Hello, ladies! I hope it has been a wonderful Monday morning for you all so far. Yesterday a sweet friend whispered to me at church while I was singing, “The joy of the Lord is your strength!” And all the people said amen. I’ve been clinging to that truth ever since. The joy of the Lord is my (and your) strength. Own it, Sister! Amen!

I know we have some new friends visiting the blog since Saturday’s simulcast, and I know many of you are anxious to see the recap video that our super gifted and really good photog buddy, Rich Kalonick, put together. He works tirelessly not only capturing the entire event, but then gets to work immediately so we have these by Monday morning. A very quick turnaround! Thank you so much, Rich, for your hard work, yet again.

One more thing, for those of you that are asking, and for those of you that don’t even know to ask, keep watching the blog everyday this week as we have a lineup of posts for you all that involve the creative writing, the commissioning and the responsive reading from the simulcast! Thanks so much for your patience with us as we work these in everyday. Y’all are the best and we love you!

Here is the recap!

Living Proof Live | Charleston from LifeWay Women on Vimeo.

Happy Monday!

Hey, Darling Things!

I bet I don’t have to tell you the one big thing that is on my mind this week. No weekend event on my annual calendar looms any larger in my mind than a Living Proof Live Simulcast. It stays on my radar from the time the LifeWay event team tells me it’s scheduled until the last song of the final session. At this point, I’m thinking about it every waking moment, praying, studying, and believing God to invade every single host site and every single screen. Please pray with me to that end. Only Jesus can do what we want to see done. Only Jesus can make it worth the time and effort for anyone to attend.

As I picture our “class” out there on the other side of that screen this coming Saturday, I have great comfort, joy, and even a unique peace in imagining those of you from this community who may be among them. Out of His great mercy and purpose, God fashioned my heart to love women – of all sorts of ages, sorts, denominations, backgrounds, colors, vocations – and I am graced immeasurably to get to serve a single one. You, however, are the closest community I have out in the public sector and a tremendous source of joy to me. I would love to get a general estimate of how many of you Siestas will be participating in the simulcast and the location of your participation, whether in a group or solo right in front of your computer screen. [For individual/small group registration, Lifeway can set you up here.]

I think you also might love knowing that information on one another. You may have a Siesta tuning in only 15 minutes from you and you could both sit in front of the same screen or engage and interact via text, Twitter, or Facebook. It’s a blast just to know who’s out there and exactly where and it might make some of you who are going solo feel more connected throughout the day.

SO, let’s take a roll call! And let’s give our information in this order so that the cities where we are attending will appear first:

City and State, Name, whether in a Group or going Solo, and, if with a group, Where. (Not the address, of course, especially if it’s a private location. Just the name of the church or public place or if it’s your friend’s home, just say that much.)

Mine would look like this:

Charleston, West Virginia (the host site where it will be taped live), Beth Moore, group, Charleston Civic Center.

Your turn!

After you sign in, please pray for us. Please pray for many lost women to attend and for every single one of them to be FOUND in Christ. With the Holy Spirit’s infiltration, we will give a clear presentation of the Gospel. Pray for God to also perform miraculous works of deliverance and for the entire paradigm of faith to shift for those in desperate need of Truth. Pray for every person in attendance to hear dramatically and clearly from God. PRAY BIG.

My coworkers each prayed Scripture over me Monday at our staff meeting and gave me their prayers on index cards or pieces of paper. I have each one in my notebook and I was profusely built up in my spirit and in my faith over them. Sabrina prayed out of Psalm 85 (Vv.4-13) and the words seemed so perfectly suited for our event on Saturday that I thought I’d add them into this post for your intercession. I wonder if you would agree with us in prayer that God would do exactly what these verses request and MORE!
Restore us again, O God of our salvation…revive us again,
that Your people may rejoice in You.
Show us Your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us Your salvation.

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him
and make His footsteps a way. (ESV)

Isn’t that powerful? I think God would be so pleased for us to come around that segment of Scripture as diverse people of unified mind, turning it into prayer for His great glory to be revealed this coming Saturday.

