We can’t let too much time escape without recounting all that God did at our recent SSMT Celebration. It was raucous fun! We had 43 states represented, a few Canadian sisters and even a sister from Spain! How is that for some JOY!! We know that many more of you wanted to come but were unable to due to illness, financial challenges and various other reasons. So, here’s a little peek into the weekend…

Our Siestas came ready with spirals in hand and the Word of God on their lips. Some of them even donned matching t-shirts, boas and beads.

Our very own Travis Cottrell was on hand to lead us in worship and Siesta Mama Beth gave a fabulous teaching on the word NEVERTHELESS.  

 

If you are hitting yourself…wishing you could hear the message, we have good news! For the first time ever, we taped the message. The teaching will air at a later date on Beth’s new TV show, Living Proof, on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Keep your eyes open for that in the near future. The Siestas had a blast being part of the live audience and even got to take part in a little game called “Wheel of Favor.” Think “Wheel of Fortune” but Siesta Mama style. 

The weekend culminated on Saturday morning. Everyone recited their memory verses to a partner. As I looked across a sea of women with spirals in hand, I couldn’t help but think about the power of the Word being spoken out loud in those small groups. It was like incense rising to the throne of God. I thought of all the individual tears and struggles and victories won. As they spoke aloud their verses, I wondered what specific promise were proclaimed over challenging situations and the battles won. THESE are the moments this ministry lives for and anticipates with great faith. Over the weekend, we had 228 ladies say ALL 24 verses! AMAZING!

If you’ve never tried to memorize the Word of God, we encourage you to give it a try. Grab an accountability partner and get ready to see God do something BIG. For those of you that participated with us in 2015, but couldn’t come…we want you to know that you were missed. We pray that you get to CELEBRATE with God in your own special way. Lastly, we do have a few SSMT charms left over from the weekend. If you completed the SSMT in 2015 with us, simply email your name and address to Jenn Hamm ([email protected]) and she will put your name in the drawing to mail you a little sussy.  **UPDATE: Our drawing is over. Thank you so much for participating!!

Thanks so much for journeying with us. We consider it the biggest blast to get to serve you. May God blow open the doors wide for His Kingdom in 2016. Keep Memorizing!

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Congratulations!! You did it!!

As we wrap a bow on our SSMT year and prepare for the upcoming Celebration, we want to send along our encouragement to you to continue in this great work.  Some of you have already told us you are continuing to memorize on your own, or have even formed your own local teams.  We couldn’t be happier to hear it!

Beth and LPM will plan to see you right back here next Jan 2017 to link arms together to hide God’s Word in our hearts. He is worthy!

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Hi, Siestas! What a fun privilege it is to share this blog space with y’all today. My name is Bethany Scott. I’m twenty-six, and I live in Magnolia, TX (just north of Houston) with my husband of five years and our baby girl. My husband is a high school chemistry teacher and football coach, and I am blessed with my dream job of being a stay-at-home mom.

A little about me…
– My reading list (both fiction and non-fiction) is unending, and I’m always in the middle of two or three books.
– I believe life is better when faced with a Starbucks grande vanilla latte. Or a white chocolate mocha.
– I will almost always choose trees, birds, and good walking shoes over a shopping mall and stilettos.
– My church—Bayou City Fellowship—is my family, and is filled with the most generous, Jesus-loving, faith-FULL people I know.
– I love learning new things and began learning Greek this past year with a small group of women.

My verse is 2 Corinthians 1:10, in the New International Version: “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.”

Some of the wording in this verse is pretty intense, but sometimes life is intense, isn’t it? To deliver, according to dictionary.com, means “to save, rescue, or set free from.” If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ you have been saved from certain spiritual death, rescued from darkness, and set free from condemnation. But this verse tells us that deliverance is not limited to a one-time event. Just days before I came across this passage, my family and I were in a very traumatic car accident. Our lives had been spared, and we were rejoicing in that fact. But my mind and my emotions had suffered a blow far worse than my bodily injuries. I had been “delivered from such a deadly peril,” but I needed to be delivered AGAIN.
From my fear
My memories
My doubt
My guilt
My nightmares
My anger
My sadness
My pain.

