*UPDATE* All the tickets have been spoken for. Thanks, ladies!
Hey ladies! We are giving away 10 tickets to the Living Proof Live event this weekend in Tucson, Arizona. If you were hoping to attend the event but couldn’t swing the ticket price, we would love to treat you to a complimentary one. Please call Kimberly Meyer at our Living Proof office at 1-888-700-1999. I will try to update the blog as soon as I hear that the tickets are gone.
Houston Siestas, we look forward to seeing you tonight for session 7 of A Heart Like His! Have a great Tuesday, everyone.
Ladies, I have some very cool news. My two favorite authors are joining up for a “Heart of Texas” book tour on Friday and Saturday. Would you like to guess who they are?
One is our very own Siesta Mama, who will be signing copies of So Long Insecurity. Woo hoo!
I screamed like a little girl when I heard the news.
Mrs. Rivers will be signing copies of Her Mother’s Hope, which just released this week.
Here are the details in case you’re interested in coming to one of the book signings.
Friday, March 19
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Barnes & Noble 1430 Lake Plaza Place Southlake, TX 76092 817-442-0207 *You’ll need to get a free ticket from the store to get in line.
3:30 PM – 5:30 PM Barnes & Noble 7700 West Northwest Highway Dallas, Texas 75225 214-739-1124 *You’ll need to get a free ticket from the store to get in line.
Saturday, March 20
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Barnes & Noble 12850 Memorial Drive Houston, Texas 77024 713-465-5616 *You won’t need a ticket, but the B&N employee I spoke to recommended getting there when the store opens at 9 AM.
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Barnes & Noble The Woodlands Mall 1201 Lake Woodlands Drive, #3008 The Woodlands, Texas 77381 281-465-8744 *You can either get a wristband at the store in advance or call them and have one reserved in your name. (You can pick it up tomorrow or in the store on Saturday.) The wristbands will have a group number that will indicate when you get in line.
Melissa and I will be at one of the book signings in Houston. (Probably the early one.) We hope to get to meet some of you!
And finally, what’s your favorite Francine Rivers book? Mine’s the Mark of the Lion series. I wish I could read it all over again for the first time.
Hey Everybody! I am so proud of you guys! Your discussions have been tremendous. I am especially happy that so many of you have jumped in with us late and gone back to the very beginning, signed in, and added your answers to the previous weeks of our book discussion. Way to go! As we moderate, we give the same attention to the comments on the older posts as the ones that are up-to-date. I promise you that community and active discussion will make your journey far more meaningful and hold you infinitely more accountable.
Ok, we’re about to get to a part of the book that I found highly interesting in research. The next several chapters involve the insights from the men’s survey and I bet a few of their comments will pop your eyes open, too. In the mix of what we have ahead, we’re going to be focusing on men-related insecurities then soon after that (in coming chapters) we’ll focus specifically on women-related insecurities. Each of us has a tendency to be less secure around one gender than the other and, according to the survey of over 900 of you, we’re almost evenly divided between the two. I pray we’re going to gain insight into some gender-related insecurities and stumble upon some much needed freedom. I really want you to read the portions about the men even if you don’t have a mate or a specific man in your life. If we have resistant, resentful hearts toward men, we can’t just avoid them altogether. They comprise the other half of our population so it really is imperative in our pursuit of wholeness that we get a grip.
Your assignment for this week is to read CHAPTERS 10 AND 11 and answer the following question: 1. Based on Chapter 10, in all truthfulness, has your historical tendency been to view men (generally speaking) as gods? Or devils?
2. Based on Chapter 10 and your own day-to-day observances, what differences do you see between men’s insecurities and women’s?
3. On p.208 in Chapter 11, I suggest that women who struggle with insecurity tend to be particularly taken with 2 divine attributes: omnipotence and omniscience. Did either of these resonate with you? If so, how?
We are liable to have some LIVELY conversation this week! I can’t wait to see it happen! Just one little thing I want to throw out there: some of you may have some pretty big hang-ups with men because you have a background of abuse like I do. If it plays heavily into one of your answers, by all means, share what pertains but I’ve learned along the way that it’s best to stop short of graphic descriptions. Most people have a hard time knowing what to do with those kinds of mental images. I’ve told every graphic detail in counseling situations but, publically, I try to stay general. It’s just too much for most listeners and readers. They have compassion but they just don’t have the answers. We know Who does.