You, Sisters, are treasures to me. My walk with Jesus would not be the same had you not come along.

*** Siestas! We also are so happy to tell you that for any of you that cannot afford a ticket to the live site in Charleston, WV, we have 20 tickets to gift to those of you that funds are just too tight to come on your own. The Siesta Scholarship Fund is set up for things just like this, and we are honored to share them with you.  Call us at Living Proof Ministries [1-888-700-1999] and ask for Susan or K-Mac. We are open 8:30-4:30 Central Standard Time. Leave a message if we miss your call, and we will get right back in touch with you.  We love you!

Ladies! Our SSMT Celebration is right around the corner, and believe me, we know it is on your mind because it is on our minds, too! Like, all the time. Grin.

SO, before we get any further I do want to clarify that this is NOT the post for registration. We are working on that and will have it up very soon (read: hopefully this week!), but we are ironing out a few quirks and we’ll have it up and ready to roll!

However, we didn’t want to leave you hanging and we also want to hear from you!

First and foremost, the date for our SSMT Celebration is official Saturday, January 18th. Yes! We’re mixing things up and going with a one day event, instead of the Friday – Saturday plan. So, as you’re planning, plan to be here for sure from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM that lovely Saturday.

With that said, here are a few questions for you:

1) Are you planning to attend?

2) Have you attended in past or first time?

3) For those that have previously attended, what is your favorite memory to share, especially for those that have yet to attend?

As you’re thinking ahead, just a reminder that  the actual celebration event is free of charge as your “ticket” is your worn out spiral, but when discussing finances, be sure to consider two things, traveling and lodging. (More travel and hotel information is found in the FAQ page when you register.) We are so excited to have Travis leading worship with us again this year, as well.

Alrighty, y’all. Let’s hear from you! And be checking the blog regularly for registration updates and more details! We love y’all dearly.

Living with people is a funny thing. Whether it be roommates or a husband, you learn a lot about yourself and a lot about them. I always try to prepare college freshman for this unique situation, but it’s just one of those things you have to learn through experience. A life lesson, if you will. Each of my roommates have been a completely different living experience, so there’s just no way to prepare someone for what may or may not happen. Some roommate situations are a beautiful thing, while others are completely disastrous. I think we can all agree on that. Anyway, what got me off on this whole tangent was something that one of my current roommates says that I’ve recently caught on to as well. Because we all know that living with people also means picking up some of their quirks for yourself. I find that actually humorous.

She calls the grocery store, “the grocery.”

For instance, if used in a sentence she says something to the effect of, “Hey y’all, I’m going to the grocery. Anyone need anything?”

The grocery.

For the longest time I gave her the hardest time, but more recently, I’ve been calling it the grocery while simultaneously kicking myself because what in the world? It’s the grocery STORE.

I pick up groceries at the grocery store.

This dawned on me this past Monday when I was about to head home from picking something up at my parent’s house and I said out loud, “Oh, before I go home I’ve got to head to the grocery.”

And then I stopped dead in my tracks. What did I just say?

I even googled it, because you know, the google is the answer to all life’s mysteries, but google was helpless to me in my time of need. Blast.

Although I was left stunned at my own ability to say “grocery store” I decided to make my list of items so I wouldn’t forget anything I needed.

This is what my list consisted of.

1) Apples
2) Peanut Butter
3) Avocados
4) Chocolate Almond Milk
5) Mascara

Otherwise known as my top five HEB (a Texas only grocery store) grocery items. These five littler items keep me frequenting HEB time and time again.

I realize one does not belong with the others, but that was my emergency grocery list.

I’m sure some of you are curious if I buy mascara every time I go to the grocery store, and I’m here to reassure you that no, that is not the case, but I do love me some mascara. Yes, yes I do. Thank you, Loreal.

It got me thinking that I can’t be the only one that frequents the grocery for certain items. We all have our go-to items that are on nearly every grocery list we make. And honestly, it has to say something about us, right?

I am the girl that can’t go a day without eating an apple with peanut butter. And the avocados? Well, why not? An avocado makes life better. As does mascara.

