If she didn’t have a Bible study class to teach tonight, I know Bethie would be on here right now talking about how much fun she had meeting so many Siestas in Atlanta. (You almost got a post from her last night but she decided to cook dinner for us instead. Sorry, but it was really good!) She told me she had a blast and that all of you were hilarious. Thanks to Lisa/The Preacher’s Wife and my co-worker KMac for supplying pictures.

Miesta Moose made an appearance!

I’m now 17 days away from my due date, but who’s counting? It’s not like I’m getting impatient or anything! I had an ultrasound yesterday and Baby Girl looks great. Today I got my highlights done, so we are one step closer to being ready. Y’all, I went into the salon as prepared as possible. I didn’t take a pickle jar or a bottle of Sprite, but on this very spring-like day I did take a big jacket to tie around my waist if necessary. Thank you for that tip! The princess got a little excited while my hair was getting foiled and I was just praying she wouldn’t knock anything loose! I cannot think of worse timing than to have chemicals and aluminum in one’s hair when labor begins. I don’t want to scare my daughter when she sees me for the first time. I’d rather her first thought be that, indeed, she has a beautiful inhairitance. (Ps. 16:6, ESV) (That was for my mom, whose love language is speaking in puns.)

I need to get ready to pick up my boy from mother’s day out, but I have to share this real quick. Last night Curt was getting Jackson ready for bed and I overheard him ask if he’d ever seen an angel. Jackson said, “Yes.” Then Curt said, “Well, what did the angel look like?” Jackson said, “Mommy.” Is that not so precious? Don’t think VVPG didn’t almost start crying! Y’all have a great Tuesday!

Hey Siestas! It seems like everyone is in Woodstock, Georgia, this weekend for the live recording of Travis’ new album. Very Very Pregnant Girl (that’s me, AKA VVPG) is unable to travel and join in on the fun. I feel like I’m just waiting around for something exciting to happen at this point. The countdown to my due date is just nineteen days. I’m considered full term now at 37 weeks and am definitely feeling it! I believe all Baby Girl is really doing at this point is gaining weight. I always think about how wise God was when He planned it this way. How much would it stink to carry around a seven pounder for several months? It’s proof of God’s mercy that they don’t get this big until the very end.

We’re almost completely ready for Baby Girl to get here. The nursery has been transformed from blue and brown to pink, yellow, green, and blue. Her closet is perfectly organized and filled with all kinds of wonderful things. I’ve got a package of newborn Pampers Swaddlers ready to do what they were created to do. I have an appointment for fresh highlights on Tuesday. Oh, and a friend gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure so I’ll have pretty toes in the hospital. How sweet of her!

I’ve been packing in every opportunity to do this or that with friends since I will be home bound for a while once she comes. Curtis and I are having a date night tonight since we never know when it will be our last chance! I’m sure we truly do have 19 days to go, but we feel like we’re in any-minute-mode.

So I’m having the common fear of every VVPG. What if my water breaks in public? Y’all, I’m terrified of this. I really wasn’t afraid of it when I was expecting Jackson because I’d never experienced that phenomenon before. Ignorance was bliss. When it happened to me in my hospital bed I was horrified. I will refrain from describing it in detail, but it was much more dramatic than I was prepared for. I actually cried, y’all. It was the beginning of the end of my modesty and dignity, which were basically decimated during the next few days. Is anyone with me on this? And look at the result – three years later I’m writing about my water breaking on a blog!

I was telling a friend that I’m preparing to sequester myself late next week so that I can avoid my water breaking in public. (It remains to be seen if I will actually stick to this.) Then she asked me if I’ve ever actually known anyone who this happened to. Nope. Can’t think of anyone.

Since we women love to tell our birth stories, I thought some of you who have experienced your water breaking in public might want to share. Was it awful or were you too excited to care?

I’m not sure my mom and sister won’t be horrified by this blog post. I have no way of knowing since they’re at Travis’ concert. Maybe my acid reflux, swollen ankles, inability to breathe well, crowded rib cage, and frequent trips to the powder room are clouding my judgment. If this post disappears, you’ll know why. In the meantime, I’m claiming that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission!

Yesterday a really nice dude delivered the most beautiful red box to my door (looked like new shoes, was hoping it was new shoes) with the words “Edible Arrangements” on the outside of the card. The inside had a fun note from Travis and Angela saying how happy they were that I was coming to the taping of his new worship CD this weekend. I can hardly wait. I am so anxious to get back with my team and I also get to see my baby girl – and, by the way, Georgia Jan! I opened the box to behold the most beautiful array of big, fat strawberries and quarters of green apples you’ve ever seen and each dipped (maybe even double-dipped) in dark chocolate.

