Mean girls and the like

If you've never had the pure pleasure that comes hand-in-hand with a Beth Moore Bible study, here is one to get you sarted... Esther - It's hard being a woman. If you are familiar with Beth - get ready because she is absolutely hilarious in this one.

It's been a while since I've done a study with any of my close friends. So it was a treat this past Tuesday morning to sit side by side with my friend Madonna. This weeks topic was "mean girls". I know that this will probably come as a shock to at least one person reading this... but I have been "the mean girl" MORE THAN ONCE in my lifetime.
As Beth talked about reasons that people were mean, I started thinking about the mean people that I knew since I was over my mean season. One of the questions she asked was "who is your rival?" Well, as far as I know - I don't have one. Then she started talking about those insecurities that lie at the heart of most meanness. Insecurities?

Oh, that hurt. I was reminded of a time when there was this woman in my Sunday School class. She thought she was something. All pretty and thin and blond. Perfect husband, perfect children... and on and on it went. You know the type. I would call her to try and enlist her help with GA's, and without even praying about it she told me "no". Not once, but twice! Well who did she think she was anyway?
Who knew God had told her to pray for me? The woman with the attitude. And pray she did. Then one day she came to me and handed me this scarlet cord. She had felt led to go to a conference, and while she was there, she knew without a doubt that she was there to stand in the gap for me. The cord was for my son PJ. That was back at the height of our discovering an out of control drug problem. As you can imagine, my heart began to melt. As I got to know more about her, I realized that God had called her into a season of prayer and not a time of activity (like GA's). As the days and weeks passed, our friendship grew.
Sitting there this week and listening to Beth talk about insecurities and rivals... I just about laughed out loud at the irony of it all. Yes, once upon a time I had a rival. I was insecure. That was then... now I'm blessed to be sitting by her during the Bible study and being glad that God told her to pray and she did ... like it or not! ! !
Moral of the story... who is your rival? Watch out she may become one of the best friends you've ever had!

Just when you think you have it all together...

someone changes the rules of the game. Or, better yet, did I really know and understand them to start with? Last weekend I had the wonderful privilege of traveling to The Cove in Black Mountain, NC. This was my second year to travel with this particular group. I will have to confess... I went kicking and screaming, protesting for the last few months. I had decided that when I went last year, I did as God told me to and that was an assignment checked off the list. They could go and have fun, but not me, not this year. Right Lord??? Wrong Dummy (me)!

As I sat in line at the county tax office to pay my car taxes, I decided it was past time to clean out all the little nooks and cranny's that seem to fill up so fast with bits and pieces of my life.
There was mail from the week still laying in the floorboard that had never made it into the house. There was this little Christmas card and as I opened it, these are the words that grabbed my heart...

Come away with Me, my beloved
Come and enjoy a candlelight dance on the Mountain with me

Now, if you know me at all... you know He had me at "dance"!
And had me He did. As the time to go up to this Mountain of God drew closer, my heart grew more ready to be there. All I can say is "what a fool I was". I told the "Cove Sistas" that Susan had been crazy not to want to be there, but look out next year because Mable was already counting down the days until we go again.

I won't tell all we did, because after all it was a date, and nice girls don't tell all! But I will tell this one eye-opener, because I do believe it will end up changing my life in ways I never dreamed of.
Late Friday night after we had all had our dance, we gathered in one of the rooms to pray. We started about 10:30 and went until about 2:15. Martha, our fearless leader, had instructed us to share our requests. Our scribe, Dana, read the ones from last year. And for the most part... they were the same requests. But I'll go ahead and say.... next year, I don't think that will be the case at all. Nope, I think they'll all be checked off and we'll be moving on to a new list!
Martha shared what it means to intercede. I always thought it meant that we just prayed for other people and their needs.

Miriam Webster has this to say...
the act of interceding 2 :
prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another

But when Martha shared what she believes is the true definition, it went more like this...To stand in the gap for, to pray as if you were that person.

And hearing that, many of us in the little group gave it our best shot. But then, oh, but then, Martha prayed. It was the most amazing prayer I had ever heard. It brought me to my feet... and then some. (Some things are better left to the imagination!)

Martha took on the heart for the one whom she prayed.

Before I went to the Mountain, I gathered things of significance that belonged to my mom and dad, my husband, my children, their significant others, my grand babies, and a few close friends and their families. It was sweet to pray over them on that Mountain of the Lord. But I knew I wasn't finished. So today, before I started to return the items, I laid them all out and began to intercede over each person as I held their item. The best thing to say is I now have a headache because I have cried so much today. No doubt, the sweetest headache I have ever had.

And on Day One of President Obama's first day in office, it was really neat, not to just pray for him, but to intercede for him.

Remember this one...

Hebrews 7:25 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Therefore He is always able to save those who come to God through Him,
since He always lives to intercede for them.

Today I have a fresh and new perspective of just how Christ intercedes for us. Maybe you already had an understanding that I just received. If you did... why didn't somebody tell me before now? And if it's a new way of thinking for you too... oh - go and give it a whirl. You'll be ever so glad that you did!

A new year, a new day, and oh - how about a new name too?

It's been a while, too long. But it is so good to be back! I had planned to devote the last few weeks of November and all my December work time to District Five Family Ministries' Christmas Project. And what a project it was this year. The number of children we served jumped from 720 to 1044. It about did us all in but Glory to His NAME... HE DID IT!


So I have some Wellspring days banked and the plan is to CHARGE into the New Year full steam ahead! Way back in the day when I came home from that eventful Beth Moore Conference in 2003, I attended the staff meeting at WBC and shared my heart with the staff. A few days after that, Cory Singleton gave me a book by Andy Stanley ... Visioneering. I read through the first few chapters and decided it was TMI for me at the time. Last night I picked it up and thought now is the time to finish reading. As I re-read the chapters that talked about going public, I knew I had passed through those stages. Then came the chapter on the power of the vision. It spoke of the vision given to Abraham, the call given to he and Sarah, the way that Christ spoke to the vision He had for Peter and Paul. He had given them each a new name as part of their calling. I cried as I prayed... Lord... IF Wellspring Living SC is your vision and not some grand idea that seemed like a good thing for me to do... will you give me a new name? I had thoughts that He would awaken me during the night and whisper the name. I was prepared to record His words with pencil and paper by my bedside. When the alarm went off this morning, I was a little disappointed that there had been no revelation. But you know what His word says in


Habakkuk 2:3... For the vision is yet for the appointed time;It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail Though it tarries, wait for it;For it will certainly come, it will not delay.


As I opened Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, turned to January 6 and there it was. It was created with my little piece of paper that was my scripture promise from the Broken to Beautiful Conference that I read every day. So without further adieu... see if you can see it too...

M ABLE... I just started reading and I almost missed it. Then it was like those first five letters caught my attention. Mable? I thought Mabel wasn't the kind of name I had in mind. Something more elegant, with a little more sass to it. I ran to the computer to see what it meant. The Latin meaning is "lovable". That was nice, but then I saw the English meaning, and am glad to be called Mabel - "My beautiful one".

As I picked the book up again and moved the paper I read these words ... I AM Able to do far beyond all you ask or imagine. Words found in Ephesians 3:20... my very own life verse for the past 24 years!

So.... on this new day in this new year, I pray that this girl. Mable's life will be everything that God intends for it to be each and every new day for the rest of my life! I praise you Lord for the assurance that this is Your vision and your calling for such a time as this.