Training up my own child

I wanted to share with you our little story from this last weekend. I got an email a few weeks ago about tickets to attend the taping at Life Today with Beth Moore for their Wednesdays with Beth segments for last weekend.  I have been before, but through the series of circumstances that led to me getting the tickets this time, I came to really see the Holy Spirit being in charge and that something great was up. I had no idea, however, what it would be.

I texted a faithful bff and sister in the faith immediately and we were both totally on board to go. I then contacted a couple of other friends in the area. One already had tickets, but the other did not. At this point 3 out of the 4 of my tickets were spoken for.

That last ticket… it was a toughie.  One of my friends had a woman on her heart that has been going through a difficult time and we both tried everything we could think of to convince her to come with us. But it was not to be.

I finally had the idea to invite my 9 year old daughter to come with us for the Friday night session. She was unsure about it, but the clincher was when I told her that dad and brother would just be watching the baseball game (the Rangers) again that night… she was MORE than willing to get out of the house at that news. HA! At the same time I continued to try to get someone to take the ticket for Saturday.

Friday night came and it was just so wonderful. Sarah sat nearly on the edge of her seat the entire time. Bible open, highlighter and pen in hand; taking notes and highlighting important words and phrases in her Bible.

It was the most precious sight for this mother’s eyes to see.

At the end of the evening the Life Today staff began talking about the next day’s schedule. Sarah looked at me and said, “Y’all are doing this tomorrow, too?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I didn’t figure you’d come since you have a soccer game and stuff. Do you want to come back tomorrow?”

“Oh mom, yes! This is SO worth it.”

Well… how can you argue with that, I ask you?

She was up the next morning before I even got the chance to go wake her up. She was ready. Hungry and ready. (I’m about to tear up just writing this.)

It was so clear by mid-way through Saturday’s sessions that the 4^th ticket was intended for her the whole time. God had reserved her a spot and wouldn’t let me give it to anyone else.

You see, the Lord has just been pressing down on me and putting on my heart with such heaviness the urgency concerning the spiritual education of my children. He has just opened my eyes to the need for parents like myself to really model what “Training up [your own] child” looks like for other parents. We can’t put the responsibility on anyone else if we want to take every step possible to turn around the current trend of young adults leaving the church and their faith behind in droves never to return.  We can’t continue to expect that our kids are getting everything they need from a 1 hour Sunday school class once a week.  We can’t continue to  allow someone else to be the model for them.  That is our job as their parents and we need to take it on. 

What an opportunity this was for me to share in some Bible teaching with my daughter and allow her to see the beauty of women gathering together and loving on one another in the name of Christ. It was also an opportunity for obedience and for me to live out what I’ve been saying with my mouth: I will not be held captive by my kids’ sports schedules; it’s not the most important thing. It really felt like this was God saying, “Are you going to walk what you talk?” I think I passed the test.

And the Lord blessed me with being able to see a little of the fruit of our labor over the last 9 years.  It is such an encouragement to me to keep on and even step it up.

BBA Challenge #21 - Pain à l’Ancienne

Simple math.  I cannot seem to do simple math. 

My scale doesn’t measure in straight ounces, but in pounds + ounces so I had to figure out the measurement of 27 ounces of flour in pounds + ounces.  I know that there are 16 ounces per pound and somehow when I added 16 + 16 my brain came up with 28.  So clearly 27 ounces is 1 pound & 15 ounces.

Except when it’s not.

Which is always.

Which is also why my husband helps our 3rd grader with her math homework and will continue to do so for the rest of her school years.

I realized my math error AFTER I had already mixed the salt into the flour, but not the yeast yet.  So I took the appropriate amount of flour out of the bowl and added back in a little bit of salt to account for what would have been taken out with the flour that I removed. 

But then, as I mixed, I ended up needing to add back in the flour I had taken out, so NOW the bread had too much salt.  Not much, but more than the formula calls for.

I almost gave up completely at this point.

But I pressed on.

I mixed the dough one evening and put it in the refrigerator. 

The next day, I took the dough out of the fridge at about 2:45 pm.  I didn’t have my camera the night before, but you can see from the black line on my bucket that it did not rise at all in the fridge.  Those air bubbles you see were a little bigger than the night before, but it clearly was no where near doubled.  So I just went about the rest of my day.

Finally, at 9:30 pm it was finally close to doubling in size.  That’s nearly 7 hours later, people.  SEVEN.

At that point my man and I were sitting down to watch a movie.  Julie & Julia as a matter of fact.  At 9:30 pm, I didn’t have the time or inclination to deal with shaping bread and staying up to bake it.  So, I decided it was best to just put the dough back in the fridge and deal with it the next day.

The next day, I turned it out on my working surface and finally read the rest of the formula. 

OH… it doesn’t need a time to proof?!?  Interesting.  So I COULD have dealt with it the night before.  Oh well. 

 

It turns out such a nice, full of character, rustic looking bread. 

I love these big holes.

The batch made six smallish baguettes.  My man and I ate two that night with some pork chops that have a wonderful tomatoey sauce perfect for dipping good artisan bread in.  That left me with four.

