This is just the quickest shout-out to say that you nearly took my breath away in your comments to the last post. I have never been so humbled and so thankful and blessed to be part of this community. If you haven’t had a chance to glance at the ministry going on between sisters in the faith, even just letting your eyes scan down the comments and seeing the interchange between the phrases,  “Little Sister here…” and “Big Sister here…” will put tears in your eyes. You amaze me. We are flawed people around here and all of us have some degree of brokenness but, Sisters, God formed something real in this community over the last years – something we couldn’t have conjured up with the best of plans, talent, and organization – and His Son has never been more obvious among you than in that last post. I cannot thank you enough. You mean so much to me.

I’m keeping it short because we have our big Siesta Summer Bible study post going up first thing in the morning but I want to ask you for one more thing. I am so pleased to hear from many of you that you’re agreeing to memorize Psalm 25. By all means, older sisters, join in, too, if you could really use those words in the marrow of your bones. Read it and see. Memory work is often done best in the framework of accountability. If you want to be held accountable to memorize it, would you please make a comment to this post and let us know you’re taking on Psalm 25 and what version you’re using? (The version is completely up to you! This is just to provide you a chance to sign on the dotted line, so to speak.) Some of you could also pair up and use the same version and agree on how you’re going to approach it and what Scriptures you’re taking on each week. My little sister in the faith that God used to spur on the whole previous post – remember, the one I ran into in the grocery store? – is going to memorize the same version as me so that we would be able to say it together. It just makes it extra fun and gets it done.

I love you guys so much. Now, let’s get out there and live in victory. Jesus, be obvious in Your daughters this day. This week. This lifetime. You are all to us.

 

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I’m really ticked. I just ran into a beloved little sister in the faith on my way to work when I stopped off at a grocery store to grab a few things. She and her family are nearly being eaten alive by the enemy. Honestly, we stood right there in plain sight near the vitamin aisle and ratted on the devil and shook the family tree for some fresh truth. As big tears rolled down those cheeks, she said one thing so emphatically that it seared straight into my bones:

“I was just thinking about you this morning, Beth. And I’ve just gotta know: have you been here?”

Where exactly did she mean by here? In that place where the enemy seems to leave NOTHING untouched. Nothing unmangled by his crushing iron jaw. The scene of the onslaught. Where Satan seems to systematically and patiently and daily and hourly go for you – heart, soul, and body, and for everything and everyone you hold dear, and for all you know – that you know – that you know you believe. That season where you can’t seem to recover because every time you start to get back up, something knocks you down again. That season that you really do begin to believe will absolutely kill you…and, in some respects, it does. It kills the old you. If allowed to, it stones to death the Goliath within every David, one welting throw after another. Welcome to the sifting zone where Satan gets so much leash that he rips to bloody shreds everything he can get his paws on…but what is really real. What is really left behind when we are stripped bare of all our earthly security and fleshly confidence.

Have I been there, my beloved little sister?

Let’s see. How loud can I say this?? I HAVE BEEN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOY, HAVE I EVER BEEN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And part of me survived. And part of me died.

And the part of me that died, as painful as it was, needed to.

And when it tries to resurrect it’s ugly, deformed, decayed head, I remind it that it is dead, lest it need another killing. Because I don’t want another killing.

I don’t mean my baffling tendency to sin is dead. I deal with that old nature everyday. I can still – almost out of nowhere – vacillate furiously between self-love and self loathing until I’m so dizzy I could regurgitate. But that joint victim and victimizer in me, that violent inner working nurtured at the breast of deceit and raised in sickness with a bent on self-destruction, took what still appears over many years to be a fair beheading.

YES. I have been there. And it was so awful I still well remember almost to the detail. And this morning I was glad I did because my little sister in the faith – a MIGHTY woman of God – needed to hear it.

I got in that car so mad at the enemy and at this brazen, hateful world that I made a bee-line straight to work and clicked the words “new post.”

Big sisters, our little sisters need some encouragement. They need to know we’ve been where they are. Even if they’re not in a season of hell on earth. Maybe their house just smells like one huge dirty diaper. Maybe they just need a nap. Maybe they need a job. God alone knows exactly and truly what they need from Him but this WE can know they need from us:  encouragement! And, by God (and I mean that), we are going to give it to them.

