A week has gone by since we’ve all returned home from Passion 2012 and we have hit the ground running at LPM. However, because y’all were so involved in praying for our 1000 young women who we had the joy of sponsoring at LPM, I wanted to share these sweet moments with y’all.

Tuesday afternoon when we got to meet with the girls for about an hour, we were lucky to have Andy, one of the official Passion photographers, with us at the meeting who captured our time with them so well. I think most of us got a few quick shots with the cameras on our phones, but these turned out so much better and we are so thankful!

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m going to let the pictures do the talking. We’ll just call it photo journalism! Grin.

Have a wonderful weekend, y’all!

Siestas! We are less than two weeks away from our Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration! In case you realized how much of a mouth full that is, that is why we lovingly refer to it as the SSMTC around here. Grin.

With Christmas, New Years and Passion 2012 behind us, we are looking very forward to the celebration, especially because of how quick it will land on us. Sometime during the next week be looking for a fun FAQ post about the weather, food and all things regarding Houston, but until then, we want to hear from you.

We are anxious to know who completed the scripture memory challenge on this blog EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING TO COME TO THE CELEBRATION. That just means that you have your spiral filled with 20-24 scriptures, posted your verses on the blog, and have hidden the Word in your heart, we want to know who you are.

If this applies to you (and you completed the commitment), we’d love for you to comment and tell us three things:

1) Name:
2) City:
3) Are you coming to the celebration? Yes or No. (Because we want to acknowledge and celebrate you either way!)

Remember, this is for anyone who completed the 2011 scripture memory challenge! When we say there is NO condemnation for those who didn’t finish please hear us loud and clear: there is no condemnation or guilt! We just love a good party here at LPM and want to celebrate with you.

So, even if you have no plans to come to the celebration, but have completed your memory work, let us hear from you!

We love y’all dearly. T-minus 11 days. We cannot wait!

P.S. Some of you have been looking for the SSMT FAQ page, here is the link to help you out.

This past Tuesday before we all took off for Christmas, we had our annual LPM Christmas party. When I came on staff I kept hearing rumors that LPM knows how to celebrate, and I am here to tell you that every rumor was true. Let it be said, Living Proof Ministries knows how to throw a party, and I say that with much gratefulness in my heart. I told someone the other day that I felt very spoiled, but not in the bratty kind of way, more-so in a I am so thankful for this group of ladies I get to serve alongside kind of way.

We started out the morning hosting our volunteer breakfast at a tea room. Words cannot express how thankful we are for our volunteers and all that they do. I am slowly learning how much time and effort they put in at LPM to serve each and every one of you. To say we couldn’t do it without them would be a vast understatement. So, like anybody else would, we wanted them to know our appreciation. Our taste buds were also very thankful as we were served fruit, a muffin I judged before I even tasted it that ended up being one of the best muffins ever, and the glorious ham and cheese quiche. I’m not sure when I became a quiche lover, but I’m forever smitten now. I’m just going to believe it’s an acquired taste and thank the Lord he’s given me favor with the quiche.

Here is the staff and all of our beautiful volunteers after breakfast. It is amazing we have this picture and that it came out good, because do you know what a chore it is to get 30 people all smiling and not blinking at the same time? All in the name of a picture we will cherish forever. We love you, ladies!

After saying our goodbyes and giving out 30 separate hugs, the rest of us piled into a few cars and spent the middle part of our day at Beth’s house doing our gift exchange while sipping on some delightful hot cocoa. This year we were all instructed to buy a general gift that anybody would like. For me, it was really stressful because I take gift giving really seriously, and oh, the Christmas party pressure! The last thing I wanted to do was screw up my very first LPM Christmas party. And I say that in the most joking way. These ladies are the epitome of graciousness. Anyway, after a while we all drew names out of a cup and that was the person we were to give our gifts to. At that point I got really stressed because my gift was really specific, and what if the person I drew didn’t even have that item?