Go for it, Girls! I’m so honored to take this journey with you.
Hey, you Darling Siestas! Just a really quick post this morning. I bet a ton of you are on Spring Break this week. What are you guys doing for it?
The Houston schools are all out this week and we were supposed to have a week off from Bible study but remember that Tuesday night when I told you the whole city shut down over 17 flakes? Well, tonight’s our make-up week so that we can end on schedule. That’s fine with me though. I trust that God is going to bring us a neat group tonight even if it’s a small group.
CJ and AJ and the kids are at a high school camp right now in East Texas where he’s teaching and she’s…well…trying to entertain two small children during the day and trying to get them both to sleep at night in the same small room as their parents. The first night was pretty challenging because Annabeth is old enough to stand up in the pack-n-play and scream bloody murder for her mommy – three feet away from her – to come rescue her. And, about the time she gets quiet, Jackson is big enough to blurt out with things like, “Did Annabeff finally go to sleep?” and rouse her up again. He’s a party animal like his Bibby and LOVES all of them sleeping in the same room.
But, the Jones are troopers and, after all, the week is filled with so many fun things. Amanda is with one of her very best buddies from the Dallas-Fort Worth area where they served for several years. I was so happy for the Jones to move back to Houston but so sad to see AJ leave some of the best friends she’d ever made. For moms, I don’t know if there’s any replacing the friends you had when you all started your families. Several of those friends are still in my life and we talk about those days all the time. I will hear many good Janelle and Ella stories when the Jones get home. Janelle is one of Amanda’s BFFs and her darling Ella was born within the same few days as Jackson and in the same hospital so she is really special to us. She also made us want a little girl the second time around in the worst way.
Melissa is working like a mad woman on her thesis and her other classes this semester so she can be finished with this second Masters in May. I don’t even have to tell you that she’s chasing her tail. She’s coming in town this weekend for a wedding and I have to work over part of it but I’ll still enjoy her like crazy when we get to be together.
Good grief! I’ve got to get off of here. My handout for tonight is not finished. I just wanted to say good morning to you guys and see who was doing something out of the ordinary for Spring Break. Finances are tight this year so many of our Siestas are probably trying to get pretty creative on Stay-cations. Give each other some great ideas!
PS. For those of you who followed the comments to the last post, did you see that the young mom who collapsed into the coma has awakened and talked some? Praise You, Lord! Raise her up a living, breathing, walking, talking MIRACLE!
I’M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE EARLY FLIGHT WORKED! THANK YOU FOR PRAYING, SIESTAS! My man is so cute.
Hey, you Sweet Things!
How’s your weekend going? I have checked back into a hotel in Toronto. The first leg of my flight got cancelled and it’s a tad hard to catch that second leg without it. I got to the airport really early because one of the young women on the LifeWay event team had an earlier flight. It’s also Spring Break here so the Nashville team felt like we’d better not take any chances in case the airport was super crowded. After wandering around a while, I finally meandered to my gate. Not very long after that, the dude at the counter announced that my flight was cancelled and, due to overcrowding, there were no more available flights today.
The Lord and I just had a long dinner at the hotel restaurant. I’m not sure what He ate but I got a New York strip. Yep, in Toronto. I was so hungry! No, I don’t usually eat that way but during events, my stomach is too wonky to eat many normal meals. When it’s over, I have a one-track mind: F.O.O.D.
I am full of praise to Him. He gave us such a neat group here in Canada. This was our first LPL of 2010. We were delighted to have it here. God knew in advance I’d be recovering from surgery and would need to start the travel schedule later in the year than usual. Many months ago, long before I had any kind of health scare, He led the event planners to schedule our kick-off later in the new year than we’d ever started before. He’s so brilliant.
We had 3300 beautiful faces lighting up that arena this weekend and most of them were Canadian sisters. I wish you could have heard them sing. Many times Travis and the team stepped back from their microphones and let the women’s voices fill the house with God’s glory. We had an invitation like we always do and, though we hope they’ll come let us know if they received Jesus as Savior, we don’t pressure them to tell us. Today something happened that we’ve never experienced in 12 LPL years. In that raging sea of estrogen, A MAN actually came forward to receive Christ. Hold up. That’s not all. He was one of the security guards. How about that??? Does God love that guy or what? I didn’t get to talk to him but Kelly, one of our darling young event team members, did. If she hadn’t been so cute about it, I might have been jealous. As it was, I couldn’t take that from her for anything. What a memory that one will be! Lord, please grant him an unusual, contagious love for You and a voracious appetite for Your Word.
