Calling all you hard working, head-filling, brain-bathing Scripture-memorizing Siestas! It’s time for Verse 6! No slackers here, young ladies! Let’s not be afraid of a little challenge. Did you know that memorization is one of the best ways on earth to keep our brains sharp? Yep. And I also heard a few days ago that all the multi-tasking we’re doing does not work the part of our brain that requires stimulation to tap into our brilliance. (Every single one of us has brilliance.) That part of our brain requires tremendous focus on one thing for extended periods of time, pushing our thoughts a solitary direction that stretches and works it beyond its normal exercise. That’s part of what Scripture memory does! Especially when you now have six verses to keep rolling around in your darling little brilliant brain.

I think it’s time for some extra incentive! (Drum roll please) Next January 22-23, 2010 (Friday evening and Saturday till noon like LPL’s), we at LPM have decided to throw a Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration Event (how’s that for a mouthful?) in Houston, Texas at my home church. Perfect timing right after our year of Scripture memorization wraps up. I will do the teaching and my good buddy, Travis Cottrell, will be with us to lead us in worship…and probably a few laughs. We will not take any registrations for the event until late next Fall. It will be ONLY for those who meet the following requirements and free of charge as our love and appreciation gift for seeing our goal all the way to the finish:

*You must officially sign in with your name, city and Scripture 20 out of 24 times on our Scripture memory posts on the 1st and 15th throughout 2009. I was really tempted to require all 24 times but then I remembered that a few of you very faithful memorizers didn’t know about it until the second month. The event is not for anybody out there who has memorized Scripture as much as we affirm you and cheer you on! It is for women in our Siesta community who have memorized Scripture as part of this 1st and 15th Scripture Memory Accountability Team. If you started with us late, you can double-up on your memory work several times and go back and sign in on older posts to make sure you accrue at least 20 sign-ins and verses.

*You must be able to say 10 of your 20-24 Scriptures from memory to one person during the course of the event. (Not up in front of everybody, mind you! I’ll simply have you break into two’s for a half hour at the event and you’ll say your Scriptures to one another.) For our meditators, you’ll need to paraphrase 10 of your Scriptures as closely as you can with your partner until it is clear that the Truth of it abides in you even if every word is not in a row. Remember, Siestas, if this seems hard that the purpose of the year was to memorize 24 Scriptures. We can do 10 of our choice with one another!

*You must bring your 2009 spiral with you with at least 20 memory verses recorded in it. It will be your ticket in the door. And it should look well-worn. Grin.

No exceptions to these requirements please. Please don’t ask next December and get me feeling all sappy. This is the way it needs to be so the event can provide a small, temporal reward for a year of hard work. The eternal and internal rewards are immeasurable.

*There will be prizes for those who have memorized all 24 verses and can say each one of them from memory to a partner at the event. We’ll make sure they feel affirmed without anybody else feeling lame. Everybody there with have accomplished something HUGE!

It will be so much fun! The smaller size of the group and the process we’ve all been through together will make it really intimate and special. Work hard and come! Those of you who live far away, the event will be free but you need to start saving your money for other expenses. This is a great time to start looking for flight deals!

Late next Fall many of you will know whether or not you’re going to meet those requirements and we’ll begin taking registrations then. My home church is Houston’s First Baptist on 7401 Katy Freeway in case you want to begin looking for where you might try to stay. I don’t mind saying that we have the best food and best shopping in the whole wide world and our Januarys are mild so you’re probably not going to get snowed in. Melana, save your dollars and bring us Miesta Moose! Warm in Alaska, we can make you a whole lot warmer!! Canadian Siestas, fly south like a snow bird to Texas!!!

PLEASE DO THE WORK AND COME!! It will be such a blast!

OK, now for my selection for Verse 6. It’s a Scripture we studied on our last night of The Inheritance Bible Study in Houston and, boy, do I need it and, boy, do I want the promise it offers. Again, you are welcome to share mine or offer your own. As usual, names, cities, and Scriptures only, please Siestas!