Here’s what we’re going to do today. You who are 39 and under get to tell us where you could use some encouragement. You who are 40 and older and willing are going to give it to them. Here’s how it’s going to look:

If you are 39 or younger, you’re going to start your comment with “Your little sister here: …”

If you are 40 or older, you’re going to start your comment with “Your big sister here: …”

Here are the ground rules: (I’m going to warn you. When I’m furious, I can get into a bossy frame of mind and I’m there right this second. But, look at it this way. I’m beside myself in your behalf so humor me.)

Little sisters, don’t snow ball with every irritating, annoying, frustrating thing or relationship in your life. Get pretty quickly to the bottom line. I’m thinking about someone I really do love so much and want to encourage and help when at all possible but her emails to me are so long and about so many things going wrong and so many people going awry that by the end of it, all I can do is throw up my hands and say, “I am so overwhelmed, I have no idea where to begin!” Try, as much as you know how to tell us, to articulate what is really wrong. The real bottom line. Also, please look throughout the post for encouragements that may help you and keep in mind that what the big sisters write to one, they extend to all. Don’t be offended if no one speaks directly to you. Every encouragement is meant for every one of you.

Big Sisters, today is for encouraging our little sisters and that’s all. I know you have problems because I’m about your same age and I have a truckload of them. But you and I have lived long enough to know that we’re going to make it and that God IS going to be faithful and He is INDEED going to bring beauty from ashes and He will most certainly, given enough time, work every single detail out for our good and His glory. No complaining from us today. This post is a N0-Whine zone for big sisters. Life and the devil are eating our baby sisters alive. Let’s GET UP in their behalf, encourage them, and draw out our swords and fight for them. As often as you can, make your comment to all of them instead of just in reply to one of them. There will be exceptions, of course, but it’s crucial that we edify them across the board. They could all use it. You can talk to them or pray for them in your comment. Both are so Biblical and so right.

Now, listen, Little Sisters. One more thing from Big Sister with the big mouth. Get your tails in the Word. I mean it. Get your tails in the Word. NO TIME OFF. Read it aloud when you can’t absorb it or concentrate on it. Get yourself some accountability. Call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and so shall you be saved from your enemies. Every morning.

One last thing. I left my beloved little sister with an assignment this morning and with the accountability to let me know she’s doing it. I’m going to give you little sisters who are feeling devoured the exact same one: memorize Psalm 25. Every word of it. Don’t tell me you can’t. Yes, you can. Get it printed out, laminate it, and memorize it. Say it over and over and over again. Start today. We can cheer you on and we can fight for you but we can’t fight instead of you. This victory is YOURS. The battle is meant to bring plunder directly to your personal life and family line or God wouldn’t have allowed it. Get up and fight.

Psalm 25.

I mean it.

I’m going to be asking you about it.

OK. I’m sorry for the bossy tone but I am so mad on behalf of you, our baby sisters, that I’m bruising this keyboard.

Now get busy, Girls. I have to be out of the office for a little while several times today so if we go a few hours without any comments moderated, have no fear, I’ll get back to it and get your encouragements posted.

I love you.

 

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UPDATE FROM BETH ON JULY 5th: Hey, you sweet things! Thinking of you so much. This is my first day back in the office at Living Proof Ministries since our time together. I flew to Atlanta right after we said good-bye then served there throughout Sunday then came home and took a few days off. (Thank you, 4th of July!) I told my beloved coworkers that, as long as I have clarity of mind, I will remember our time together in Colorado Springs. God marked my heart with you. I nearly bawled as I watched the recap and was deeply moved to see a comment from one of you who lives in the city saying God opened up the sky and let it rain soon after. What grace of our Savior. I want to let you know that I kept my word to you and, with great joy, just signed a check to Samaritan’s Purse. I don’t want to draw attention to it in the larger public but I do INDEED want you who check in around here to know. I didn’t dare hold off any longer than my first day back because…

TO FOLLOW [JESUS] = TO FOLLOW THROUGH!