Well, your Siesta Mama is one tired woman. Pray me out tomorrow, you wild-praying-thangs. They are expecting the same weather tomorrow. The rest of the team got out okay this evening and I’m thankful for that. They’d had lots of problems on the inbound flight so I’m not bitter. I just miss that man of mine. I’m so homesick for him. I came in a day early so it seems so much longer than usual. Anyway, tomorrow will be here before I know it. I’ve got two different flights booked in hopes of getting out on one! Thank you, Michelle, my dear Hawk, for all your hard work this afternoon from Houston. You surely didn’t get a Saturday afternoon off! May God give you a double portion of rest in Him tomorrow. Your boss loves you.
Ok, Sweet Things, I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for letting me chat with you for a little while. I was the teeniest bit lonesome.
I’m going to text my man. I love it when he texts me back.
Oh, and don’t forget, tomorrow is time-change Sunday. Spring forward!
Hey, Girls! You are doing such a fabulous job with your group discussion. I’ve especially loved watching you respond to one another. You really are such a tremendous and unique community of women. I’m honored to journey with you here. Let’s continue hearing from all those who have been active from the beginning but let’s also hear from more of you out there who are watching and reading but haven’t really jumped in here and participated. I promise you that when we wrap this thing up, you will be far more satisfied with the experience if you personally invested in it.
We are reaching the halfway point in our journey and have arrived at a place of utmost importance in our pursuit of wholeness. Your assignment this week is based on only one chapter of the book: CHAPTER 9. As you will soon discover, it is not a chapter you just read. It’s a chapter you actually do. A chapter you actually pray. Please take it seriously. Everything ahead of us hinges on this experience. It is placed at this point in the journey prior to the prescriptive and practical phase of the book so that the way is cleared and our dignity restored enough to move forward. It will help place us in a posture God can bless with the rich kind of confidence He wants for His people and activate the power we have within us to think and FEEL differently. That’s essentially where the remainder of the book heads.
Here are your very simple assignments this week: 1. Do (don’t just read but actually do) Chapter Nine. In your comment to this post, simply reflect back on your time with God and share anything specific that you received from it.
2. Go to last Saturday’s post (3/6/10) and look at all the verses in the comment section. You will find a wellspring! Pick five Scriptures that speak most powerfully to you right now – five that you feel like you need the most – and write them on the inside of the back cover of the book. (This should be a lot less intimidating than what I asked you to write inside the front cover at the beginning of our journey!)
And that’s it for this week! I want the prayer journey to stand by itself and clear the way for mighty works ahead. We have some of our most eye-opening moments in the second half so stay with it, Girls!
Since we only have one chapter this week, this is a great time for many of us to play catch-up!
I am packing this very moment and about to head to Toronto for our first 2010 Living Proof Live. We can’t wait to see a God-show in Canada! Come on, Canadian Sisters! We’ve got plenty of room for you!
***It’s Sunday evening and you just passed 500 comments on this post. YOU DID IT, GIRLS! Honestly, this is the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever seen. As you know, we’ve posted Scriptures many times, especially through our 2009 SSMT, but this is the first time we’ve had a theme like this. These verses will stand a woman to her feet and put a shout of praise on her tongue. Let’s remember this spot, Siestas, so we can return to it many times. As my grandmother used to say, “It’ll cure what ails ya.” Memorize the date of the post – 3/6/10 – and turn back to it any time you need Christ to fill your sweet soul with an extra measure of divine strength. Thank you so, so much for your participation here.
ORIGINAL POST:
I slept until 8:30 this morning! I can’t even remember the last time! I am so hyped up and happy I hardly know what to do! There ain’t no estimatin’ how different the world can look when we get a little sleep. Sometimes when we think we need a new man (I’m not thinking that right now, just using an example), a new job, a new set of kids, a new house, or a new friend, we may just need a nap. Maybe you can work one in today.
