I’m clinging to this one today. Anyone agree?

It is no great matter to associate with the good and gentle; for this is a naturally pleasing to all, and everyone willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable thing.

Thomas a Kempis
Thomas a Kempis Biography And Works

Our Beth Moore cyber study group has grown again — Lauren says we’re maxed out at 29 30 people. She’s once again provided us with new HTML to update our chart and blogroll. Thanks, Lauren!

Wow — what an awesome, life-changing week of intense Bible reading for me. I can’t wait to go see what everyone else in the group says about it. I worked on my homework as much as I could — but I still have to finish Day 5. I’m trying to keep up! And I don’t even have an excuse like Patricia, who says she got busy preparing for her interview with Rebecca St. James!

The whole theme of Living Beyond Yourself is based on the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Beth Moore says some of us don’t have a lifetime to wait for these character traits to develop slowly and ripen. We need a change right NOW!

That’s me. Reading the Word keeps me connected to the Vine — the growing, living, overflowing Vine of Jesus Christ. If I’m cut off, I’ll die. I’ll get all brown and withery and crinkly, falling to the ground. Useless. Full of myself and not full of the Holy Spirit. Yes, Beth Moore is talking to me.

I could go through the homework verse by verse and tell you about 90 million things that leaped off the page into my heart — but that would take a week. Instead, I’ll give you a scenario of something that happened YESTERDAY in which the Holy Spirit got a hold of me and helped me to live beyond myself.

I’d scheduled a portrait sitting for my youngest daughter who turns one next week. This is supposed to be her six-month sitting. I had some trouble getting this done, can you tell? I decided to go to a chain portrait studio because my wonderful local photographer who I love very dearly has raised her prices, and I can’t go there very often unless she’s running a special.

I had to change this appointment three times because of various catastrophes, and I finally rescheduled it inadvertently during spring break — which meant I had to bring the whole crew with me. Now, this ordeal first involved my plowing through basement boxes to find the perfect-sized hand-me-down dress, washing and ironing it, bathing the baby and making sure she stayed clean, praying she wouldn’t get a bump or scratch before picture day — AND gathering all the other kids to load up and drive across town.

We showed up only five minutes late. ONLY!

When I walked into the studio “area,” the woman was sitting in front of the computer moniter on the phone. I waited for a minute or so, then she looked over at me and asked, “Are you here for something?”

“Yes, I’m here for a portrait sitting.” (Thinking: my baby! my baby girl is turning one! the last baby portrait!)

She sighed and said to someone in the phone, “I’ve got stuff to do. I’ll call you back.”

(So I guessed I was her “stuff to do.”)

My three older kids sat down quietly in the waiting area while we moved back to the portrait-taking area. I saw a beautiful child-sized white wicker chair, just like the one my other kids had their baby portraits made in. I asked her if we could use this for the picture.

“No, it’s the wrong size,” she snapped back.

“Well, I think it looks like a wonderful size. If you don’t mind, I’d love to use it for the picture,” I said.

“Not unless you want to get me fired for using the wrong size chair!”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to do that.” I began to feel a flicker of anger … seething. Why was she treating me this way? Did she have ANY idea how much effort it took to get me there? And how precious this last baby portrait sitting was to me?

She found a short, slippery wooden chair and plopped it on the white-carpeted stage. “This is the one we have to use,” she said.

Well, my daughter wasn’t happy about getting her picture made. Even though she looked like total Gerber Baby cuteness in her soft pink dress, she started crying. By now, my other wonderful favorite photographer would have been jumping up and down doing toe touches and waving feathers to get her to smile. But this lady was trying to use a talking stuffed animal that had a deep scary voice. And it wasn’t working.

So I reached over for another stuffed animal that had a jingle bell and started shaking it. Then the photographer glared at me, “M’am, you do your job, and let me do mine. Your job is safety. You watch to make sure she doesn’t fall. I’ll take care of getting her to smile for the camera.”

Can. You. Say. Angry.

I was angry. I clenched my teeth. I wanted to walk out and leave. I wanted to tell her that I’d done this dozens of times and not once have I had a crying baby!

But then something happened. As I felt those hot, smarting tears form in my eyes, the Holy Spirit took over and said, “Give her MY grace. There’s something behind the scenes going on in her life right now. She’s having problems with something or someone. Let it go, and give her grace.”