What are your top five grocery items? And because I’m a closure kind of girl, let’s settle the debate here and now: grocery or grocery store?

And yes, I just wrote an entire post about the grocery STORE. Deep thoughts, y’all.

*Announcing the winners of our “Sacred Secret” giveaway!*

*A little side note before I confuse you all, the number I am posting along with the name is your comment number. This way, you can check to make sure you are the winner! Also, each of the winners was chosen completely at random by the lovely website, random.org.

The FIVE winners of the Small Group Leader Kits go to: (The leader kit includes two teaching DVD’s and five study journals each.)

124 – Sydney Merino
856 – Melissa Pittman
150 – Heather Smith
1893 – Lisa Golden
1238 – Amber Moon

The 20 individual “Sacred Secret” study journals go to:

1334 – Jenny Coffey
4124 – Maurice Dillard
144 – Nightingale N.
2950 – Jocelyn Russell
1929 – Cyndy Taylor
1001 – Pam
2903 – Colleen Lyons
1804 – Lisa Shaw
639 – Lisa Chapman
2059 – Melanie Connatser
335 – Kaylan Wonser
3081 – Fay Gossen
1920 – Lori Simmons
960 – Heather McDaniel
2051 – Karen Binder
3097 – Con Schafman
1667 – Sara Lindsay
4157 – Connie Worthington
261 – Alexandra Key
4113 – Debbie

Congratulations, ladies! Y’all clearly love free stuff, and so do we! We are so thrilled for you! You should be receiving an email from me (Lindsee) within the next 24 hours on how to claim your prize.

Also, for those of you that are still interested in purchasing Sacred Secrets, you can do that by clicking here to order through LifeWay. Through that link you have the options of ordering the small group kit, the study journal, the video bundle (all four teaching sessions together), or the individual video downloads. Be blessed, ladies! We love y’all!

*Good afternoon, ladies! Comments are now closed. Thanks for being so enthusiastic about the giveaway. I’ll post our 25 winners later this afternoon. Be sure to check back!

Sacred Secrets Final from LPV on Vimeo.

Girls! To enter the Sacred Secrets giveaway just simply leave a comment with your name (first and last is so helpful) and that is all. So easy! Also please make sure we have a working email address for you. We’ll leave comments open for 24 hours and announce the winners tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon!

Here’s a fun little picture from Friday as we were getting ready for the video! That table is about to be empty!

Boy, do I ever have an assignment for you who are in the mood to take a challenge. I’ve been fixated in my quiet time this morning on Romans 6:6. Here it is in the NIV:

For we know that our old self was crucified with [Christ] so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Some of us have heard that Scripture hundreds of times. Others may not have known the exact place it resided in the Bible but you are more than familiar with the concept of being buried with Christ through His death on the Cross and being raised in His resurrection to walk in newness of life. Others among us (and I hope there are many) may have no familiarity with the concept at all. Raised in church, I’ve heard it since childhood but I’m not sure I have the strongest grasp of it half a century later. Anyway, one thing we all love about the living words of Scripture is that the Holy Spirit can illuminate a different phrase or word within a verse that captures our attention in an altogether fresh way. That’s what happened to me this morning. I got stuck on the first half:

For we know that our old self was crucified with [Christ]…

What washed over me was how many of us may not know that. Not the kind of authentic knowing that changes the way the soles of our feet slap the pavement. We know it on the sacred page and we know it as a doctrine of our faith, but I’m not sure the knowing in Romans 6:6 has invaded our lymph-nodes and gone viral in our major organs, spreading from the lobes of our brains to the bones of our feet. Take a look at the second half of the verse again and I’ll tell you why I think that.

…so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Notice the verse doesn’t say we will no longer sin but that we “should no longer be slaves to sin.” Sister, you can forget perfection here on this planet but do not let anything on this earth convince you that you cannot be free from the mastery of sin. Some of us are giving up and giving way again to an area of bondage that has no right whatsoever to take authority over us.

Dissect the verse again. The full victory in the second half of the verse seems dependent on the first half of the verse. See it? The “we know” leads straight to a “so that.”

