We’re Just Getting Started
Turning 24 has had it’s ALL UPS for me. It’s been 6 full days. I have felt the Lord so much in these last six days and man, I am FIRED UP for this year. I feel old in so many ways (I can hear the laughter from all my 40s friends) but in reality, I know I’m just getting started. Beth Moore has been one of my most powerful mentors since I can remember. I don’t have that defining moment that I remember picking up my first study of hers like so many women do but I just remember Beth Moore always being there. That’s mostly because she actually HAS always been there in my sense of the term. I may not remember my first Beth Moore Bible study but I remember my first Living Proof Live.
In February 2013, God began stirring my heart for something more than I ever could have imagined. It wasn’t until that March on our college Spring Break mission trip that I really felt called to make my summer something bigger. After this trip, I started studying Jonah with a couple friends when the calling hit me. “I’m going to do a middle school Bible study in Montgomery.” And let me tell you, I knew it was ONLY from the Lord because who would really choose middle school on their own, am I right?
Well little did I know at 19 what my little summer mission to have a Bible study with a few girls I grew up babysitting would turn into. We ended our first summer with almost 60 girls. When I was getting ready to go back to school, I felt God calling me to stay home and continue investing in the middle school girls. I gave God one semester (ha, the fact that we think we can bargain with God!!) so at the end of A WHOLE SCHOOL YEAR I stood at a cross roads. I knew God was calling me into full time ministry. God was calling me out of my plan of going to Auburn, living with friends, sitting in the student section and living out my college expectations and dreams- He was calling me into His plan. “A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
At this crossroad, Living Proof Live was coming to Biloxi and my friends were “in charge” of it. I walked into this weekend completely stripped. I was 20 and looking at losing a lot if I walked down the path God had called me. (Recently wrote about the weekend here.) Beth Moore’s message was about the difference between longing and desire. Jesus is longing for us and gosh darn it, as much as I desired to go back to Auburn and live my life the way I had planned, I was longing to live my life with Jesus. It’s hard to say deifinite’s and never’s when we are talking about God but I truly believe if it were not for the Holy Spirit moving through Beth Moore, Living Proof Live, my friends at the conference and the entire weekend- I would not be in the capacity of ministry, our ministry would not be what it is today and my life would be completely different.
Who would have ever thought. We went from a Bible study of 20 to a full force ministry impacting hundreds. “ALL GLORY TO GOD who can do immeasurably more than we can ask, think or imagine.” Ephesians 3:20 I can tell you.. if I had even a guess on what this was going to turn into, oh buddy I would have RUN for the hills. I am not good enough. This is so much bigger than me, so much better than me. But what a blessing I get to live every day seeing His Faithfulness, His Glory, His ABILITY living out through this ministry. God is GOOD, God is BIG and GOD is THE BEST.
So while I’m celebrating 24 years of life and five years of Girl Talk, five years of full time ministry, I absolutely love that Beth Moore is celebrating 20 years of Living Proof Live. I love looking up to her and what the Lord has done through her. So many times I listen to her story and I think “that sounds familiar.” Beth Moore has been a huge cheerleader and I love looking at 20 years of Living Proof Live and seeing just how big our God is. I love looking at 20 years and seeing what He can do. What He will do if we just choose to follow Him. Looking at 20 years of Living Proof Life is living proof of God’s faithfulness. I see that and I know God can do anything and He will when we are willing. Looking at 24 I don’t feel so old anymore, it’s been 5 years and hang on, He is just getting started. He is GOOD, He is BIG and He is THE BEST.
Thank you Jesus! Thank you Beth Moore! Thank you LifeWay! I cannot wait to continue watching what the Lord does through His ministry.
