While I haven’t personally taken any punches to the gut this week, nearly everyday I’ve heard from certain friends who are just going through it, you know what I mean? We all have those days and weeks, and quite frankly, we do everything in our might to avoid pain, conflict and hurt, but at the end of the day, we’re still humans living in a fallen world and though we strive for perfection, we’ll never attain it here on earth.

It’s hard to form the right words when you really don’t know what to say, which is why I appreciate music so much. So often I’m at a loss for how to articulate what I’m feeling when boom, I hear a song that could make me weep because it so resonates. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of person that throws a song at somebody the minute something goes awry. Not in the least.  But you better believe sometimes I get back in my car and turn on said song and pray it over my friends, and myself, too.

That happened as recently as yesterday.

I got in my car and turned on Bethel’s newest version of It Is Well. In case you were curious, yes, it is a version of the hymn It Is Well, which I am sure many of you know so well.

But if you’ve not heard it, please allow me to share the lyrics with you.

Grander earth has quaked before
Moved by the sound of His voice
Seas that are shaken and stirred
Can be calmed and broken for my regard



Through it all, through it all

My eyes are on You
Through it all, through it all
It is well
Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
It is well with me



Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can’t see
And this mountain that’s in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea



So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name 



It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul

It would be worth $1.29 on iTunes to purchase.

At times, life is not without pain. But the beauty is that the pain is not without purpose, even if we keep trying to make sense of it and we can’t. Even if we can’t see what in the world He is doing. That’s when we remember that even the winds and waves know His name. He sees our brokenness. He knows our hearts.

I have no idea what kind of season you are walking through right now. It could be full of joy. It could be full of unknowns. It could be full of pain. It could be full or laughter. It could be full of tears. I don’t know, but the God of the universe does know. And one thing is for sure: it is full of purpose.

Know this weekend that you are dearly loved by God, my Sister.

“Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.” Psalm 51:17

“If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.” Psalm 34:18

Is there any Monday worse than after a three day weekend? I submit that there is not. Those weekends are such a tease, in the best way possible. My computer even realizes it’s a Monday because my internet keeps going in an out, hence this post coming later in the day. Anyway, we hope you all had a terrific weekend with family and friends celebrating our country’s freedom, eating hotdogs, and hopefully getting to see a few fireworks.

Coming up this weekend is Living Proof Live in Lubbock. This conference is being hosted in our very own state, albeit nine hours away from Houston, but we’re still excited and looking forward to it. Beth has her head in her Bible studying away with joy for you ladies that will attend.

You might notice I didn’t use the word “giveaway” in the title of the post because I think there may be some confusion. I’ve gotten a few emails and comments from folks who think they’re entering a drawing, when in fact, there is no drawing to be entered. Per our new initiative, we have 50 tickets available for you to give to some friends you might want to invite to an LPL event. They might not even attend church, or know Jesus as Savior;  they might be new to faith, or simply less discipled in the Word.

If that’s you and you have someone in mind that can attend with you, or if you stumbled across this blog and don’t know why, just call and ask for Kimberly here at the ministry and she will get you set up: 1-888-700-1999. (Not 800.)

As we were reminded this morning in our staff devotional, this is your chance to invite somebody to “come and see”, and taste and see that the Lord is good.  If while inviting a friend you need a ticket yourself, we want to gift you a ticket also.  Likely someone who wouldn’t step foot in a church also wouldn’t step foot in an arena with thousands of ladies she’s never met.  Say “come sit with me!”

We love y’all.

Food makes us unique. Am I right or am I right?

Sometimes we hate it, sometimes we love it. Some of us live to eat (that would be me) and some of us eat to live (those would be those that view food as fuel for your body and that’s it). Our lives revolve around food and the table. It’s where community happens. To eat in front of somebody is an intimate thing, and not always so attractive, if I do say so myself. Food is so central to our living.

A couple years ago for some medical reasons my roommate was put on a yeast free diet. Let me put that into simple laymen terms: IT MEANS NO BREAD OR SUGAR. OR ANYTHING GOOD IN LIFE.  None. Zip. Nada. Not for you. To support her, we joined her in this adventure. We literally went through our refrigerator and pantry and gave away anything and everything with yeast in it to remove temptation. People thought we were crazy, and well, we did too. We went to the store and never made it out of the produce section except for a brief jaunt to the meat counter to pick up some grass-fed protein. One look into our shopping cart and we looked like three health nuts.