We know_____________________ so that _________________…

So, it seems to me there could be a bit of a break down in the system when we actually do not know to the marrow of our bones the very principle that ushers in the living reality of our gloriously powerful and victorious “so that.”

SO, here’s what I thought I’d throw out at those of you who are game this fine day for a challenge. I want you to write a paragraph-long obituary announcing the death of your old self. Get creative with it. Think up a name for your old self. You don’t have to necessarily use dates of birth and death but you can. You can do anything you want with it. Get as descriptive as you want or be as general as you like. Too many rules and too much structure could quench your creativity. Just go at it, Sister.

Glance at some obituaries on the Web to stir up the kinds of metaphors you might want to implement into yours. We’re not going to compare entries to one another. We’re not looking to applaud the ones that sound most spiritual. This is not a writing contest. This is an interactive with one primary goal: to get some Biblical “knowing” a little deeper into our belief system where it merges with our everyday walk.

Listen, there shouldn’t be anything morbid about this exercise. That old person of ours was out to kill us. It is murderous. These obituaries should be some of the best pieces of news we’ve ever heard. It is the Gospel springing to life through death.

Let’s allow the comments to this post to be entirely limited to these Romans 6:6 obituaries. No other verbiage. No other explanation. No other conversation. I will be on the edge of my seat waiting to see what spins from your soul to this page. I am anticipating that the comments will be slower than usual in coming because you’ll need time to think. Take all the time you need! If you’re like me, some of you will want to write yours on a Word document then copy and paste it into a comment. Do it however you like.

But do it, if you’re willing. And may it be healing.

I’m crazy about you guys. Thanks for jumping in!

Hi Girls! It’s a rainy Monday here in Houston and I can’t decide if the wicked headache I’m trying to cure is from the rain, tiredness or just the fact that it’s Monday, but either way, I’m really loving it. We need the rain! Also around these parts is the first day of school! I realize some of you have been in school for a couple weeks now, but our school calendar is set to start a bit later these days. I can’t believe summer vacation is officially over. (Not that I had one, but I like to live vicariously  through those that do since I planned on being a school teacher growing up, and actually was an education major in college. True story.)

Anyway, David Lowe, our photographer for the Bossier City LPL (he and Rich swap out turns when necessary) sent the recap our way today just in time for me to share it with you! It was so fun meeting some of you face to face. What a powerful, anointed weekend. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around so much. My journal will most likely be my best friend this week.

To shake things up a bit for our recap post, I thought it would be neat to testify. If you were at the event this weekend, this exercise will be really familiar to you, but if not, we welcome you to participate!

The last session, Beth had each of us write at the top of a blank page, “If the Lord had not been on my side…”

One of our greatest tools in being a witness is telling others what the Lord has done for us. What He brought us out of. What pit He pulled us from. To share what only He could have redeemed and made beautiful. We got to hear a few participants share at the conference, but if you feel led, by all means, make the comments a place to share yours! I’m so glad I was at the conference to witness this personally. God showed up, didn’t he?

I’ll start by sharing mine, because we need to know that we’re not alone. Amen?

“If the Lord had not been on my side, I’d be a prideful, judgmental “elder brother” that seeks only the approval of men, pretends perfection and would be wasting away in secret sin. But oh, how He loves and redeems. Praise God.”

Y’all don’t leave me hanging now! Deal? Only joking. But I have no doubt today is a good day to testify to God’s goodness and redemption.

“If the Lord had not been on my side…”

We love y’all so much.

Living Proof Live | Bossier City from LifeWay Women on Vimeo.

Hey ladies! This post is a little different this time around as we have actually already designated our 20 tickets for this event to a special group attending. However, I do know that tickets are still being sold if you’re still interested in attending. You can purchase them here.

The LPL team is headed towards Bossier City today, so as always, prayer for the weekend is needed and received!

Also, I (Lindsee) will be attending LPL this weekend and am looking so forward to running into some of you and meeting you face to face. That’s always so fun since I see you on the other side of the computer screen every single day!

We love y’all. Have a wonderful Thursday!