Category / scripture

by Bethe

Weary

Oh how I am so very tired… three nights in a row of not coming home to eat dinner until 10:00. It’s crunch time at school, with only 58 days left until my graduation, 43 until I defend my thesis. I have four papers due in the next six weeks, not to mention an intense month at work, and two big trips (just got home from a fabulous mountain adventure in Colorado, and soon will jet off to San Diego to speak at a national conference!). Because of board retreats, leadership trainings, committee/non-profit work and my travels, I’m averaging about three days a week of work, and two days of “other.” Since five days worth of work must still be done each week, it means I’m staying most nights until 7:00, bringing home work with me, and sleeping almost never.

But as tired as I may be, I know where I can go to find true rest.
Jeremiah 31:25 – “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
Galatians 7:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Luke 1:49 – “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name.”
by Bethe

Such a sap

I’ve become such a sap… today I was sitting at my desk at work, minding my own business, when someone sent me a silly forward about a soldier giving a little girl a hug in an airport… and it sent me right over the edge, probably because I have friends over there. I cried right there at work! Sometimes I’m so thankful that I have an office that offers me privacy for silly days like today.

Then I cried again when I read this blog. You probably will too. We’ve been praying for this cute little boy for months now, and I’m so encouraged by these posts, as well as by the messages folks leave in their guest book. It’s great to claim to have faith when life is rosy, it’s another to be tested and proved through the fire. Watching others go through the trenches and still cling to hope challenges me to move past purely reading scripture and truly living it. Experiencing it. Knowing it. 
Besides, when others are suffering, it gives the rest of us an opportunity to step up to the plate and show Christ’s love in a real, tangible way. I have been blessed with friends who have shown up in the middle of the night with ice cream and hugs when I suffered unexpected heartbreak, or who have sat at the hospital with me, or who have looked me straight in the eye and have spoken hard truth that was exactly what I needed to hear. It’s amazing how God chooses to use us to touch others… and I only pray that God gives me very real opportunities to show his goodness in a way only He is capable of orchestrating.
But enough of the sap. I need to get back to eating my M&M’s and popcorn… don’t act like you don’t know exactly how wonderful that sweet and salty goodness can be. 
Oh, and if you’re looking for some new music (I’m on a total iTunes downloading kick) check out these two songs from Needtobreathe:
Lay ‘Em Down
Washed By The Water
Pure greatness! 
by Bethe

Summer Scripture

I started a new thing this summer… I’m trying to memorize a new verse on the 1st and 15th of each month. I stole the idea from Beth Moore’s blog. So far I’ve done three… and here they are!

Joshua 21:45 – “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”  (This is one of my life verses… love it.)
Proverbs 11:28 – “A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.”  (Don’t you love the thought of a “God-shaped life?”)
Ezekiel 36:26 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  (This one is for when I’m feeling bitter and calloused or just sick of life in general.)
by Bethe

Happy Ending

This is from today’s Beth Moore blog:


“If I say, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your loyal love, O Lord, supports me. When worries threaten to overwhelm me, your soothing touch makes me HAPPY.” 

Psalm 94:18-19

Boy, is that good. Here’s another one I’m memorizing this week:

“The one who calls you is faithful and HE WILL DO IT.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24
by Bethe

Shouting

Sometimes the Lord speaks to me in a whisper. And sometimes he shouts.

This week he has done a lot of shouting. Through scripture. Through the words of some wonderful friends and mentors. All are giving me the same, consistent message. And my soul can’t get enough. I’m literally thirsting for his promises and find so much comfort in them. Here’s a few that I have fallen in love with.
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded, YOU  NEED TO PERSEVERE so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. –Hebrews 10:35-36 (NIV)
“The Lord LONGS to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who WAIT for him.” –Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” –1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV)

“Let us not become weary of doing good. Because at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we DO NOT GIVE UP.” –Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

“You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on you, for it is trusting in you.” –Isaiah 26:3 (HCSB)

Oh the peace and reassurance that can only come from my One and Only.
by Bethe

Prayer

First of all, please know that I’m still laughing about that padded bra story. That’s pure greatness.

But anyway…
I teach Sunday School at my church. It’s one of the greatest joys in my life, and also one of my greatest stressors. There’s that verse in James about teachers being held to a stricter accountability, and I take that really seriously. It’s tough coming up with a new lesson, week after week, and being constantly reminded of areas where I tend to struggle. It’s scary to have 20 girls staring back at me as I teach, probably thinking “This girl is such a whacko…” as I spill my coffee in class and expose myself for the real goober that I am. 
But it’s also one of my greatest joys because I get to dig deep into scripture, strengthen my relationship with Christ, and then help other women my age catch a glimpse of all his greatness. And forgiveness. Grace. Peace. Hope. Love. Protection. (I could go on and on.)
Plus, I’ve already made a bazillion mistakes, and hopefully my own former mess-ups, insecurities, and overall stupidity might help the next girl avoid them. It is my unique privilege to encourage other girls, and I end up being blessed by watching behind-the-scenes as girl after girl matures and enjoys walking side by side with Christ. The girls in my class are such an encouragement to me… they really have no idea.
Each week I send out an email to my class with prayer requests, church announcements, and I try to include whatever random scripture I happen to be obsessed with each week. Sometimes you just can’t get enough of a promise, and I’m tempted to tape it to my forehead so everybody else can enjoy it as much as I have.
Here’s the scripture I have sent out in my past two weekly emails. I’m sure you may notice a theme… praying expectantly. These verses bring me such hope.
“In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and He answered me by setting me free. The LORD is with me, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me, He is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.”  –Psalm 118:5-7