So I did. I let it go. I clapped whenever the camera flashed at the perfect moment of a brief between-tears almost smile. And I kept the atmosphere friendly by doing as I was told. Finally, when we sat down to look at the proofs, I told her what a great job she had done. Then I noticed up on the wall there were dozens of award certificates for photos.

“Did you take all those?” I asked her.

“I sure did,” she said.

“Well, you’re a wonderful photographer,” I said. “I can’t imagine all the work you put into getting those kids to smile.”

That was it. That was the connecting point. She SMILED and thanked me. I could visibly see her relaxing. I picked out my portraits and placed my order on the spot, even though my favorite studio would have given me weeks to look at actual proofs and decide. They weren’t perfect, but there were a couple of really good ones. And at least we got it done!

The lesson I learned here — it’s POSSIBLE to live beyond myself — to let God’s Spirit fill me and have me respond like He would. I’m still learning and growing, and I battle my impulses every day. (Hey, but we learned even Peter had a struggle every now and then.)

I’m not wearing a “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelet — but the more I study this Beth Moore homework, the more that question captures my every thought.

Addie	Heather*	Carol
M	Rach	Jeana
Jenn	Amanda	MamaB
GiBee	Boomama	Maria
Blair	Heather	Nancy
Janna	Flipflop	Robin
Sherry	Patricia	Tara
Lauren	HolyMama!	Faith
Christy	Eph2810	Karin
Leann	Rachel	Janice
This is a list of the women participating in the study and the links to their blogs. New postings on the study will be published for the next ten weeks, between Friday 8pm – Saturday 8am. Please feel free to visit each of us and comment. Everyone is welcome to participate in this discussion as we seek to live beyond ourselves. May God bless you richly from the hearing of His word.

How’s it going for those of you in the Beth Moore study? I hope you’re able to find a chance to dig into the homework. It’s not easy, is it? I’m loving every minute I can sit down and really pore through it. And my thoughts are with you today. I know I want to keep it up so I’ll be able to join in the discussion over the weekend.

Last night, my husband was showing our kids a video of a camping trip he and some friends took to a lake in Minnesota about 15 years ago. It was a beautiful spot — quiet and peaceful. At some point, one of his friends filmed him sitting beside the lake writing in his journal. I was so jealous just watching that! I said, “I can’t even imagine how much fun that would be — to sit beside a lake and do my Beth Moore homework!”

While I do mine, there’s a swirl of noise around me — and last night my 11-month-old daughter kept grabbing at my Bible — I have the NIV Life Application Bible — which I love! She was fascinated watching my pen scribble across the workbook pages. And you know how those onion-thin pages sound when you flip them back and forth — as we do in our homework. She loved that crinkly sound and wanted to flip pages with her little chubby hand.

I kept giving her other toys to play with or another book to read — but within a couple of minutes, she was right back where I was, wanting to know what FASCINATED me about that fun BOOK I was reading!

And I realized — this is the start for her! She’s only a baby now, but as she grows up, I want her to keep seeing me read my Bible. It’s the Book that matters most — full of relevant, life-changing words that will build her faith and give her life a purpose. Even just a few minutes ago, I was listening to James Dobson on the radio as he shared about abstinence education for teens. It’s in the Bible! It can give teens something to hold onto during those years as well.

One of my favorite bloggers is Carmen of Full-Contact, Christ-Centric Living. I remember a few months ago when Carmen just started her blog, and she said she wasn’t sure what exactly to focus on. We emailed back and forth about it. I told her something like, “Mentor people like me! Teach me how to raise godly kids! How do we do this in our culture today?”

Carmen (a mom of six) has some great advice in her blog for moms raising teenagers. Her recent post, To Hunt or Not to Hunt is inspiring for me. A mother asked her a question: “Christian guys are so timid today, and my daughters are asking if it’s OK for them to approach guys. How will they meet the right guy? Should they call guys or wait to be called?”

And here’s part of Carmen’s answer, though I encourage you to read all of it!

I’m raising a house full of boys. I’m in a position to tell you what the kind of boys I’d want to get hitched up with for the rest of my life are looking for in a girl, and it’s NOT a girl who’s chasing after guys. My sons are learning to prepare their fields first, then build a home. In other words, they aren’t looking for girls, and are hoping to avoid entanglement until they’re prepared to provide a home for a family. When they do begin to look for God’s will in a wife, the pursuers, hunters, chasers, flirts won’t be on their lists.

