Today is a big day for our Beth. After many weeks of studying and researching for Esther, today she will take on the vital task of writing the outline for the Bible study and video lessons. Everything in the study stems from this outline. Please pray for Beth today and ask God to give her His thoughts, creativity, organization, and vision for this project. She will also work on it tomorrow and Monday, but today is the most important day. Thanks, siestas!

A few minutes ago, I jotted AJ (Amanda) an email to let her know that I had posted the commissioning for our “Sistas” and my spell-check objected and insisted that I call you my “siestas.” It made me laugh.

And made me hungry for an enchilada. Then ready for a nap.

My Darling Albuquerque Sisters, please forgive me for not getting your commissioning up until now! My delay could not possibly be a poorer reflection of my high esteem and deep affection for you. I totally loved my time with you. You were a terrific group and hand picked by God for that exact weekend. So gracious and compassionate. As you remember, I had just buried my Dad a few days before I came and, although God granted me complete focus and engagement while I was there, I returned to mountains of details to still take care of regarding his death…and my own grief to deal with. And in the process, I lost my notes of the commissioning! Dad blast it! Thank goodness, my buddies on the LifeWay event team had copied it and posted it and I was able to get it from them. I love you dearly and I am so thankful for you. For all of you who were not with us, our text that weekend was Philippians 2 if you care to read it first then reflect upon the charges below.

I am deeply grateful to be each of your servant. My inmost desire is to serve you Jesus and for the bottom line of all our interaction to be a more passionate love and knowledge of Him. Make no mistake. He is Life.

Dearly loved one
You’ve been called by God
To shine like a star
In a dark, depraved world
Don’t blend in
Refuse the daily temptation
To be absorbed in yourself
Take interest in others
Deliberately humble yourself
And live the life of a servant
As you live in the crisis
Of “continue to”
Keep working out
What God is working in
Watch your mouth
Choose words of life
And one glorious day
You will see the face of Christ
And He will show you
Every good purpose
He fulfilled through you
And there will be delight
Even if you are despised or ignored
You are Christ’s star
Go forth and shine

My first time to play with the water hose.

Waiting at the airport a few days ago for our mystery guest.

Jackson’s expression when he realized who the mystery guest was.

I can’t be bothered to take a posed picture.

See ya! I have a squirrel to chase.

I just have a second but I can’t get something off my mind so I decided to log on and throw it up here. I’ve told you before that I really dig birds. I keep lots of feeders and feel really co-dependent when I’m out of town and can’t fill them up. As ridiculous as it sounds, they bring me untold joy. One of my birds, however, is having a serious issue. I think it’s mental – and I can certainly relate – but it’s manifesting itself in all manner of outward expressions. I’ve been home plenty lately so it’s not my fault…I don’t think. But it may be my responsibility. I’m too co-dependent to know for sure. Here’s the scene: This lone female red bird keeps attacking the mirrors on both sides of my car. She wildly flaps her wings, chatters madly, and runs into one mirror repeatedly then flies to the other side of the car and gives it an equal piece of her mind. Like she’s got anything left. She makes such a racket that I can hear her all the way in the kitchen and I just stand there in total astonishment, looking out the window onto the driveway. I, then, proceed outside and try to talk some sense into her. No matter how close I get, she never lets up. She just keeps attacking her own self. Only she doesn’t realize it’s her.

She’s got such a beef with the red bird in the mirror that she has nearly pecked her blessed little beak into a nub. Clearly, the whole ordeal has her stomach upset. I’ve had to hose down the car on both sides. I keep trying to tell her, “It’s you! It’s only you in the mirror! Let up, Girlfriend!” For lack of a better solution, we now have old kitchen towels draped over the mirrors which upsets me since some of my neighbors think we’re crazy religious freaks as it is. Now they’ll think we’re vampires to boot.

I think the problem could be hormones. Hers. Not mine. I’m not sure if birds have hormonal issues but I know that girls do and she is clearly a girl. (In case you aren’t up on your basic ornithology, you can tell by the color.) It really doesn’t matter what age she is. All it takes to have to have hormone problems is to be the right gender. She and I could start a support group. I feel sorry for her and I hate to see her go on this way. After all, I know how she feels. I’ve been pecking at myself a lot lately. I always have had the tendency to self-peck. I recall one time clearly but silently in my own mind saying to God, “You hate me.” Absurd, I know. And after all He’d done for me. The chilling part was that I sensed an unexpected clear response come right back at me in my mind. “No, Beth. You hate yourself.” Dang it. And it’s sin. Self loathing is sin. It’s just another form of self-absorption.