What I owe you now is a debt of love (Romans 13:8) and I will gladly pay it for many years to come. STAY IN THE WORD, SISTERS! I’ll see all of you at the Throne and perhaps some of you another time when we flip open our Bibles together. I am honored to be your servant. I love you so. 

 

The rest of this post is the original one that our wonderful Lindsee wrote. If you haven’t seen the recap, DO IT!

 

 

Siestas! Here is this weekends recap video. We have already heard from so many of you that were able to attend the conference this weekend and how the Lord spoke so personally to you and we thank the Lord so much for that. He alone is worthy of praise! In the middle of much chaos, He is sovereign and able to speak truth, speak loud and bring healing.

On Friday, we shared with you that Samaritan’s Purse was going put all of their donations this weekend toward wildfire relief efforts in Colorado Springs. I know you’ll rejoice with us when I tell you that this weekend attendee’s raised $85, 591! Ladies, your generosity is incredible. Thank you so much! May God be praised!

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*Update: (Friday Morning) LifeWay Women, Living Proof Ministries along with Beth Moore and Travis Cottrell are inviting those victims and evacuees of the Colorado fires to be our guests, free of charge, at the Living Proof Live event starting this evening through tomorrow at noon at World Arena in Colorado Springs. Please see the details below about how evacuees can gain access to the venue. It is our hope to accommodate and minister to as many of those affected by the fires as our available seating will allow. It is our privilege and blessing to serve them and our prayers are with them:

• Evacuees without a ticket must go to Gate C for access into the arena
• Gate C door will open for evacuees to enter at 6:00 p.m.
• Access to available seating will be on a first come, first serve basis, but we anticipate having plenty of room.
• We are asking evacuees with access to the internet to RSVP with us [email protected] but this is not required for entrance.
• Kaye Hurta will be their contact person at the Gate C door
• Only evacuees need to come to Gate C for free access – anyone with a ticket needs to enter at the main entrance with all other attendees
• The event is general seating for individuals and small groups; large group seating is reserved.
• Samaritan’s Purse will be on hand to provide water at the doors to evacuee attendees as supplies last.
• NOTE: Any attendee who has paid for a ticket but who has lost their home to the fires will be refunded the cost of their ticket and they will be our guest. Refunds will be processed through our registration office next week. Other Evacuees who have already purchased their armbands may enter through the main entrance.
• Any questions can also be sent to [email protected]

 

Good Thursday afternoon, ladies.

We come to you with heavy hearts regarding all the devastating fires happening in Colorado Springs this very minute. The pictures alone are chilling and sobering.

We serve a God who is into every detail of our lives, and He alone knew that there would be a Living Proof Live scheduled in Colorado Springs the very same weekend these fires would come screaming down the beautiful mountainside.

At this moment, LifeWay still has the event scheduled. If anything further develops, we will update and post that information on our website here.

Beth is flying out today, along with the rest of the team, as they have plans to minister to the people of Colorado Springs. Please pray for them. Please pray for their safety. As we ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit over the arena, we’re asking that He would pour out the rain in that city as well. They desperately need it.

We are so grateful to Samaritan’s Purse, who partners with LifeWay at each Living Proof Live event, for designating 100% of their donations at this weekend’s event to the city of Colorado Springs. They are already on ground for disaster relief, but this will be a huge blessing to them.

If you feel led to give in this area and help with disaster relief, you can do it without even attending the event. What you would need to do is text RELIEF to 85944 to automatically donate $10. You can also visit their website for volunteer opportunities or find out how to get help at www.samaritanspurse.org.

We are praying, ladies. Those of us in Texas know the devastating effects these fires can cause as we just dealt with the same thing a mere eight months ago. Join us in praying for a miracle? Miracle rain?

We love you guys.

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The day has finally arrived! Wooooohooooo! Let’s get into the Scriptures, Girls! This is our official launch where you will officially register as participants in our summer Bible study but here’s the important part: YOU WILL SIGN IN AFTER YOU AND YOUR GROUP VIEW THIS VIDEO AND HAVE YOUR DISCUSSION TIME. (If you’re going solo, you’ll view it by yourself, of course, and answer the questions succinctly in your comment as your way of discussing the subject matter.)