It just so happened that I found out that day that one of my favorite authors and Bible teachers, Beth Moore, was going to be practically a stone’s throw away from my house the next day doing a book signing for her latest book So Long, Insecurity .  I looked at her schedule and noticed that she was barely going to have time to breathe with two signings in one day.  So, I wrapped up two of those baguettes and took them to her.  Maybe that makes me weird, but she seemed appreciative and was so gracious about it.  I wrote about it here.

This bread was so incredibly easy.  I love the long & slow fermentation and the fact that it doesn’t require a 2nd fermentation/proof cycle.  The taste left a little to be desired in my book.  It was okay, but not as flavorful as I thought the French Bread baguettes were.  I think next time I do it I will use some sourdough starter to see if that doesn’t take the flavor to the next level. 

You can find the rest of my Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge posts here.

Coincidence? Um, no.

Many times God speaks to us in themes.  Have you noticed that?  It’s like He gets on one particular topic and it is everywhere I go for a period of time. 

So is it any coincidence that the one teaching segment that I was able to attend this weekend during Beth Moore’s Life Today taping of Wednesdays with Beth was about chasing God? 

I think not.

This time, our focal passage was out of Philippians 4:1-14 and focusing on verses 12-14.  And if you know me, you might know that Philippians 4:10-11 changed my life and helped pull me out of a pit of self-pity a couple of years ago.

So there has got to be something to the fact that I have been taken back to lessons from my past recently and been introduced to a new concept repeatedly all at the same time. 

Let’s recap for just a moment…

->In Memphis the concept of being on a “Wild God Chase” was introduced in light of God’s first real revelation of himself to Moses in Exodus 34.  Is there any doubt that Moses was completely changed from that point on?

->The current BSF lesson I was studying at the time and the one we went over that following Wednesday was on the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  This was also Jesus first real revelation of Himself to his disciples.  They believed (were changed).

->My self discovery and writing about the lesson in Memphis led me back to this blog post where I wrote about asking God to show me his glory and chasing what matters.  Oh how quickly I forget the lessons I’ve learned when I am not truly altered and changed by the truths that are revealed to me.

->And now, at the Life Today taping on Saturday afternoon, all of this comes together as I was reminded of my past declarations to make knowing Jesus more intimately and fully each and every day and that is brought together with the idea of being on a chase after him. 

So I could make this summary statement out of what has been put before me in the last couple of weeks…

I am to chase after God and Jesus and ask Him to show me His glory by seeking to know him more intimately each day and being altered by each revelation that He gives me. 

I’m ready Lord. 

I’m ready.

Or am I?

A Wild God Chase

Yes, it took me a solid week to get to where I could write a cohesive post (and by cohesive I mean scattered all over the place) about my trip to Memphis a few weekends ago. 

And then, with my little blog-cation last week, you’re just now finally getting said cohesive post.

I had a wonderful time with my Texas Amigas and travelling partners Melinda and Tiffany.  This is us waiting in line before the mad rush to find a seat on Friday evening.

I got to meet several people for the first time and just really enjoyed my time to get to hear some of their stories and allow my heart to break for them and rejoice with them.

Oh, and be a little silly with them, too. Because what is a weekend among gal pals without some serious silliness.

The internet has done an awesome thing by bringing groups of ladies together through the common bond of Christ. My prayer for this group is that we take seriously our calling to reflect Christ by our love toward one another through the internet and in person.

I am not going to post tons of pictures of all the neat bloggy friends I got to meet in person because Sophie did such a great job of that in her “Big Bloggy Fun” post on the All Access blog. I am not going to go through the specific points of Beth’s message because Melinda did such a great summary in this post her her blog. And I’m not going to speak specifically about the amazing tangent that Beth took us on as God revealed himself through Revelation chapters 4-5 because Melanie did an excellent post about that (also over at All Access).

However, I would like to share with you the specific message that God gave to me from the weekend as a whole. Rather than the specific points of Mrs. Beth’s message (while they did speak to me as you will see with some quotes I have sprinkled throughout this post) I think the overall theme of the message is what spoke to me the most. Just the idea of being on a “Wild God Chase.”

This title is, of course, a play on words with the well known phrase, “wild goose chase” which refers to pursuing something in folly or vanity. Beth even told us about how she asked for a personal example of going on a wild goose chase and the Lord gave her one just in her attempts to get to Memphis on that Friday. Flight delays, cancellations, no more flights that day all leading to finding a chartered plane, waiting for it, more delays because of the weather… and on and on. I’m sure it did feel like a wild goose chase.

Well, I am realizing this week, after being home and having some time to reflect that I, too, have been on a wild goose chase. Only my chase was not after an airplane, mine has been with respect to some of my relationships. I realized that I have been chasing relationships with some people that I thought were important to have relationships with.

I was wrong.

And being confronted with that square in the face has not been pleasant. I have talked before, even just right before this trip, about my concern over female relationships. And I had my eyes opened to a lot during this weekend and here in this week that has followed.

The people I was seeking friendship with are Christians, so it’s not like I was looking for relationships in ungodly places. However, in this particular circumstance, I experienced a certain amount of rejection in these friendships. And it hurt.

“It’s not just about the weapon or the intention.  It is about how deeply we took it.  We take our wounding deeply, but keep our healing at surface level.” ~Beth Moore 

The Lord really spoke to me on Saturday morning as Beth spoke of how “God teems with compassion” about healing in my circumstance. For the first time, I really took hold of Christ’s comments on the cross, “Forgive them for they do not know what they do.” I related that to myself and began praying that over my situation of hurt. I think the Lord revealed to me that on many levels, these people that had in a sense rejected me did not know what they were doing.