Maybe you’ve got some anger issues like that bird and maybe the person you’re maddest at it you. Maybe regret over a decision you made years ago or a path you took a long time ago is still eating you alive. Maybe you’ve nearly self-pecked your beak into a nub. Maybe, truth be told, you’ve been thinking that God hates you, despite all He’s done, but today He’s opening your eyes to the fact that it’s you who hates yourself. And it’s got to stop. Nothing about it honors God. Your God loves you with an everlasting love. A love that heals and restores and takes a disfigured soul one day at a time, treats it with Truth, and makes it whole. A love that breaks old patterns and paves new pathways and not just for you. For a lot of people who are walking behind you. But you have to let that love in. You have to believe God feels it for you just like He says He does. You’ve got to be convinced of it to the marrow of your bones. What more could He do to tell you? What more could He do to show you? Choose to accept it. Embrace it. Wallow yourself in it.

“This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.” 1 John 3:19,20

Thanks, Rich!

Oh, my gracious! Thank you so much for praying for us as we gathered in expectation of a Jesus-show in Omaha, Nebraska. (I had prayed this acronym over Omaha after I arrived: Omnipotent Merciful Advocate Here Appear. I believe with all my heart – despite human frailties and inadequacies – that He did.) I fell head over heels in love with those women and their lean-forward and grab the seed out of the air attitude. I challenged them to memorize a (hard and wordy) verse and they screamed it out with holy passion over and over. Now, that’s my kind of group! (I never have a group I don’t end up crazy about but this was one of those that came to meet with Jesus and wasn’t leaving without a revelation.) I don’t know about the 6000 others but this woman right here had her own personal God encounter. I came to this event with a battered heart from an onslaught of hurts and God had profuse mercy on my sad soul. (Please don’t get distracted by that. All of us have hurts. You might just say a prayer for me and for my extended family then leave it to our faithful Father. You and I have plenty of others to pray for who are hanging on by a thread.) I’ve already seen several requests for the commissioning we did at the conclusion of the event so I’ll include it below. I often get the ladies in pairs at the very end, ask them to look each other straight in the eye and call each other to faithfulness as we prepare to take on our worlds once again. The commissionings are always different because they reflect the Scriptural subject matter. This one was based on our three sessions out of Philippians 4:4-13. Even if you weren’t there in Omaha with us, you might read those verses then grant me the privilege of speaking these challenges over you, Darling One. I love you dearly.

Beloved, in the Name of Jesus
I commission you
To rejoice in the Lord always
And again I say rejoice.
Stop worrying about everything!
Dump your anxiety
And start praying like mad.
Start thinking about
What you’re thinking about!
Start feeding your spirit
And stop feeding your flesh.
Never forget the true Secret:
Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!
You, Dear One, have the supernatural CAN DO!
Now, believe God
And turn your CAN DO
Into WILL DO!
You are NOT a wimp.
You are a warrior.
In the Name and power of Christ
Go out there and act like one.

Yesterday I went to “Muffins With Mommy” at my son’s mother’s day out. We got to sit at his little table in the little chairs and eat little muffins together. We watched a video of the kids playing on the playground. They were having a blast going down the slide with their teacher. When I picked him up in the afternoon, I was given a gift bag that Jackson had made me for Mother’s Day. I’m saving it for Sunday. Even if there’s just a used Band-aid (as long as it’s his) or a banana peel inside, I will love it. The bag alone is enough. Jackson’s little hand print decorates the front and I couldn’t help but kiss it. I was overwhelmed with the joy of motherhood. Drunk on younguns – my youngun – as my mama always said.

We will spend this weekend celebrating the women who have poured out their lives to provide for us in every way. We will send flowers, buy gifts, write heartfelt I love yous on greeting cards, and go to brunch. We will try to communicate our gratefulness and find that words just aren’t enough. But our meager attempts sure do mean a lot to Mom. We will not forget to honor the women who didn’t birth us, but who have loved us like their own. Women who, like my mama always said about herself, could mother a fence post.

To celebrate Mother’s Day LPM blog-style, let’s hear what your mama always said.