And it was nuts. And horrible in every way. Just imagine three girls living together while simultaneously not eating BREAD or SUGAR. Or anything good and noble. For a week, we were the three hangry (where hunger and anger collide) roommates. It’s a miracle we made it out still liking each other. I have sympathy for you that have to endure a gluten-free life or some other dietary restrictions for health reasons. I wish it were different for you in every way.

We made it one week before her doctor decided maybe she should take a different route because it was really, really, really hard . You may have heard the angels singing when I received a text one day saying the detox had officially ended. A big sigh of relief. Only problem was we still didn’t have any good food in our home. Lame.

We resumed our normal, mainly healthy eating with a bowl of ice cream and some thin mints thrown in every now and then. Life was good.

Fast forward three years to today. For 28 days I’ve put myself on a detox with a few of my coworkers that includes no caffeine, no dairy, no sugar, and no social life.

I’m kidding. But really.

The first three days I hated myself. My head felt like it was going to explode and all I wanted was an iced latte from Starbucks. (I’d be lying if I said I haven’t craved one every day since. But the cravings, well, they’re getting a little better.) While it’s not been near as rough as the yeast free torture, it’s still a lot of preparation and more often than not, while our co-workers head off to Mexican food for lunch, we stay back and eat our lettuce wraps. It’s all so appetizing, really.

Yesterday, however, we decided to join our coworkers at lunch. We discussed just eating a salad at said restaurant, but then decided it wouldn’t be worth it to pay $9 for one when we had all the supplies to make it ourselves and bring it along. So that’s exactly what we did. Seems legit, right?

That is until the table was served their food and simultaneously while Melissa had just asked me how it was going and I was feeling really positive about the entire 28 days, each of us pulled a paper plate (mine was particularly mangled) and a Ziploc baggie with our own hand tossed salad inside and dumped it on our ever so fancy paper plates IN A RESTAURANT.

Did you hear me? The three divas took a paper plate and a Ziploc baggie of salad and lost all of our dignity. And we died laughing while my face turned the color of a tomato. (Tomatoes, incidentally, were not allowed on this Phase.)

Food makes you do weird things, y’all. And sometimes instead of sharing our opinions on certain matters, or our circumstances that are getting us down, we just need to share the funny things in life. The random moments. The things that make us laugh until we cry.

Please tell me we’re not alone and that you’re weird too. I’m certain I’ll feel a little more sane.

Also, tomorrow is the 4th of July. I’m proud to be an American. And I’ll be proud to eat a hotdog. Or a hamburger. Or whatever food our country feasts on. And I won’t feel bad about it in the least.

Happy almost 4th of July, friends. I hope you celebrate with lots of cookies, chips, hotdogs, hamburgers, guacamole and maybe even a cake. Grin.

Thank you, David Lowe, for this excellent recap! And Happy Monday to you all! Let us hear from you if you were in Biloxi this weekend. I have a feeling it was a sweet weekend!

Living Proof Live | Biloxi from LifeWay Women on Vimeo.

Hey ladies! My word how has it been a week since we’ve said hello here? I’ve sat down to write a post for you every day and then I get interrupted to never return. It’s just been one of those weeks! Please forgive us! Two important things that might be of interest to you are: 1) Beth is on her way to Biloxi as we speak. It’s been raining cats and dogs here today and we’ve had quite the summer thunderstorms, so would you join us in praying her there safely and quickly? 2) We have officially given all of our tickets away. Praise God! Girls, I hope you are prepared to get yourself a WORD this weekend because that is exactly what is coming your way. May the Spirit fall on each of you! We’re praying for you and can’t wait to hear all about it!

Happy Friday, ladies!

A week from today the Biloxi Living Proof Live will kick off! I’m curious to know how many of you are already planning on attending? Last I heard, this is the teams first event in Biloxi, so they’re excited. Fresh ground to plow and hopefully, some fresh faces to serve.

As you know by now, we’ve changed up our ticket giveaway, which is why I’m posting it on a Friday as opposed to a Monday or even the day before an event. Our hope is that the earlier the better! We realize we’re asking you to invite friends and family to the events whether or not you are able to attend yourself, which takes a little bit of planning, hence the Friday post, but still only a week out from the event!

To reiterate our new vision, our desire and ongoing emphasis this year is toward those who may not know Christ at all, or maybe have never been discipled in His Word.  Young, old, friend, or family, we welcome them.  If while inviting them to attend, you yourself also need a ticket, then we by all means want to help you go.