It’s sort of a joke between us. You see, I hate fruit. I don’t know why. I just never developed a taste for it. For one thing, it was expensive to buy for a family of eight and my family growing up not only didn’t have an extra dime. We could have used somebody else’s. We mostly ate Twinkies and Ding Dongs because they came in a family pack. I think I started the chocolate-covered fruit thing with the Cottrells several years ago when I sent a package for Travis’s birthday. I thought it kinda cleverly described our two families. They love fruit. We love chocolate.

Anyway, the only reason Travis Cottrell eats remotely healthy is because of his wife. I have long said that the greatest proof of God’s love for Travis beyond his salvation is Angela Cottrell. She is Wonder Woman. Years ago when she may have been at the summit of her culinary health-consciousness, I got to stay in their very sanguine home. Jackson, their oldest (middle schooler now, and, yes, where we came to love that name), was really young. Maybe five. Levi wasn’t even a twinkle in his parents’ eye yet. Jack and I were sitting in our pj’s at their breakfast table and Angela announced, “Beth, since we have company this morning, I’ll fix pancakes!” I was elated. I adore Angela Cottrell and would eat anything just to sit at the same table with her. She is one of my favorite women in the world to muse over God’s Word with. But, we weren’t having Bible study that morning. We were having breakfast. And, to be honest, I’d anticipated that we might have something like granola and soy milk and we’d chug it down with barley green. (I’ve witnessed this very phenomenon at their house a number of times.) I think I’ve told you somewhere along the way that I was raised on Jimmy Dean sausage, burned to a crisp, and cheap canned biscuits for breakfast. (Still love it. Had that very fare within last 48 hours.) Pancakes. I couldn’t have been happier. Then out came the whole wheat flour from the cupboard. Hope deferred.

Oh, but the company was good. Jack and I talked a million miles an hour. When he was little, he thought my first name was “Bethmoore.” He called me the whole thing like it was just one word. It was terribly endearing and made me smile every time he said it. (I still love Jack. He was my handsome, very polite and engaging date to a wedding in Nashville not very long ago.) We talked it up while Angela flipped whole wheat pancakes and I got hungrier and hungrier. Finally, she put a plate down right in front of me, stacked three-high. They looked a little odd. Kinda like someone had spilled the Quaker Oats in the frying pan and she forgot to wash it before she poured the batter. I was raised with too many manners not to eat what my host set in front of me and, anyway, my stomach was growling so loud that their wiener dog was practically growling back. I took my first bite.

And they were incredible. I couldn’t believe it. Listen, this is a woman who feels pious when she eats wheat bread and if I drink a bottle of water, I tell everyone all day long that I did. They don’t care but I tell them anyway. I mean, stinking incredible. My plate was empty long before Jack’s pancakes were even on the table. I looked at him while I was eating them and said, “Jack, these pancakes will change your life.”

“No, they won’t.”

“Yes, Jack, they really will. I’ve never tasted a pancake this good. Your mother is the best cook in the whole wide world. I’m serious. These pancakes will change your life.”

“No, they won’t, Bethmoore.”

“Yes, Jack Cottrell, they really will. They will change your life.”

About the time I swallowed my last bite, Travis hollered at me from the other room and told me that if I didn’t get with it, we were going to be late. (Don’t even remember now where we were going. I think I had a flight home.) I hopped up, thanked Angela, probably kissed Jackson on the head and shot upstairs before he even got his pancakes. Angela said the kitchen was silent for a couple of seconds. Then that precocious boy said, “Bethmoore makes me hungry.” We’ve howled about it ever since.

I know that’s random. I don’t even know why I wrote it. I think because I have HONESTLY eaten more fruit in the last 12 hours than I have ever eaten in my life. And I feel high. Do you think it was the fruit?

Or the chocolate?

Gotta go. Sausage and biscuits almost done.

I love y’all today.

My Dear Siestas, I can’t think of anything more appropriate and more Biblical than reserving this day on our blog for heart-felt prayers for our new president and his family. You are welcome to write your genuine words of intercession as a comment to this post just as you’d lift them before the Throne of Grace for President and Mrs. Obama and their two precious daughters. Today it makes no difference how anyone voted. God in His sovereignty has appointed this day and our new president needs our prayers. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3.