Please read the following instructions carefully:

If you are participating in a small group (even on line), choose a name for it in your first gathering. It does not need to be clever although you’re welcome to do it that way. It can be as simple as “Greensboro Summer Siestas.” Mine will be “The LPM Village” because I’ll be going through it with my in-house staff and we call our merry band of sisters the Village. You will use your group name every time you leave a comment on Bible study day.

After watching the video and participating in the discussion time with your small group, appoint ONE representative from your group to sign in through a comment to this post. You’re welcome to appoint a different representative each week that we meet. The main idea is to make sure only one person signs in for your group.

This is the way your group representative will sign in:

City, State; Name of group, Number in group. *A brief summary about your group time.

(*This might convey something interesting that came up in your time together or the question that motivated the most discussion. It’s wide open. Just give us a succinct report on your time in small group. Remember to keep them short and specific so that we can read as many as possible!)

Mine would look something like this:

Houston, Texas; The LPM Village, 12. Summary: We talked most about the challenges we have this summer and specific ways we each need God to “keep steady our steps.” (Then I’d give a couple of examples that came up in our discussion time. Get the idea?)

Sisters going solo: you will sign in individually and answer the questions very briefly in your comment. (You are welcome to limit your answers to the ones that resonate most to you.) If I were going solo, mine might look like this:

Houston, Texas; Beth Moore (you can just use your first name if you prefer). Questions 5 and 6 resonated most with me because…

NOW! You are good to go. Just watch the video and proceed according to the instructions I’ll give you within it. As you’ll see below, I will always put the instructions in print in case you’re unable to view the video or if, for any reason, it malfunctions. Keep in mind that you don’t need to read what follows unless you can’t watch the video.

Written instructions:

Today in small group time, read Psalm 119:129-135 together. If you have access to several translations, read it first in a formal translation – ESV, NAS, NKJ, NIV, etc – and, second, just for the richness of it, a modern translation like The Message or the New Living Translation. You know I love The NET Bible so that’s another option.

1.  List every term the psalmist uses for God’s communication/revelation to man. (Example: V.129 ESV – “testimonies”)

2.  Psalm 119:129 says, “Your testimonies are wonderful: therefore my soul keeps them.” Each of you (as time allows) share a specific way that you’ve come to know personally that God’s testimonies are “wonderful.” If you don’t have a newcomer to the Bible in your group, imagine that you do. Let your answer help explain to her why YOUR soul desires to keep God’s testimonies and why she should even consider it.

3.  Psalm 119:132 says “Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name.” If you have placed your faith in God through Jesus Christ, you have demonstrated one titanic way of “loving His name.” Discuss the importance of trusting that God’s “way” is to deal with His children graciously. Talk about whether you tend to expect God to be gracious to you or indifferent or harsh and condemning. If you tend toward the latter, would you be willing this summer to seek God with the grateful expectation of His graciousness toward you.

4.  Psalm 119:133a says, “Keep steady my steps according to Your promise.” What specific challenges are before you this summer that could cause you to really need God to “steady your steps”?

5.  Psalm 119:133b says, “Let no iniquity get dominion over me.” THAT, Beloved, is a prayer that could have huge impact in our lives. If you are willing, share a particular tendency of your flesh that you’re really praying will not get the best of you this summer. (By all means, get personal as the Spirit leads but stop short of really graphic specifics. Give people the idea without the mental images.)

6.  Psalm 119:134 says, “Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep Your precepts.” Look up several definitions of “oppression” and discuss the vital differences between oppression and authority. How can they be confused? Once we know for certain we’re not just resisting authority but we are genuinely experiencing oppression, realize that God’s will is to REDEEM us from it. Pray fervently for Him to do so. He is perfectly capable of redeeming us from oppression while redeeming the relationship.

7.  According to Psalm 119:135, conclude by asking God with a full heart of faith to make His face shine upon you, His servant, this summer and to TEACH you vividly through the Book of Nehemiah.

8.  Sometime today, write Psalm 119:129-135 on a note card and keep it as your prayer for our Siesta Summer Bible Study. (After the video was already made, it occurred to me that I should have suggested we all write this segment on the inside of the front cover of our Nehemiah workbooks so, if I caught you in time, do that instead of a note card. That way it will serve as a Scriptural dedication of sorts for our summer experience.)

