Dear Sisters,
I can hardly wait to see you at our Deeper Still conference this weekend! I am not kidding when I tell you that I've never failed to see God show up with a stunning outpouring in North Carolina or South, for that matter! I've never quite been able to put my finger on why! Often Travis, the team and I see God's mightiest outpourings in some of the smaller areas where people have far fewer events to attend. They are desperate for worship and revelation and, because God delights in that kind of anticipation, they usually get it. The part of the country where we're gathering this weekend, however, is a center notch on the proverbial "Bible belt" yet I've seen God do some of the wildest things there. To be seasoned - but UNSPOILED - followers of Christ is a rare and wonderful trait only the Holy Spirit can explain. I can hardly wait to see what He'll do now.
I am so honored to serve beside my dear friends and co-laborers, Priscilla and Kay. I deeply respect both of them and my own walk with Christ is always refueled by their influence. We haven't been together in a while so it will be great to team-up again. It's a beautiful thing to share the platform with other speakers because, the way I see it, if you don't like one of us, as diverse as we are, surely you'll like another! All of us have different tastes and different learning styles, even if we wish we were too mature for preferences. At one time or another, yours is surely going to get hit this weekend and, if not by someone on the platform, by someone sitting next to you! Far more importantly, God will overcome every obstacle and speak to every willing ear and, if you'll really listen, cause you to receive exactly what He brought you to hear. I'm counting on that for myself. I am coming for a word from God, Girlfriend, and I am positive that I'm going to get it.
Recently I've had a fresh appreciation for what we get to do this weekend. My staff at Living Proof Ministries and I are going through Jennifer Rothschild's Me, Myself and Lies together. (I do tons of other people's Bible studies - like Kay's and Priscilla's, for instance - just for my own personal walk. My worst nightmare is that I'd get where I only listened to my own voice. Can you spell I-M-B-A-L-A-N-C-E??) While we were having group discussion last week and I was marveling over the NOW word God was speaking to every single one of us, I could nearly have burst into tears with the wonder of it. I said to my staff, "It's just hit me afresh that this is the very kind of thing we get to do: we get to encourage women just like us to get to know the Maker of Heaven and Earth and His Son, Jesus Christ, through the living, breathing pages of Scripture. He causes every study - no matter who wrote it - to become exactly what the willing person needed at that exact moment in her life. It's not a man-thing. It's a total God-thing. I do not know where I would be, even right now in this season of my own life, without the hope and direction and exhortation of God's Word. What we're doing works because He works."
That, Beloved Sister, is what we're doing together this weekend. We're reminding one another that God STILL SPEAKS and that He is perfect in His timing and His relevance. If you've never really gotten to know Him personally, this is a terrific time to get started! If you've been listening to Him speak through His Word for years, well then, there's a place to go that's deeper still!
I am floored to be able to serve you. God is merciful and kind to this former pit-dweller. I'll see you Friday!
In His exquisite love,
Beth
A couple of days ago I was sitting in an airport, waiting for a flight, when a frantic woman who was running to make her plane caught my eye.
And I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that the reason she caught my eye was because she barely had on any clothes. She was wearing a cropped halter top that didn't cover the stuff it needed to cover AT ALL, and her pants were cut so low that all I could think was "Don't bend over. Don't bend over. Please don't bend over."
So you know what happened.
She totally bent over.
And those of us at gate E7 got an eyeful. Oh yes ma'am we did.
Yesterday I watched session one of Kay Arthur's Return to the Garden in preparation for my Bible study group's first meeting in a couple of weeks, and one of the points Kay makes is that we live in a culture that "is absolutely permeated with sex." She uses magazine covers to bear out her assertion; she also touches briefly on how drastically women's clothing has changed over the last thirty or forty years.
And when it comes to fashion, you only need to look around, say, an airport terminal to see that Kay is right. Look around churches, too, because believers are certainly not exempt from the problem. Far from it, in fact. There are women all over the country who are taking their sexy to Sunday School. By and large, there's no shortage of cleavage up in the church house.