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9 NIV

Here’s part of what makes this special. The New Testament translates two primary Greek words as forms of “bless” or “blessed.” One of them (lexical “makarios”) describes a state of being. A resultant condition, so to speak, like those described in the Beatitudes and in many other parts of the NT in reference to those who belong to God through Christ. It basically means to live in the face (coram Deo) and favor of God. The second one (lexical “eulogia”/”eulogeo”) is the conferring or speaking of blessing. As my NT Lexical Aids say, it means “to confer blessing upon, call down divine favor…” The former is a state of being. A beautiful thing indeed. The latter is blessing spoken. Also a beautiful thing, especially for those of us to whom words are a primary love language. It is this latter word for blessing – the one that involves something spoken – that is used in 1 Peter 3:9. The gist of the exhortation, restated from God’s point of view, is this:

“When you use your mouth to bless those who have insulted you or spoken evil to you, I, Myself, will speak blessing over you that you will receive as part of your inheritance.”

When we speak blessings over others who were HARD to bless, He speaks blessing over us. And, let’s admit it, sometimes we’re hard to bless, too.

We’re going to get plenty of opportunities to practice this spiritual discipline because, as the verse clearly states, TO THIS WE WERE CALLED. We were called to manifest the Spirit of Christ through our words when someone insults us. It’s a hard part of the high calling of God but to this we were called SO THAT we may inherit a blessing.

Pretty good, huh?

OK, Siestas, I’ll hop off of here and let you start getting your Scriptures in.

Let me say in conclusion for all of those who prayed for the ministers’ wives’ event this weekend that it was one of the most meaningful weekends I’ve ever been part of. I will never forget it. We are preparing something for you to get a little taste of it so look for that later in the week. It will include some of those comments you (understandably) wanted to read so badly.

I love you, Dear Ones, and I am honored to be your servant. STAY IN THE WORD whether you’re memorizing it or not!!

My Dear Sisters, how are you?? I think of you every single day and love sharing all sorts of family and ministry things with you. We had such a treat last week that I want to share with you. We haven’t really developed a framework here for interns at LPM but one of our board members asked us if we’d consider allowing a senior in high school that he esteemed highly to work here for a week as part of her senior credit. We had a hunch that the blessing would be ours but we weren’t ready for how quickly we’d fall head over heels in love with her. It was our plan from the beginning to give her a taste of every position in the ministry and sit her in every department so her experience would be full. To get a taste of what my department (comprised of AJ, CJ, Melissa and me) does, I asked her to both open Tuesday night Bible study with a 3-minute greeting and write a blog article on Friday that I’d post today. I told her she could write it on anything she wanted because by that time I knew I could trust her character and that she was quite the communicator. Such a gifted and darling young woman! Below you will find her greeting to you. You will be able to tell immediately that you guys are considered a big part of ministry around the halls of LPM!

And now for Paige:

Hola Siestas (Ok…I just had to say it)!

I’m Paige Warren, Living Proof’s first official intern and a senior at Second Baptist School in sunny (and HOT, I might add) Houston, TX! This week has definitely been one of the MOST incredible weeks of my life, and I’d LOVE to tell you why!

It all began this past Christmas when I met Mrs. Moore at Second Baptist Church’s annual Kids Crazy Christmas Show (a mouthful, I know – we just call it KCCS)! I’m a member of the JUMP Team, an acting, singing and dancing ministry for kids, which performed at the show, and to my complete bliss and surprise, I was able to meet Mrs. Moore and her cute grandbabies. Little did I know that just a few months later, I’d be petting her sweet puppy and laughing at jokes at the LPM lunch table! How truly blessed am I?

Now, I would absolutely LOVE to fill you in on ALL the excitement of my internship at LPM, but if I did, you might still be at your desk at dinnertime! So, here’s a look into a typical Monday at Living Proof!

On my first day of the internship, I arrived promptly at 8:30am, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed; ready to go for my first day. As I pulled into the property, I noticed that Living Proof Ministries is not housed in a normal, run-of-the-mill office building, but an adorably cozy and beautifully decorated home where scripture competes for every wall space, Pottery Barn furniture replaces generic work desks, and laughter fills the office space. Although the norm for a teen internship is extreme nervousness in the form of sweaty palms and a dry mouth, this was certainly not the case for me at LPM. Upon meeting the ladies, I couldn’t help but feel like I fit right in! So welcoming and loving, the staff made me feel as if they were my very best friends…and trust me, ladies, their personalities can intensely mislead one about their REAL ages!