Have Weeks 1 and 2 of your homework done by Tuesday, July 10^th and we’ll have our next Mini-Session then and your group discussion.

I love you guys so much! Isn’t it fabulous to be back together again in God’s Word??

We’ll meet in two weeks! If you’re meeting over a meal, try to fix Lauri’s Beef Enchiladas on p.32 and Mom’s ginger snaps on p.33.

(Remember! Comments only after your group time!)

 

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Just yesterday I realized the blog had been really quiet for an entire week. To be completely honest, it hadn’t occurred to me until one of you so sweetly commented and asked if everything was okay with our Siesta Mama. You’ll be so relieved to know that not only is she okay, she’s actually hosting “Camp Bibby” this week. Needless to say, she has her hands very full and is loving every minute! In fact, we just returned from eating lunch with her and the kiddos and no one could leave until we found the plastic, fake spider Jackson held so dearly all through lunch. Priorities, folks.

Since she is Bibby this week, and since I’m currently obsessing over the high school girls that we get the sheer joy of hosting every Tuesday, the blog, although always on my mind, suffered only due to lack of time, not lack of material or love!

What you may not know is that May 29th brought a whole new dimension to LPM. That was the first day some of the most precious high school girls waltzed into LPM. They were quiet, reserved and scared out of their mind, just as I would have been at that age. Stink, just as I am now to walk in any unfamiliar place! However, that didn’t last long before they were all chowing down on pizza and making new friends. The most ironic part about the quietness and anxiousness is that starting that evening, all of us were going to crack open So Long, Insecurity together. Is there a book more appropriate for a high school girl? I submit that there cannot. My hope and prayer is that they grasp these truths and principles at this young age so that ten or twenty years from now, they won’t have to dig up as many roots of insecurity as some of us did.

And lest you think I’ve learned all I can about insecurity saying as though I’ve already read this book once already, think again, the Lord has let it hit me in a fresh, new way that is striking all kinds of ugly chords. He knew I would need it again, and He knew the only way I’d read it again was to take a group of high school girls through it. I told the girls the first night that I was not only on this journey with them, but that I was certain I’d learn more than any of them. So far, my predictions are correct.

I’ve received a few emails wondering how we’re doing this study, so I wanted to post some fun facts so that if you’re interested, you too could lead a group of girls through SLI.

Since Tuesday evenings are always Bible study nights, that was automatically our go-to night. When we opened up registration, we had an overwhelming response, glory to God, so we decided to also open up an Tuesday afternoon study, all as an experiment. The LPM office isn’t tiny by any means, but it can only host so many people at one time before we get crazy, so fifty girls was our cut off number. When all was said and done, by the time May 29th rolled around, we had just a small group of girls that I lead in the afternoon, then at night we have our full group, along with five leaders.

For the first thirty minutes, we all just chat it up and eat. It’s what girls do best, right? When we’re all done eating, I typically make them find one girl they don’t know and I give them a fun question to discuss, something like their favorite movie. Then, for the next hour or so, they break up into five different small groups and unpack that particular weeks homework. The book now has a workbook to go along with it and I don’t have enough good things to say about it. It is such a helpful, wonderful guide with a lot of rich questions. So rich, in fact, that just last night we had to ring a bell to break up the small groups. You know what that means, it means they’re not running out of things to talk about in small group, praise the Lord!

For the last 20 to 30 minutes, we all gather back in the board room and I give them a little challenge or devotional. The last thing they want to do is listen to me talk for another hour, so I keep it pretty short and to the point. Then we all hug and say our goodbyes.

You cannot imagine the amount of food that has come in and out of this place. Girls can eat.

We’ve ordered 20 boxes of pizza.

Nuggets trays and salads galore from Chick-Fil-A.

Enough sandwiches from Potbelly to feed the staff, the girls, and the leaders for a good three days.

Over 100 potbelly cookies.  I’ll refrain from telling you how many calories are in each cookie.  You’re welcome.

Jimmy Johns sandwiches that were just right.

And cases upon cases of all manner of drinks, like water, coke, diet coke and dr. pepper.