         Hey Ladies, It’s Melissa! Have I mentioned how amazing you all were in giving so many tips for my budget? I will report more about this soon!  For now, I came across this lengthy quote by Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth American President, and for some reason it brought tears to my eyes.  There is a good chance you have already heard it or read it but I think it is worth reading multiple times.  It goes like this:

          “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without effort or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with these cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” (1910)

      In truth I know very little about the life of Theodore Roosevelt and actually am not even sure of the precise context of this quote but I think the gist of what he is saying is pretty clear.  And I think it has a general message that could apply to many situations.  Now, I realize I am a little boyish in the sense that I love battle imagery. If you’re an all pink lady, this quote may not be for you. For those of you who are still with me here, the reason I love this quote is because it reminds me a lot of the criticism that sometimes fills our pews.  You see, I spent a lot of my time in college and graduate school critiquing the methods of various bible teachers, pastors, and writers.  Criticism is the name of the game in most academic institutions and rightly so.  It is quite appropriate in those contexts.  The difficult thing about studying the Bible in an academic institution is that it invades your entire life…I mean you can’t even escape your field of study when you are sitting at church trying to get a breath of fresh air.  This makes for an interesting dilemma.  As I would sit through various sermons I would think to myself, “Oh no! Gasp, a topical sermon, but wait, I only approve of expository preaching.”…“Did he/she teach that text appropriately?” “Was that even in the right context?” “Well, he/she obviously has never read this passage”… “Is this worship song really fit to be sung in these hallowed corridors?” 

Now I am not saying that these are bad questions to be asking per se, but simply explaining my personal situation.  Well, interestingly, it was about that time that I got so fearful to even lead a small group Bible Study in fear that I would pronounce something wrong or spread heresy.  And God forbid, that someone would say I just wasn’t a very good teacher/leader. I had apparently sat with my arms crossed during one too many sermons.  You see, the more I sat under teachers, pastors, and worship leaders with the goal of sizing them up, the more fearful/timid I was becoming to even serve in a very small ministry capacity. 

The Lord has done a great work to change my heart over the years.  He has done it through His Word. Frankly, I think I was becoming a modern-day Pharisee.  The first time I became fearful of who I was going to become was when I was at a church in Grad school and immediately after the sermon a man (who apparently took great pride in having been to Seminary) rushed up to the Pastor and “proved” to him that he preached one of his points wrongly. The dude didn’t even thank the Pastor for his wonderful message. Nothing. Just criticized him for something so trivial and silly.  I was for sure “dumber”. Yet wiser. Because I saw a vision of whom I could become. I mean, easy for this dude to sit back and wait for the Pastor to slip while this faithful man had to get up and preach in front of thousands of people.  He had prepared all week for a man to immediately rush up to him with a pointed finger in the biblical text. Sounds like something you would hear Jesus condemning in the Gospels, doesn’t it?

I have come to realize what a miracle it is for the Lord to use us in spite of our weaknesses.  We are going to make mistakes and dangit, we may even teach a passage of Scripture a tiny tiny little bit out of context at some point. Not because we want to or because we are maliciously trying to lead people astray, but because we are simply human. I am all for being trained to study the Bible. It’s the biggest passion in my life, but the truth is, we still just see through a mirror dimly. We don’t see fully yet.  The truth is we may study and study and study, and then get something slightly wrong.  Or think about this- maybe we are teaching a Sunday school class and we got all the doctrine/theology down perfectly, but our delivery wasn’t smooth.  In fact, it sounded terrible.  Well, the glorious thing is that the Lord uses the truth we taught anyway.  And maybe we’ll improve the eloquence of our delivery the next time.  I love it.  I really do.  Our fears of not getting it all right should never keep us from serving faithfully.

I just want to give a shout out- a toast of sorts- to all of you women who will serve tomorrow morning in your various congregations in spite of your fear of not being perfect and polished.  You are putting yourself out there for the sake of the body of Christ- you may be bloody and bruised, but you’re in the ring, right?  Sorry about the sports metaphor, pink ladies…lucky for you- I am done ranting.

      CHEERS to “the doer, not the mere critic- the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done” (Roosevelt, 1891). For, “Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it.  The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness.  It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger.” (Roosevelt, 1894)

Hey, Darling Things! You guys just equipped me with some of the most profound material and insight I have ever seen in that previous post about “Acting a Fool.” Lord have mercy, I can’t tell you how many of those entries made me nod and say out loud, I’ve been THERE. Thank you so much for helping me out. I just closed the comments because the numbers can get so overwhelming that people tend not to read them anymore. I’m cutting and pasting them on a document and printing them out for a notebook I’ve already begun on the subject. You have helped me immensely. Pray that God will use this material to bring forth much fruit.