My first task? Stepping into the world of production with Evangeline. I was most surprised by the fact that LPM fulfills, packages, and ships all orders in-house. From Bible Studies to CDs & DVDs to Books, the LPM storage room has it all! The neatest part about the whole process is the fact that each order is HAND-packaged with care. They check, and double-check…and check again! As part of their ministry, the LPM staff and volunteers, if they feel led, pray over certain packages for the Word of the Lord to edify that particular customer/donor as they seek to know Him more! As Beth entered the room to welcome and thank volunteers and staff, she gave me a surprising challenge: “Paige, dear, we don’t normally do this, but…would you like to do the announcements and speak at Bible Study Tuesday Night? I’ll give you 3 minutes…” Wait, wait, wait. Could this REALLY be happening? A 17 year-old to speak at Houston’s First Baptist Bible Study: The Inheritance, packed with over 3,000 pairs of alert ears that are just waiting/dying to hear a good Word from Jesus?? “You’ve got to be kidding me!,” I yelled to myself. I leaped for joy at the opportunity to bless that many women! The Lord, I knew, would take care of the words…All I had to do was have a willing heart to bless others!

As we (myself and the lovely volunteers) packaged and jammed out to some cool worship music, I noticed it was already time for lunch! “Wait a second…where did everyone go?,” I anxiously uttered as I glanced at the clock. To my surprise, I found nine staff ladies sitting on the floor with fluffy blankets and Bibles in-toe. On Mondays, the LPM staff (minus Curtis…he is a guy, after all!) feeds on the Word of God together, growing, seeking and praying for each other to be encouraged in the Lord. They seek to be fed with spiritual food rather than physical food. “Of course!” Gladly, I plopped down next to Beth (Side Note: We’re not yet on first name basis, but it’s kind of hard after you’ve watched her passionately deliver a Word on Life Today or in Bible Study and constantly scream “You go, Beth!” at the TV). After a time of sweet prayer and study, it was time to head back to work answering phones with Kimberly! Now, although it sounds pretty easy, it was actually REALLY rigorous – especially when multiple calls can flood like a simultaneous technological deluge! I have SERIOUS respect for receptionists now!

Before I knew it, the day was over! What an incredible start to an incredible week at LPM!!

The following 3 days, the Lord worked seriously in my life as I worked side-by-side with these darling ladies. I’ve learned a GREAT deal about the ministry, it’s effectiveness, and EVERY facet of Living Proof that makes it Living Proof. However, I must admit that, although this internship has benefited me greatly through experience, the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity that makes it a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience is the blessing of fellowship. I cannot express to you in words worthy of writing the amount of joy, laughter, godly council, and Kingdom perspective I’ve encountered and been immersed in here! Viewing each aspect of the ministry has allowed my heart to burst with compassion for the lowly and excitement for the saved; laughter at crazy jokes and tears at the sincerity of their hearts. What makes Living Proof all that you perceive it to be is the fact that these ladies are REAL, live “Living Proof.” They love Jesus with their whole hearts and passionately yearn to seek Him more! Plus, they might just be the wackiest, craziest, make-you-want-to-sit-down-and-watch-their-sitcom kind of women! (We’re still thinking of the name…)

I consider myself blessed beyond measure by the Lord. His Joy is my Strength…His Joy is their strength. We’re not just co-workers for a week. This internship has made us sisters in the Kingdom for eternity!

Be blessed, siestas! If He’s working in a little 17 year-old intern’s life, I know He’s sure working in yours! Be blessed by the intense measure of His love for you!!! (Colossians 3:12) Hope to write to you again soon! (Maybe in the summer…you never know!)

Joyfully His,
Paige!

P.S.~ “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…!” – Philippians 3:8!

*Comments are now closed*

Oh, I already love this post! While I was in my garage working out this morning, I was listening to my buddy Susan on the KSBJ morning show (KSBJ is a Christian contemporary music radio station in the Houston area and is so fabulous that it wins all kinds of awards). She let us know that it was “Read Across America” week and, thereby, gave me permission to give full sway to my favorite tangible obsession: B.O.O.K.S.