“We can forgive others only as much as our consciousness of God’s forgiveness of us.”  ~Beth Moore

I have also thought a lot about the Lord’s compassion and healing and I originally thought that He was speaking to me about it in solely reference to myself. Some of it definitely was. However, as I have continued on this week, I’m not entirely sure that I am not supposed to be praying for healing and repentance in other people as well so that they can have healthy friendships, too.

“If our area of pain is not dealt with, it becomes an idol and we are controlled by it and bow down to it.” ~ Beth Moore

We were exhorted that we ought to be altered at every self revelation that God gives us. The Apostle John was altered by every revelation that God gave him and that led to him being entrusted with the “The Revelation” found at the end of our Bible.

I believe that God revealed Himself to me in such a real way last weekend. So here I am, saying that I have come away from this Living Proof Live experience altered, changed, never to be the same. And I pray that God will alter my views of friendship.

“God is SO life that He cannot leave anything dead.” ~Beth Moore

This is also making me think of the “Chase What Matters” ad campaigns that I’ve written about before. (I find it interesting that the scripture in the post I just linked to is from Exodus 33, the passage just preceding our core passage from Memphis which was Exodus 34:6-7.)  I am reminded that I need to really be careful to chase what matters and to continually ask God to show me his glory. I think that in this situation I was not really chasing what matters which is fully chasing God, at least in reference to some relationships. 

I feel like recently, I have gone back to high school and that I am trying to sit with the cool kids at the lunch table. I had my eyes opened this week to the fact that I have been seeking relationships that are about being with the in-crowd, even at 36 years of age and in some Christian circles. I don’t want that any more.

“He will allow loneliness and a ‘season of lack’ so that you will know that there is only one who is truly worthy.” ~ Beth Moore

I want to be able to say that I am not chasing relationships with people and that the relationships I do have are nothing other than intentionally Christ centered.  Not about position or prestige or who you know.  About Christ.

Melinda told Tiffany and I in the car on the way back to DFW that she went through a time of telling God, “You are picking my friends.” I think I’m there.

I am chasing God.

I want him to bring me and put into my path the friends He wants me to have. The friends that will not have unrealistic expectations of what I am able to give to the relationship. The friends that will, in turn, will be inclusive and will be healthy for me.

I have tried to take too much control over who my friends are and it occurs to me that being on a Wild God Chase means that He is the prize and any friends He brings me along the way are just “gravy.” As I chase after Him, He will show me the friends that He has for me.

And I know that He will put me in situations that I would never have dreamed of to meet people that I would never have imagined being friends with.

I would never have dreamed that I would come to know some of the women that I did this weekend.  Nor that I would have heard some of the stories that made my heart break for them and rejoice with them as well in the victory that they have encountered and look forward to the victory that they will achieve as they follow Christ.

As I think through this and write about it, I find myself again in a crisis of trust. This is all about trusting God with my friendships.  Trusting that he will bring to me the friendships that I need that will be healthy spiritually, emotionally and physically.

I claim that I am not rejected. I claim that Christ has accepted me and therefore I am acceptable to the Father. I will no longer chase with this blog or in friendships the stuff that doesn’t matter. I will not chase notoriety. I will not chase fame. I will not chase connections or position or any of those things.

I am chasing God.

Period.

End of story.

I am on a Wild God Chase.

As I conclude, I will leave you with my transcription of our commissioning at the end of the morning on Saturday.  I shared this moment with my friend Brandi as we spoke these words over one another. 

My dear sister,

God put you on this planet to go on a Wild God Chase.

In every circumstance, every challenge, every high and every low, God wants to disclose Himself to you.

You never have to wonder if your God is really good.

He abounds with love for you.

He teems with compassion for you.

Let his care for you go deeper than your distress.

As you leave this place, remember that for those with eyes to see every common bush is on fire for God.

Stop doubting and believe.

Now get out there and go live this life.

Because, girlfriend, your God is WORTHY!

It's Tough Being a Woman

This summer, my friend Keal and I went through Beth Moore's Esther Bible study. And when I say that we did it this summer, I mean we goofed around most of the summer and finally started it in late July and then pushed through and got it done before we started BSF in mid-September.

But the important thing is that we did it, right? Right.

I'll tell you. If you are a woman and you haven't done this study yet, you need to find you a group that's doing it and get 'er done. 'Cuz it is GOOO-OOOD!

If you have done this study, you know that in every video session Mrs. Beth reads from what she calls "The RED Book." It is a compilation of the responses that over 400 women gave on the LPM Blog in this post back in July, 2007 to the question, "For you, what are the three toughest things about being a woman?"

Well, I was not blogging nor did I read the LPM blog at the time that this question was asked back in July, 2007. So I didn’t get to answer.

There. I said it. None of the answers that she read were mine.

