I have already read a considerable amount of Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurity. I am actually part of a bible study group, that just started this last week, that focuses on this book. So this time I am going to re-read this book and follow along with Beth Moore's own study blog through Living Proof Ministries. I will copy what she has written in her blog (will be colored in green) to give you a since of what the book is about, and then I will answer her questions honestly on my own blog here. This is not an easy thing for me to do... I don't like to be perceived as week and not perfect. I have discovered however, that opening up is a key way to defeat my insecurities. So here we go...
Hey Sisters! To say that you are on my mind right about now is an understatement. I’m posting this on Thursday, February 11th but I’m writing it at 10:00 PM on Wednesday from the backseat of a rented Ford four-door “Edge.” My trusty (hard working) assistant, Michelle, is sitting right across from me and Todd and Maggie from Tyndale House are up front. We have had a break-neck day in Birmingham, Alabama at three different bookstores where I had an indescribable blast with women just like you. And, in fact, a number of them actually were you. What a great way to begin to picture roughly 6000 of you! All ages. All shapes and personalities. And every color of hair a woman can buy. I do dearly love a group of happy girls. Just in case you are under the impression that women who love God can’t have fun, stick around a while. We’d be delighted to help change your mind.
We are on a three-hour drive to Nashville and, by the time you read this, we will have checked into a hotel around midnight. We will get up on Thursday morning and head out to several bookstores and see many more of you face-to-face. An unspeakable privilege.
I am ecstatic that you guys have joined us for this journey! You are our particularly welcome guests if this is the first time you’ve participated on this blog. There’s just nothing like doing something healthy TOGETHER. When we go solo, the temptation to set a goal aside when it gets confrontational or challenging can be almost too much to resist. The accountability and community you can experience in a group with a common objective like this can make the difference between really doing the thing or wishing you had.
So, what’s our goal? As a matter of fact, a cameraman from a local television station asked me that very question today. I’ll tell you what I told him: the goal is for an insecure woman to open the book and a secure woman to close it. Nothing less than that. Humanly speaking, fat chance. But, if somewhere in these pages, we hear God speaking instead? Ah, then, for those willing to believe what He says, fat chances lose their weight and real changes takes their place. We’re not just looking to read a book here, Sisters. We’re looking to discover the kind of soul-deep security that stands fast in the floodwaters of this image-saturated society. It is time for a change.
OK, let’s quit talking about it and start doing it! Here are your assignments for Week One:
1. Write a journal-type entry on the inside cover of your book describing this present season of your life and why you’ve chosen to read a book like this. If you already have a relationship with God, write it in the form of a prayer. I do this almost every time I begin a book that I think could have a considerable impact on my life. When I finish the book, I always go back and read it and it ends up meaning so much to me. Listen, Sister, if you expect little, that’s probably what you’ll get. But if you expect something big from God when you start a journey and you posture yourself to receive from Him, even when frail human beings are thrown in the mix, you’ll end up with something huge. Something life altering.
I am actually not going to write this on the inside cover of my book. Instead I am going to write it here, so that you all can see it, and I can come back to it after I have finished reading the book.
Dear God,
In this current season of my life I know that I want to seek you more diligently than I have ever done so, I am reading this book primarily because a friend recommended it to me and said it changed her life. This friend also said something that really got to me. She said that in reading this book, she learned that perfectionism is insecurity in an art form. PEGGED! I know that I beat myself up anytime something goes wrong. I put too much pressure on myself, and I had no idea it was insecurity behind it. I want to explore the symptoms of my insecurity and how I can allow YOU to help me through it. Lord please help me to fight the battle of insecurity. I know that every woman, and probably man, struggles with it to some degree. Help me to become a secure woman in you.
2. Read the Introduction, Chapter One, and Chapter Two. Our first question is based on Chapter One: When was the last time you came face-to-face with our gender’s massive struggle with insecurity? Describe the setting.
The last time that I majorly came face-to-face with female insecurity was in the break up of my engagement in April. I don't ever remember feeling so insecure. I went into a horrible depression that lasted for months and months and I still struggle with some of the insecurity to this day. I remember when he broke it off suddenly that I believed the lies of insecurity, telling me that I was not good enough, that no man would want to marry me, that I was a waste. My life fell apart from the depression and the insecurity that clouded my vision. My work suffered, my home suffered, my relationships suffered. All I wanted to do was be alone in my room and sleep, and sleep, and sleep, because I did not want to live my life anymore.
3. This question is based on Chapter Two: what part of the definition or description of insecurity resonated most with you and why?
I will be answering this question shortly. Please check back
Lord, be magnified.
In His lavish love,
Beth
Beth
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