A DAY FULL OF THANKS

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I've gotten some pretty cute text messages today.

Happy Thanksgiving! Aren't you glad you're not a turkey today?!!!

Happy T DAY. This is NOT a mass text message. I am sending it exclusively to you. Have a wonderful day, ________, (fill in your name here) and I hope to see you soon!

I had such a great day! We were able to have dinner with three of our six children. We took lots of pictures, as this was a monumental event. Our times together are few and far between, unfortunately. We then saw a fantastic movie, Australia. Wow! I think this might be one of my new all-time favorites! The sound track to this movie is going to be awesome also! Then, we took a scenic drive along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. It was a magnificent driving past trees displaying their Fall finery, with the water in the background. Beautiful!! Family, Food, and Fall...what could be better???

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.
Theodore Roosevelt

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
Erma Bombeck

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like
wrapping a present and not giving it.
William Arthur Ward

The unthankful heart - discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
Henry Ward Beecher

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends,
the old and new.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don't have,
you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.
Proverb

If you are really thankful, what do you do?
You share.
W. Clement Stone

Another Wonderful Day!

We had a WONDERFUL day here in Alabama! The sky was cloudless and the temp. was in the low 60's. I began my day with a phone call from my friend, Janet. She drove over and we had coffee and a chat. SO, SO, SO good to spend time with old friends! Then my boys (Bill And David) and I went for a drive. The area out where we are staying is quite rural and it was fun to see farmers working on their cotton crops. The scenery is beautiful. The trees are changing color down here...we don't see as many colors as up north, but it still is beautiful. We went to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and spent some time walking the beach and enjoying the sound of the waves. It's so great to be together as a family and just enjoy some "down time". Tonight Elise will join us at the hotel and we'll probably play a few heated rounds of Sequence or Taboo! That's all for now! HUGS! And a big shout out to my favorite 8 year old in the whole world, Leilani!!!! Grandma loves you! Happy Birthday!!!! (Grandpa loves you, too!!!)

Sweet Home, Alabama

Hey ya'll!! Can you tell I'm back in the "Heart of Dixie"? We left Saturday morning for a weeks respite in Alabama. We have two children living in Mobile, Alabama - both of them are students at the University of Southern Alabama. So, we are spending Thanksgiving with them and are enjoying some time in our old "hangouts". We lived in Mississippi and Mobile was only 45 minutes away...that was the BIG city for us, so we would often come to Mobile for shopping, restaurants, etc. I'm taking lots of pictures, but can't download them until I get back home.

Yesterday we attended our old church. It was just wonderful and refreshing to visit with so many old friends! They had a Thanksgiving meal after the morning service, so that gave us even more time to visit. It was fun to catch up on each other's lives, compare family pictures, etc. One exciting thing happened for me. One item on my "Bucket List" has always been to have a speaking/teaching ministry for women. While I attended this church, I taught numerous Bible studies, Sunday school classes, VBS programs, etc. Because of this, I boldly mentioned my desire to begin a speaking ministry and my desire to begin at a church where I felt comfortable. They really encouraged me and I will hopefully hold a women's retreat with them early in the new year! I am over-the-top excited about this!! If any of you that read this blog have a women's group, I would love to travel to your church and speak. I have a few topics that I have been working on, so just leave a comment and we'll take it from there...

That's all my news from Alabama, ya'll! I'll post more later...HUGS!

The Shack

Have you read this book? If you have, I would be interested in hearing your comments about your experience with Mack and Papa. I had heard so many people give the story glowing reports...words like, "This book changed my life!", and "I will NEVER look at the Trinity in the same way!", or "I couldn't put it down!"

Needless to say, comments like these piqued my curiosity! The clincher came when Nancy and I returned from Chicago, only to find that even our Mother (!) had read this best-seller!! Nancy and I both bought the book before our trip. We even discussed how we would read the book to each other in the car. Well, of course that idea never took root. I mean, who has time to read when there are activities like these to keep you busy?

Finally, I did find the time to read the book. In all honesty, I didn't like it. The basic theme interested me. The author seeks to bring a novel perspective to the age-old question of where is God when my life is falling apart? Haven't we all tried to find some type of satisfying answer to that question?

Not that long ago another man tried to answer that question and he, too, ended up with a best-seller on his hands. The book was Why Bad Things Happen To Good People. The conclusion that the author, Rabbi Kuschner (I think that was his name) reached was that God is limited. There are simply some things that are out of God's control. That book was easy to shoot holes through. I mean, doesn't it make sense that if God is not sovereign over all things, then He ceases to be God?

My advice is to read the book. Enjoy the book. Discuss the book. But by all means, look at the book "through the lens of Scripture". Ask yourself if this book agrees with the way God has revealed Himself to us through His Word.

And if you are interested in this topic, I would recommend reading Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper and Justin Taylor as well as Trusting God - Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges. Both of these books made me wrestle and marvel at God's infinite love, wisdom, and sovereignty. I can't say that about The Shack.

