Yesterday my mom talked me into going to the first video session for one of the women's Bible studies our church is starting this fall: Beth Moore's Daniel. I've got to say, I was wildly impressed.

The thing about the first session which impacted me the most...I'm saving for next week's newsletter...which you can sign up for on the upper lefthand side of the screen. :p

But another thing that stuck in my mind was something she said about God and how He warns us again and again about certain sins. We dabble, we flirt. And then after awhile -- if we're not careful -- we get burned. She said there was a time in her life when she felt like she heard God say to her "I'm not kidding!"

It reminded me of a poem I wrote many years ago. If you want, you can laugh at the dorky flash presentation I made with it here. It continues to amaze me how God can deliver us from besetting sins, from pits that have almost destroyed us, and then after awhile we start dancing around thinking...oh, it wasn't that bad.

She also said it'd be lovely if Satan would just say "come with me and I'll have you in the worst hellhole of your life in three weeks." It'd be easy to resist that kind of call...but of course he presents his plans much differently. I love the quote Francine Rivers uses <I think it might be from Shakespeare> at the beginning of her novel Redeeming Love, "the Prince of Darkness is a gentleman." I always think of that when I think of how Satan so slyly makes his sales pitch.