I love them. I love the look of them. The smell of them. The feel of them when you break a new one open. I love the spine of them. An out-loud read of them. I LOVE BOOKS. My grandfather was such a book nerd that my grandmother told him that, if she were ever widowed, she’d ask every male suitor if he could read and if he said yes, she’d say, “Pass on by, Brother.” He passed that obsession on to my mother who honestly loved a word fitly spoken more than anyone I’ve ever known. And she passed it on to practically every single one of her five children. Keith, bless the Father above for one of our very few similarities, also has the fever. Our idea of a great date is to go out to dinner then hit the Barnes and Noble. We get a cup of Starbucks first and don’t leave the store until we’ve drained it dry and opened every single book we can get our hands on.

I love books. I love to rub the palm of my hand over the covers.

So, here’s today’s topic. Name ONE – I said ONE, Siestas! – book you have absolutely loved (besides the Bible, our all-time, no-contest, unparalleled Book) and who it’s by, THEN give a brief reason why. It doesn’t have to be your favorite book of all time, just one you really love. List your information in this order:

• the book title and author on the first line,
• genre on the second line (fiction? non-fiction? biographical? autobiographical? Etc),
• then the short explanation why you loved it so much underneath. (Long ones unfortunately won’t be able to be posted so don’t write a book on your book!)

(Please be authentic and don’t bow to the temptation to impress your dear, impressionable Siestas by sounding hyper-spiritual. Unless A.W. Tozer really did write your favorite book, please don’t say he did. Grin.)

This comment set-up will make the list easy to read and, I think, really fun to peruse. I CAN HARDLY WAIT! Now, dang it, I have a lot of work to do today so I’m going to really have to fight to stay focused while we’re bringing in these comments BUT I will have the whole list of them to read a little later in my leisure. Let’s hear it, Siestas!

I’m wild about you. Have a blast in Jesus today. BE REAL, Girlfriends. One of my Scriptures out of The Message this weekend in my quiet time was this: “God cannot STOMACH arrogance and pretense.” (Proverbs 16:5) That’s a word, huh?

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU ON OUR SCRIPTURE MEMORY TEAM, IF YOU HAVEN’T SIGNED IN WITH YOUR MARCH 1ST VERSE, RETURN TO THE PREVIOUS POST AND GIVE IT UP!

*Comments temporarily closed until Wednesday, March 11*

Hey, You Darling Siestas!

This one snuck up on us, didn’t it? Short month but that’s okay. We’re up for it. Anyway, with all that life keeps throwing us and its relentless invitations to defeat, another Scripture swimming around in a busy woman’s head is a good thing, Girlfriend. Remember, even if you aren’t getting your verses word for word, the more you read them and take a stab at saying them from memory, the more your mind is being preoccupied with truth. Lies ARE being displaced. And so is the enemy.

I’ve had so much going on in my life lately that I’m sorely tempted to spend part of this post just chatting with you but I’ll do that later this week and try to stay focused on our very important task at hand: Verse #5!

I have LOVED my Verse 4! I keep picturing that heavenly scribe sitting in the Presence of God keeping a Scroll of Remembrance for all who fear the Lord and honor His Name. (Malachi 3:16) This time I want to commit Hebrews 10:35-36 to memory. Those of you who were at the El Paso LPL (one of my favorite all time groups!) will find it very familiar. I hope you’re still living it. I’m really trying to. Yesterday morning before I went onto the platform to speak at the Focus on the Family marriage simulcast, I whispered these very verses to my own soul in the presence of God. (I’m not used to speaking to a ton of men. Not my thing. Sometimes I imagine that they’re looking at me mean. I’m about to get tickled at my pathetic self.) God used these Scriptures to power-up my spirit and help me choose not to be intimidated. Then I had a blast…and they weren’t mean at all. I’ve semi-memorized the segment already but I want it to become a permanent part of my 2009 Scripture memory spiral.

When I look back at old spirals, my Scripture memory choices remind me vividly of the places I journeyed with God that year. I love reflecting and remembering how faithful He was and realizing, especially when I’m having a bad week and feeling a tad self-loathing, that He and I have come a mighty long way. I promise you that, for years to come, this spiral you’re filling with Scriptures will be so dear to you as you come across it here and there. Honestly, you will cherish it as such a token of your walk with Christ.