With that said, we have some Biloxi tickets that are just waiting to be claimed. And they will be here until the last one is accounted for.  If you aren’t near Biloxi, keep in mind upcoming LPL’s near you: 2014 Schedule. Just call and ask for Kimberly here at the ministry, and she will get you set up: 1-888-700-1999

We love you here at LPM.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’ve noticed this week as I’ve published some of your comments that you’ve given a little shout-out Happy Birthday to Beth! If you’ve done this, you must have super powers because you’re correct.

This past Monday we shut down the ministry for a few hours to celebrate our beloved boss and friend. LPM birthdays are a blast in general, but we tend to go all out for her because, well, we love her, and if it wasn’t for her and Jesus, this ministry wouldn’t even exist. Grin.

I thought it would be fun to share a little birthday recap for you, our dear, faithful Siestas.

We started the day out at a little art studio called Painting With a Twist. Basically you decide on one portrait from hundreds of paintings for your particular class, and then for two hours an instructor walks you through the process of painting that portrait on a canvas yourself. I’m sure many of you have heard of this, and probably even have places like this near you.

Here is the birthday girl and a handful of The Village headed to Painting With a Twist.

It’s a kick because from the first stroke of paint, everyone’s personality comes out. For instance, I myself am a perfectionist but don’t consider myself an artist, so I immediately felt anxious. Can you say “stress”?. Others of us are carefree and calm and don’t say a peep the whole time, but have near perfect paintings. Then you have those that scratch the entire process and create their own work of art, in which I thought was brilliant and was wishing I’d done myself. At one point we heard our beloved teacher exclaim that one of the stars on her flag resembled a flying squirrel, while another one of us ran out of room while writing (with a paint brush, mind you) “America the Beautiful” which turned out to be “America the Beauti”. These are the things that stick with us.

Honestly, we had a complete blast and laughed our heads off. I promptly gave mine to my mom as a gift. Of course she told me how lovely mine was and that she loved it, but she’s required to say things like that because she’s my mom.

Here are a few pictures from our time at Painting with a Twist.

(Side note: I much prefer photographing to painting.)

(Also, I did really great taking pictures at first, and then I was too far into the process to even pick up my phone. It was intense.)

It was only appropriate that after each layer of painting, we had to blow dry our canvases. Beth wanted to know if anyone brought her root lifter.

Unfortunately, this was the only picture I got before the “final product”. Imagine stars, and flags, and words, oh my! Also, please note ALL THE BLUE. It was really supposed to be in the top left hand corner.

Victory! Here we are with our final paintings. Notice not one painting is even slightly like the other. So much fun!

After painting we headed back to the office for some Mexican food and cupcakes! Oh, and some birthday gifts, as well. By 3:00 I think each of us preferred to be napping as opposed to sitting at our desks, but that’s the sacrifice of a good celebration, right? It was the best day! We love you, Beth! Happy, happy birthday!

P.S. What’s been one of your favorite birthdays and why? I love hearing unique ways to celebrate!

About a week ago I turned 29. That’s big time, right? Being one year away from 30 and all. Something about turning 30 makes me feel like I will have arrived or something. I was about to say that I think people treat 30-somethings more serious, but maybe 30-somethings start to take themselves more seriously. But, anyway, what do I know, I’m getting ahead of myself.

As my birthday was approaching I started scribbling down things I’ve learned these past 29 years, things silly and serious. While I still have a long way to go and so much to learn, I thought I might share them here.

In no particular order, here’s to 29 things I’ve learned in 29 years:

1) I am slowly learning that I have little to no control over the circumstances that surround me, but it’s the circumstances around me that Jesus uses to shape me the most.

2) Learning how to sauté and roast vegetables changed my life. For the better.

3) Often I’ve found that effective leaders are good listeners; which shows me that to be a good leader, you must be a good listener.

4) Sometimes honor means leaving someone better than you found them. (In an ideal world, this would be true of dating, too.)

5) I think if we all adopted the mentality of “what can I do at my church so that more people can come and hear about Jesus?” instead of “I can’t worship because it’s too loud and someone took my seat.”, we as a church would be a lot happier.

6) People you can be yourself with (the good, the bad, and the ugly) are a pure gift.

