Unmerited Favor

I have a confession to make. Today I was given an award that I didn’t deserve, but I accepted it quietly, speechlessly, and with gratitude more than I was able to express at the time. I should explain.
I spent 3 hours in the presence of greatness today. Bonnie Washburn, Brenda Benedict, and Kathryn Armstrong. These three Extraordinary Women are uniquely gifted and amazingly talented.  Trust me on this – they are awesome and they are great. I would say a lot more but I know they would make me delete my post and all that eloquent expression would be an effort in futility.
Katheryn, among her many talents is an epic blogger and writes several that I read with admiration; one of them the subject of the award I accepted without earning it.  On October 30, Kathryn Armstrong posted a contest on her blog where I could win a book by Beth Moore. https://kathrynwarmstrong.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/beth-moore-book-contest/ I fully intended to participate.  I have read and participated in eight Beth Moore Bible studies and kept the workbooks, that pretty much qualifies me to enter the contest and be awarded a book if my entry was chosen. So why didn’t I? Competition in any form makes me choke. I choked. Something else that makes me choke is being favorited when I didn’t do anything to deserve it. So for Kathi and anyone else interested, here are favorite Beth Moore quotes from my favorite studies.
Loving God with all your mind means “We apply the principle of feeding what we want to live and starving what we want to die. In other words we start feeding the spirit and starving the flesh.” – When Godly People Do Ungodly Things
God’s primary purpose in healing us from our hurts is to introduce us to new depths of relationship with Himself. – Breaking Free
We have a choice in which fire our tongues light. Our words can bring comfort and courage or destruction and deafness. – James Mercy Triumphs
For every hopeless sorrow, if we cooperate with God, he’ll turn every single one of our failures into something useful for his kingdom. – Daniel Lives of Integrity Words of Prophecy
We have the mind of Christ but don’t know how to activate it. There are few things we need more than spiritual discernment. We need to know what to do, how to proceed, and how to respond to situations. We pursue wisdom and discernment and they don’t come to us by accident. We grow in discernment through prayer, pursuit, and practice. – Faithful Abundant True
Death cannot come to obedient children of God until they have finished their testimony. Strengthened by His power and shielded by his protection, we will reach our goal. – Jesus the One and Only
I was assured that there were two copies of the book so another was rightfully awarded to the person who did the work. When I reached out to accept the book, I realized the topic is one I have thought about studying for the past couple years, but never pursued it as passionately as God wanted me to do.  Whispers of Hope – 10 weeks of devotional prayer – by Beth Moore
Thank you Kathryn, Brenda, and Bonnie for being Extraordinary Women who have impacted my life in ways only you could do. I am blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!
 

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