Okay, so here goes:

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded, YOU NEED TO PERSEVERE so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV

If you love it and it speaks right to you, join me, Sister! Let’s memorize it together! For all of you who have your own verse throbbing in your heart, let’s hear it. I have been so impressed with how you have constrained yourselves and listed only your verse, the translation abbreviation, your name, and your city the way I’ve asked you to. It’s such a powerful thing to read one verse after another. Remember, if you’re joining me on my memory verse, still type out the whole thing in your comment. It’s a very important discipline.

NO QUITTERS, GIRLFRIEND! NOT ONE! WE’VE GOT TO PERSEVERE! God has a great reward for us at the end of this journey and every step on the way. I need to see about 2400 comments pop up here within the next forty-eight hours. Don’t put it off!

Here’s a little extra encouragement from your own ranks. This is one of the Scripture memory testimonies from a Siesta on the post earlier last week:

Being in a season of feeling as though my world is spinning out of control – memorizing the scripture that God Himself (IN BOLD LETTERS) lays on my heart has been the BIGGEST thing that has happened in my life. In the past I have memorized but never stopped to ask the Lord what I should memorize (stupid or what?!)Now instead of wondering where the Rock is in the midst of the struggle I no longer WONDER where He is I KNOW where He is – His Word is giving me the brain surgery that I have been in need of – bless you Lord!!

Amen to that, Sister. This practice totally rewired my mind when God began to call me to it about 18 years ago. Without it I would never have survived an unparalleled season that followed on the heels of it. You, Dear Siestas, have become a highly esteemed part of Living Proof Ministries. Amanda, Melissa and I love you and we’re so honored to serve you. We hope that, between the three of us, and FOUR when we can get Curtis to sign on here, we can offer you some diversity and some wide-range, multi-generational perspective in the midst of a volume-10 call to unity. We don’t pretend to know what we’re doing all the time, but, Sister, we have a ton of love to offer you. It is our hearts’ desire to be your servants and to cheer you on in the most important journey of your life.

You are cherished here. No matter who you are. Where you’ve been. What you’ve done. We have a Redeemer.

Hey, You Darling Siestas!

I only have just a few minutes because…
a) I don’t have much battery left on my laptop
b) American Idol just came on. For all you American-Idol-haters, I’m not saying I’m watching it. I’m just saying it’s on. And it’s top 12 night.

BUT, I had to hop on the blog because I have the greatest news. You’re going to need to sit down for this. Last night we got a whopping $10,000 donation from a Siesta for the Siesta Scholarship Fund!!!! I first wrote “Fun” instead of “Fund.” GIRLFRIEND, LET SOME BIG GIVING BEGIN! THAT’S WHAT I CALL FUN! The way I see it, based on what we now have in our fund (roughly 13,000 after subtracting our giving for ministers’ wives’ event), even if we don’t get another dime, LPM can give away a thousand dollars of materials/tickets a month for the next year. I am so pumped I can hardly sit to type. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’m going to get to give away some tickets to our New Orleans LPL to some folks who have been financially devastated ever since Katrina. I am beside myself. I am humbled beyond expression to be part of this giving campaign with you. May God bring forth a 100-fold harvest in the life of each recipient and bless each of you beyond belief.

We also celebrated Mister Jackson Curtis Jones’s THIRD BIRTHDAY this week! His actual birthday was yesterday but we had a small family party with four generations of Moore blood Monday evening. We missed Curtis’s family so much. Keith and I love his parents. We’d be such good friends if we lived in the same city. Same weird sense of humor. For Jackson’s birthday dinner, AJ requested her daddy’s famous deep-fried fish, the best home-made tartar sauce in the Lone Star State, corn on the cob, steak fries and home-made macaroni and cheese. (It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SUPPER-MAN!) It was fantastic. We then put the boy out of his misery and let him open a den-floor full of presents. After we’d made big over his gifts, we pulled out the Thomas the Train ice-cream cake, put on our Thomas the Train birthday hats, lit the big-three candle, and sang like there was no tomorrow. Jackson loved being the center of attention. It was like he’d had some practice.

