Beth Moore Live!

What an absolutely amazing weekend! Lord I thank you for Beth Moore and for working through her and her staff in a mighty, MIGHTY way to me and to so many others the last 24 hours. She is an incredible witness and instrument for you. She illuminates the Bible, she inspires passion, she challenges us to be all we can be in You, instills deep desire to be closer to You, Jesus. Tears of joy, praise, conviction, humbleness at your amazing grace. To also be in the presence of so many Believers as the Holy Spirit blew like a mighty wind. Awesome indeed. A fresh word was what she wanted to give us and indeed she did.

Thank you also for the time spent with my 12 friends who I shared the trip with. Thank you for your traveling mercies as I drove us the many hours up and back.

I am still filled to the top!

On This Easter Day...

I am overflowing
at the thought
of your sacrifice
at your humbling grace
and never ceasing love
for each and every one of us
whether our faces are turned to you
or not
we are loved unendingly

Day of Rest

Lord, I think of you today - the Sabbath day you rested in the tomb. I can imagine all was very quiet and drawn that day. Sadness loomed, feeling oppressive. Perhaps confusion was abounding as well and a terrible sense of emptiness.

Oh the contrast of what would be tomorrow. Oh how the angels would sing at the glory of your rising from death. How the weight of sadness would be transformed into utter and complete joy when those who walked with you would see you again! I can't wait to talk with them one day, to hear it face to face, to hear the amazing stories about that first Easter morning.

And so until then, Lord, my heart fills with warmth and gladness, undeserved thankfulness at your ultimate sacrifice for all of us, for the hope of someday reaching our real home with you as we walk through this often dark country far away from that place. Yet, you are here with us. Living, breathing and guiding us through the joys and sorrows on earth. How grateful I am to you as I shake my head in wonder at your love for us...

I bow to you and only you, Lord Jesus!

Thank you.

Saturday Morning

Lord I do thank you that the results of my tests came back so clear. "Excellent" is what the doctor kept saying as we went through the blood tests, the liver. No diabetes (I knew about the hypoglycemia already), no heart disease. My thyroid fine on the level of meds I take. Only a couple of minor, seemingly inconsequential things found. I thank you that you gave me parents who cared about what they fed their kids and that they didn't raise us on Cocoa Puffs and Pop Tarts and soda, but made sure we ate a mostly vegetarian diet, whole grains, good food. I'm sure that is what has helped me have such clean blood, liver and urine at this point.

Again, I am thankful, and yet you know I'm frustrated too. I have to admit, confess, that although I didn't want anything to be really "wrong", that perhaps there could be something that could explain why it is so hard for me to lose weight. It seems when I diet what others lose on I only maintain on, meaning I have to eat half as much and exercise twice as much as everyone else to budge the scales or so it seems (and to others as well). And then if I'm lucky I will lose for 3 or 4 months and then it just stops. Stops! Doesn't feel like a plateau, it feels like I hit a brick wall. That is so hard for me to keep going on what seems like so little food and so much sacrifice.

I know, drivel, drivel, whine, whine. But, Lord, you gotta know I'm frustrated. I was hoping there was an answer to that but perhaps it was how you genetically made me and I have to keep trying until I find the right answer for me. It is so tiring, Lord. You know how exhausted (not just tired, but exhausted) I get now. Such a viscous circle it puts a person in when they get heavy. So what do I pray for? I guess complete obedience regarding this? Um, maybe not that. Perhaps a change of heart and mind and an attitude adjustment towards food and my situation I suppose. So, Lord, I pray for that and for whatever I am supposed to learn and understand regarding this particular journey of my life.

Oh, I am so truly grateful for the lectures on Paul I have been hearing on that long drive to and from the doctors. Also for the Dallas Willard book that is just so amazing and exciting to read. Over and over again I see that you want a living, breathing, intimate relationship of faith with us, not the rules, the regs, the legalism that humans want to place into "religion". I see how Abraham, who had none of those instructions you later gave, had complete and utter faith in you and that is what made him righteous! Oh Lord how I love that and attain to that myself. And I thank you that I am so filled with passion over this and other things as I start the new Bible study soon. It is only by learning and studying that we start to comprehend the overall picture you want for us. It really is incredibly exciting.

Thanks for last night, when the Women's Ministry met for dinner. Again, puts a smile on my face to see how many were touched in the community and outside of our church, and already we are putting our prayers and thoughts into next year's retreat. Thank you Father God for all of this!

So, on I go. As always, I lay my son before you (I "lay my Isaac down"), my marriage, my life.

Laura

State of Health

Dear Lord,

Thank you for so much for all that I have. Help me to be ever grateful of what you have done in my life and all you have given me. Help me to always do the right thing no matter the cost.

Be with my doctor tomorrow as he reviews all the tests I have undergone the last month of my heart, my thyroid, my blood sugar, etc. Give him the wisdom to diagnose me correctly. And please, Lord, be with me as I hear the news. Help me retain it, ask the right questions, and most importantly (and what I have the hardest time with), help me to be able to change my life permanently in the way I need to based upon the results I receive. I so pray this will help give me a better game plan for my health, curtailed to the findings.

Thank you for the long conversation with my son about You, Christianity and faith. Forgive his immature ideas and lack of knowledge. I ask you to honor his searching in all these areas and I pray again for you to reveal yourself to him and that he will be saved into your kingdom. Help me to be a better witness. With all the knowledge I have gleaned over the past few years I was so grateful for it so I could teach him about your promises, redemption, Christian history, how the Muslim nation began with Ishmael. I could see he was truly listening to that and was impressed that was foretold and happened in the Bible. Bring him to you, Lord Jesus! As I always pray, give him eyes to see and ears to hear and to make a decision for you.

I pray you will be with me as I lead the Beth Moore study in two weeks on Paul. I pray you work through and give me the discipline, wisdom and words to help the ladies who will be attending. I pray for the hearts of all who will attend or are thinking of attending, that we all will be inspired as we see the Bible and Paul illuminated in a way perhaps we've never known before through the gift you have given Beth Moore.

I pray for all those in need. May they seek you, find you, feel your strength and comfort always.

In your precious name I pray,

Amen.