Fortunately, as He always is, the Lord was really into the details for our gift exchange. For instance, Jenn was wearing a certain set of earrings that particular day and when she received her gift, it was the matching necklace to her earrings. Can you believe that? Do you understand that someone purchased that necklace without knowing they’d draw Jenn’s name? Also, I was gifted a scarf and a costume ring (and by costume I mean big and adorable), which, if you know me at all, you know my scarf collection is quite ridiculous. I may or may not be slightly obsessed with all things scarves. And lest you think Curtis took home a nicely scented candle or something very girly, he took home a power washer from our gift exchange. Perfect if you as me! I purchased an iPhone cover, and when I realized who we drew was who we gave our gift to, I panicked until I realized the person I drew literally got an iPhone last week and needed a fun cover. Details, folks. It was amazing!

To me, it felt very much like Christmas morning with my co-workers.

Then, after we had all the fun we could have there, we piled in the cars once more and went to eat a late lunch at Trio, where we basically had the entire restaurant to ourselves, which I think was due to our later arrival. The food and company were both, as you can imagine, delightful and when we thought we couldn’t eat one more bite, we each ordered a dessert. Some of us tried to share, but then after getting confused and bringing out more than we needed, we each enjoyed our own. We were stuffed and happy!

At that point, we all deemed it nap time, snapped a few pictures, said our goodbyes, hugged for years, hopped in our cars and went our separate ways, after all, at that point it had been almost an entire work day. However, most of us wouldn’t see each other for at least a week and that is forever in LPM time. Once I got back to my car, I sat still for a minute to thank the Lord for all He had done and all that He is to us. Truly, we don’t deserve one iota of His goodness or blessings, but He so willingly and lavishly gives it to us. My heart was so thankful and spoiled by Him and by my sweet co-workers, and I know I’m not the only one that feels that way.

Vangie, Beth and Diane.

Sabrina, Susan and Sherry.

Jenn, Lindsee and Linda.

Melissa, Curtis and Amanda.

Johnnie, Lindsee and Jenn.

KMac, Kimberly and Nancy.

Lindsee, KMac, Kimberly, Nancy and Beth.

Beth, Sabrina, Lindsee, KMac, Kimberly and Nancy.

Merry Christmas from all of us to ALL of you! We hope you know the love of Christ this Christmas and that He fills your home with much joy and peace. He is truly the reason for this season and the greatest gift of all. Blessings!

*UPDATE: Ladies, I logged on real quick this morning to see how many girls needed prayer partners still, and to my surprise, the number ZERO appeared! It has been less than 24 hours and every single girl has been adopted for prayer. (Thank you, Beth, for putting it that way!) You ladies never cease to amaze us and we are beyond grateful for you. For those of you that are still wanting to participate, read through some of the comments and pray for some girls that have been listed there. Some other girls that haven’t received a scholarship might even pop on and you could adopt them! We love you! Thanks be to our God!

Good morning, Siestas! Can you believe we’re only three days away from Christmas? It has been pretty busy around LPM as we shut down the ministry for Christmas, but we also want to make sure we have everything ready to go for the New Year.

However, before Christmas gets completely past us, I wanted to bring your attention back to Passion 2012. Do you remember when we were able to give out scholarships to 1000 young women to attend the conference? Well, it was our desire that, after giving out each of the scholarships, we could rally together 1000 Siestas (you!) to partner with each of these girls and pray for them. So, I am thrilled to announce that we have our website up and running to make that happen.

Here is what you need to do: Click on this link: http://lproof.org/passion2012/prayer.aspx.

When you get to that page, the instructions are very clear how you can receive the name of the girl you will be praying for.

Here’s why we need to bounce on this with both feet: Passion is January 2nd – 5th so it’s coming up very quick! If you could take five minutes to do that, we would appreciate you more than you know and some wonderful young woman’s experience at Passion may be altogether intensified. You might put her name in your phone every day as a reminder to pray for her before, during and after Passion.

We love you ladies so much and hope you know what a vital part you’re playing in each of these girls’ lives. Let’s make sure each of them are lavishly covered by name. We know the Lord will show up and can’t wait to see lives changed and transformed. I am sure when we get back we’ll have a tremendous report for you. I know you’ll want to hear all about it!