7) I’m slowly learning that the schemes of the enemy are crafty, yet so obvious. His main goal is to get our attention off of Jesus Christ. He likes it when our minds wander.

8) A late-night bowl of cereal is always a good idea.

9) Friends re-runs never, ever get old.

10) You and I are an original. Scripture says so, “Each of us is an original.” Gal. 5:26

11) Laughing until you cry is the best thing ever, ever, ever. It is reviving.

12) If we didn’t have any handicaps, no limitations, we would never realize our deep need for Christ in our lives.

13) Asking the right questions makes all the difference in the world.

14) If you do not love, you are nothing.

15) There will never come a time in your life when you won’t need the church, and by that I mean the Body of Believers that makes up the church.

16) Part of having good, solid friendships is learning to be a good friend. It takes two to tango.

17) It’s okay to admit that you’re wrong. Or hurt. Or not okay. That’s why you’ll never outgrow the Body of Christ. They carry you when you’ve been through the wringer.

18) Everybody longs to be truly known. But everybody wants to really know somebody, also. It’s how we were created. For intimacy.

19) There’s a cost to being known, it’s called vulnerability. And vulnerability involves risk. But it’s worth it.

20) There is nothing wrong with purchasing Disney movies (ahem, Frozen) even if you have no children to blame it on.

21) It is unfathomable to me that not only does God not make mention of our sin if we are in Christ, but He doesn’t even recall it. We are spotless in his eyes. (Yet ironically we are so good at recalling others sin and holding it against them. Ouch.)

22) Change takes time.

23) What marks a good friendship is that you talk about the trivial things and the deep things.

24) Babies are the cutest and most snuggly after bath time. Swoon.

25) It blows my mind that no two sunrises or sunsets are ever the same. Our God is so creative.

26) We can’t pretend to have it all together and then expect people to relate to us. People relate to the real us, the flawed us, not the fake us. Believers and non-believers alike.

27) I find it so perplexing that relationships of all kinds are the one thing we all desire in life, but they are the one thing that can do the most damage. Help us, Jesus.

28) Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve observed lately that while women write and sing songs about being brave, men write and star in movies about being brave. Hmmmm.

29) Aiming to invest in people over impressing people is the way to live.

To those that have invested and imparted these things in me, you’re the best. Thank you!

Good Monday morning, ladies! I have a feeling most of you are starting out your first week of summer. Well, those of you with kiddos at home. I can imagine y’all spending days poolside, at splash parks, in the movie theater, hiking, crafting and all manner of things you mamas are creative enough to come up with to fill the long, sometimes exciting and sometimes not-so-exciting days.

Beth starts Camp Bibby today with her two loves, Jackson and Annabeth, so I doubt we’ll hear much from her as she has her hands FULL this entire week. She has the week off, so we won’t see much of her, either. Feel free to send up a prayer on her behalf for an extra dose of energy this week, especially after serving at an LPL this past weekend! She’s the best!

I purposefully left the blog a little quiet last week so most of you could get caught up on our Siesta Summer Bible study kick-off. Y’all, we have over 4,000 of you participating with us this summer! And those are just the ones that actually “registered” on the blog. You kept me on my toes last week!

Hopefully this week we’ll have just as much fun here as Jackson and Annabeth are having at Camp Bibby. I’ll do my best to serve y’all and keep you entertained. Grin.

In the meantime, here is this weekend’s recap from Stockton, California. Rich did a fantastic job, as usual. Be blessed, my friends!

Living Proof Live | Stockton from LifeWay Women on Vimeo.

This morning I got an email from a sweet lady asking where in the world she should start? Start what, you might wonder? Where to start as a new believer. Basically, HOW IN THE WORLD DOES ONE DO THIS THING?

At first I wanted to forward the email on because I didn’t feel the least bit qualified to answer such a question, especially when she mentioned that “though she wasn’t saying reading the book of John as the standard answer is a bad answer”, she just wanted more.

To be more specific, she wondered, “If I don’t want to look like a complete fool as it relates to Biblical knowledge, history, early church, and generally how the Bible was compiled, where do I begin?”

I so appreciated the email because I feel like there are so many out there asking that very same question, hence the reason for this post. Maybe they’ve even read the book of John, but are having trouble interpreting it and they just need some clarity. I get that, I really do.

So, in all my naïve wisdom, as a 28-year-old still-learning-what-life-is-all-about, I am here to offer you what I personally have done, and what I know scripture points to.