I think it’s safe to say that LPM is always learning and growing, and this experience alone has been such a learning experience for me, if not for all of us. The entire LPM Village has played a part in some way, shape or form and to say I couldn’t do it without them or my leaders is a vast understatement. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I express my thankfulness enough. They are the bomb!

This I know to be so true, no one has to convince me to want to serve and love these girls. They have my heart. Boy, do they have my heart. Tuesdays are the most exciting and yet the most exhausting days of the week, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It is a complete joy and honor to serve them in this way. Oh, I pray that they would be rooted in Christ and their security would be found in Him alone. And that it would begin with me.

The first Tuesday we were ready to receive those girls with open arms and books galore!

The sweet staff made me do this. It felt so awkward that I’m still laughing.

Beth was equally as giddy and excited. She got to pop in and say hey to the girls that day. So fun!

Our typical food set up.

These Potbelly cookies are sinful they’re so delicious. And we had over 100.

If you walked into LPM on a Tuesday, this is what you might find. Isn’t it a precious sight? Brings me such joy.

 

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Hey Friends! Here is the recap video from LPL Calgary this weekend. Praising the Lord for all he did in the hearts of those that were able to attend. He is faithful!

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If you’re anything like me, then every time you hear or think of Canada, you start singing, “O Canada! Our home and native land!” Or maybe you don’t. I’m just weird like that. I’ve been known to bust out in song even if one word is mentioned that reminds me of a particular tune. It’s just in my roots.

Anyway, the other day I saw someone ask if Beth was really coming to Calgary, or if she was just doing a simulcast, and I’m so happy to say that this very day, she’ll be hopping on a jet plane headed to the great land of Canada for our next LPL this weekend. How fun is that? The entire team is excited, ready and honored to serve you guys. (Notice I didn’t say “y’all” but “you guys”. Smile.)

With that said, we’d love to offer 20 scholarship tickets, thanks to the Siesta Scholarship fund, to the ladies that really want to attend the conference this weekend, but financially, just can’t pull it off. It is our great joy to offer these and we pray that whomever receives them is blessed immensly and changed by the Word this weekend. However, just a reminder, this isn’t a random giveaway, but for those of you in need that could use a little encouragement.

If that is you, please call the Living Proof office during regular business hours (8:30 – 4:30 CST). Please ask for Kimberly at 1-888-700-1999 and she will take care of you. If you happen to get the voicemail or call during the lunch hour, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

*Important: In the event that our toll free number does not work for you coming from Canada, please call our regular office number 281-257-3344 and we will get you squared away. However, if you are calling from a cell phone, you shouldn’t come across any issues. 

We are expecting God to show up and do a big work among the group this weekend. Will you join us in prayer over our Siesta Mama and the rest of the team as they prepare to serve you?

We love you guys to bits. May God be so glorified in Canada this weekend and may His Word go out in power.

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Hey, Sweet Things!

I’ve had us in such a serious place recently that I’m feeling like it’s time to share some things that are fun and a tad lighter-hearted. First I want to tell you something because it greatly involves you. I woke up on Tuesday and, lo and behold, I felt remarkably better. Stronger. Clearer. Happier. Well, and funnier. (Grinning at the last one. It’s a big priority around the Moore house.) That’s one good thing about just being honest and out there with it sometimes. People might get concerned enough to pray for you.  I want you to know that I FELT IT and I am eating the fruit of it and I am deeply grateful. I needed the prayers. Oh, Sisters, I always need the prayers. Don’t stop now. But I think it’s important that I turn around and encourage you in your faith by telling you that you pray effectively. What you do in the heavenly realms profoundly impacts this earthly soil. You matter. Your Spiritual disciplines matter.

I feel God at work and that’s the world to me. Nothing monumental has changed in the circumstances that have made these last weeks challenging. I am absolutely certain that the evidences and effects I’m seeing and feeling are spiritual in nature. Two things are roused right now. I want to share them with you because I believe they are the same two things that will often strengthen you, too, in your weakness and heaviness. The first one we just talked about: being prayed for. Without the second one, however, the first one is limited. The intercessor will still be blessed for her faithfulness but we, the prayed for, will be hindered in personalized impact without our FAITH. God is calling me right now to press past my current level of faith-comfort and get back to squirming and growing in my sheer belief.