Honestly, Sisters, that child has been the biggest, most enthusiastic blast we’ve just about ever had grace this family. We are all hopelessly smitten with him. And as for his darling baby sister, she nearly slept through the whole thing – looking like the cutest pink doll you’ve ever seen – so she could keep her Daddy up till 3:00 AM. They do late nights together. But not usually that late. Annabeth is a really sweet baby. She doesn’t cry much when she’s awake. She just wants to keep some folks company. Bibby wishes it were her some nights.

And, shoot-fire before my laptop dies, I love my Tuesday night Bible study group so much! God has blown my mind with the breadth of this inheritance theme. Honestly, it could have been an eight-week study complete with homework. (Not gonna be for now but coulda been) I never would have guessed it in a million years but the subject just got bigger and bigger. God has taught me so much. Pray for me to have ears to hear and eyes to see and the anointing to teach comprehensively what God, in His great mercy, is showing to me. We only have three classes left this Spring. I hate for Bible study to be over!

Well, Keith and I decided to have our own random suppers tonight so he had 2 chicken pot pies and I’m having scallop potatoes and my timer’s about to go off. (Yes, that’s all I’m having for the whole meal. I am the weirdest eater on earth. I have this really simple recipe I’ve loved for years from a church cookbook . I can make the dish with skim milk and 2% cheddar cheese and it’s great comfort food. I add milk to it afterwards and make it into kind of a potato soup. And eat two big bowls.)

And now Star is dropping the tennis ball at my feet. Let me pitch it down the stairs long enough to finish this post.

Lord have mercy. Why do y’all put up with me? This is so random. Terrible writing. No time to edit. But I love you. And I just wanted to say hi. And that all of you are in my top 12.

I sacrificed my hair for the Thomas hat.

Hey, Siestas! If you are on our Scripture memory team and haven’t signed in with your 4th verse, please see yesterday’s post and follow through! I don’t want to crowd that very important post but I also can’t wait any longer to tell you that AJ and I have done our random drawing for our 5 DVD leader kits from the churches and ministries you nominated and here are the winners:

Nominated by “Lisa” – Reach Out Christian Chapel in Eatonton, Georgia!

Nominated by “Laurie O’Connor” – Hopewell Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia!

Nominated by “Kat Murray” – Sligo Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland!

Nominated by another “Lisa” – Harmony Bible Church in South Thomaston, Maine!

Nominated by “Beth” (not me) – Pinnacle Church in Canton, North Carolina!

We are thrilled to send each of these churches a leader kit (all the DVD’s) of Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman. We’ve chosen the most recent series in hopes that they don’t already have a set.

Several of you were so gracious to offer to send back DVD sets that your church has already completed to LPM so we can recycle them but rather than double the shipping, Linda, our accountant, suggests that if you have material to share, go back and look at all the nominated churches and ministries in the comment list to the “Siesta Scholarship Fund” post and find one in your area or State. Get in touch with them and see if they’d like to receive it and, if so, send it on its way with the joy and blessing of the Lord! We are beside ourselves to see your enthusiasm to share and to donate materials. May God invest back in your life and church 100-fold!

Now, for an update on our SIESTA SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Through on-line donations only (we haven’t had time to receive the ones through the mail yet), we already have a total of $4000.00 in our fund to launch our giveaways. We are ecstatic! After talking with my staff, we are going to begin our SSF donations by giving the following:

TEN SCHOLARSHIPS to the upcoming “Living Proof Live For Ministers’ Wives” in Nashville, Tennessee at Two Rivers Baptist Church on March 13-14, 2009.

We can’t think of a more important ministry that we get to take part in. Who on earth could use more encouragement, love and high esteem than our ministers’ wives? We learned from our LifeWay event team that the financial crisis in our nation has caused so many churches not to be able to pay their ministers’ wives way as they did several years ago when we had well over three thousand in attendance. (The event itself is $60 then there is the expense of going and staying. It’s simply too much for many – even most! – to afford.) Because of our brand new Siesta Scholarship Fund, at least ten will be able to attend that could not otherwise afford it.

If you wish you could further participate in some way, if you learn that your minister’s wife would like to attend but can’t afford it, your Bible study group might consider taking up an offering to help. This might be especially helpful for those that can drive to Nashville and save the expense of a flight.

You guys are the best. Incredibly thoughtful. I will keep you updated on our giving but will, again, not let it take over for fear you’d feel pressured. We’ll keep the thing the thing. I am so honored to serve Christ with you, my dear sisters. I am humbled by your servant-hearts and by your giving spirits. I pray that God is so pleased with what He finds in this community.