1) PRAY.
I know. That’s not what you were looking for. But it’s the gospel truth. Tell the Lord EXACTLY what you are thinking and feeling, He already knows anyway. If you read a portion of scripture and you are more confused than when you dove in, tell Him. Be honest. If you can’t be honest with the God of the Universe, I don’t know who you can be honest with. And of all people, He can handle it. And He cares. So, pray.

One very specific thing you can pray if you’re just starting out as a new believer (or a seasoned believer) and treading uncharted territory is, Lord, open my mind to understand your scriptures! It is straight out of Luke, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…” Luke 24:45. In fact, I have that plastered on a sticky note right in front of my computer at work so I remember to pray that. Because news flash, a lot of times I don’t always understand! He hears you! The last thing you should do is let your lack of understanding keep you from reading the scriptures. Find a translation you like that works for you. It’s okay if everyone around is you is into the English Standard Version (ESV) and you’re drawn to the New Living Translation (NLT). Don’t let comparison discourage you! Read The Message translation if you like it. There is no formula! I have personally found that for me one of the enemy’s biggest schemes is to get my mind wandering away from all or any thing Jesus. The more I allow my mind to wander and daydream, the worse off I am. The more I am in the scriptures (and it is a FIGHT at times) the more sane I feel.

2) CHURCH.
Yes, this millennial is telling you to get yourself in a church. It’s a big deal! Whether you believe in it or not, you need those people. You need the church. You need the older. The wiser. The younger. The married. The single. The children. The people. As hard as you try, you can’t (and won’t for long) survive without them. These are the people that will welcome you, encourage you, love you, pray for you, laugh with you, cry with you, teach you and grow with you. You have a place (and a gifting – 1 Corinthians 12:27) in the body of Christ, don’t let anyone tell you different. Plug yourself into a church where Jesus is the focus. That may seem obvious, but it’s vital.

Consider Hebrews 10:24-25 to help you understand why the church is of utmost importance, I really like it in the Amplified version.

“And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities, Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.”

Side note: Besides learning the discipline of prayer, this may cause you to be the most brave, but do it! You will find all manner of excuses not to go, but ignore them. Create the time go and commit! Commit until you know that if you missed, someone would notice. I know for some this may mean going alone, but if you never try it, you might not experience the blessing. Be brave, friend!

3) BIBLE STUDY.
I have found that the easiest way to meet people in church is to either serve or attend a small group or Bible study of some sort. Once you find a church, this will be a little easier, as most churches offer multiple Bible studies. If you’re not comfortable serving right away, no shame! You may not even know where you’re needed or what you’d be interested in doing. So, start by attending a weekly study either on the campus of your church or in someone’s home. And by all means, if this is foreign to you and you have no idea how to go about doing this, for heaven’s sake, ask somebody! Find someone standing behind an information table, ask the person sitting next to you, just ask. People are there to help, and they want to help! Simply put, the easiest way to get acquainted with the Word is to study it, and studying it with other people around you is even better, especially if you’re just beginning. Plus, this increases the level of accountability, and we all need someone to assist us in this. Even better: Ask if your church hosts any type of Bible class. You never know what the church might offer.

Can I just be honest? This is all hard. Life get’s busy, distractions pop up, you get weary. Maybe results are slim, but in the end, it will be worth it. You’ll NEVER waste a minute pursuing Christ. So to those of you who are brand new to this Jesus thing, we ARE SO GLAD you landed here! Persevere, walk it out, get honest, and just have fun. And for the record, and if you hear one thing, hear this, if anyone makes you feel like a fool for not knowing the “basics” of studying the Bible, or having to look in the table of contents to find a certain book of the Bible (which, hello, I have done just recently), then you can find a new friend. NO ONE should make you feel like that! We ALL started there. No one came out of the womb a know-it-all. You are never a fool for asking questions and being honest. Never.

If you’re looking for specific books that are more in-depth, and study books that aren’t necessarily Bible studies, a few years ago Beth compiled a list for our blog readers. You can find that here! It has some really great resources for anyone, but especially if you desire to be a student of the Word.

And if this is old news to some of you, then encourage somebody with it who has the same questions. It’s all about discipleship!

I’ve heard it said a million times by a pastor I respect greatly, you don’t just stumble into godliness, it takes work! As with most things, there is so much more you can do, but this is a start! There is hope, and godliness is possible.

We love y’all so much.