We often speak of deliverance as a thing of the past, and rightfully so. “He has delivered me from ____” is a testimony in a nutshell. What I love about 2 Corinthians 1:10 is that it’s facing forward. The things I need to be delivered from are usually connected with the past. But hope looks ahead with confidence. Because He has, we can know that He will. What hope. He has never left me sitting in a pit once I’ve asked Him to pull me out. When nothing else is certain, He is certain. He is my solid foundation and the only One who can save me from my sin, myself, my situation. Maybe you need deliverance from fear. From abuse. From chronic worry. From illness. From your thoughts. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you have already been delivered once. And, Sister, he WILL deliver you again.

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Hello Siestas! I pray you are well and blessed.

My name is Amy. I grew up in Texas and New Mexico. I’m blessed to have been raised in a loving home where I grew up as a Pastor’s kid. While I am no longer living in either of those states, I still claim Texas as my ‘Home Sweet Home.’ I love to read, cook, organize everything, and writing. Just recently I took up knitting!
 
I chose a scripture that while I know it – I don’t live it. For that reason I don’t have it memorized like I should. It carries so much promise I knew I needed to share it with you.

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” Proverbs 31:25 NLT

 

I could write about my insecurities and fears all day. In fact, I have re-written this post four times now. Why? I have a fear of what other people will think of me – of how I will sound when people read it. The funny thing is that I want to be a writer. My heart and passion are in encouraging others, listening to their stories, and teaching God’s Word.

 
It has taken me a few years to find out this is what I really want to do with my life. My education is not in English or Communication, but I have figured out that it doesn’t matter. As my pastor says, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”

 
For years I have allowed my insecurities and fears to control me. I allowed the enemy to use them to hold me back from God’s call on my life. It has crept into my life in many areas: with my weight (a struggle that has lasted over fifteen years now), in finding a spouse, with other relationships, with job opportunities, with life goals I’ve wanted to achieve, and so much more.

 
Coming into this year I knew I had to change focus. My problem wasn’t that I didn’t know the issues I needed to deal with, or even the solutions to those issues, it was in the action to take the steps to achieve them. We’ve all been there at one time or another, right? Take my weight issue, for example: I’ve known for years I’ve needed to admit it, work on it, and conquer it. My problem wasn’t admitting I needed to lose weight. I had admitted that to family, friends and even myself. My problem wasn’t in knowing what to do – I had read everything, been to a dietitian, nutritionist, a few trainers, and tried many diets. My problem was simply doing it.

 
I have a wonderful younger brother. He has grown into an amazing man of God. He is my best friend and the best person in my life when it comes to being honest. He isn’t afraid of hurting my feelings. He loves me enough to speak truth. He talked to me the other night about this very issue of weight. His words, while truthful and hard-hitting, held so much grace. While I was carrying on about feeling alone with no one around to help me, he said “Amy, in the physical sense you are alone. You are alone because you are the only one who can physically do this. I can’t step into your body and make you – it’s up to you. But in the spiritual sense, you should know better. You are so strong. Physically you are strong. Spiritually you are strong. But you’re also strong mentally. If there is anyone I know who can do this it is you. You really are a warrior. You just have these jabs the enemy keeps hitting you with. You are in this for yourself!”

 
I need to hear those words. My eyes watered when he called me a warrior. I don’t know that I’ve ever been called that before. It made me realize that I’ve allowed my insecurities and fears to control me for too long – not just in my weight, but in many areas in my life. To hear someone I admire so dearly call me a warrior! I associate warrior with words like boldness, courage, dedication, steadfast, determined, unstoppable. To see my brother’s confidence in me helped me to understand that is how Christ sees me – like a warrior! I needed this to kick me into high gear.

 
Now I’m determined. I won’t allow fear or insecurity to hold me back from what God is calling me to do. It doesn’t matter what the issue, I can conquer it. I am a daughter of the Most High God. Dear Siesta, you are too!