Thank you, thank you for partnering with us and praying. We love you all so much!

Hey Sisters! Here is the recap video from the last LPL of 2011. It is wonderful! Be sure to watch the entire thing as the last three minutes have some funny behind the scenes photos you don’t want to miss. Glory to God for all He has done in 2011 at each conference. Thank you, Rich, for an awesome recap. We love y’all!

A few weeks ago I went to a Taylor Swift concert here in Houston. I was given tickets at the very last minute so my roommate and I ran out the door and had an unexpected fun night out.

Do I think she’s a doll? Yes, I do. Do I think she’s a bit dramatic? Yes, I do. (I would have never thought that had I not gone to the concert, but the way she talked to her audience was quite humorous and very dramatic. For instance, she kept telling us how incredible and beautiful we were. I just laughed.) Do I think she’s a good role model for the little girls that are falling all over her? Yes, I do. She has a good head on her shoulders and thus far, her walk has matched up with her talk. She’s not gone crazy. I’m praying she stays grounded. You laugh, but I’m serious. Someone needs to say sane! And I say that in the most gracious way. She has a national platform and to see it destroyed would sadden me.

Before the concert I think I owned five of her songs. I knew most of her songs but that was mainly because she gets a lot of airtime on the radio. What I didn’t know, though, were a lot of the lyrics.

Are any of you like me? You think you know the lyrics to a certain song then you look them up and realize you were completely off base? That’s my life. I’m constantly making a fool out of myself in the lyrics department.

After the concert I ended up buying a few more songs that I thought were fun and also decided to look up some of the lyrics. I knew I was singing the wrong words and wanted to fix that. Yes, I annoy my own self.

Taylor has a cute song called “Fifteen”, and it’s all about a girl experiencing her freshman year of high school. She talks about the highs and lows that girls would typically experience.

After lacing themes of friends, first dates, first kisses and breakups throughout each verse, she begins each chorus by singing, “Cause when you’re fifteen and somebody tells you they love you, you’re gonna believe them…”

Taylor is right, is she not? If a fifteen-year-old girl heard the words I love you from a hunk of a boy, she’s going to believe him, no doubt. Those of us a few years ahead of that game know it will probably end in heartache (although those of us hopeless romantics would love to believe they end up as married high school sweethearts), but in the moment, that fifteen year old girl will be floating on cloud nine and will undoubtedly drown out every other voice that tries to whisper otherwise.

But what about the girl that never hears the words I love you from a boy? What if she never hears them period? From anyone?

What if I changed the lyrics of the chorus to “Cause when you’re fifteen and nobody tell you they love you, you’re gonna believe them…”

Our present day culture speaks a lot to the girls that have that heartache and breakup, but I think we forget the girls that never experience that. What about them? What about the girl that spends all four years of her high school career waiting for that special moment and doesn’t get it? Or better yet, all four years of her college career and doesn’t get it? Emotionally, this could be just as detrimental.

As time goes on, if you’re not grounded in Christ’s love, your belief system will become that of, “I’m not lovable.”

Since I happen to know that hearing I love you in high school from a boy isn’t the end all be all, and I certainly don’t advocate it, I’m not naive to the fact that, whether we choose to believe it or not, those words are being tossed around on a daily basis by students everywhere. In fact, they’re being tossed around carelessly by a lot of people. Those words hold a lot of weight and attachment with them.

I happen to be in the latter category. I was not the girl that experienced breakup after breakup. I lived vicariously through a lot of my friends that did experience that, which taught me a lot, but that wasn’t me.

To be very honest, it is so easy for me to write my own words to that song, and even at 26, believe that I am unlovable. If I am 26 and have yet to be chosen and hear those sweet words, am I unlovable? I know that is far from the truth, but Satan himself likes to feed that lie most consistently to me.

What I know now is that no human man can ever out-love Jesus. No human man can tell me I love you more than Jesus whispers and satisfies me with His love. But I have to believe that and claim that. That is the tricky part, transferring that knowledge from my head to my heart. No man will ever know me greater than Jesus does and yet love me just the same.