The thing that made me laugh out loud was the comment that I just brought in a few minutes ago on that post that said (in all caps like this), “Beth, WE WOMEN NEED A GROUP HUG!” Yes, we do! And I know a huge God who has everlasting arms and is up for the task! In fact, I’ll just quote the whole passage: (BTW, this was a memory segment I wrote in a spiral two years ago and still think about all the time)

“There is no one like the God of [you and me], who rides on the heavens to help [us] and on the clouds in His majesty. The eternal God is [our] refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out [our] enemy before [us] saying, ‘Destroy him!’ So [we] will live in safety alone; in a land of grain and new wine (new Welch’s for the Baptists), where the heavens drop dew. Blessed are you, O [Child of God]! WHO IS LIKE [US], A PEOPLE SAVED BY THE LORD? He is [our] shield and helper and [our] glorious sword. [Our] enemies will cower before [us] and [we] will trample down their high places.” Deuteronomy 33:26-29 NIV

Girlfriends, we may have some sad and embarrassing stories back there but we are not a sad, pathetic people. Who is like us, a people saved by the Lord? We have a Healer! A God who grants “incomparable power” to those of us who keep believing Him. It is the same power that He exerted when He raised Jesus from the dead. (Ephesians 1:19-20) Lord have mercy, if He can raise the dead, He can heal our insecurities. Now, here’s what I want from you in response to this post. Write ONE PHRASE or ONE SHORT SENTENCE (no longer than that or they won’t be able to be posted here) that testifies who we are or what we possess in Christ. Let’s balance off the previous post with some mighty confessions that can help demolish strongholds of defeated thoughts that make us feel and act insecure WHEN WE’RE NOT. This is a defeated frame of mind, not a defeated state of life. If we’re believers in Christ, the truth is, we’re NOT insecure. But we do indeed feel that way. And too often behave that way. We need an overhaul, Girls. Let’s shake a little ground by confessing some Truth! These do not need to be anonymous. When you read these comments, say them out loud, personalizing every single one of them for yourself. You’ll feel the power of confession. Keep in mind, Girls, we most believe what our souls and mouths most often confess.

PS. As for our Siesta who is doubting her salvation even though she truly accepted Christ several years ago because somebody with authority told her he doubted it, please read Romans 10:8-10. If you’ve done or will do TODAY what those Scriptures say, you are as saved as Billy Graham. None of us lives consistently every moment but we press on toward singlemindedness.

It may take me a while to bring these in today so be patient if you don’t see your comment right away. The Mister and I had a slumber party last night and in a little while Mommy (who calls herself VVPG – Very, Very Pregnant Girl) will be over here and we’ll spend the day doing all sorts of things out and about. Curtis is speaking this weekend so Bibby is jumping with glee into her official role as family party animal. 2 Girls and A Boy just wanna have fun.

I love you guys!

You guys on our Scripture memory team were ON IT yesterday and I am so proud of you! I tried to wait up last night until I’d brought in 2000 comments but I was about 45 short when I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. In fact, picture your Siesta Mama in bed, head propped up on a pillow, dozing off over and over again with her fingers on the key board of her laptop. (I’d have never gotten away with that if my man had been home but, alas, he was not.) I finally shut it down and gave way to my dreams. Those of you on our Scripture memory team who didn’t get a chance to sign in and record your verses, be sure to return to yesterday’s first post and do so.

As for the rest of us, I hope we will have a very interesting topic today. Most of you will remember that I did a survey on insecurity several months ago. You responded by the droves and brought insight no amount of book research (beyond the Word) could have rivaled. God has stayed on me about the topic and I have a pretty good idea that He’s got something up His holy sleeve but I don’t want to make forecasts. I just want to keep taking the next step with His lead. This is the next step. I told you at that time that I’d probably look to you for more insight on the topic down the road and we’re officially down the road. I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last you’ll hear on this blog about it either.

So here’s the premise followed by the question. I believe insecurity has the capacity to make a fool out of a woman like maybe nothing else on the planet (except the devil, of course). This is especially true in relationships but it also rears its head in our work lives and our serving lives. My bottom line is that we better deal with this issue or these are the kinds of things it makes us do. If insecurity has never made a fool of you, then please don’t comment on this post, but if it has, let us know in a paragraph exactly HOW. Some ground rules:

*Make all comments ANONYMOUS so that I can freely use the information and quote it. If you don’t want to take the chance of being quoted or your story being told (on video or in print or at a speaking engagement), please kindly refrain from commenting. Keep in mind that I am blatantly asking for your examples for the expressed purpose of sharing them to help others.

