others. Have a blessed and fabulous day!
Love,
Tammy
Happy birthday to a stunningly beautiful and world changing woman!
Happy happy Birthday! You have blessed so many – it was a joy and honor to read your girlies’ words and testimony of how you have blessed her first… and continually! From one June ‘baby’ to another… Speak Life. Be Love. Shine On.
Happy Birthday Beth! I pray God will bless you above and beyond what you can ever imagine just like you’ve been a blessing to me. It’s because of you my relationship with God is as strong as it is. I thank God for you and your bible studies because they have helped me become the woman that I am today. Enjoy your day and I love you sister.
Happy Birthday, Beth. You have been a great blessing to me and to several women here in Northern NY.
Happy birthday, ms Beth. You r loved! Cynthia taylor
Happy birthday, Beth! You are an inspiration in your walk with Jesus. May this year be a year of blessings, deeper joy and the love of family!
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Beth!! Thank you, thank you for your transparent life and teaching me so much about Jesus!! I hope your celebration is wonderful and filled with loved ones!
May you have an awesome, blessed birthday. What a tribute from your daughter. I agree with her. Your faithfulness has blessed me tremendously. I’ve studied through your Bible studies for years and have grown because of them. When I first learned about you it was through believing God – and at the time I wasn’t believing God. Your study opened my eyes to the truth of a loving Father God. You have consistently shared from your heart and I love learning how better to love our God by what you share. Thank you – may you have many more birthdays, each more wonderful than the last.
Happy Birthday!!
I hope it’s your best one ever 🙂
Happy Birthday dear Beth!! I have followed you in so many Bible Studies with my small group for years! You are like no woman I have every known. Thank you for showing the light of Christ to me!! You are a phenomenal teacher of God’s word. God bless you always!!
Happy Birthday Beth! I hope you have a son-fun filled day spent with the ones you love the most!
Happy Birthday Beth. My NW ARK ladies group have followed you to many states and I think all of your Bible Studies have been completed. You are loved.
Bless your sweet heart Miss Beth, it is a sheer delight to be allowed to celebrate with countless others the very special and blessed day you were placed here among us! Ya know I loved my mama dearly and miss her to this day some 26 years later, but having read Melissa’s tribute to her mama, I must say it sure sounds like you are neck and neck with mine! I pray that God would grant you the desires of your heart. I am so blessed to be a recipient of the wisdom, discernment, grace and love that the Father has bestowed on you. May this next year bring you much health and prosperity of soul. God Bless You, Debbie Hoffman
Happy Birthday Beth. You have been such a blessing to my life and to many others. We are so thankful for your life and the message you have brought to each of us!
Happy Birthday, Beth! Thankful for you for so many reasons. Thank you for bringing God’s Word to life in such amazing ways. Thank you for the wonderful gift of laughter. Thank you for your transparency that God can redeem a life from the pit and do wonderful things with a former pit dweller. Thank you for your recent post about your beloved father-in-law. (I started praying for that kind of man in my daughter’s life). Thank you for being a living, breathing example of a life-well-lived! God’s abundant blessings on you today and every day.
Happy Birthday Beth. Awesome post.
Hope you had a wonderful birthday! You’re studies have been a huge blessing too me!!
Diane
Happy Birthday, Beth. We haven’t met but you seem like a friend and I love you.
Thank you Beth for your teachings . Thank you for your sweet spirit. And your boldness in spreading the truth. You have truly been a blessing to me!
Happy Birthday, Beth! You and your very special love for Jesus have been my companion since “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place” so many years ago. Thank you for teaching me how to dig deeper and how to love Him more. Much love and many hugs!
Birthday blessings!!! Celebrate!!!
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. God is truly blessing your ministry. Hope you have a wonderful year.
Happy Blessed Birthday Beth!!!!!!
Happy Birthday, Beth! What wonderfully sweet words from your daughter! You are blessed!
Happy birthday Beth. God blessed his children when he placed you in our lives. I love your studies. It inspires me to read and want to know more.
Thank you. And have a great birthday
wishing you a beautiful birthday
Happy birthday Beth!! You are so inspirational- wishing you a new year full of new adventures and opportunities as you serve Jesus!