thanks be to our God

This weekend, Corley and I headed to Pensacola to hear Beth Moore speak at Living Proof Live. This is the second time that I have heard her speak live, and she was fantastic. I'm finishing up her Believing God study right now, and it has been a challenging, fruitful study. 

Our friend Bud just started a new job in the Lifeway Women's Events department, so he totally hooked us up with seats in the second row! I'm pretty sure we were beside ourselves the whole time. It made the whole room feel so intimate, and it was so easy to engage. 

I was a little bit excited to see my name on my chair!

with one of my best friends, Corley 

 She spent Friday night and Saturday morning walking through the book of Philemon. I'm sure I've read Philemon before, but I definitely never grasped the book until we walked through it verse-by-verse this weekend. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to sit under such powerful, thorough teaching from the Word.

listening to Beth speak

It was SO much fun to get to hang out with some of my friends this weekend! Even though we're all in different states, it's great to get together and catch up.

with Bud and Corley 

Corley and I both read the Living Proof blog, and Beth refers to her blog readers as Siestas. At the end of her events, they put up a slide letting the Siestas know where to go for a meet up. We even got to take a group picture with Beth!

our Siesta picture (we're on the top right)

Spending time in the Word in an environment like this is always refreshing and challenging. The thing that stood out to me more than anything else is something she said Saturday morning:

"That which makes us the most joyful is not always the thing that makes us most useful. That which makes us most useful will be the thing that gives us the most satisfaction and joy!"

How often do we look for things in life to bring us joy, when we are called to make good use of what the Lord has entrusted us with?

When we are deeply satisfied in Christ and are making ourselves useful for His glory and purposes, there we find joy.

It's not on our terms.

I'm praying for contentment and satisfaction in Christ, so that I can be useful where he has placed me. I long for joy in Christ - not joy in this world. Thanks be to our God for his providence and purpose in each chapter of our lives.

I'll leave you with this... Travis Cottrell led worship, and I just can't get this song out of my head. I hope that you'll allow the Lord to speak to you through it. Travis Cottrell – Thanks Be To Our God (this link plays on Spotify)