Recap of Beth Moore's San Antonio Event

Anytime I want to 'summarize' something (in quotes because y'all KNOW I don't do brief very well at all) I sit for 10 minutes with my fingers on the keyboard not knowing how to start. And you can be sure that a weekend with my Coffee Group peeps listening to Beth Moore is HARD to summarize.

For the record -- our trip wasn't intended to be a Coffee Group trip. It was intended to be 'friends-that-could-make-it' trip. And it ended up being Coffee Group and Robin -- who we consider to be our publicity manager, anyway. So, it turned into a Coffee Group trip. But we invited many other folks to go with us. No doubt, the weekend before school starts is a horrible time to be gone. I had to get a friend to take my kid to 'Meet the Teacher'! How much of a crummy mom am I? Oh, but the word I heard from Beth tells me I am NOT crummy, I am an heiress. (I'm not exactly sure that my son's teacher was thinking an heiress wouldn't even stick around to go with her kid to school).

For me to say it was AMAZING to be in a ginormous arena with thousands of women is a miracle of the Lord in the first place -- y'all know I'm not about the crowds or the huge factor. But, truly, for 10,000 women to be worshipping together -- just a little taste of what the book of Revelation says is coming, friends. Can you just not wait? Okay, Beth did talk a little about heaven, but my life NOW is what really stuck with me.

Many of the things that really touched me have already been mentioned on this blog:

• We must never allow ministry to take the place of intimacy with God. It occurred to me today -- if we're doing that, we are making it ministry to OURSELVES, not God. If He isn't in it, it isn't for Him. hmmmmm...



• Your boundary line will never go any higher than our intimacy with God.

That last one really got me, since that is where I am suffering right now. Beth put up the following illustration for Psalm 16:6: "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." The box represents our own personal boundary lines, the whole of our lives. All of the 'outside words' are what create our boundary lines -- that are in pleasant places! Boundary lines that are the way God would have them! But our bondary can never go any higher than our intimacy with God.

In talking about our past, Beth also mentioned that we cannot become the identity of our past pain. That really struck a chord with me -- because it's so tempting to do: to drag around hurts that life has burdened us with. But that isn't claiming the victory over those things that God offers.

She also said, "We worship out of the reality of our present." Whether that's pain, doubt, joy, or praise -- we worship where we are. Loved that. And, before I go away from the box illustration, she also mentioned that any place inside your boundary that you haven't fully given over to God, Satan is on. "Satan is on your LAND!!" she yelled! :-) Think about THAT!

In thinking back over the weekend I just have a smile on my face -- not only for my word from the Lord via Beth, but time with my friends. What a wonderful time. So amazing. I do have to say that in my notes, I took A LOT of notes in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Because, BETH? Have you NOTICED??? She TALKS in CAPITAL!! LETTERS!! A LOT!!!

We were also able to attend a 'Fiesta' for bloggers (although chips, salsa, and festive colored crepe paper were all conspicuously absent from the fiesta) that Beth and her two girls came to. We took pictures with them by groups, then they sat and "chatted" (much like The Coffee Group does when we speak!!) with the crowd and answered some questions. I did love hearing the 3 Moore women interact. Amanda is SO precious and sweet and soft-spoken, and what I would LOVE to be, and Melissa let me see that 'telling-it-like-it-is' (like I tend to do) can be funny and beautiful, too. She and I are alot alike. Other than the fact that I'm probably 40 pounds heavier, 6 inches shorter, and have strawberry blond to her rockin' brunette hair -- we're EXACTLY alike! :-)

And, since I tell it like it is, I'm gonna throw this out there: we have all heard how awesome it was, and I would venture to say that every woman in there was nodding with Beth and loving what she was bringing, but girls, we have got to be Jesus out in the crowds, too. I was saddened, and in one instance that I won't detail here, apalled to see us 'scratching and clawing' our way to the front of lines and in prime spots in the crowd. What hurt my heart most was that we were all wearing armbands that let all of San Antonio know what we were doing. One man stopped Denise and me and asked what in heaven's name was going on at the Alamodome. When I told him it was a Bible study, I dearly hoped he hadn't been trampled by an armband-clad woman on a quest for her grande caramel latte'. Oh, you knew I couldn't leave here without preaching!

Here are thousands of women (and about 7 brave men) praising the Lord, arms outstretched, and the words on the screen (that we are singing) are, "Here in the power of Christ I stand!" Amen and amen...