My advice for teenage girls? Learn to be beautiful in God’s eyes (I Peter 3:1-6). If you’re good at something, get better at it (sure wish I had been serious about art or writing when I was 17 or 18!) If you’re not good at anything, learn. Learn to write, learn to crochet, learn about hospitality, learn about horses, learn to sew and strive to excel at it—in other words, do it as unto the Lord. Enjoy being a single young woman in the Lord now. When you get married, you’re married for life. That’s a long time!

Can you see why I like “hanging around” Carmen? We live on opposite sides of the U.S., yet she’s mentoring me through her blog, and she’s also become a parenting columnist for The Dabbling Mum magazine.

Now, while you’re visiting her site, I hope you can take a few minutes and check out this survey she’s working on. You can cut and paste these questions into an email and send it to her. Do you visit your local public library? If you do, her survey and research may help make your public library a better, more wholesome place for your family. It took me less than five minutes to answer her questions.

P.S. These aren’t my hands here, in case you’re wondering.

Amanda of following an unknown path is hosting the Carnival this week. Our topic is “The Beauty of Flowers.” Very timely, don’t you think? What are the flowers like in your part of the world?

In thinking back to the time I lived in Japan, I remember how passionate my Japanese friends were about the plum and cherry blossoms. Everyone went to the park together to celebrate the spring flowers! I lived with a Japanese family for a year, and I remember being in awe that my homestay mother received a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers every week — delivered right to her front door.

She arranged them in a special alcove in the entrance hall, the tokonoma. She taught me that in the Japanese art form of arranging flowers, ikebana, the space between the flowers was just as important as the flowers themselves. That advice has always stuck with me. It’s the same as in music — the pause between sound is what makes the melody. I once attended a national ikebana exhibition, and I was amazed — not only at the flowers but at the people — they seemed to be in no hurry and would stop to stare at an arrangement, seeming to admire the perfect placement of every delicate petal.

I’m not very good at arranging flowers. I wish I were. My mom and mother-in-law have that touch of being able to make anything look pretty in a vase. I keep piddling around and make things look worse. I do have the knack for putting a small tuft of freshly pulled wildflowers in a vase on the kitchen table — I give myself grace since they look childlike. Those are the bouquets I enjoy the most around here. And like my Japanese homestay mom, they’re always delivered fresh.

Our spring is just beginning here in the Southeast U.S. We’ll soon have bright bursts of azaleas all over our hometown. The dogwood trees are popular as well, and maybe I’ll remember in a few weeks to blog about the spiritual meaning of the dogwood blossom. It has a lot to do with Easter.

Here’s a picture of some native azaleas and dogwoods. This little chapel is on St. Simon’s Island, off the coast of Georgia. Wouldn’t his be a nice place to sit and ponder the beauty of flowers?

True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
but our God’s Word stands firm and forever.
Isaiah 40:8 (The Message)

Today’s the day — 27 of us are all beginning this journey of learning how to live beyond ourselves. On March 27th. How cool is that?

How am I going to wait until Friday to start writing about this amazing stuff I’m learning? WOW! Did anyone watch the video yet? I tried downloading the video, but just can’t on my slow dial-up. (One of the joys of country living — no high-speed internet out here yet. By the way, my neighbor came over this morning to tell me to be on the lookout for his ten cows that got out of his pasture.)

Well, I was able to listen to the audio quite easily, and now I’m wondering what in the world everyone laughed so hard about when Beth said, “What self-respecting Texas woman would have hair like this?” She apparently couldn’t use her hairdryer on her recent trip to Kenya!

I’m already stunned at what I’m learning. And I did my first day of homework too, with kids playing NOISILY all around me. It’s spring break this week! Is this what they say in Deuteronomy about teaching the scriptures to our kids when we sit and when we rise? Well, I just read my homework out loud to them.

My kindergartener asked me in a hushed voice of awe, “Mama, did that lady’s voice on the computer give you all that homework? What happens if you don’t do it?”

I’m testing this new chart. Welcome to Karin, who’s joined our group. YEA!

Addie	Faith	Heather*
M	Rachel	Jeana
Flipflop	Amanda	MamaB
GiBee	Boomama	Maria
Blair	Lauren	Nancy
Janna	Carol	Robin
Sherry	Patricia	Tara
Heather	HolyMama!	Eph2810
Christy	Jenn	Karin
This is a list of the women participating in the study and the links to their blogs. New postings on the study will be published weekly, between Friday 8pm – Saturday 8am. Please feel free to visit each of us and comment. Everyone is welcome to participate in this discussion as we seek to live beyond ourselves. May God bless you richly from the hearing of His word.