But being one that never wants to be left out of giving her own opinion, I decided that I’d make you all suffer through let you all enjoy my answers to “What are the three toughest things about being a woman?”

~~~~

1). Living in light of the “superwoman myth / syndrome.” Buying into the idea that we can do/have it all and have it perfectly: a beautiful family, well behaved children, an advancing career, quality time to ourselves and, as a Christian, a vibrant and growing relationship with the Lord.

There is a huge blow to the psyche that feeds feelings of inadequacy and insecurity when you figure out that you are human and that, just like every other human on planet earth, you have only 24 hours in a day and cannot be two (or three or four) places at once.

Choices must be made. We must choose good over bad and best over good; not only for ourselves, but in many cases for our children and for our families in general. And that is a huge responsibility to have placed on us.

2). When age sets in and our body does not respond as quickly as we’d like… except when it is gaining weight. We have an image, partially driven by the media, of what we ought to look like and it is unattainable. And yet, we feel inadequate when we cannot attain that level of thinness and beauty. We are goaded into buying products and services that, we are told, “will make it happen” with little to no effort on our part.

3). Dealing with the expectations that are placed on us by our women-friends. I’m one of those women who was mostly friends with guys during my school years. However, now being married, my best friend is my husband and I do not allow myself to have close friendly relationships with men, even though I find them much easier to get along with. I am baffled by many women-friend things and sometimes have difficulty with how I am supposed to act in a given social situation and wonder why I am so uncomfortable around many large groups of women.

~~~~

I learned so much and the study of this Biblical character who was singled out for God’s purposes for “such a time as this,” spoke so clearly to where I have been in my own life lately.

It was especially encouraging for me to realize that many Biblical figures were called to corporate crisis in the midst of their own personal crises. Esther, for instance, was called to deal with the crisis that was facing her people corporately while seemingly in the midst of a personal marriage crisis since her husband had not called for her or requested her presence in an entire month. And if it happened to those in scripture, then certainly God may call us to serve in times of corporate crisis when we are in the midst of dealing with personal crisis. That was extremely encouraging to me.

You see, I have been called to serve in a way that I never thought would be asked of me. I have been called to serve our corporate church on a team as we search for a new Children’s Pastor. And yet, I have been in a season where the Lord has taken my involvement in so many things away as we have been dealing with our own family’s difficulty in our financial situation while we have not had the full income to which we had become accustomed. I was very conflicted on whether or not to accept this position, but did. And this study encouraged me that God was calling me to serve in dealing with a corporate crisis in the midst of our own personal crisis at home.

There were many other things, principles and truths sprinkled throughout this study that spoke to me and encouraged me in my walk, but this is the one, as simple as it is, that stands out the most.

I also want to add that given the last point listed above, you might find it laughable that I have become friends with several women on the Internet that are all readers of the Living Proof Ministries blog. We are called Siestas. (It’s a story that is explained over on the LPM Blog.) And I am going to meet several of them for the first time when I go to Memphis on Friday for a Living Proof Live event. But, given this last point, you should not be surprised for me to say that I have been dealing with thoughts of insecurity about not fitting in with some of them just like I have never felt that I really fit in with big groups of girls my whole life.

“But trust reverses the detours of adversity into the highways of destiny.” (Beth Moore, Esther) And I trust that it will be an incredible weekend and that God has a special Word just for me that will bring me that much closer to fulfilling my destiny in Him.

I plan to have a ton to tell you next week about the awesome things that God has done through this trip to Memphis.

I sounded the trumpet...

I am studying the book of Esther right now with a sweet girlfriend. To be more exact, we are doing Beth Moore's Esther Bible study entitled "It's Tough Being a Woman."

And, boy is it EV-VAH.

But I tell ya, if you are looking for a Bible study to do, first I will always suggest Bible Study Fellowship to you, but this Esther study is SO good and SO worth it. And it is just really speaking to me right where I am at right now.

Truth be told, I'm feeling a little "Esther-ish" in life right now as I've been called to do something that I find very difficult. And I've been called to do this thing in the midst of some pretty all encompassing personal difficulty as well.

I hadn't equated my situation to that of Esther's until last week during the video segment where Mrs. Beth showed that Esther saw herself in the midst of personal crisis when she points out to Mordecai that the king had not requested her presence in thirty days. In the midst of her personal crisis in her marriage, Mordecai tells her that she is the one who is supposed to act to bring deliverance for her people.

So what does she do? She takes charge and through Mordecai, calls all the Jews of Susa to fasting and prayer. As Mrs. Beth equated it to Joel 12:15-16, she blew the "trumpet" to "declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly."

So on Monday, I did the same thing. I sounded the trumpet and called my friends to pray for me as I had a meeting concerning this thing I've been called to at noon that day and I was very nervous. The only difference was that I blew my trumpet on Twitter.

So about 1 1/2 hours before my meeting at noon, as I was headed into my staff meeting at work, I posted this to twitter:

"Hello twitter friends. If you are available at around noon central time, please pray for me. I have a mtg I'm nervous about. Pray for wisdom."

I then went into my staff meeting.

I came out of staff meeting and immediately left my office to go to this meeting that I had. On the way I felt the Lord impress upon me to look at Twitter and to see who all was praying for me. This, my friends, is what I saw:

melindagarman @WayMoreHomemade I'll be praying, friend. Hugs.

forthegirls @WayMoreHomemade I will be praying for you!

franthomas @WayMoreHomemade got it girl....will start praying now. ((hugs))

sweethomealagrl @WayMoreHomemade sure thing!

beckyjomama @WayMoreHomemade You got it!

smiths2boys1gir @WayMoreHomemade Absolutely!

dedraherod @WayMoreHomemade On it girl! :-)

bakingblog @WayMoreHomemade You can count on me! :) I will pray for you, no problem! Hope all goes well!

smillie_lady @WayMoreHomemade i've made a note on my computer and will be praying for you at that time. blessings!

