This weekend, me, Keith, and Garrett headed down to Huntsvegas (as my brother affectionately refers to Huntsville) to attend the college graduations of my brother, Brad, and my sister-in-law, Kristen. They both graduated and looked great in the process and we enjoyed getting to eat out and spend some time with them along with my parents and, for one meal, my sister Grace and her family (Christie and Jesse couldn't come due to work and school ). Kristen graduated on Friday night and Brad graduated Saturday afternoon, of course they couldn't graduate during the same ceremony! That would have been too easy.
Garrett did pretty well, he had his moments, but I brought a ton of stuff to entertain him, including a few of the small things that I had bought him for Christmas, so he did his 2 year old best to behave. Between graduations we all squeezed into my parents' hotel room and exchanged a few Christmas gifts. After supper on Saturday night we headed down to Houston to spend one more day with my family. On Sunday we got up and headed out to church. Brad and Kristen go to Houston's First Baptist Church. It's huge! But very nice and the pastor was great! Once again I wrestled with Garrett during the sermon, he did pretty well, but by this point he had already been forced to sit through two graduation ceremonies so he wasn't thrilled to be sitting through church. Why didn't we put him in the nursery, you might ask? Well, about half of the time that we put him in our own church's nursery where he's been going for 2 years, he throws a huge fit, like he doesn't know these women that he sees every Sunday or the kids that he enjoys playing with. I could only imagine how he would react if we were to try to get him to go to an unfamiliar nursery, so we decided to grin and bear it for one service.
We suspected that this was the church where Beth Moore was a member, but we weren't positive. Brad and Kristen aren't very familiar with Beth so they had no idea if she went there, and there's technically two First Baptist Church's in Houston, so there was always the possibility that she was a member at the other First Baptist Church. As we were leaving, we headed through the foyer and I immediately spotted the back of her head. I knew it was her, and she turned around and confirmed it. I turned to my mom and said, "I just saw her!" Now, I am not the type to just run up to a celebrity, I always worry that they aren't in the mood to sign an autograph or take a picture, so I was just planning to stand back and stare at her and maybe sneak a picture with my cell phone. But my mom had other plans. She marched right up to her and introduced herself and my dad, so I figured since she was already being bothered, I may as well meet her. She was super nice! I told her that I read her blog every day and she hugged me and said, "So you're one of my siestas." (If you read her blog, then you know what that means.) She even posed for a picture with us. She has a grandson who is just a few months younger than Garrett, so we chatted about them for a minute and I told her that her husband Keith and my husband Keith have a lot in common from what I've read about him in her blog. It was so much fun! We only talked to her for maybe 5 minutes, but she seemed very happy to meet us and super sweet. If I wasn't a big fan of her's before, I would be now.
After that we went for lunch at Fuddrucker's and then headed back to Brad and Kristen's apartment to squeeze in a little more visiting time. We headed back home this afternoon.
It was so wonderful to get to see my family and great that we were also able to have Christmas with them!
Showing posts with label Beth Moore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beth Moore. Show all posts
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Beth Moore
This is for my mom who asked me to write a blog about the Bible study I just completed.
Since I began my job as a stay at home mom, I've been wanting to join a women's Bible study. My church has one that meets on Tuesday mornings (they also have some that meet on Wednesday nights, but I was looking for something during the day) and at the time that this Bible study was beginning, I was babysitting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was disappointed to know that I wouldn't be able to participate, but within the same week I received a phone call from a good friend. She is a member of a different church in our area and her's was having a Beth Moore Bible study on Monday mornings. She had already registered herself and a friend, but the other friend decided she didn't want to come, so my friend wanted to know if I wanted to join her. Initially I hesitated. The thought that ran through my head? "I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, if I go to Bible study then, I will have to change the day I shop." I know, ridiculous. But that just shows you how easily that Satan can try to keep you from getting involved in God's word. Once that thought dawned on me, I realized how petty I was being and that this was in fact an answer to my prayer. So I agreed. I had never participated in a Beth Moore Bible study before but I had heard a lot about her so I was excited to see what she was all about.
I promise I won't do a play by play of the 10 weeks that I attended this Bible study, but there are a few things about it that I wanted to share. First of all, the title of the study that I participated in is "Breaking Free". I'm sure those of you out there who know about Beth Moore, would want to know which one I'm talking about. The group that I was assigned to was led by a really awesome woman. This was my first time to meet her, but by the end I felt as if I knew her. She was very open about everything that she was dealing with throughout this study and it was very refreshing.
Back to the study, this one is a very personal, very intense Bible study. Beth Moore presents various strongholds that everyone has in their lives and how we need to break free from these. It was very powerful. I think the main thing that she said that will stick with me forever was this: she was speaking about the various women in our history who have been prayer warriors and are known for this (ie Corrie ten Boom) and she asked a very poignant question "Who are the prayer warriors for this generation?" Where are the women now who will spend a "Sweet Hour of Prayer" on their knees praying for their families, their churches, their communities, etc. This really hit home with me, and still brings tears to my eyes to think about. I can honestly say that I am certainly not one of these women. What is holding me back? It is so easy to get caught up in life and just let it pass you by without doing anything of meaning. Maybe you don't feel like you have anything to give, but you know what? Everyone can pray. To quote Beth Moore "Christ isn't asking us to believe in our ability to exercise unwavering faith. He is asking us to believe that HE is able."
"Between every unfaithful generation and faithful generation is one person determined to change." I feel as if I am definitely one of the lucky ones here. I have multiple generations before me (behind me?) who have been faithful, but I have to remember that the opposite of this statement can also be true so I need to be sure that I am striving to be another faithful generation so that my son (and any other children I may have) will be "a man after God's own heart". Another quote "So many people yearn to be part of something significant. Something important. We want to make useful contributions to society. We look at people who do and we're envious, yet do we realize what kind of contribution we could make to our own family lines? I can't think of anyone to whom I'd want my life to be a blessing more than my children's children and their children's children."
