Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

I'll be emailing you for your address to send you the 10 Seeking a Heart Like His booklets.

And I'd also imagine that, for a lot of us, that resolve lasted approximately two weeks, when suddenly there was nothing on earth that sounded quite as delicious as a big ole bowl of queso - with maybe some brownies on the side. On top of all that, sometimes staying home in pajamas starts to seem far preferable to putting on workout clothes and hopping on the elliptical machine and working out with free weights and whathaveyou.

I'm talking about extremes, of course, but the bottom line is that it's difficult to make changes and to be consistent with those changes for longer than a few weeks. Or maybe it's just me. It very well could be just me, but quite honestly it makes me feel better to imagine that other people deal with the same struggles, so I'm just gonna pretend that everybody understands.

Anyway, I ran across these videos of Beth Moore talking about physical health, and I think they are awfully encouraging. She starts around the 2:45 mark of the first video, and the second one picks up right where the first one ends.

Hope Beth's perspective encourages some of you today!

We are giving away ten, TEN, copies of Seeking A Heart Like His: Lessons from David booklet to one of you to give away to your friends and loved ones for Valentine's Day.

This is a 64 page booklet that contains daily inspiration based on Beth's study of David.

We just wanted to give you a chance to bless some of your friends because we love y'all.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. We'll close comments on Tuesday morning and announce a winner by noon central time.

Y'all have a great weekend.

2011-2012 Give-away Rules.doc

How Great is Our God. Amazing!

TODAY IS THE DAY! LifeWay Women is going to celebrate the release of Kelly Minter's newest Bible study, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break.

This morning morning at 11AM central, there will be a live webcast (with prizes!) over on the LifeWay Women Facebook page.

Can't wait to see y'all there!

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion--
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

In just two days, LifeWay Women is going to celebrate the release of Kelly Minter's newest Bible study, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break. Kelly is a gifted writer and teacher, and if you've ever done one of her studies, you know that her conversational style and her solid understanding of the Word are a great combination.

On Wednesday morning at 11AM central, there will be a live webcast (with prizes!) over on the LifeWay Women Facebook page. If you'd like to enter to win one of the prizes that will be given away that day, you can click over to the Sweepstakes page and click the "Enter Sweepstakes" tab (entries will be closed at 11:59 pm on January 31).

Can't wait to see y'all there!

That's a whole hand.

We are giving away five copies of Priscilla Shirer's fifth Seeds DVD.

This session finds Priscilla speaking of the bad habits we seem to find ourselves in the middle of. Whether it is our fault or not, often times we keep going back to the same unhealthy cycles over and over again. Paul speaks of the same thing when he says in Romans that, "for that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do but am doing the very thing I hate. For the good that I wish, I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not wish."

All you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win. We'll close comments on Tuesday and announce the winners.

Y'all have a great weekend!

2011-2012 Give-away Rules.doc

The Abundance Contest was so much fun and we are so grateful for all of you that participated and sent in your cute videos. Thank you!

And now it's time to announce the winners. Just remember, if for any reason Miss America is unable to fulfill her duties, the first runner up will take her place.

Oh wait. This isn't a pageant. But I wish it was because SPARKLY TIARA.

Anyway, here are the winners!

The Grand Prize Winner is Deanna Collins

Here are the 4 runner-ups and their video links:

Lora Lovin Osburn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKfy3T-ZgTc&feature=related

Nick Sjolinder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW4f_vly0vE&feature=related

Nancy Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_-f1lY6gtI&feature=player_embedded

Leah Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C1QM2cLtls&feature=player_embedded

The Grand Prize Winner receives: Nehemiah Bible Study Kit, iPod Touch, 2 Abundance event tickets, $200 cash donation to a Samaritan's Purse Ministry

The 4 Runner Ups receive: Nehemiah Bible Study Member Book, 2 Abundance event tickets

Please contact Kris Seidenkranz at Kris.Seidenkranz@lifeway.com to redeem your prizes.

CONGRATULATIONS!

One of the biggest battles I believe we face as women and as a society today is loneliness. Have you ever found yourself surrounded by a crowd of people and still felt like you were all by yourself? I have. There was even a day where I had lunch with a friend, and we spent most of our time together talking about how lonely each of us felt. And yet, there we were, sitting together! We are the most connected group of people - we have more ways to interact online and through social media and mobile devices than we've ever had before, and yet many of us continue to feel lonely. Loneliness is a powerful feeling the enemy uses to divide and destroy.

But I believe loneliness is also a feeling God uses to draw us closer to Him. One of my favorite verses in Psalms reads, "God sets the lonely in families." He brings us to Him; He molds our hearts, softens our expectations and opens doors to be around others.