BigBlackDogs @WayMoreHomemade You'll do just fine!

stop4chocolate @WayMoreHomemade Will pray my friend!

Notesfromthewal @WayMoreHomemade will be praying!


Oh my. Even now, two days later, I am so overwhelmed by this outpouring of love from friends, most of whom I have never met in person, that I am nearly brought to tears.

So thank you. Thank you to my online community for being such a wonderful support network. Because honestly, there are things that I simply cannot ask "IRL" friends to pray about because of the sensitivity of the matter. But you, my online friends... I don't have to be specific and you won't figure out or necessarily care what the meeting was about. All you cared about was that I was nervous. And you cared enough to pray.

And that means the world to me.

Blessings to each and every one of you, my online friends, because you all just bless my socks off.

Insecurity

You know the feeling. That sinking feeling that someone doesn’t like you. Or that they’re out to get you. Or that they don’t think very much of you and your abilities.

Insecurity.

Who would have thought that someone as prideful as I can be would have such strong feelings of inferiority and insecurity. But it’s there. And I’m just thankful that I can recognize it for what it is because I don’t know that I would have before a few days ago.

A few days ago, over at the LPM blog, Beth Moore wrote this post about insecurity and asked us to anonymously share our stories of how insecurity has made a fool out of us. Just thinking about it was eye opening for me. I never realized how insecure I can be at times and how it manifests itself in my actions.

Some things have happened recently that have got me realizing how insecure I can really be at times. At first I get mad because something doesn’t go how I think it should. Then as I refuse to act in anger, I think about the situation and the vain imaginations begin of seeing something sinister behind what happened. Then as other things happen, that are likely unrelated whatsoever, my brain begins to add 0 + 0 and gets 200! I’m on overload at this point and almost cannot control the insecure thoughts and feelings.

But I decided today that it will not make a fool out of me. I refuse to acknowledge it in my actions. And I am seeking scripture to recite to replace the thoughts.

I See What You're Saying

As promised, you can find the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe here.

There were other things I learned... like only add one chipotle pepper at a time to your homemade barbeque sauce to give it the right amount of heat so that your eyes don't pop out of your head when you try it... and it is virtually impossible to have Christmas with a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy that does not entirely consist of Barbies and vehicles.

And as an added bonus, I am also providing the video that I promised oh so long ago here.




I am sorry I'm so late with this. I had some very serious and very frustrating and disturbing technical difficulties. I'd really rather not talk about it right now. It's much too painful.

See more "I See What You're Saying" posts at 2nd Cup of Coffee... and heck, join us in the fun.

A List - because life is too random right now

1) Wow. The whole "I See What You're Saying" thing was an absolute blast the other day. I so enjoyed getting to see some other bloggers and get a feel for their personalities on the screen. I really look forward to doing it again sometime.

2) Thank you to those of you who prayed for my new airplane friend and I as we went to BSF on Wednesday morning. We had a little bit of a hard time getting going (aka Satan tried to interfere) but finally made it and she is very excited about starting the class. What a blessing it is to me to be involved in whatever the Lord has going on in her life. I'm sure He will do a work in mine at the same time!

3) My man is going to a VEEP Debate watching party tonight. (Yeah, he's a little bit of a nerd.) And I'm excited for him. (How big of a nerd does that make me?)

4) A girlfriend and I were talking on the phone this afternoon and in the course of the conversation we realized that our kids played against each other in soccer... this past Saturday. DUH.

5) And now the big news... You'll never guess what I'm doing this weekend.

I'm going to a Life Today taping for Beth Moore's Wednesdays with Beth.

I went once before back earlier last year in my pb days (pb = pre-blog). It's really an exceptional time of study in a much more intimate setting than an LPL conference. It's also a lot of teaching. She usually does 5 sessions in the weekend.

We SO need to have a Siesta Fiesta for a Life Today taping and have all us Siestas fill up that studio. How FUN would that be? Kim? Patty? Are you reading this?

It's so amazing how all this came together. My friend Keal and I are on the email list for the audience. You have to pretty much see the email and reply immediately to have a shot at tickets. The email came at about 1:30 pm while I was at lunch with a friend. I saw the email on my nifty iPhone but couldn't reply for reasons that I don't fully understand, so I called Keal. I got back to my office and both of us had replied by no later than 1:50. Neither of us got tickets.

Then we got word a week or so later that one of her friends from church did get tickets and she and I were going to get to go with them. THEN we got word on Wednesday that the entire rest of the group had to back out and now we had six tickets total. We have been working to put together all the girls from our Couples Bible Study group (you know, the Dinner Party group) and I think, even though it's last minute, all of us are going. Oh, I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to see how God landed all this in our laps. I can't wait to see what kind of WORD He has for us this weekend.

Anways, Beth Moore usually does one or two question/answer times, so the floor is open. Is there anything you want for one of us (me and my girlfriends that are going) to ask Beth Moore for you if we get a chance?