Time For A New Post!

WOW! I really have lapsed in keeping up with this blog! I really don't have too much to share, but I did receive two interesting emails from my family that I think are interesting and informative.




I'm also going to post a picture of our youngest daughter, Elise, for two reasons. First of all, it gives the rest of my family a picture of what she looks like at the moment. It will also serve as a reminder to remember her in your prayers. Elise is rethinking some of her choices for a college to attend and is having a difficult time sorting through the process of where to attend and what major to pursue. So please add her to your prayer list...thanks!!!!



Here is email #1 from sister #1 Reminiscing about the "GOOD OLD DAYS":

Comments made in the year 1955! (That's only 53 years ago!)

'I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00.

'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year?

It won't be long before $2, 000.00 will only buy a used one.

'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.


'Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter!.

'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00,
nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store. '

'When I first started driving,
who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon.
Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.


'I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more.
Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.


'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.
They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas .


'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball?
It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.


'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric.
They are even making electric typewriters now.


'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays.
I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.


'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone
to watch their kids so they can both work.


'I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.


'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes.
I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.


'The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather,
but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.


'There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend,
it costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel.


'No one can afford to be sick anymore,
at $35.00 a day in the hospital it's too rich for my blood.'


'If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.'

And here is email #2 from sister #2 for anyone that is concerned about our new President:

Psalm 118:24

A few things I'm so thankful for on this election day, regardless of the outcome:

*We live in a democracy where we have the right to a vote and a voice. We have the God-given responsibility to use both wisely and in the way that best reflects what God conveys through Scripture.

*God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" and "according to the plan." Ephesians 1:11

*Not only does God work out everything in conformity with His will, He has promised to work out everything for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

*God sets up kings and deposes them and gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. Daniel 2:21

*We, the beautifully diverse family of God, are never - not at any time - powerless. Nor are we ever victims of a system. Believing prayer takes us through doors we'll never be invited to enter and into judges chambers we'll never grace. Take a look back at Genesis 18 once again with astonishment over the dialogue between God and His servant and friend, Abraham. Rejoice that God is ever mindful of a faithful remnant. The Judge of the Earth will always do right.

*Even if persecution should await believers in Christ or harrowing circumstances hound us, God will use hardship to bring unity and purity to a people who need it desperately. The best of circumstances do not always produce the best in the Bride of Christ.

*The living God is firmly established upon His Throne and there at His holy feet we can always find grace and mercy in our time of need.

*No matter what happens today, we are GOD'S elect. He has elected us to show His heart and to walk in His ways in the culture that surrounds us. We are called to walk in the challenging balance of grace and truth.

May we be filled with Christ's Spirit today and our mouths given to praise and to believing, receiving prayer. God IS faithful and He has us firmly in His hand. We will not fear. We will not doubt. We will not hate.

"Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders." Deuteronomy 33:12

I remain your servant,
Beth Moore

Okay, that's all my news. I'm hoping to write a little bit tomorrow on the book, 'The Shack". If you have read this book, I would really like to hear your comments, concerns, responses, etc.

And while I'm on the topic of comments, I sure appreciate the few comments that I have received. Please, please, please leave a comment and let me know what you like/dislike on this blog and maybe ideas for posts, discussions, etc. Thanks so much! Hugs to ya'll!

Election Day 2008

I hope you all get out and vote today! And no matter what the end results are, let's NEVER forget that:
1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

Do You Remember When....?

For the over 50 crowd, I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.


DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?

• All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
• It took five minutes for the TV warm up?
• Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?
• Nobody owned a purebred dog?
• When a quarter was a decent allowance?
• You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
• Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
• All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels?
• You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked and gas pumped, without asking, all for free,
  every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?
• Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
• It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?
• They threatened to keep kids back a grade i f they
  failed. . . and they did?
• When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch
  submarine races, and people went steady?
• No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the
  ignition, and the doors were never locked?
• Lying on your back in the grass with your friendsand saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a..."
• Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?
• Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet
  tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and
savor the slower pace?
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't
because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger
threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
Send this on to someone who can still remember
Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy,
Howdy Dowdy and the Peanut Gallery, the
Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle,
Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk. as well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball
games, Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool,
and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah,I remember that'?
I am sharing this with you today because it endedwith a double dog dare to pass it on. To remember what a double dog dare is, read on. And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care.
How many of these do you remember...

• Candy cigarettes
• Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside
• Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles.
• Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes.
• Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum.
• Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers.
• Newsreels before the movie.P.F. Fliers.
• Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(Raymond 4-601).
  
• Party lines.
• Peashooters.
• Howdy Dowdy.
• Hi-Fi's & 45 RPM records.78 RPM records!
• Green Stamps.
• Mimeograph paper.
• The Fort Apache Play Set.
• Do you remember a time when...
• Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?
• Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!'?'
• Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
• Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
• It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best Friends'?
• The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex
  was cooties?
• Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
• Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercial for action figures?
• 'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense?
• Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
• The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
• War was a card game?
• Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
• Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
• Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!

