My name is Melana Cummings (aka MooseMama…story to come). I live in Sheridan Wyoming. I have been married to Tim Cummings for 32 years. We met through a letter and he asked me to marry him in a letter. (It’s a very long story, but oh so sweet and God designed!) The first time we kissed was when he put the engagement ring on my finger. It’s not a common way to start out a life together, but we were best friends who got married. He’s still one of the dorkiest people I know. He makes me laugh. He makes me shake my head. He has always said that if I ever leave him, he’s coming with me. We have a 26 year old daughter Sarah, a 16 year old daughter Emily, and a grandson, Jensen, who is 3. I have worked for the State of Wyoming for 28 years, and have a degree in psychology from the only university in the state. I was raised in the Lutheran church but had no idea what a personal relationship with Christ was. When I was 21, Christ sought me out, and I prayed to receive Him. From that day forward JESUS HAS BEEN MY LIFE!
In 2006, I prayed that I would grow even more in my faith and in Christ. About a week later a snippet of video was played about the Bible study, Believing God by Beth Moore (never heard of her!) that would be starting soon. A prayer answered!
A few months later this Beth Moore was going to be in Salt Lake City with Living Proof Live, so myself and 5 friends drove to see her. She taught from Ephesians 3…how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ….to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. One phrase she said “All excess is a result of emptiness”, hit me hard. As a woman who has been overweight all my life, all I could think was “nuh-uh”!
That one Bible Study and Living Proof Live event were the beginning of many more Bible Studies and live events through the last 9 years. My prayers for growth were being answered! I loved reading Beth’s blog and made a lifelong friend through it: Adrienne Hudson (aka Fuzzytop in Tennessee) and I became online friends. In 2008 a friend and I drove from Wyoming to San Antonio Texas for the Living Proof Live, and “Siesta Fiesta”, where I finally got to meet Adrienne face-to-face. I wish I could name all of the Siestas I have met over the years! They have become so dear to my heart and really, an integral part of my life in Christ! Honestly, the kindness, love, support and joy these women have brought to my life is no small miracle.
The most hilarious part of that trip was a stuffed Moose with a Wyoming bandana on his neck. It was my intention to give the moose to Beth as a gift. Well, we started to take pictures of “Miesta Moose” (Miesta is a male Siesta), along the trip. The pictures got posted on a secondary blog that a couple of Siestas had started, which was all about the Fiesta. By the time we arrived in San Antonio, Miesta Moose had become somewhat of a celebrity. And so it began. I took him to every Beth Moore event I went to. He would even end up in recap pictures, and then Siestas from all around the country, most of whom, I had never met, asked me to send him to them so they could take him to the event in their area. He has been kissed and carried by some of the most wonderful women! Around his neck, he wears the wristbands from the events he has attended. I became MooseMama. He became so recognizable, that women asked to have their pictures taken with him. It pleased me that he showed up at tapings and book signings that Beth was doing.
In 2009, I felt God really was telling me that I could be more of what He wanted for me if I lost that excess weight and fill the emptiness with Him. I lost 120 lbs. in a year’s time. I was leading Bible Studies. I was teaching Sunday School. I even went on a mission trip to Africa with my church. Something I never would have tried when I was so overweight. Prayers answered!
The year 2011 brought with it a season of severe loss and struggle. A heart attack altered the health of my husband, my oldest daughter became a widow at 22. Two weeks following her husband’s death she discovered she was expecting our grandson Jensen. I grew steadily depressed with these changes and gained back all the weight I had lost. I felt like I was trying to hold everything from flying apart. I was exhausted. We stopped going to church. But God…
We returned to church last year, and God is showing me how He used Jensen to redeem these past few years. His faithfulness to me never faltered. This verse has never meant more to me, than now. Today it is my verse to memorize:
Romans 8:38-39 NIV
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
AMEN!
For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Thy sight, I and thy people?Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the earth? Ex. 33:11 NASB
New Braunfels, TX
Janet, Sylacauga, AL
In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16 HCSB)
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1 GNT
Paula Weatherly
Huffman, TX
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Romans 12:3 NLT
Janene Ford, Henley, MO
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:35 (NIV)
Kay in Muscle Shoals, AL
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Kinsey, Tulsa OK Job 36:16(NIV)
“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.”
Tanya, Richland WA
And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposes in Christ. Ephesians 1:9
Terri Assael – State College, PA
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:4 NIV
Elizabeth Miller, Cullman, Alabama
Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4 NIV
Deena Wahl, Lumberton, Tx
He has shown you, O man, what is good: And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 NKJV
Becky, Highland Village, Tx
Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Ephesians 4:2. NLV
Jordan LaRoche, Kingwood, TX
Exodus 14:14 (ESV)
The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.
Patti McConville, Salem Oregon
Ephesians 4:2 NIV
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,bearing with one another in love.
Dawn Wells, Fort Worth, TX
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Phil 4:7 ESV
Patty Pierce
Searcy Ar
Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exhallts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people
Phyllis, Irvine, the CA, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
John 15:4 NLT
“Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
Dee Dee Fernandina Beach, Fla
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Romans 12:20 ESV
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Robin Greenwood, IN
10. Be still, a know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
11. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Psalm 46:10 NKJV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV
Kayley Hibbert — Camp Point, IL
Julie Berg/Deer Park,Tx
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:11 NIV
Ruth Moore, Winston Salem, North Carolina
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12 ESV)
Shannon Pate
Little Rock, Arkansas
John 1:14 (NIV)
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jennae, Clovis CA, NIV Proverbs 31:28-29 “her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her: “many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
Cathy, Jacksonville, AL Psalms 37:4 ESV
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Cassie Roth, Tunnel Hill Ga
Like 1:45 NIV
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
*Luke
Albany, GA
“He has told you O man, what is good; And what does The Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
Kelly form Spanish Fort, AL ” Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to one who searches for it. Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf” Proverbs 11: 27-28 NIV
Becky Mims Midland, Texas
“But he said to me, ‘ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Melana, my heart aches for your loss but rejoices for the joys you are discovering in Christ.
Andrea Cox, Howe, TX
2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Debbie Sullivan – Springfield, Mo
No eye has seen,
No ear has heard,
No mind has conceived
What God has prepared for those who love him.
I Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
1 Some people like to do things their own way, and they get upset when people give them advice. (Proverbs 18:1 ERV)
Hello, my name is Lori and I live in Medford Oregon.
“I Am the True Vine, and My Father is the Gardener. (John 15:1 NIV)
Jessica Hawney, San Jose, CA
php.1.9-10.niv And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Melana, please come back soon and tell us your courtship story.
Ephesians 3:14 ESV
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Heather, Colorado Springs, CO for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. Psalms 103:14 NIV
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.
Ephesians 3:20
Fawnda Dooley, Denton, TX
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 NIV
Elizabeth Hughes, Berrien springs,MI, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1John 4:9-10ESV).
Angela from Aurora, NE – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21 NIV84
Robin, Leo, IN When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 NIV
Andrea Pottstown, PA
Philippians 2:13 NLT
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.
MaryJo ~ Plainfield, IN
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. Psalm 37:5 (HCSB)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Isaiah 61:2, 3a ESV
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion – to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
Vonda Schwarz, Bertrand, NE “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
Liz Kester
Keller, Texas
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” James 3:17
Debi Detroyer Emmett MI
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 NIV
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrew 12:2 NIV
Cindy Barger
Houston, Texas