Foodie Friday - Fiesta

I was picking Sarah up at school the other day and it happened to be her teacher that helped her into my car in the car line. This was fortunate because she was able to tell me about a room mom meeting that was happening that afternoon with all the 2nd grade room moms. Yes, of course, I can go.

After the meeting her teacher told me a little Sarah story that I thought I’d share.

Earlier that day she had noticed Sarah just kind of staring at her. I don’t know if it made her uncomfortable, but she did notice it. She said that then, all of the sudden, Sarah hopped up, ran over to her and gave her a hug and said, “You look like my mom. I love you and you look like my mom.” She said it was really the sweetest thing. We figure she just got to looking at her and saw brown hair, brown eyes, olive-ish skin and thought she looked like me.

I got to thinking about this story more later and I think that’s why we like people like Beth Moore so much. We just want to just hug her neck because she looks like our Heavenly Father and His Son. In fact that’s what one Siesta did during the question & answer session on Saturday. She simply asked if she could give Beth a hug. We just want to say, “I love you and you look a lot like Jesus.” Because she does.

So, in honor of the Siesta Fiesta last weekend in San Antonio, I’m sharing a very Texan recipe for King Ranch Chicken that I made for my friend Beth D. as she was laid up on bed rest last weekend.

By the way, Beth D. saw her doctor on Monday and was released from bed rest and was just told to take it easy. Praise the Lord!

King Ranch Chicken
(from Cooks Country magazine)

Ingredients

12 (6 inch) corn tortillas

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 med onions, chopped fine

1 - 2 jalapenos, minced (to taste)

2 tsp ground cumin

2 (10 ounce) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes

5 tblsp all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups chicken broth

1-1/2 lbs chicken

2 tblsp minced fresh cilantro

4 cups shredded Cojack cheese

Salt and pepper

2-1/4 cups Fritos crushed

Directions:

Heat oven to 450. Spray tortillas on both sides with cooking spray and place on cookie sheet. Crisp in oven (about 12 minutes) and break into pieces.

Heat butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook onions, chiles, and cumin until lightly browned (about 8 minutes). Add tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 10 min). Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add cream and broth, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened (2-3 minutes). Stir in chicken and cook until no longer pink (about 4 minutes). Off heat, add cilantro and cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray and scatter half of tortilla pieces inside. Cover with half of the filling, rest of tortilla pieces, and then rest of filling.

Bake until filling is bubbling (about 15 minutes). Sprinkle crushed Fritos evenly over top and bake until Fritos are lightly browned (about 10 minutes). Cool and serve.

I love to serve this with a caesar salad using a southwestern caesar dressing.

Three year old Theology

You know, every once in a while I hear something and it touches me. But I’m not really sure how it is going to flesh out. How rubber meets the road.

Then, something happens in real life and I have an “AH-HA” moment.

That happened today.

Nathan had his 3 year old check-up today.

Yes, I know… he turned 3 like 3 months ago. But it was a busy summer. You know how it goes. By the time I made the appointment, I had to schedule it for a month away. Then had to reschedule when he was at Nanny’s house and the Dr.’s office was super busy with back to school check-ups and everything. So here we are, nearly 3 months later. Whatever… we finally got it done.

So as we were in the appointment, the doctor is asking him all kinds of questions. What did he have for breakfast? Cheerios. (Good answer son. Don’t tell her about the Ding-dongs.) Does he like vegetables? Yes. Then he asks if we can go home. In just a minute.

So then she asks him about his big sister.

How is your big sister? How’s Sarah?

I have a big sister.

Yes, I know.

And I have a big dad.

A big dad. Yes, you do.

And I have mommy.

Yes.

And she has me.

And she has me… yes, my son, I have you.

And that brought back to mind the message of Inheritance from this weekend at Living Proof Live. Point number 3 was “I am an heir of God. He is my portion… and I am His.” The last part of that statement is the hard one to grasp. I am His portion. I am His inheritance. His treasured possession.

Nathan’s sweet statement kind of brought this home for me.

A parent’s love for their child is unlike any other. Just as there is no love like that between husband and wife. And the love between friends, sisters, Siestas… well, that’s in a class all its own.

What is blowing my mind right now is that God’s love for me is the embodiment of all these types of love. He sees us as His bride. He sees us as His children. He calls us His friends.

But as I looked at Nathan after he said that today, I thought to myself, “Yes, you are my inheritance. I get it.” That’s what it’s about. The LOVE that God has for me and how he looks on me in anticipation of what I will one day become. The same way I look upon my own children.

He is my portion… and I AM HIS!!!

And we also have a BIG DAD!

Hallelujah!

Worship and Fiesta

Mr. Travis Cottrell can lead some worship, can he not?

But guess who else was there.

Kelly Minter!!!

So not only did she bless my friend K and I immensely this summer as we did the No Other Gods study together, but she blessed us on Saturday with a song.

And Mr. Cottrell gave us a sample of what is coming on his Christmas Album this fall. I tried to get some video of that, but it wasn't working. So, you'll just have to wait and see. But friends... it was INCREDIBLE!

I went to LPL with my friend K and her mom. They are the sweetest most gracious people. When I was trying to figure out where I was going to sleep on Friday night, they immediately had a roll-away bed brought up to their room. I just love them so much.