 
I want to encourage you that whatever issues you are facing this year, remember that Jesus adores you and calls you His daughter. His Word says that we can confidently walk forward in life wearing strength and dignity as our fashion statement. We can walk into our future knowing that we are warriors for Christ. We don’t have to know the future to face it with confidence. The Word says we laugh without fear of the future! We don’t have to fear what is to come, our future mistakes, our insecurities and how they will play out.

 
We just do our part and take a step. Our confidence comes in knowing he is taking us one step at a time as Psalms 37:23 says: “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” NLT

 
My prayer for us, Siestas, is that we take Him at His Word. He delights in the details of our lives, He knows what is to come, and we can confidently take the step, the action, and move forward, without fear.

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Hey Siestas!!! I barely have words to express how much of an honor it is for me to share with y’all. I absolutely adore Mama Beth and the community that she has cultivated here on the interwebs!

My name is Karina Allen. I am 35 and from New Orleans, LA but have lived in Baton Rouge since 1998. Much of my time here is spent at the gym, babysitting or at my local church, Healing Place. I am involved in a myriad of ministries and outreaches. I am on the worship team, a leader for High School girls, active in our women’s ministry, nursery registration team volunteer, a part of young adult ministry, and a teacher for our kids’ dance ministry. I also help with our inner city outreaches and to bring awareness to human trafficking through Trafficking Hope Inc. I taught preschool for about 10 years but I knew that that wasn’t the call of God on my life. I am a freelance writer and editor. I’m a contributor for Incourage as well as a few other sites. I am working on my certification to be a Life Coach. I long to speak, hope, truth, life, encouragement and purpose into the souls of women. My dream is for each woman to fully walk out their identity in Christ in the specific calling that He has for each of their lives.

“…and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” Isaiah 61:3 NIV

Really, the whole of Isaiah 61 is incredible! It is all about the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord and what His anointing empowers us to have and to be. I don’t know about you, but most days I don’t feel empowered. I feel a bit defeated by life, others and even myself. But that is not God’s will for my life or for yours. His desire is for His Spirit to come alive in us, to overflow and impact those around us.

Recently, I was at my friend Elizabeth’s house working on some writing projects. She has this gorgeous black and white photo hanging of an oak tree from New Orleans’ City Park. And verse 3 of Isaiah 61 was beautifully written underneath it. My gaze repeatedly returned to that photo and that verse much of the night. It’s as though the Lord was trying to get my attention. I knew that this needed to be a verse that I committed to memory and needed to become embedded within my very marrow.

1.) God wants to trade the pain we acquire from this world with His good and perfect gifts. Before sin entered the world, mourning and despair were never even a concern. The world has been bombarded with evil and suffering. People cause harm and bad things happen. But God wants us to know that even in the midst of tragedy, we can experience His peace, comfort and even joy.

2.) Through the trading process, God’s dream is for us to become oaks of righteousness. Now, this may not seem like something we would want to be described as, but it should be. Oak trees are remarkable! They are strong, tough and extremely resilient. They have roots that reach down deep into the earth. When we exchange our hurt with the Lord’s goodness, this is the outcome. We dig deep into His Word and discover His promises for us. We stand firm on that foundation and the storms of life are unable to shake us. We allow Him to be the lifter of our heads and fill us with His hope. We become confident that He will work all things together for good to those of us that love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

3.) As we grow to be oaks of righteousness, we turn into a display of the Lord’s splendor. On display for all to see…that is an intimidating thought. Don’t let it be. People watch us. They watch how we live and what we say if we profess Christ. They watch how we respond in both good and bad seasons. That’s okay. As we are conformed to the image of Christ, others take notice and eventually desire to know why our lives are different. That is often how the Father draws hearts to Himself.

My Sister…

Beauty, joy and praise await you.

Deep roots are calling out to you.

His splendor is ready to be displayed through you.

For His Name and His Renown,
Karina Allen

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