I know bloggers are supposed to wait until “Thankful Thursdays” to tell you what we’re thankful for, but I can’t wait until then. Today may read like a small-town society column, but I had a great weekend, and I don’t think I can function until I write about it! Plus, I found out my brother-in-law who’s married to my sister is a faithful Mom 2 Mom reader, and he said, “I like it when you write about personal stuff.”

So, the personal stuff is that my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary over the weekend. 40 years! My sister started emailing me right after Christmas about it. “What do you want to do for Mom and Dad’s anniversary this year?” We went back and forth, wondering if we should throw them some kind of big party. We finally decided to do a small, intimate dinner with just our family.

I can’t remember the last time we’ve shared a special meal together with only our immediate family invited. My mom can’t help but invite other people she knows to come eat with us — often it’s the lonely ones who don’t have anyone else to share a holiday with. She has a second dining table that sets up in the living room, so she can seat at least 16, and we usually have that many or more.

My sister ordered two dozen Tropicana roses — Mom’s favorite — and arranged them in vases around my parents’ house. We brought a two-tiered wedding cake, iced in buttercream frosting, with a bride and groom on top and tropicana-colored roses spilling down the side. (Thank you to our friends in the Publix Bakery!) My sister-in-law took over the heavy-duty cooking. She and my brother grilled shrimp and chicken on wooden skewers, as well as fresh vegetables, and potatoes. She also broiled the juiciest salmon ever, steamed asparagus, and prepared a cornbread casserole that was out of this world. My sister and I filled in with spinach salad, fruit salad, pasta and jello jigglers for the kids, and bread. (My sister also brought her special made-from-scratch, thrice-sifted pound cake, and her mother-in-law made us a million tiny chocote chip cookies!)

I have to say here how thankful I am for my sister — she was in charge of this whole deal, and it wouldn’t have happened without her, even though she lives the farthest away. She also brought a paper tablecloth and crayons which she put in little terra cotta pots for our kids to color while we ate. My girls and I put little chocolates in silver garden pitchers around the house like party favors. I forgot to say we’d been planning on hosting a “garden theme” party because my parents just added on a back screened-in porch with an outdoor fireplace — but it was TOO COLD to eat outside.

So, we all had a great time eating inside — and also the timing was perfect for me to give Mom the mother/daughter gift book I wrote. It was released last week from Nelson Books, From a Daughter’s Heart to Her Mom: 50 Reflections on Living Well. It’s like a huge-long Hallmark card celebrating how much a daughter is thankful for her mom. The photos, which I had nothing to do with, are absolutely stunning, highlighting moms and daughters around the world. What a joy it was to give to her — finally!

After our dinner, we of course had to get pictures of Mom and Dad cutting their wedding cake, and we also got a picture of Mom holding a bouquet of roses right next to her gorgeous wedding photo. Then we did something we always talk about doing, but never do — we set up the movie screen and watched my parents’ old home movies. Each reel lasts about four minutes, with no sound. It was so fun showing my kids how their grandparents looked when they were younger, bringing me home from the hospital, celebrating the milestones that make life rich — birthdays, vacations, Christmases, new pets, backyard picnics, etc.

We all spent the night, and the next day went to church together. We filled up the whole back pew in the church. During the service, our kids sat mysteriously still and looked cute — so this was another amazing feat for the weekend. Right before the sermon, we sang six stanzas of Amazing Grace, and I heard the words as I’d never heard them before. The fourth verse jumped out at me so much, I had to jot it down in my notebook!

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be,
as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
than when we first begun.

OK, if you’re still with me — to top off the weekend, my husband and I met with a group of my high school classmates who are starting to organize our 20th reunion for next summer. We walked into the restaurant, and I was thinking about how everyone looked in high school. Then when I saw them at the table I said, “Hey, how come this is a table full of old people?” (haha). Really — I hadn’t seen most of the guys in 20 years. Only a few came to the 10-year reunion. The girls I’ve kept up with, but wait a minute — there are a few gray hairs on the guys and a wrinkle here and there. Of course, we had to pass around pictures of everybody’s kids. Our senior class president lives in California now, and so she “led” the meeting from a speakerphone PDA. We’ve all got a list of 25 people we’re going to start trying to find — and we decided we want to have a weekend-long reunion with several options for different budgets.