OK, Girls, I have a weekend assignment for you. I am so jazzed about our on-line journey through SLI and I am very happy with how it’s going. Please don’t misunderstand this to mean I’m not. I’m THRILLED with the honesty you guys are expressing and I hope you’ll keep it up. This is a safe place. But I agree with one of our sisters who said something like, “Let’s pour it out here but let’s get it dealt with and get out there and be strong.” All the moaning about how hard it is only makes it harder. Breaking Free will nearly kill you but then, if you stick with it, like many of us out here have, God will use it to turn around and heal you. We have to press through and not be so easily discouraged. Our attitudes will make or break us. Let me say just as quickly that so many of you have been tremendously encouraging in the journey even through the difficulty of what we’ve had to face. We just want to band together and reach out and pull some sisters up on their feet here.
Ladies, the devil knows that if we’re too scared to even face our insecurity, we’ll never get freed up from it. If we just put the book down because it’s too heavy, how are we supposed to get up? (No, you didn’t say you were putting it down and I’m so thankful for that. But I’m convinced it’s what the enemy’s trying to get some of us to do.) We can’t deal with what we won’t face. GIRLS, WE CAN DO THIS. Are you telling me it’s harder to face it and get over it than it is to deal with it day in and day out, letting it minimize us and make fools of us and mentor the next generation to be just like us? Not to me, it’s not. I’m a whole lot happier today than I was this time a year ago. Please, keep up the honesty and let’s work this thing out together but, if you are in Christ, stop giving yourself so little credit. YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES. We can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens us. Let’s honor what He’s done for us by doing what it takes to accept it to the marrow of our bones. The question will ultimately be this: Do we believe what God’s Word says enough to act on it?
So, that brings us to our weekend assignment: (And this is not only for the ones going through SLI. All of us could use this.) Look up Scriptures that have to do with strength and power and victory and write some out in a comment to this post. Be sure to put the reference and the translation because your sisters will want to know where they can find many of them. Try to limit your comment to the actual Scripture so that we can read one after another and claim them for ourselves through the power of Christ in our inner man.
THEN, ladies, get on here and read some of them OUT LOUD. Restate them in first person between You and your God.
I’ll get us started with one I’m saying almost every morning right now. Isaiah 52:1 NIV says…
“Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength.”
I say it out loud and picture myself right then putting on the power and might of Christ like a coat. Sometimes I might even stretch my arms like I’m pulling them through sleeves. Go ahead and think I’m such a weirdo. It’s a well established fact but I have loved it and it’s working and, anyway, I think that kind of stuff makes God grin. I’ve used it in my journey to be physically restored after my surgery and through the pain of a badly herniated disk but it is just as pertinent to our present journey toward soul-deep security.
Your Siesta Mama loves you. This is how I would talk to my own daughters when they were growing up. They could well tell you that I only put up with “This is sooooooo haaaarrrrrddddd” so long. “It won’t be near as hard when you get your tail up and do it.”
Go for it, Girls! Get your tail up and do it. Let’s clothe ourselves with these:
Hey, Girls! How are you sweet things? You newbies well surpassed the 100 mark on our last post. Way to go! Now, keep it up! God willing, we’re walking another week closer to waving a happy good-bye to insecurity. “KB” posted a comment last night saying, “Did anybody see Jessica Simpson on Oprah and could you believe how much it sounded like what we’re studying??” Yes, I saw it and I thought exactly the same thing. (She was talking about how she was chastised in Hollywood and the tabloids for being a full size 4.) It was this whole beauty around the world thing and it occurred to me that our female insecurity epidemic obviously isn’t limited to the West.
I read countless responses to the questions raised in Week Three and held a number of your stories close to my heart. Some of you may have been shocked by what others in our community have endured but I’ve been in women’s ministry way too long to anticipate less. The common ground does not, however, diminish our compassion. We can’t let it. It still hurts to tell. And hurts to read. Epidemic insecurity needs to lose its mystery for us to find our liberty. As you can see, many of us earned the right to this battle but those of us who know Christ possess an infinitely greater right. In Him, we have the right to be free and whole.
We have the God-given right to be secure.
In many ways, we qualify as a microcosm of almost any community of women you could find in this culture. You just can’t make it into adulthood on Planet Earth without getting pretty beat up somewhere along the way. Look at it like this: the enemy of our souls wanted more out of those hits than he got or we wouldn’t be here trudging this path toward wholeness together. Many of you are marvels. Others are pure miracles. Praise God, there is healing for all of us. AND, praise God, there is also meaning.