But, I am old enough to know that doesn’t always take away the sting of desiring that human love. In fact, I might argue that the older you get, if the Lord has placed that desire in your heart, the more it stings. Is it wrong to desire that? Is it wrong to desire marriage? Not at all, unless it becomes a stronghold or idol in your life, lest we forget, the Lord ordained marriage and said it was a good thing. However, as we mature and become more like Christ, my prayer is that we would let the Lord tend to that sting and replace it with joy. That is the beauty of getting older; you know how to tend to that sting when it rises up in you.

Believing and leaning into truth means believing that you are loved by the One who knows you the best and loves you the most. It means that there is redemption, healing and hope for the girl who has given everything away and is left with a broken heart. That the Lord still desires His best for you. And for the girl who has yet to experience the butterflies, it means there is hope for you, too, and for whatever reason, the Lord has protected you thus far. He is most definitely not holding out on you. Be thankful for that.

Believing the truth means that you are wise enough not to jump at the first chance you have to marry the first guy that asks you on a date out of your fear of being alone. There may be a few good (and bad), dates here and there, but that doesn’t mean you have to marry any of them. Not every single guy you lay your eyes on will be your future husband. Give yourself the freedom to get to know them as a friend without the pressure of trying to win them over so you can be their wife one day. We all do it out of insecurity and fear, do we not? The minute I see a single guy as a potential future husband, is the minute I clam up and don’t act like myself. By setting that aside and shifting our thinking, it’s amazing how the chains fall off and the pressure decreases.

At then end of the day, although culture and media will tell you otherwise, your identity is still found in Christ alone, not in whom you’ve dated or whom you haven’t. You’ll do greater things than date the quarterback of the football team. Praise the Lord.

And for the record, you are dearly loved. And so am I.

“The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3

Good Wednesday morning, Siestas! Typically we would wait until tomorrow to post the ticket giveaway, but tomorrow is December 1st and we all know what that means. Our SSMT post will be of utmost importance, so, as to not double up tomorrow, we’re hitting it a day early!

All of that to say, as stated earlier, the very last LPL of 2011 is this coming weekend and they’re going out with a bang in the “Sunshine State”. Quite different from our last LPL in Wyoming where it was snowing!

Thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, we are thrilled to offer 20 scholarship tickets for those of you that desire to attend, but just cannot afford it at this time.

If that is you and you qualify for this, we will offer the tickets to the first 20 ladies that call the Living Proof  office during regular business hours (8:30 – 4:30 CST). Please ask for Kimberly or Susan at 1-888-700-1999 and they will take care of you. If you happen to get the voicemail or call during the lunch hour, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. It is such a joy to us that the Lord allows us to do this and we pray you are blessed!

Also, you certainly wouldn’t waste a prayer on our Siesta Mama as she prepares for this weekend. I know she appreciates each and every one of them.

Those of you that are attending this weekend, we pray the Lord is near. The nearness of God is our good! Amen!

I have lived in the same city and gone to the same church my entire life. That is no exaggeration. The only exception would be the four years I spent in college in Huntsville, Texas.

It was never my plan to graduate college and attend the same church I grew up at, but the Lord had other plans. Not only did I return to that church, I found myself on staff full time as the Girls Ministry Director. Isn’t He so funny like that? To turn our plans upside down?

I dearly loved my church and was so blessed by being on staff and honored that they would even take a chance on me in that position, but one thing we were lacking was a strong young adult program. To be completely honest, when someone would come that was a “young single” I simply referred them to another church. I didn’t know what else to do because we had a college group that met Sunday mornings, but other than that; we literally had nothing for them. How sad is that?

Slowly more friends were coming back to Cypress after graduating and we finally decided that we needed to do something about this ministry.

After praying about it, planning, and recruiting some leaders, in May of 2010 we had our first Bible study. I think there were a total of five of us there. You have to start somewhere, right?

We continued to meet and grow and now a year a half later, we kicked off our small groups just last week. The Lord has given the group favor and it has been neat to be a part of it from the beginning and watch it grow.