So, there’s my personal stuff — my weekend. I have to also add that my sister brought more clothes for my kids. She’s an amazing shopper, and she finds my girls the most beautiful smocked and embroidered dresses and outfits. I absolutely can’t shop like she does — she finds them at traveling wholesale stores and resales, all with the tags on them. I don’t know how she does it, but now our kids have classic Easter and spring outfits because of her.

So, if you’re my family reading this — THANK YOU, and I LOVE YOU! And if you have hung with me reading this, thank you too! It just feels good to share the blessings God has given me — friends and family — all because of His grace and love.

This is a post to test Lauren’s fabulous design work — I don’t know if it will fit in my skinny ol’ blog, so I’ll test and see. [Edit: It fits!]

Right now, there are 27 of us signed up to study Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself, and there’s still plenty of room for you!

Click here, and you can sign up:

It’s really easy. I’m not techno-savvy at all, and I signed up in five minutes. I clicked another button and downloaded my first week’s homework.

Here’s what Lauren of Created for HIS Glory says we’re going to do:

On Monday we will each watch the video in the comfort of our own homes and then begin the homework. We will each be posting on an open topic; for example you might want to post on something Beth said that touched you or a particular truth that God is working on teaching you. Maybe you’ll want to write about an instance that happened during the week where you were able to apply the teaching. The posting should be between Friday 8pm – Saturday 8am. We will then have the weekend to read through each other’s posts and discuss the study.

She’s also graciously given us a blogroll for our sidebars (ooh … lots of bloggy talk here). That way, we’ll always know who is studying with us, and we can chat back and forth. Not everyone in our group has a blog — you’re welcome to jump in if you don’t have a blog. You can leave comments in anyone’s blog — and be a part of this group!

This will be interesting — has anyone ever done this before? What do you call this — a Blog study? Cyber-study? Cyber-club?

Addie	Faith	Heather*
M	Rachel	Jeana
Flipflop	Amanda	MamaB
GiBee	Boomama	Maria
Blair	Lauren	Nancy
Janna	Carol	Robin
Sherry	Patricia	Tara
Heather	HolyMama!	Eph2810
Kim	Jenn	Christy
This is a list of the women participating in the study and links to their blogs. New postings on the study will be published weekly, between Friday 8pm – Saturday 8am. Please feel free to visit each of us and comment. Everyone is welcome to participate in this discussion as we seek to live beyond ourselves. May God bless you richly from the hearing of His Word.

A couple of days ago, I somehow managed to take a walk alone — just a 15-minute stroll around the back of our house.

It was chilly, so I wore my heavy wool coat. When I came up the hill of our driveway, our little beagle mix puppy came running out toward me barking.

He didn’t recognize me!

Normally, he takes a walk with me while I push a baby stroller, but that day he’d been busy “helping” the others work in the garden. So I was completely surprised to see him acting like I was a stranger.

Then I called out his name, “Jasper!” When he heard my voice, he immediately quit barking and ran over to me, yipping and showing his happiness to see me.

He knew my voice.

This reminded me of the verse in the Bible about the sheep knowing the voice of the Shepherd. I looked it up, and here it is:

My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. The Father and I are one.

John 10:27-30
New Living Translation

Do I know my Master’s voice? When He calls me, do I listen and follow Him? If Christ is truly Lord of my life, then I’ll want to stay near Him, so I can continue to hear His voice calling me.

The best way for me to do this is to keep reading from my Bible every day. Little by little. Some days, I have more time and can slowly absorb whole chapters or fill in a Bible study workbook. Other days, I may be hanging by a thin thread and only have a minute to read a verse and meditate on it throughout the day. (And that’s OK, according to Barbara Curtis — when she had a super busy household of 12 children, she found her moments with God in the laundry room!)

Do you know your Master’s voice? If He called your name, would you recognize Him? If He asked you to follow Him, would you go?

P.S. For those of you who entered Barbara’s Laundry Room contest, have you seen her suprise for you in her Contest Winners post?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing green? Hope so — or somebody will pinch you. Is this just a custom in the U.S.? I just now thought that maybe some of you out there wonder what I’m talking about.

Well, everybody around here celebrates March 17 with the color green and shamrocks, but when I think of Ireland, I think of all these cool Celtic crosses. Here’s a picture:

I could spend all day looking at these crosses, but my kids are home from school — it’s a teacher workday. My kids think there’s no school because of St. Patty’s Day. Funny.