So I'm curious. How do you deal with this issue in your life? If you're a woman, whether single or married, how do you determine what clothes are appropriate for you and what clothes are not? Or do you just wear whatever you want?
If you're a mom, how do you teach your girls to choose clothes that are modest and fashionable at the same time? Do you ever feel like you're fighting a losing battle?
Can't wait to read your comments.
[Edited to add: I absolutely love Melanie's response to this post. Great food for thought.]
Sophie and I are getting ready to go to North Carolina this week for the She Speaks Conference. We're teaching two sessions on blogging, along with Shannon from Rocks in My Dryer.
And I am playing fast and loose with the word "teaching".
Here's hoping that I have more to say than "A blog is like an online journal. It is cool."
Anyway, I'm headed to North Carolina this weekend and then to Deeper Still in Atlanta the following weekend.
Look at me! I'M A JETSETTER.
A jetsetter who will have to shell out $9.00 to get a 1/4 cup of Diet Coke and a bag of mediocre trailmix on my flights.
Needless to say, I have had to spend some time in deep prayer and meditation over my wardrobe for these events. In fact, I think Caroline now thinks her daily routine looks like this.
7:00 a.m. - Wake up and immediately demand an episode of "Pinky-Dinky Doo"
8:00 a.m. - Continue to harass mama until she finally gives in and drags herself out of bed
8:03 a.m. - Request a breakfast of eggs, bacon and waffles.
8:26 a.m. - Eat two bites of egg and dip fingers in syrup then declare that you're done with breakfast.
8:35 a.m. - Put on orange skirt that has become a wardrobe staple and makes your mama cringe because it is a really nice orange skirt that is meant for special occasions, not fingerpaint day at Vacation Bible School.
9-12:00 p.m. - Vacation Bible School. Get hyped up on generic Nilla Wafers and HEB brand orange drink. (Not orange juice. Orange drink.)
12:30-2:30 p.m. - Watch your mama try on at least ten different outfits with various shoe and jewelry combinations. Offer helpful advice such as "That one is TOO YELLOW".
3:00-6:00 p.m. - Go to pool. Try to drown Mama by making her go with you to the bottom of the deep end 842 times in a three-hour period.
6:00-7:30 p.m. - Eat dinner comprised of dinosaur shaped chicken. Bath. Brush teeth. Spend fifteen minutes picking out two books while your mama tries to avoid the urge to stab herself with a Polly Pocket. Bed.
7:31-9:00 p.m. - Mama continues to mentally pack her suitcase for trips to North Carolina and Atlanta. Vows she will not have to pay an overage charge for overpacking.
Clearly my days are jam-packed right now, what with all the accessory planning and thinking about carry-on luggage versus checked bags. It's a wonder I can get anything else done.
And really, I have no point. Well, other than to share my obsessive-compulsive wardrobe tendencies.
I have always been this way. In fact, I can honestly remember each outfit I wore on the first day of school for grades K-12. And that's not all. I also have vivid memories of any other outfits along the way that were particularly fabulous for one reason or another.
For example, in 9th grade my favorite outfit was a hot pink t-shirt and my Guess overalls with a vintage scarf tied around my waist as a belt. Throw in some hot pink socks and white Keds and it was quite the outfit.
Sometimes I would even use the scarf to tie back my permed hair instead of as a belt.
Oh yes I did.
And I can't really even discuss my red plaid UltraPink skirt and shirt that I wore with my Esprit hiking boots because I will get all misty-eyed at the memories of my deep love for that outfit and all the good times we had.
I could go on and on, but that would just be embarrassing. Plus, it may seriously cause y'all to wonder if I have any sort of life.
So, here's what I really want to know. Who's going to be at Deeper Still in Atlanta?
Most importantly, what are you wearing?
And even if you're not going, tell me about one of your favorite outfits of all time.
Melanie
Melanie
Sophie
Sophie
Pam
Pam
Paige
Paige
Kris
Kris