“O LORD, hear me as I pray. Pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I will never pray to anyone but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.” –Psalm 5:1-3

I love that the first one says Christ answered my prayer by setting me free. It gives me goosebumps. And then the second verse… where it says I pray, and then I wait expectantly. (sigh)  LOVE it. I plan on memorizing both, so that the next time I hit a rough patch, I can start spouting these promises of hope. In the meantime, I think I just might have to tape an index card to my forehead. If you see me with a big red welt on my forehead, you’ll know that it’s just scripture memorization. Or another curling iron mishap. Either way, nothing to worry about.
by Bethe

Be Brave

I’m teaching the book of Esther in Sunday School. We’re following the Beth Moore series, and like everything she writes, I absolutely love it. Things that previously hid on the page suddenly awaken, and I feel like I’m living through the book. When I finish one of her series, I feel like I have known this book. Devoured it. Lived it. Cherished it. Digested it. Understood it. Known it intimately.

And it blesses me.

It’s tough to teach every week on the things I’m weakest at. It’s quite convenient that I’m so flawed, because it provides many good examples to my class of what NOT to do. Last week I taught on being brave. Esther, in chapter 4, does some soul searching and decides that she will risk her life to face the king and ask him to save her people. The pivotal moment, and something I have meditated on ever since… “And if I perish, I perish.”

I’m nothing like Esther. I’m a huge weenie. An old-fashioned scaredy cat. It’s quite embarrassing. I’m not much of a risk taker, and I waste tons of valuable time and energy fretting over the future, fretting over the present, fretting over the past… wondering if I will do the right thing, if I missed doing the right thing, if I even know what the right thing is. I’m my own worst enemy.

So I love this quote: “She (Esther) had to overcome herself in order to do what God had created her and positioned her to do.” – Dr. Karen Jobes, The NIV Application Commentary.

I love that, because I tend to get in my own way. I let that yucky, nagging fear slow me down. My fear that manifests itself as a stomachache. A pounding in my chest. An inability to sleep. And it’s nothing I can change on my own. Which is why I have quoted these verses over the past few weeks over and over… and over.

1 Corinthians 2:9—“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Psalm 138:8 – “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me…”

1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”

John 10:10—“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Did you know that the most common command in the whole Bible is this?: Do not be afraid.

The Proverbs 31 woman… the same one that every Christian woman has tried to become (and that I can never seem to measure up to), was described as a wife of “noble character” (v. 10). That same Hebrew word for “noble” is also translated “valor.”  An army term that means “brave.” Heroic courage. Bold in the face of danger. So really, this verse could say, “A brave, courageous wife, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.”

I want to be brave.

Beth Moore said this: “You may be one brave decision away from the most important turn in your entire path.”

My heart may still pound. My stomach may still hurt. But I can claim these verses as truth until they start to feel that way.

by Bethe

Promises

“So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there… Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled.” (Joshua 21: 43, 45)

How great is that? God delivered on every single one of his promises to his people (the Israelites). I’m sure when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years, or when Joshua was leading his people into all of those different battles (it seems like everybody and their dog had to be defeated before they got the promised land), or when they were being chased by Pharoah’s men through the Red Sea, that God’s promises must have looked pretty far-fetched. I mean, God couldn’t possibly deliver on every single one, right? It was just too hard. There were too many limitations. God only had so much to work with.

Oh yeah, but he did. Crazy, huh.

So when I try to put my God into that little box, and try to characterize him with all of my limitations, and lack of imagination, and lack of perspective, it helps to see that verse. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled. Every single time. No matter how unreachable, how improbable.

So what does that mean for you?

by Bethe

These are pretty good

Here’s my goal for this week (okay, two goals and an exclamation):

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3:15

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Philippians 1:27


And I pray that you… may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:18-19

(this third one is one of my very favorites)

by Bethe

Storms

It rained on my way home from work today. It was a cold, nasty rain, the light kind that dances around and eludes your umbrella, getting you wet no matter how hard you try to avoid it. And of course, ruining what was a good hair day.

Yesterday in Sunday School I taught about weathering storms. Life is so crummy sometimes. Many of my loved ones are going through some pretty rough (and weird) situations, and it’s a reminder to me that you’ve got to prepare for the storm in advance. Once it hits, sometimes it’s tough to tell right from left, up from down. During the storm, sometimes all you can do is hunker down and try to survive. The preparation is what helps you get through it.

So here’s some of the verses on storms that we looked at. They’re good to look at now, when things are going great. When the sun is shining. Stick them in your back pocket, because you never know when you might need it.

John 16:32-33
“But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Romans 5:3-5
“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

James 1:2-4
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Romans 8:18
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:38-39
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Genesis 15:1
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

Also, for those of you who may not be aware, here are some great websites for studying your Bible. I use them a lot when preparing my lessons:
www.biblegateway.com
www.sermoncentral.com
www.crosswalk.com