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    Things Pondered
    Things Pondered
    Things Pondered
    Ebook140 pages1 hour

    Things Pondered

    By Beth Moore

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    About this ebook

    Just as Mary treasured her memories as the mother of Jesus and pondered them in her heart, this book celebrates treasured moments in the life of every woman, wife, and mother. Told from a fresh, personal perspective, these stories and poems form a warm, inspiring collection of remembrances of children,

    Christmas, marriage, trials, friendship, the seasons, grace, and above all, God’s love for us. Things Pondered proves Beth Moore not only to be an effective speaker and author of popular Bible studies, but also show her to be a gifted, sensitive writer and poet.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBH Publishing Group
    Release dateApr 1, 2004
    ISBN9780805454574
    Things Pondered
    Author

    Beth Moore

    Author and speaker Beth Moore is a dynamic teacher whose conferences take her across the globe. She has written numerous bestselling books and Bible studies. She is also the founder and visionary of Living Proof Ministries based in Houston, TX.

    Read more from Beth Moore

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    • 4/5
      This is only my second Beth Moore book, so I may not be a good judge, but I have found Moore to be a surprisingly rich Christian writer. Her books aren't full of you-shoulds and you-shouldn'ts; instead she draws on her personal experiences to talk about living an authentic Christian life.
    • 3/5
      I've been a student of Beth Moore's Bible studies for a while, so I'm not sure how I missed this very personal book. I loved the prose sections; the poetry, not so much. Preferences in poetry are a matter of personal taste, obviously, but these ... well, are not my favorites.

    Book preview

    Things Pondered - Beth Moore

    IN MEMOERY OF MY MOTHER

    Whose feverish love for a word

    fitly spoken endlessly inspires my own.

    This offering is as much from her as to her.

    "Mary treasured up all these things and

    pondered them in her heart."

    LUKE 2:19

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Family Traces

    Wedding Bells

    Dear Bride to Be

    Babies

    I Like Children

    The Adoption

    Panic

    Could It Be?

    Questions

    From Where I Am

    Love

    Award's Day

    Loss

    The Life I Planned

    Cost

    Homesick

    Fragile Places

    Memories

    Gently, Lord

    Hide

    Tricycle Dreams

    Extremities

    Finer Graces

    Changes

    Heroes

    A Matter of the Heart

    How

    The Day He Called My Name

    The Treasury

    The Company I Keep

    A Momentary Rapture

    The Mountain

    Seasons

    Heaven

    Excellence

    Superwoman's Freedom Plea

    Servant

    The Servant's Plea

    Vulnerability

    A Mother's Thought at Christmas

    Fresh Prints

    Steal Away

    Things That Remain

    Enemy

    My Every One

    Echoes From the Pit

    Despised

    Beautiful

    The Journal

    Hope

    Enemy

    Introduction

    They were disappointed the moment they saw her. She even cried like a girl. They wanted a boy. That didn't mean they wouldn't love her. It just meant they were like every other set of Hebrew parents, hoping they would be the ones. They had no idea they had just given birth to the mother of God.

    They named her Mary. The name meant bitter. It was a name which may have described her calling, but it did not define her character. Little more than a child herself, she received the stunning news of the angel with grace and humility. Likely, Gabriel was relieved that he did not encounter the same insult he had with Zechariah. No wonder Elizabeth had exclaimed, As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed…! (Luke 1: 44–45). Her husband hadn't believed and not a single murmur from his lips had reached her ears in six months.

    Mary had run to her the moment she had received the news. She hadn't hurried to her mother, father, friends, or fiancé. She had run to Elizabeth. How tender the God who shared with her through an angel that someone nearby could relate. The two women had one important predicament in common—questionable pregnancies, sure to stir up some talk. Elizabeth hadn't been out of the house in months. It makes you wonder why. As happy as she was, it must have been strange not to blame her sagging figure and bumpy thighs on the baby. And to think she was forced to borrow maternity clothes from her friends' granddaughters. But maybe Elizabeth and Mary were too busy talking between themselves to pay much attention. Can you imagine their conversation over tea? One too old; the other too young. One married to an old priest; the other promised to a young carpenter. One heavy with child; the other with no physical evidence to fuel her faith. But God had graciously given them each other with a bond to braid their lives forever.

    Women are like that, aren't they? We long to find someone who has been where we've been, who shares our fragile places, who sees our sunsets with the same shades of blue. Soul mates. They somehow validate the depth of our experiences. It is doubtful we have experienced much to which Mary could not relate. Through the course of her journey on this planet, she would experience fear, rejection, loneliness, disappointment, and heart break. She would know what it was like to have one child so entirely different from her others. She would battle sibling rivalry and yearn for her children to love one another. She would one day urge her oldest son to reach his potential, and although He would question her timing, He would nonetheless perform the miracle she requested. She would also confront her evolving role as the mother of an adult son. He would be no longer at her constant beck and call. And, ultimately, the woman highly favored by God would have to consider if the risk of loving was worth the risk of losing. Her small, suffering frame at the scene of her Son's death would prove to be testimony. One day, all those things would come. But in the meantime, as a young girl, she made something her practice that far surpassed her age or experience. She learned to catch a moment in her hand before it flew away and hold it tightly while she had the chance.

    Luke's Gospel (2:8–18 KJV) tells it like this…

    And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

    And what about the young virgin mother?

    But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (v. 19)

    Pondered. It's a wonderful word. It is the practice of casting many things together, combining them and considering them as one. In that moment a host of memories must have been dancing in her head. The angel's appearance. His words. Her flight to the hill country of Judea. Elizabeth's greeting. Their late-night conversations. The first time she noticed her tummy was rounding. Joseph's face when he saw

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