The idea of the Fiesta was for some of us bloggers to meet one another and have a seperate time with Beth Moore and her daughters after the conference was over. Being fairly new to the blogging world, there were only a few people that I "knew" or even knew of.

I met Kate for the first time on Friday evening as I sat next to her. She is just darling and being from Colorado, was amazed at our heat and humidity. Bless her heart.

I desperately wanted to at least touch base with Holly who is a fellow Aggie. I got that opportunity and she is just as sweet as she can be.

I felt honored to get to meet Annette, whom I read and enjoy a lot, and Melanie of BigMama fame, who is also a fellow Aggie. Aren't they both so gorgeous!?!

As I said in a previous post, I missed out on some of the other events because of circumstances over which only God was in control. So, while I had a "drive-by" meeting/hug with Gayle, I didn't get the chance to talk to her.

And, yes, I did hug them. Some of them anyways.

Oh, and there was a girl that looked an awful lot like Sophie of BooMama fame on my flight home... but I was too embarrased to walk up to a stranger and say, "Are you BooMama?"

This is BigMama, BooMama, and FryDaddy trying, but not succeeding at some banter.

Our time with Beth, Amanda and Melissa was really sweet. The three of them took photos with all of us in groups, then gave away some prizes and did a question and answer session. The one thing that really touched me was how Beth recognized people's "blog identities." She commented that when her "Supperman" (because he cooks) is gone and now that the girls are gone, sometimes the blog give her a sense of community and she reads the comments often. I tell you, that encouraged me to continue to comment and give encouraging words.

And here's our Siesta Mama with Miesta Moose that made the journey from... Wyoming, was it?

The entire weekend was so full. Full of friends old and new. Full of the presence of the Living God. Full to the brim and overflowing.

The Inheritance

The message that the Lord delivered to us through Beth Moore this weekend was about inheritance. Our inheritance as children of God and co-heirs with Christ.

This is a term that I have heard all my adult life. However, I never gave a lot of thought to it. Probably because I never truly understood it. Beth Moore is so gifted in digging down and getting to the root of the principle she is teaching about so that it really starts to make sense. And much like the message at Living Proof Live in Baltimore, MD in 2004 on Jealousy (Godly jealousy vs. human jealousy), inheritance has become a concept, no, a precept, that I am beginning to grasp.

We, as women, are heiresses.

At one point she quoted Paris Hilton, our most famous heiress here in the USA. “There is no sin worse in life that being boring...” from her book Confessions of an Heiress (2004).

We all had to repeat, I think several times, “I am an heiress, and I am NOT a bore.”

We looked at Psalm 16, specifically verses 5-6 in the English Standard Version (ESV):
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

She gave us 8 basic points:
1. I am an heir of God. My life is not left to chance.
2. I am an heir of God. I am inheriting a kingdom.
3. I am an heir of God. He is my portion…. And I am His.
4. I am an heir of God. The down-payment has been made.
5. I am an heir of God. My boundary lines form a pleasing place.
6. I am an heir of God. The will has been activated.
7. I am an heir of God. I can be secure.
8. I am an heir of God. I have a beautiful inheritance.

We worked hard during these 3 sessions. She kept coming across scripture after scripture and we turned literally from Genesis to Revelation and just about everywhere in between.

In fact, I was standing next to a lady in the concession line on Saturday morning, while trying to get some caffeine since the Starbucks line at the hotel was reeeediculous. This poor woman said, “Whew, I am out of practice. Last night was hard.” I just had to snicker to myself and thought, “Doesn’t she realize I am totally going to blog about this conversation?” (You know, I had my Siesta Fiesta t-shirt on and everything.)

Anyways, Beth would come to one scripture reference after another and say, “Oh, we’re not going to go there because we just don’t have time. Oh… yes, we have to. I’ll just read it to you.” And just about every time what does she say, “Oh, I’m just going to have to back up to verse .” You could just feel the energy and excitement from her. It was contagious.

So, the things that really spoke to me? All of it. But let’s see if I can boil it down a little.

My life is not left to chance. Although I have always known this and believed it to an extent, I have lately been realizing that I struggle with trusting God’s purposes. Out of bad stuff that has happened in my life, I tend to ask, “Why?” A natural reaction, to be sure, but I am finally beginning to understand (years and years later) that I will likely never understand and I just need to trust that He is in control and does not act except in His perfect character of goodness, love, grace and mercy.

I am inheriting a Kingdom. One of the things that I so often miss is that the kingdom is NOW. Yes, in the future, we will eventually be in it and take possession of it in a physical sense in heaven. But I need to take possession of it now in a spiritual sense. Although we are not in the Kingdom right now, it is IN US.

He is my portion…. And I am His. Of course the “He is my portion” statement refers back to the Levites who had no inheritance (portion of land) in the Promised Land. God told them He was their inheritance and portion. They were consecrated by God and given back as a gift to the people and lived among all the peoples of Israel. But then she brought in Ephesians 1:18 and pointed out the phrase, “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” His inheritance is us. Is me. His child. His treasured possession is people. That was just so convicting to me because I tend to put so little value on other people comparatively.

The down-payment has been made. Beth talked about Ephesians 1:11-14 and the deposit of the holy spirit guaranteeing our inheritance. Her quotes that stuck with me here were: “The deposit of the holy Spirit trumps anything earthly that we’ve inherited.” and, “Stop trying to be someone else. Be full on in the Holy Ghost and you will not be able to miss your calling.” She threatened, “Don’t make me start Holy Ghost talkin’!” Maybe you had to be there… it was funny.