Almost every week, this study brought tears to my eyes at some point. It was very powerful and heartbreaking at the same time. But it was so good to be reminded of what's important in life and how we need to be striving towards a closer relationship with God. If you think you're there, you're not. Everyone should be pursuing daily an audience with God, a close friendship. He should be the one you turn to for everything and if you do, He'll be there. Last Monday was my last Bible study, however this week my group is meeting at our leader's house for one final activity. In the final video lesson from Beth, she challenges everyone to write a binding agreement with God. You are to seal it closed and keep it as a reminder of this agreement. If you break it, then you are to break the seal, re-read the agreement and once you're ready to re-commit, then you re-seal it. She said don't worry about how many seals you have on that envelope the day the Lord calls you home. Just worry about the fact that you have re-committed and are back on track with God when that day comes. The sooner you commit (or re-commit) the sooner you will be back to the close relationship with God that we should all have and be striving towards.
And to wrap up this blog I thought I would end with one more quote from Beth Moore. "When my daughter Amanda was in the second grade she illustrated a truth about the centrality of God. She was telling me something she had prayed over at school that day while standing in the lunch line. I said to her, Oh Amanda, do you know how much it means to me for you to make God a part of your day? And she responded, You're so silly, Mommy. You know God made the day. I'm just glad He made me part of His."
Since I began my job as a stay at home mom, I've been wanting to join a women's Bible study. My church has one that meets on Tuesday mornings (they also have some that meet on Wednesday nights, but I was looking for something during the day) and at the time that this Bible study was beginning, I was babysitting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was disappointed to know that I wouldn't be able to participate, but within the same week I received a phone call from a good friend. She is a member of a different church in our area and her's was having a Beth Moore Bible study on Monday mornings. She had already registered herself and a friend, but the other friend decided she didn't want to come, so my friend wanted to know if I wanted to join her. Initially I hesitated. The thought that ran through my head? "I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, if I go to Bible study then, I will have to change the day I shop." I know, ridiculous. But that just shows you how easily that Satan can try to keep you from getting involved in God's word. Once that thought dawned on me, I realized how petty I was being and that this was in fact an answer to my prayer. So I agreed. I had never participated in a Beth Moore Bible study before but I had heard a lot about her so I was excited to see what she was all about.
I promise I won't do a play by play of the 10 weeks that I attended this Bible study, but there are a few things about it that I wanted to share. First of all, the title of the study that I participated in is "Breaking Free". I'm sure those of you out there who know about Beth Moore, would want to know which one I'm talking about. The group that I was assigned to was led by a really awesome woman. This was my first time to meet her, but by the end I felt as if I knew her. She was very open about everything that she was dealing with throughout this study and it was very refreshing.
Back to the study, this one is a very personal, very intense Bible study. Beth Moore presents various strongholds that everyone has in their lives and how we need to break free from these. It was very powerful. I think the main thing that she said that will stick with me forever was this: she was speaking about the various women in our history who have been prayer warriors and are known for this (ie Corrie ten Boom) and she asked a very poignant question "Who are the prayer warriors for this generation?" Where are the women now who will spend a "Sweet Hour of Prayer" on their knees praying for their families, their churches, their communities, etc. This really hit home with me, and still brings tears to my eyes to think about. I can honestly say that I am certainly not one of these women. What is holding me back? It is so easy to get caught up in life and just let it pass you by without doing anything of meaning. Maybe you don't feel like you have anything to give, but you know what? Everyone can pray. To quote Beth Moore "Christ isn't asking us to believe in our ability to exercise unwavering faith. He is asking us to believe that HE is able."
"Between every unfaithful generation and faithful generation is one person determined to change." I feel as if I am definitely one of the lucky ones here. I have multiple generations before me (behind me?) who have been faithful, but I have to remember that the opposite of this statement can also be true so I need to be sure that I am striving to be another faithful generation so that my son (and any other children I may have) will be "a man after God's own heart". Another quote "So many people yearn to be part of something significant. Something important. We want to make useful contributions to society. We look at people who do and we're envious, yet do we realize what kind of contribution we could make to our own family lines? I can't think of anyone to whom I'd want my life to be a blessing more than my children's children and their children's children."
Almost every week, this study brought tears to my eyes at some point. It was very powerful and heartbreaking at the same time. But it was so good to be reminded of what's important in life and how we need to be striving towards a closer relationship with God. If you think you're there, you're not. Everyone should be pursuing daily an audience with God, a close friendship. He should be the one you turn to for everything and if you do, He'll be there. Last Monday was my last Bible study, however this week my group is meeting at our leader's house for one final activity. In the final video lesson from Beth, she challenges everyone to write a binding agreement with God. You are to seal it closed and keep it as a reminder of this agreement. If you break it, then you are to break the seal, re-read the agreement and once you're ready to re-commit, then you re-seal it. She said don't worry about how many seals you have on that envelope the day the Lord calls you home. Just worry about the fact that you have re-committed and are back on track with God when that day comes. The sooner you commit (or re-commit) the sooner you will be back to the close relationship with God that we should all have and be striving towards.
And to wrap up this blog I thought I would end with one more quote from Beth Moore. "When my daughter Amanda was in the second grade she illustrated a truth about the centrality of God. She was telling me something she had prayed over at school that day while standing in the lunch line. I said to her, Oh Amanda, do you know how much it means to me for you to make God a part of your day? And she responded, You're so silly, Mommy. You know God made the day. I'm just glad He made me part of His."
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