Onward in His great Name!

ADDITIONAL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT: I’m hopping back on to give a shout out to “Cindy” and all the Siestas in her same situation. She said (I’m paraphrasing) “Last time I was a slacker but I’m not going to let my perfectionist attitude keep me from getting back with it and turning in my verse this time.” WAY TO GO!! So you missed last time? Or you already feel behind? HOP BACK ON AND GET BACK TO IT! If you end up memorizing 20 verses instead of 24, that’s still a ton of verses! 18 out of 24? That’s 18 you might not have hidden in your darling little heart! Beats the heck out of 2 which is more likely what we’d do without a system and some healthy accountability. Stay with it, Girls! THAT SAID, I still want several THOUSAND of us to make it through December with 24 verses so don’t let this encouragement get twisted and cause you not to take it as seriously. Bring your best to the altar! I sure love and respect you guys.

Good Morning, Loved Ones! May this Sunday find us “in the Spirit” like the Apostle John in Revelation 1 when he was postured to encounter Christ Jesus in a way perhaps no man on earth had ever experienced Him “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me…His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One.” Exalt His Name with me this blessed morning. He is so worthy.

OK, you mighty band of Sword-wielding, Word-memorizing, God-glorifying, folk-edifying women, let’s give it up for Scripture #4! You have not slacked off in the least so far. I am so proud of you, I’d just get right on up and do a cheer if it wouldn’t get Star and Geli barking to high Heaven and waking up Spike. This is one of the most fantastic God-blessed experiences I’ve ever had with a large group of women and, young ladies, we will be the better for it. Don’t you think for a split second that this discipline is not having an impact on your life. Let’s keep it up till next December. NO DROP OUTS!

I am so jazzed over my Scripture. I’ve loved it for a really long time and now I want to commit it to memory. It’s Malachi 3:16 NIV. Oops. I’m still turned to Revelation. Give me a sec. OK, here it goes:

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. Malachi 3:16 NIV

Try to grasp what that Scripture suggests. Every time we boast in the Lord with each other – face-to-face, on the phone, picking the kids up at school, in the women’s restroom at church, over email, on the blog – He stops to “listen and hear.” Two different words are described for the attentiveness of His response. God listens. God HEARS. Scripture doesn’t waste words. (John 21:25) If it uses several different descriptions to say the same general thing, we need to take notice because that intensity is meant to turn up the volume.

The next sentence indicates that a secretary in the Kingdom of Heaven literally records either the occasion or perhaps the conversation itself on something called “a scroll of remembrance.” I don’t know about you but over the course of my life time, I want to keep that secretary writing as fast as his hand can fly across that scroll. Even this moment, an historical record is being kept of our communication in His Name. That’s too much, isn’t it? GIVE HIM PLENTY OF STUFF TO WRITE ABOUT, GIRLFRIEND.

Now for your Scriptures! Hit it, Siestas! Remember, only your name, city, verse, and abbreviation of translation so we can look at several thousand Scriptures on this comment list. Don’t waste any time getting it recorded in your spiral. I’ve found that any little oversight in the discipline can get me off course in my memory work. Our human minds tend to be lazy and on the look out for an invitation to shrug our shoulders and slack. It’s important to stay right with our program so we can keep up that momentum.

I am honored to take this journey with you. You are so loved and esteemed here. Can’t wait to hear from you!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Sweet Things!

My Valentine of 30 years is in the next room sawing logs. He’ll hear the dogs barking pretty soon and come stumbling out of the room with his hair looking a little Mohawkish from sleeping hard on both sides. Mine, on the other hand, has that Tina Turner look this morning. He’ll then holler something out the back door at Star and Geli that I’ll wish the neighbors hadn’t heard, especially when he sees that they’ve dug a flower bed to China. I do dearly love that man. He keeps me honest.