Politics and Prayer

A few topics are going to be off limits on this blog. One of the topics is politics. Today, however, I am making a semi-exception to my rule. I read this the other day and found it to be quite convicting. I admire this man's character for two main reasons. I admire that he prays for our country's President. Second, I admire the fact that he is committed to praying for the President, regardless of his political party. I think if you strongly disagree with the man who becomes our next President but you still pray for him, it requires a love for our country and an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty. Anywhoo, reading this has convicted me to pray more faithfully for our country and our leaders. It not only has convicted me , but it has challenged me as well. I hope some of you may join me in the challenge, regardless of the outcome on Tuesday!

Dear Mr. President:

I do not yet know your name, but in a few days you will be elected to our nation’s highest office, and become the leader of the free world at the end of a long and engaging election season.

I wanted you to know that I will be praying for you. Not praying against you, or about you, but for you. That is both my pledge, and my obligation as a follower of Christ. In the Bible, the apostle Paul writes, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

And I will do so with a full and undivided heart.

I will be praying for you from my position as a father of four children, and God willing, future grandchildren; that you will have the foresight to think through what your decisions will mean for them as the next generation.

I will be praying for you as a citizen of the United States; that you will seek wisdom from God and humbly submit yourself to His leadership as you lead our nation through economic turbulence, domestic divides, and cultural diversities.

I will be praying for you as a member of the global population; that you will work with other well-intentioned leaders from around the world as we face environmental challenges, wars and rumors of wars, and humanitarian crises.

And finally, I will be praying for you as a Christian; that you will encourage faith in God to flourish and never allow deeply held spiritual convictions to become a matter of ridicule, instead encouraging everyone to grant them a respectful hearing, even if they go against the political policy of your party.

It is being widely spoken that the next president will inherit more that needs immediate attention than any other president in recent memory. As a result, it has been a hard-fought and hotly contested election. Yes, I will vote, and I do not know if you will be the one for whom I cast my ballot. But following November 4th, all that must be set aside no matter how deep the divides may be.

So while I do not know if you will be the candidate I voted for, I do know that no matter your name, I will support you in one way without question.

I will be praying for you.

James Emery White

Playing Tag

First of all, a happy update. My last post was about baby Eliot. I just want you to know that two weeks ago Eliot became a big brother. His parents now have a baby girl named "Hazel". If you haven't visited the blog written by his father, I strongly recommend that you do. He is an excellent writer and has a wonderful gift of expressing his faith with eloquence and grace. Here's a little "taste" from his blog:

I had hoped that Eliot would still be here. That God would do a miracle. That he would be the kid that filled the pages of medical journals. I hoped that we would be a family for longer. I hoped that he was present at my funeral- just as it should be with a father and son. I make no apologies for those hopes. Naïve as they are, I know a God who could have fulfilled these hopes with a single touch. But, today, we linger in a world that was absent that touch. So what is the subject of my hope now?I hope that God is who He says He is. I hope beyond hope that His word is true. Actually, this was my hope all along. God has not failed. I believe that one day I will be released from this body, and be at His feet. The questions will be answered and I will wonder no longer. Ginny & I believe that while we’re still here on earth, that something is waiting to be done.My hopes cannot thwart God’s plans. And I am learning that this is a good thing. May His will be done. For therein lies my hope.

www.ninetynineballoons.com

Today I was "tagged" and must now answer questions as part of this cyberspace game. I've been tagged bfore but always ignored it, so now I'll try to be a sport and play the game...

Attached or Single? I am "attached" to my husband, Bill. We have been married for 25 years.
Best Friend? Um, this one is hard, but I guess I'll say Bill.
Cake or Pie? Pie, but only if it's my mom's apple pie.
Day of Choice? Saturday
Essential Item? Having lost most everything at one point in my life, I think I've learned that I can live without most everything except "Hope".
Flavor of Ice Cream? Baskin Robbins "Pralines and Cream"
Induldences? Massage, manicure and/or pedicure
January or July? Wherever it's the warmest, so I pick July.
Kids? No, thanks. Oh, sorry! We have six and they are now all "adults"! Ted, Tim, Laura, Tony, David, and Elise.
Last Movie? Fireproof
Middle Name? Ann
Number of Siblings? Two older sisters...I'm the baby!
Oranges or Apples? Honeybell oranges from Hank Jacobs grove in Naples, Florida.
Quote? Any of the ones found on the side of my blog.
Reason to Smile? I am child of the King!!!
Season? Summer
Unknown Fact? I once met Charlton Heston. I competely forgot his name and I called him, "Moses"! For you young folks out there, he played the role of Moses in the movie version of The Ten Commandments.