If you’re able, please watch the video greeting I included in this post. It’s a rough cut if you’ll ever see one and very impromptu (I decided to do it that morning while I was putting on my mascara, thinking about you). But it comes to you with much love and desire to see you free in Christ. I want you to get the best possible benefit out of this journey. God is so able and so willing. Hang with it here. We are taking the turn toward solutions in a very short time. We’ve got one whopper of a chapter to read before then, however. Your reading assignment this week will be CHAPTERS SEVEN AND EIGHT. Chapter Eight will be a welcome relief and will introduce one of the major components in the acquisition of soul-deep security. But let’s talk about Chapter Seven first.
You’ve heard of the house that Jack built. Chapter Seven is the chapter that YOU built. This blog community (that we regulars around here call Siestaville) makes its mark in multiple places over the course of the book but this chapter is entirely your input. Those of you who were with us a little over a year ago will perhaps remember it well. I threw out a question – Has insecurity ever made a fool of you? – and, boy, did I get some answers. Some of you more tenderhearted sisters will be sorely tempted to skip or skim over this chapter because it’s hard to read at times but, unless you’re hyper-sensitive or feeling too pathetic already (we’ve got to break out of that), try to read the whole thing. Get started post haste because it’s the lengthiest chapter in the book. It’s meant to hammer a point till you’re practically screaming:
THAT’S IT! I AM SICK TO DEATH OF THE TOLL INSECURITY TAKES. I’M WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO DUMP IT.
As long as you come to that conclusion, you don’t have to read the whole chapter if it’s above your threshold. I hope most of you will read every page of it but, if you’re having a really rough week, you can have a hall pass on the long version. Just flip through various section headings and read the ones that resonate most. And always read the wrap-up of any chapter. In an ideal world, all we’d ever need is positive motivation. The truth is, sometimes a little negative motivation mixed into the positive is exactly what it takes to shake us up enough to deal. In Chapter Seven, you’re going to get a glimpse of what happens when insecurity deals with us instead of us dealing with our insecurity. Hopefully the point will be made and we can move on. Then we can dive our scalded souls into some healing waters in the coming chapters. I promise relief is coming. We will still have plenty of issues to grapple with in future chapters but new responses will begin to shape up shortly and fresh God-given strength is on its way. We are not wimps, Girls. Let’s rise up.
OK, here are your questions for this week. Since I’m giving you four this time around you’re welcome, if you prefer, to pick two of them to answer in your comment: 1. What part of Chapter 7 hit home with you most and why?
2. (If you’re choosing only two, please include this one.) Based on your journey so far in chapters 1-8, list your own personal top three reasons why it’s time to deal with your insecurity. (We’re not looking for right answers. We’re looking for YOUR answers. Don’t copy off your fellow sojourners’ papers on this one. Grin.) So that you don’t get your numbers confused here, list your 3 reasons under A.B.&C.
3. Based on Chapter 8, briefly describe a recent trigger of insecurity and whether or not it got a rise out of you.
4. Also based on Chapter 8, what does dignity mean to you?
You guys are doing a fabulous job with this. I am so proud of you for sticking with it! Your extra effort will not be in vain. May God meet you in these pages.
Good morning, Siestas! I hope everyone is doing well today. We are often asked about Bible study materials for men, so I thought I would take a minute to let you know about a new one available from Curtis Jones, AKA my husband. Most of you know that Curtis’ role at LPM is to create resources with your men in mind (whether your husbands, sons, fathers, grandfathers, or friends). This new resource is called Drive Thru the Bible Volume Two: The Holy Spirit and the Acts of the Apostles. It’s a CD set consisting of twenty-five 7-10 minute messages that your guy can listen to on the way to work or school or wherever he may go. This is basically a 25-day supply of on-the-road devotionals.
You can also find Curtis’ Drive Thru the Bible Volume One: The Life of Elijah and his Turbulent Times 3-CD set in our online store. The Turbulent Times CD set would be great for the young adult in your life.
Just scroll through the CD Studies section of our online store and you’ll see them there.
Tomorrow we’ll have our fourth So Long Insecurity discussion post. I’m really excited about this one because Beth made a video for us. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those! Be sure to come back tomorrow for a word from your Siesta Mama. Have a great day!
Isn't "siesta" the Spanish word for nap? Yes! Then why are our LPM blog readers called siestas? One time Beth typed out the word "sistas," referring to our blog readers, and her spell checker wanted her to change it to "siestas." The name stuck! You can read about it here. If you read this blog, consider yourself a siesta! It's just another word for sister.