*Think back all the way to middle school or high school or college or maybe think back only to yesterday. The more varied the examples, the better.

*I’m hoping for everything from serious examples of how insecurity can make a fool of a person to hilarious ones so don’t feel like, if your best story is silly, that it doesn’t fit the post. You know me! I love silly!

Somewhere along the way I’m probably going to do a post for men only so we can get their insight on insecurity, so keep an eye out on that. I’ll need your help enlisting them at the time. We’ve done that before on a different topic and it was so intriguing. For now though, it’s women only on this topic.

OK, Siestas, fess up! Has insecurity ever made a fool of you?

Hey, Sweet Ones! Would you mind helping me nip something really quickly please? We’ve got calls and emails hitting the ministry with concerns that I am supposedly having anxiety attacks. The rumor is an honest mistake. They’re just not reading the earlier post carefully. I was quoting someone else who left an anonymous comment on the mini-tutorial post about the power of Scripture memory. For those of you who misunderstood it, thank you so much for being concerned but it’s not your Siesta Mama. You know me. If it were me, I’d have told you so! Sorry I didn’t make it clearer. I sure do love you! We won’t bother opening this up for comments. Let’s stay focused on our Scripture memory post!

OK, my fellow Scripture-memory Siestas! It’s the 15th and you know what that means! It’s time to sign in (name and location) and record our second Scriptures. Remember, this process is a vital part of the accountability that leads to victory so I hope so much to see several thousand Scriptures come in over the next 36 hours. For those of you who are new to our accountability group, we welcome you! Jump in here with us and get some Scripture as your life-elixir. Here’s a little extra motivation! AN EXCERPT FROM AN ANONYMOUS COMMENT left on the mini-tutorial in reference to our first memory verse: 

“Last night I had THE WORST anxiety attack that I have EVER had in my life. My sweet husband prayed over me and as I climbed in under the covers just quivering with fear, my verse that I am memorizing just came to me and I started to say it over and over out loud and such a peace and calm washed over me. Never has an anxiety attack stopped dead in its tracks as this one did-I am just in awe that in this short time I am already learning my scripture and realizing just how powerful this thing it! This works! Satan has NO authority over MY MIND to cause that kind of fear! I will wield my sword his way!”

Doesn’t our sister’s testimony get your blood pumping? No, we don’t all have a husband who will pray over us at times of mental torment but, Girlfriend, every single one of us can do exactly what our Siesta did! Wield that Holy Thing!!

Now for a few reminders:
1. Choose a Scripture you yourself really need. If you don’t have one picked out and you feel like you could really use the one I’m memorizing, please feel free to join me and don’t feel lame. That’s what mentors in Christ are for.

2. Limit your comment to your Scripture (entirely written out even if you’re joining me with mine) and your name and city. Remember to add your translation abbreviation because many of your sisters may want to look up your verse and won’t know where to find it otherwise. I know it’s hard not to leave further comments but it’s so much cooler to read one Scripture after another as we go through the post. You did such a great job following this instruction last time. Truly it was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen on the blog.

3. Add your verse to your spiral index cards as your second Scripture then begin the same process of memorization/meditation that you did with the first one. Once you get a bit of a handle on the second one, you will then begin doing them BOTH over and over in succession. Don’t get intimidated by this! You can do it. In fact, you’re going to thrive on it! To me, this is when it really starts getting fun and POWERFUL. I love the process of saying a number of Scriptures in a row. You’ll find that the victory is not only won in the spiritual war around us. It’s also won in that very personal war raging within us. Even if you read your two Scriptures over and over and don’t memorize them word for word, remember the primary goal is still accomplished: You are getting the Truth in your brain and holding your thoughts captive to Christ!

A quick word of caution: I am a little concerned for some of you who chose long passages the first time around. You really might consider repeating a portion of it as your second set so you can retain what you’re memorizing. In fact, if you chose a chapter, I’d suggest doing it in as many as four or five segments. I just don’t want you to get discouraged and drop out. Unless you’re pretty experienced at memorization, it’s probably best to stick to shorter segments and see it all the way through to our goal: 24 verses in 12 months!