Families come in different forms. We have our blood families; we have families we've married into, extended family and some of us have family we wish we didn't know about. We also find family perhaps through our Bible study groups, or our church family with whom we spend so much time; we might even consider the girls in our dance aerobic class we see regularly to be like family.

As the leader of a military ministry, I am always amazed at the family we find among military spouses. Put two military wives in the same room that have never met before and there's a great chance in five minutes they will be talking together like old friends. They find common ground quickly - moves they've made to the same duty stations and towns; the experience and challenge of deployment, and mutual friends and acquaintances they might both know.

But sometimes those connections don't always happen. Sometimes loneliness wins. This soul-draining emotion convinces us to stay home and stay put. We listen to the voice inside our head that tells us we're the only ones to feel this way - sad, alone, ignored. So we miss out on the relationships God might have in mind for us, and we miss out on the encouragement He wants to give us through knowing or talking with someone else. We resign ourselves to believing that we are all by ourselves and then we miss out on the blessing of finding an opportunity to encourage someone else. It's a debilitating cycle.

In Tour of Duty, the Bible study I wrote specifically for military wives going through deployment, we talk a lot about loneliness and many of the other emotions we struggle with while going through a season without our husbands. Now we're getting ready to take that study and bring it to life, by offering a weekend retreat where military wives can come and get recharged through Bible study, connecting with other military wives, and just some wonderful rest in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest, N.C.

Tour of Duty Live! is May 4-6 and there are only a limited number of spaces. So I would like to ask your help. If you're not a military wife, but you know of one - would you encourage her to go? Would you let her know about the special children's program we're offering for her kids? Would you tell her the dishes and the laundry can wait a couple of days, that this is an opportunity for her to invest in her family by spending some time on herself? Would you let her know that God is going to move in a big way during this weekend, with some wonderful worship, encouraging conversation, and a chance to let go of all of the frustration and second-guessing and Big Girl Panty wearing, and focus on God's strength for this time?

Finally, would you join me in praying for this weekend for military wives? I am so grateful to LifeWay and Ridgecrest, NC for seeing the need to minister to this special group of ladies - I am praying hard that God will bring the women who need to be there and that we will see Him work in an amazing way in the lives of these military wives. We are not alone!

For more information, visit Ridgecrest's website. Sara Horn is the founder and president of Wives of Faith, a military wives faith-based ministry supporting, connecting and encouraging military wives of all branches of service. She is the author of Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment and GOD Strong. Her most recent book is My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife. Visit her website at sarahorn.com.

We had such an overwhelming response to this giveaway, and I wish I could have given everyone an Esther Kit, but I can't . . . SO I decided to give TWO KITS away! As usual, we use random.org to determine the random winners.

Congratulations to
Linda Bolander #20
and
JoAnn McMillan #128

I'll be contacting you both for your address to mail out the kits!

Have a great afternoon everyone!

I don't know how many of you have participated in simulcasts in the past, but I'm guessing that, unless it was Secret Church, most of you had to go to a sanctuary or a fellowship hall to join in all the simulcast goodness.

Well.

LifeWay has made some big changes to the 2012 simulcasts, and one of those changes is that smaller groups can participate for very - VERY - affordable prices. Whether it's Living Proof Live, Going Beyond, Secret Church, or one of the other 2012 simulcast events, you'll find some really flexible options over on the LifeWay Simulcasts page. You can buy an individual pass to Going Beyond, for example, for FIFTEEN AMERICAN DOLLARS. I just think that's extraordinary.

Don't miss the great deals...and yay to technology for making such solid Biblical teaching available to so many!

1. The first one will be the My Abundance Kick off Webcast where we will announce the grand prize winner and runner ups of the contests and show their videos.

Kelly Minter and Angie Smith will co-host with me and we'll also have special guests Angela Thomas, Tammie Head, Vicki Courtney and Jennifer Rothschild. This live show is at 10:00 a.m. CST & click HERE to join us!

2. Then at Noon today CST Chris Adams & I along with Pat Layton and other special guests will host our first LifeWay Women Live training Webcast of 2012. The topic will be 'Surrendering the Secret part 2' as follow up to our popular STS Web cast last year about post-abortion ministry.

We will also talk about the upcoming movie 'October Baby' which deals with post-abortion and adoption topics. Shari Rigby, an actress form the film will also be with us in studio! Click here to register for Surrendering the Secret Part 2.

Please also pray that God protects us on the technical side. We will have a lot going on! We love that we can be with you today and hope you can join us on one or both Web casts.

Happy Tuesday!
Paige