Whether we like it or not, the Scriptures echo this immutable principle: we BELIEVE to fully RECEIVE.

Lord, increase our faith. Let us never forget around here that, without faith, it is impossible to please You. We can do everything else to perfection and have a righteousness that shames all our friends and a ritual of daily prayer and self-denial that would slack-jaw John the Baptist and still not experience the exhilaration of Your holy NOD. Your favor is attracted most by our faith. Lord, increase our faith.

NOW. Let’s also have a little fun. Our comment line is open today for those who want to share something lighthearted. It can be funny but it doesn’t have to be. It can just be plain old fun. You know. Like what your six year old said to you yesterday. Or the perfect shade of lip gloss you’ve discovered for the summer. Or the most ridiculous thing that’s happened in your home lately. Or something delightfully awkward or absurd. Wide open. If you can’t think of anything fun, then just partake today. Everybody here knows life is serious and hard. Let’s all fight the urge to give one another a reality check on here today. Sometimes life here on Planet Earth stinks. We all get that. But, sometimes what stinks is the fertilizer in that soil underneath our feet. Something will grow from it if we let it. And we won’t be standing here in this exact spot of soil for long. Don’t think it’s all over but the crying.

When somebody in my family is in a rut, really feeling like life in general is one big rip off, I’m forced to quote Shelby in Steel Magnolias: “Miss Clairee, there are still good times to be had.”

There really are, Miss Clairee. There really are. Believe that.

Psalm 27:13-14…
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

OK. Here’s my something fun today. I’ve had this in my Bible for the last several weeks. It’s a page ripped out of one of the booklets you get at a Living Proof Live. A precious sister (Talia, as you’ll see) at a recent event doodled this on her notes while I was teaching. You can even see the microphone. It got handed off to me by someone on the LifeWay team but, if she’d handed it to me herself, I would have profusely thanked and hugged her and laughed with her but the teacher in me would also have asked to see her session notes. Grin. Anyway, she really made me smile.

 

NOW, you make somebody else smile today. How about it?

I love you guys. Thanks for riding the roller coaster with me. Mama’s feeling better. But never stop praying.

 

 

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Good Monday morning, Sweet Things! I hope you are well and prospering in your souls. I am, thank You, Lord Jesus. But it’s no contradiction that I’m also still navigating through a season of concurrent weakness – like my limbs all weigh a hundred pounds – and sadness – like my soul weighs a thousand pounds. I’m trying to get insight into it and gain whatever wealth God wants to give me through it. I wouldn’t be here if I had nothing to gain from it. Scripture assures us of that as children of God.  I’m one of those weird people who – as a loose general rule – often wakes up in a buoyant and talkative mood so these days are madly rushing by at a maddeningly glacial pace. I decided last week that, if I wasn’t going to be ushered out of it as quickly as I’d hoped, I’d at least ask God as sincerely as I knew how to use it. To teach me through it. To grant me revelation through it. Growth through it. Dependency. Humility. Living words.  I’ve also asked Him to shed light on an area of blackness in my heart that I really, really do not like. We’re working on that.

So, yesterday morning before church I felt Him prompt me to pray with added expectancy toward our church service. That’s not hard for me to do. I love my church so much. I’ve never found church life more fulfilling than in this young fellowship of believers. I pray consistently for God’s powerful, life-breathing Spirit to fall on our senior pastor (my son-in-law Curtis) and on our children’s pastor and our worship teams. That’s my joy. Countless others pray the same things and we often get to behold with great gladness God’s merciful responses to the pleas of our congregation. There is ripe fruit, red and plump, already hanging on the limbs of this toddler tree.

But this time, I felt like God also impressed upon my heart to pray with elevated expectancy for words specifically pertaining to my own condition. My own wondering and pondering. I prayed for everyone in our service but I made a special effort to ask God before I ever arrived in the parking lot that my own ears would be open and that I’d receive the Word wholeheartedly. I prayed that last week, too. And probably the week before. But this time I felt a more! from God. Go to the Scriptures like a starving man clawing for bread.