Our first Valentine’s Day together had us dating about four months. I was completely smitten by how gorgeous he was and by how much money he’d spend on a date. Daddy’s money. I didn’t care. I didn’t even have to pay my own way to the movie. He was one of those rare people in a State college that actually had some cash in his pocket. But here’s where he got me. On our first real date, he took me to dinner then afterward said, “Why don’t we go have a cup of coffee?” We went to an all-night diner and drank weak coffee (all I could handle at the time; I wasn’t the pro I am now) out of heavy off-white cups sitting in heavy off-white saucers that clunked when you set the cup down. Every time the waitress poured a refill, it sloshed over the edge and pooled into the saucer and I thought how my Pappaw used to finish his off by tipping it and slurping loudly out of it. The young man that sat before me was a conversationalist. A beautiful one at that. And I was in love. Turned out, he was the only person I’d ever met that was as messed up as me. Order the tux. Rent the dress. It’s a match made in…Heaven.

My first Valentine’s present from Keith was a fishing pole. I was taken aback. You should have seen what the man got me for Christmas two months earlier. Where had the romance gone? A fishing pole. A green and black one. Not even my colors. He was also the only one at the PKA house with a bass boat I might add. He loaded me, that ugly flat boat and a pair of fishing poles up with all the promise of Abraham and headed us to Canyon Lake, not too far from our university. I hated what I had on. After a short set of lessons in keeping with his short fuse, he said, “OK, now give it a shot. You’re wide open. Just don’t hit that limb right over there.” And suddenly that limb was all on earth I could focus on. I kept looking at it and mumbling, “Don’t hit that limb right over there, don’t hit that limb right over there, don’t hit that limb right over there,” then I performed my very first…and last…fishing cast and hit that limb square on as if I’d spent my life training for it. That hideous lure spun around that branch for ten solid minutes while Keith said a string of somethings that I should have broken up with him for.

He never did get that outdoors woman he wanted. I never did get that church boy.

But here we are. Every day’s a new day. Some days I’m not sure we’ll make it. Other days eternity doesn’t sound long enough to know him. We’re both such messed up people that we’ve each been married to half a dozen spouses that all somehow looked alike. Today we’re Mohawk Man (you might say “Spike”) and Tina Turner.

So, what’s love got to do with it? Got to do with it?

A ton. You keep praying for it every single day of your marriage and you will it again till you feel it again. And one February night, like our last night, you just might be sitting on the floor with your three-year-old grandson playing cars while your man’s sitting in his easy chair with your nine-day-old granddaughter in his enormous hands and you’ll see tears streaming down his cheeks as he looks at her. And so many hard times will fade away like the morning mist. They’ll probably be back tomorrow and you might wonder how you’re going to make it, but you just decide to keep on. You just keep making the choice and hope he will, too. Because, make no mistake, it takes two.

I’ve never done anything harder than marriage. Nor anything that forced more change in my badly-needed-change life.

I love Keith Moore. Again today. He is my life-long Valentine. He’s who I long to hear say those words of Mr. Darcy to Miss Elizabeth Bennett, “You have bewitched me.” That’s so much better than, “You’ve been such a witch to me.” No, he’s never said that. But, Lord, don’t let me be the kind of woman that makes him think it.

I also have an eternity-long Valentine who reigns in the Heavens. He is breathtakingly handsome and will spend more on a date than any man alive. Daddy’s riches. I pray this day that you will thoroughly savor your Valentine, whether he is flesh and blood in all his wonderful imperfections in front of your eyes, or veiled from sight in such gleaming perfections that you couldn’t live through a glance of Him if He showed up at your table. You are your Beloved’s and His desire is toward you. Song of Songs 7:10. If you don’t have a romantic interest in your life this year, let Jesus woo you today. Read what He’s like in Psalm 45. Take a long walk with him. Or go get yourself some flowers from Him. I dare you to. That’s His money in your pocket. Journal a long time to Him and tell Him your hopes and dreams. He’s more vividly real than anything you can touch with your fingertips or see with your eyes, Beloved One.

Jesus, woo her this day. Make her feel so tended to that she wonders how anyone else on earth could sense you today.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear sisters.

Here’s what I thought would be fun today. As your comment, tell a brief account of your most memorable Valentine whether it was something sweet, hilarious, or infuriating. I can’t wait to read them. I love you and think you are such a blast.

PS – This is Amanda. I just showed my mom this picture and she demanded that I post it here immediately. Here are my two February Valentines.

Susan, Linda, Beth, Nancy, Sabrina, Diane, Jenn, and Aunt Melissa