I reviewed a book a few weeks ago that was filled with Celtic crosses. It was gorgeous. If you’d like to read my review, it’s of the book, My Jesus Is … Everything! by Anne Graham Lotz. It’s here at Christian Book Previews. How fun — don’t you love the cover?

Have any of you ever been to Ireland before? Oh, that would be a dream to go. I’d LOVE to go visit some of those crosses … and tour an Irish castle and go eat in an Irish pub. Maybe stay at a bed & breakfast like this one.

We have some friends who have taken several mission trips to Ireland. I think of them when I think of these Celtic crosses. If you happen to live anywhere near Alabama and you have a college-aged student, you will HAVE to go visit University Christian Fellowship in Birmingham. Our friends started this ministry a few years ago with only a handful of students, and now he’s speaking to over 800 STUDENTS a week. Let me tell you, there is something on fire over there. I also discovered there is a UCF blog that records the weekly messages. Anyway, they love going to Ireland, and I’ve enjoyed seeing their pictures and hearing about how beautiful it is over there.

Here are a couple of my favorite Irish Blessings:

Irish Marriage Blessing
May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

My daughters and I were just enjoying some shortbread cookies they made at their grandmother’s yesterday. Mine was shaped like a pineapple, but there are also hearts and circles. I wish you could taste them — can I hand one to you in cyberspace? Here ya go … we’re moms … we’re good at pretending.

I thank God for grandmothers who are good cooks and pass this skill on down to their grandchildren. I asked the girls if they’d share with you here how they made them. Here’s what they said:

“You put a half-cup of sugar and two sticks of butter in a bowl. Then you stir it around really good. Then you get a measuring cup and you pour flour halfway to the top. Not all the way to the top. Then you stir it around. You mash it up really good with your hands. Then when it’s real stiff, you lay it out on a tray. But first you put some flour on the tray. Then you roll it out with a rolling pin and then you get cookie cutters and you cut it into shapes. Then you put it in the oven. After they’re done, you have to wait 15 minutes for them to cool. Then you can eat them.”

This is the second time I’ve enjoyed cookies today. Wanna hear more? Well, this morning was my last Beth Moore study — we finished up Believing God. Wow. Have any of you done this one? I wish I could say that I was perfectly consistent and could report to you week by week what I learned, but the truth is, I missed several weeks.

I don’t know if y’all were around when I started this blog last October, but here’s a post where I told you how hard it was for me to get out the door. Well, it got harder. Impossible, even. I had several writing assignments come in that just kept me busy every minute while my kids were at school. Funny thing — I was writing about spiritual topics, yet I was having to stay home and miss my fellowship group to write.

The women in this group are awesome — I love each and every one of them. They kept up with me, telling me they missed me, and keeping me in the email loop. So I’ve been back and they let me borrow the DVDs to get caught up.

Back to the cookies.

Today, I was a little closer to heaven while I sat in a group of ladies, eating chocolate chip cookies and watching Beth Moore. I can honestly say, this is just the beginnning for me to explore all the incredible things I’ve learned in the past few months. And I can’t wait to start the next study, Living Beyond Yourself, with my new cyber-group. YEA.

Here’s what’s truly amazing, and here’s why I had to take a minute to sit down and write to you. Beth Moore is teaching by video (excuse me, DVD) to all these thousands of women, but each one of us will go back out into the world, armed with our deeper understanding of scripture and love of Christ, and share what we’ve learned.

Well, one lady was bursting at the seams to tell us that she shared the Gospel with her 80-something-year-old grandfather. He’s been a bitter man for most of his life and has never believed the Bible, even though his wife went to church without him. She knew God wanted her to share her faith with her grandfather, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. Yet she did it anyway. And you know what? After an hour of peppering her with questions, he finally realized he was missing something … he wanted the peace in his life that she has. The assurance that when he died, he’d go to heaven. So, he prayed to accept Christ. Right there on the spot, with his granddaughter.

I was boo-hooing, let me tell you. That’s the impact of studying the Bible together. If you’ve done this study, then you know what I mean when I say I can’t wait to see how God is going to fulfill Hebrews 11:41. (Check your Bible — it’s not there. It’s not written yet because you fill in your name. By faith, (Heather)…”

I’m. Believing. God. (with the hand motions, if you know them.)