It’s a weird thing about pain. The deeper it goes, the wider it opens your mouth to the Spirit. Psalm 81:10 “I am the Lord, your God, the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!” I need Jesus right now. Like you, I always do but I feel its serrated edge against the grain of my selfishness right now. I need His strength. His joy. His hope. And that means that, if I want to, I can sing every word in our worship time as if my life depends on it. I can hear the phrases I’m singing echo somewhere down in my soul, looking for a place to land. I can mean them in a way I don’t have to mean them when life is less mean…if you know what I mean.

Isn’t that the way it goes? It is only in a season like this that I get what I constantly beg God for: an intense relationship with Him where I can sense His Presence and where His Word is life and breath to me. Where the Cross is so much dearer. Where His Spirit seems much nearer. Where I love Him more than anything I can see or touch. That glorious place of the thinning veil.

I couldn’t write fast enough during the sermon yesterday. Our pastor preached from 2 Kings 4 about Elisha and the Widow’s Oil. The widow was in need. Curtis told us that, in our humanness, we despise being in need yet without need, there is no room for the miraculous. He said miraculous provision is our birthright – that we were born again out of profound, unparalleled miraculous provision and that we are meant to experience it often and until our last breath.

He asked us the question, “Do you want to live in the midst of supernatural provision?” and I do! So I wrote down on a stick note, “I WANT TO LIVE IN THE MIDST OF SUPERNATURAL PROVISION.” Yes, Lord, I surely do. Curtis said so much of the time we live the Christian version of ordinary because we either have so much or are satisfied with so little that we can simply take care of ourselves. By all means let’s put to use what God has given us. That’s good stewardship. But let’s not get ourselves in such a self-sufficient rut that we end up missing the supernatural. Wonders can happen when we’re in a place desperate enough to look for them and have the patience enough to wait for them and the prayer life enough to ask for them. 

Curtis also said that “If we look around our lives and we have everything we need, then we may need to live a bigger life and set better goals.” The God-nodding kind. The Word-believing kind. The Gospel-living kind. Nothing about Curtis’s quote is in opposition to Biblical contentment. We’re to be content in whatever circumstances we’re in. We’re talking here about fighting the urge in our excess to be content in our self-sufficiency. To see little of God because we need little from God.

And, Girl, it hit. I HAVE A NEED. And I left church yesterday strangely appreciating it. I don’t know how I’ll feel about it by Wednesday but for right now, I’m thinking that an acute need is a good thing. A hard thing. But a good thing. I have never wanted to live a self-sufficient life with purely natural, utterly explainable provisions. I want to live in such a way that I know – I absolutely know – after a long, hungry spell that, when the sun comes up warm and gold and the ground shimmers with manna, only God could have done that.

That’s glory.

Total, unabashed, unspared, unshared credit.

YOU DID IT, LORD. YOU DID WHAT I COULDN’T DO. YOU DID WHAT NO ONE COULD DO. YOU GAVE ME WHAT I DIDN’T HAVE. MADE ME WHO I COULDN’T BE. TOOK ME WHERE I COULDN’T GO.

If I have presence of mind, I’d want to be able to whisper on my deathbed something like, “I’ve seen His wonders. Now, scoot over, everyone, and let me see His face.” Move and let me praise Him.

So, that’s my word from yesterday. I bless the Name of our merciful, patient God for His kindness to give it. Did you walk away from your church with one, too? Then, take a brief paragraph and tell us what it was. Get specific about one point and keep it succinct and direct. Wouldn’t that be a great way to build one another up around here this week? As we encourage one another in our pursuit of Christ, we want to encourage one another in local church life as an essential part of it. (Not the only part, by any stretch of the imagination but an important part.) Body life. It’s Christ’s way. If you didn’t get a particular word over the weekend – if perhaps you had to be out of church or you helped in the nursery or you were there but you just felt off and detached, you’re welcome to share one of ours today. They’re free for all. That’s God’s way. His Word is still alive on Monday.

No matter what yesterday was like, maybe today, after a long hungry spell, you might see the ground shimmering with manna and decide to bend down on those knees, scoop up a handful and eat.

 

         Many, O LORD my God,
         are the wonders you have done.
         The things you planned for us
         no one can recount to you;
         were I to speak and tell of them,
         they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5 NIV

 

 

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