OK, here’s my 2nd Scripture. Like last time, it’s a verse I really love but have never put to memory. It won’t take you long to figure out what the theme of the Scripture is! And, yes, it’s one I really need for a challenge I’m going through personally. I love it in the NIV:

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV

Here are a few ways I will (“E”) EXAMINE it:
1. It’s 2nd person. (In other words, me saying it to you about God. As I pray it, on the other hand, I’ll say it like this, “You (God) are able to make all grace abound to me…”)

2. The theme is grace and the Scripture expresses that beautiful theme by repeating two key words: “all” (4X) and “abound” (2X). I can already tell that I’ll be emphasizing the word “ALL” as I repeat it aloud because clearly that was Paul’s inspired intention.

3. I notice that the word “every” is used at the very end of the verse instead of “all.” A little twist that I’ll want to keep in mind.

These are little clues that will help me memorize. I hope they help you see the process of “Examine” in our RENEW acrostic at work!

Incidentally, some of you who gave us the privilege to pray for you yesterday about financial needs might take a look at the verses that appear soon after the one I’ve chosen. If God has not led you otherwise, perhaps you might consider memorizing 2 Corinthians 9:10 or 11. When we have a pure and needy heart before God, these kinds of Scriptures are perfectly appropriate to pray, memorize and believe our faithful Father for. Philippians 4:19 is another terrific Scripture for this occasion.

OK, you sweet things! Get busy! Let me see some Scriptures!

I love you like crazy. May Christ Himself, the Living Logos, empower and inspire you!

Hey, My Darling Ones!

Thank you so much for praying for our Bible study launch last night. God brought us such a great group! Lots of new faces and lots of familiar ones, too. I love a marvelous blend of both! It was my first time to teach in our newly renovated sanctuary. It was so beautiful and the quality of sound was the difference between night and day. I am profoundly humbled and blessed this morning that God would allow me, such a former pit-dweller, to serve a plate of His Word to a hungry soul. The way I see it, I’m a waitress.

Let me also give you a quick reminder that tomorrow is the 15th and you that are part of our Siesta Scripture-memory Team will need to be ready to sign in and give your 2nd Scriptures on that (not this) post. If God hasn’t pointed out a specific verse, you are also very welcome to share mine. I’ll give it to you tomorrow. You’ll know if you should share mine by whether or not it resonates with you as something you personally (“N” in our RENEW acrostic) NEED. Also, Siestas, thank you so much for your encouragement over the mini-tutorial! It built up my spirit more than you could know. You made me laugh over your comments about liking the rough videos because you could see the professional ones any old time. It was refreshing. YOU are refreshing. One last thing about the mini-tutorial. It meant the world to me to see you give so many shout-outs to Sabrina. She and the rest of this happy band of women (and one-lone man) at LPM work so hard. Thank you for always recognizing them. They are family to me. I could not esteem them more highly.

OK, now for how I’d like to hear from you today. I am very concerned about those of you who are suffering ramifications from our nation’s current financial crisis. Our unemployment rate is skyrocketing and the threat of further layoffs can be terrifying and demoralizing. I’ve already begun praying for servants of God who are suffering financial blows but my prayers feel more effective AND DIRECTED if I have some names and stories feeding them. If you are feeling the crunch and could use some powerful Siest-ercession (I just made that up. I made my own self laugh.), please post a comment so we can pray for you! Keep your comment limited to a reasonable one-paragraph length so we can read every single one of them and pray. It will really help if you’ll tell us your name and what part of the country (or world!) you are in, but if you prefer to remain anonymous, feel free! I know that we’ll all be tempted to write comments back to our Siestas who describe a need but it will be so much easier to use the comments to this post for prayer if we limit them only to the ones making specific requests. Thank you for your cooperation!

You are so loved and welcome here. You have become an extremely important branch of this ministry and all of us here at LPM are honored to be your servants. Keep fighting the good fight of faith, Sisters! Jesus is worthy!

PS. Girls, I’ve already been reading a number of your needs (over 200 at this point) and praying while nearly bawling. I have become so fond of you that your needs feel like my needs. The Apostle Paul told us that when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. I guess you could consider me the nose on this body. And it is really stinging. And running. I was nearly overcome by the one who is having to lay off 7 people today and is almost physically ill over it. Take heart, all of you! God never prompts us to pray with no intention of responding. It’s just not His style. He initiates prayer to initiate action…often first on Earth so that He can view love and obedience at work…then in Heaven where wonders reside then powerfuly descend in Divine timing. He loves you so much. ABIDE in that love. (Which reminds me, I totally loved the comment from the mom that ended with what her three year-old daughter says at the conclusion of her prayers: “Jesus love me, Amen.” HE DOES.)