My boundary lines form a pleasing place. She gave us this diagram and it really spoke to me about my territory. My intimacy with God sets the highest boundary. I can’t go any further than my intimacy with Him. My past is behind me and is unchangeable. My life experiences may be good, bad, or ugly (I’ve had them all) but they are mine. I need to own them for what they are.

The will has been activated. Someone has to die for there to be an inheritance. Enter Jesus Christ. See Hebrews 9:15-17 and Galatians 3:29-4:7. She also brought out that part of our inheritance includes His presence. The only way there can be an inheritance with that person’s presence is for there to be a death and resurrection. Hallelujah!

I can be secure. If we can get our identity in Christ, we will not seek approval/affirmation from others. She talked about how our young girls are taking on behaviors that previous generations of sexually abused girls would exhibit, even the ones who have never been physically abused. They are seeking affirmation and identity dependent on their sensuality and making choice after choice based upon that view of themselves. Her point was that we have been sexually mauled by our culture. So true. So true. This reality just makes me more vigilant about how I raise my own daughter.

I have a beautiful inheritance. 2 Timothy 4:6. Beth Moore's quote, “We have a beautiful inheritance in heaven before God, but until then, we have a beautiful fight.”

A beautiful inheritance… and until then, a beautiful fight. And I pray for the strength to give this beautiful fight my all. I will look in the mirror each morning and say,

“I am an heiress. A little rough around the edges. But I am an heiress, and I have a beautiful inheritance.”

Providence

So, the trip.

It was as excellent as any trip could be.

Today I will share some logistical things that just really shows how God had his hand on me, provided for me every step of the way, and put me exactly where I needed to be in miraculous ways.

I’ll share other things about the weekend in later posts.

We (my dear friend K, her mom and I) flew out on Friday morning with basically no delays. This in and of itself is a miracle as I found out later that there were so many delays later on in the day due to the weather there in San Antonio. The Lord put us on the right flight at the right time, Hallelujah!

As we landed I found that I had a voice mail. It was from my friend Beth who I was supposed to spend Friday and Saturday nights with. She is currently pregnant with TWINS (YEA!) and her message said that not only was she having some difficulty which was causing her to be on some bed-rest this weekend, but her one year-old was also sick.

I had already been concerned about them having to come downtown to get me and trying to get back downtown early in the morning, etc. In fact, I had emailed a Siesta from the LPM blog to see if I could catch rides with her. But at the moment that I got this voice mail from Beth, I knew that I just needed to not stay with them on Friday night and began praying and believing that the Lord would provide so that I would not have to add the stress of a house guest for Friday night on them and that any transportation issues for Saturday would be taken care of.

He abundantly provided.

I called my man and gave him the task. He was up to it. He’s so good that way. Using points, he was able to get me a room there at the Marriot Rivercenter where my friends and just about everyone else from the conference were staying. It cost me a grand total of $15. And I had a room with a king sized bed all to myself.



I don’t have to tell you… it was a blessing.

Then, after wandering around the mall and finding a super cute blouse on sale at Macy’s, I hung out back in my room, all by myself, for a while. Lo and behold, I had an email from Siesta Lori Anne that she did, in fact, live near my friend Beth and she could absolutely give me a ride. So I called her, told her of my change in plans and we then made plans to meet up and I could get a ride from her out to Beth’s house on Saturday afternoon.

He abundantly provided!

Well, back up a little to a couple of weeks ago as I was finalizing (or so I thought) my plans. By the time I finally had time to think about this trip and the Siesta Fiesta, I had missed out on signing up for the PJ party that some of them were having on Saturday night.

So, although I would have loved so badly to hang out with some of you playing games and gabbing all night on Saturday night, I played with Beth’s one year old son and gave Nick, his dad, a little bit of a break. I got to play “Aunt” Donna and laugh when he misbehaved because, hey, I’m not the mom. Woo hoo! It was a blast. And he is just a doll! I also had the privilege of cooking for them so that they could have a meal for a day or two. It wasn’t much, but I think it helps a little and that was definitely where I needed to be.

He so abundantly provided!

Travis Cottrell told us on Saturday afternoon that he would be at Oak Hills Church at Saturday evening and Sunday morning services leading in worship. Their pastor is someone you may have heard of before… Max Lucado. He was going to be preaching this weekend, which he doesn’t all the time. And it just not so happens that Beth and Nick live, oh, 10 minutes from Oak Hills Church. So, I went this morning and was so incredibly blessed.

And yet again… He abundantly provides!!!

My flight home left on time in spite of weather. And a woman, who obviously needed to talk through some religious issues made it on to the flight and sat next to me. I wasn’t sure at first how the conversation was going to go, but it was good. And it showed me that I could depend on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to give me the words that needed to be said. Whatever I did say didn’t seem to turn her off, because we talked for the entire flight. A divine appointment, to be sure.

So the point of this story (*gasp* there is a point?) is that God provided for every logistical detail so that I would be where I needed to be when I needed to be there.
And to quote Beth Moore from this weekend:
"Providence is the FACT that God works as powerfully in the every day as in the miraculous."

The weekend... it was providential.