This summer as the Lord began to make it clear to me that He was leading me elsewhere, more than anything; I mourned knowing that eventually I’d be leaving that group as well.

In an intentional attempt to get involved and plugged in at my new church, I’ve slowly been pulling out of this group.

For instance, I’m not doing a small group with them. Not only because I’m a part of a community group at my new church, but because come January I’ll be at Tuesday night Bible study. (Which, by the way, I am thrilled to be a part of.)

When they were calling out the small groups last week, they explained that they purposefully didn’t put friends in the same group so that they could get out of their comfort zone and meet new people and make new friends.

I looked at my friend Allison right away and told her I felt like I’d been ripped from my comfort zone.

Because that’s exactly how I feel.

I started attending Bayou City Fellowship right away and to say I love it would be the biggest understatement of the year. I absolutely adore my church. It has been a breath of fresh air to my soul that was starting to feel really dry and stuck.

However, not only am I attending a new church, I also have a new job.

After leaving a place I’d been 26 years, I walked into a ministry that’s been established for over 15 years.

Both Living Proof Ministries and Bayou City Fellowship have been nothing but good to me. I am in no way complaining about the newness, it is just the reality right now.

No matter what, where or when, change is always tough.

What hit me last week in a fresh way was the thought that I really did leave my church. I’m not just trying something out for a few months and returning later, and I really do have a new job. Everything really is new and God willing, it’s not temporary. It was a fresh, hard, good reality.

There is always a honeymoon stage to all things new, and now that I’m feeling settled and learning this new rhythm to life, the honeymoon stage is ending and the reality is setting in.

I’ve never been married, but I’ve heard countless couples say that they couldn’t imagine loving their spouse more than they did on their wedding day, but even six months later, they are more in love than ever, and so on and so forth.

I imagine that is how this new season will turn out. I knew I loved it when I started, but now, even almost three months in, I love it even more.

All honeymoons must come to an end, but that means a sweet future of new memories is just around the corner.

At the beginning of this year I was feeling stuck, but yet comfortable and discontent all at the same time. Everything around me was so familiar and I wasn’t growing. I began to ask the Lord to move in my midst and He did just that. In fact, He did more and moved more than I could have ever asked or imagined.

Not only was I ripped from my comfort zone; I was also ripped from my discontentment. The Lord knew what He was doing. He knew what would challenge me and scare me. He knew what would spur me on. And although it’s hurt along the way, and tears have been shed, I am so thankful.

When I’m comfortable, I’m not growing. When I’m uncomfortable, I cling to Him, which is exactly where I need to be.

Slowly, but surely, I am feeling more at home in this new season. Thank you, Lord, for ripping me away from all things familiar.

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.” Isaiah 43:18 – 19

Good Monday morning, y’all! Just popping in to say hello and post the recap video from Living Proof Live this weekend. We’d love to hear from you if you were there! Thanks, Rich, for your hard work.

Also, be expecting to hear from Amanda quite a bit this week as she travels with Compassion International to Ecuador. I, for one, am looking so forward to reading what all the Lord will do in and through their team. Would you journey along with her as well through prayer? I know they would covet each and every one of them. You ladies are awesome! We love y’all.

Have a wonderful day!

Hey Siestas!

Can you believe there are only two more Living Proof Live events left this year? So crazy!

With that said, this weekend our Siesta Mama will be live in Casper, Wyoming (where it is supposed to SNOW!), and we are so excited to offer 20 scholarship tickets, thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, to those of you that are wanting to attend, but just can’t afford it at this time.

If you qualify for this, we will offer them to the first 20 ladies that call the Living Proof office during regular business hours (8:30 – 4:30 CST). Ask for Kimberly or Susan at 1-888-700-1999 and one of them will get you hooked up and squared away. If you happen to get a voicemail or call during the lunch hour, be sure to leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We are so humbled and grateful that the Lord has allowed us to do this and pray that you are blessed by the Lord this weekend. May He speak straight to your heart!

“The Word of God has spoken, we are changed forever!” Let it be, Lord.

Anyone else out there heading that way this weekend?

We love you ladies!