Shaken

And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:27 ASV

Today I am writing to you on the 3rd Birthday of Better Off Read Ministries. I had intended to celebrate by reposting our very first post, The Word Became Flesh. (You still can check it out!) However, something earth-shaking has occurred—well, earth-shaking to me anyway. Yesterday,  on the third anniversary of BetterOffRead.com going live, the website, as it was, went to cyberspace heaven. I had some updates done which turned out to be fatal!

At 2:36 PM, I received the call from the website developer telling me all that remained of the site was the generic Word Press template, you now see before you. After having invested several hundreds of dollars (not to mention blood, sweat and tears) to design a website that would be done with a spirit of excellence and be a fitting platform for sharing the Word of God, it all was gone. I proceeded to go through all the stages of grief–three of them–denial, anger and bargaining– right there in said phone conversation with the developer. Depression set in a few hours later. And now, I think I am slowing approaching acceptance–I still would appreciate your prayers as it is very common to jump back and forth between these stages of grief! 🙂

All of this to say, I don’t think we will be able to get the website back to the way it was. BUT the following will not change:

  • Better Off Read Ministries was founded because, personally, God has used His Word in my life to teach, encourage, comfort and correct in such timely ways, that I can only describe it as miraculous. I truly believe that EVERYONE who reads the Bible is better off!
  • The mission of Better Off Read Ministries continues to be to encourage readers to consistently connect with the awesome creator of this universe by reading, studying and exploring the Bible.
  • The post topics and Bible studies will continue to be relevant to what the Bible has to say about current events, culture and our everyday lives.

We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and direction as we take this as an opportunity to start fresh and new. Yes, all of Better Off Read Ministries social media sites will no longer coordinate in color or design with the website for the time being.        ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr, Pinterest, YouTube and Google Plus)

Yes, all the Logo, brochures and other printed materials will no longer coordinate with the website. But in a thousand years what will that matter? The Word of God says that everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken will remain.

Let this serve to remind us that what cannot be shaken and what will remain is God’s Word, the Bible.

For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.  (1 Peter 1:25)

A voice says, “Cry out.”  And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall,  because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.  (Psalm 119:89)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  (Matthew 24:35)

I came across this picture from Tumblr just before this “shaking” began. It is now my daily prayer. Today, I pray it especially as it would pertain to Better Off Read Ministries.

Source
Source

Dear Lord, empty Better Off Read Ministries of me so it can be filled with you. Lord, empty me of the selfishness inside. Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride. And any foolishness my heart holds to. LORD, EMPTY BETTER OFF READ MINISTRIES OF ME SO IT CAN BE FILLED WITH YOU. LH

December 4, 2014. Since this was first posted, we had a miracle! Our website’s very excellent and talented developer saved the day with a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful little thing called Wayback Machine which is a digital archive of the internet!!!! I love you Mr. Developer, I love you Wayback Machine, but most of all, I love you God! I would also like to note that the crash had nothing to do with the skill of our website’s developer. It was a problem with updating an old theme with Word Press’ cutting edge updates and it was only a matter of time before a crash occurred. Please be patient with us as we work to make some changes and restore the website. Man, God is good!

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is an aspiring Bounty Hunter who is always looking for God's Bounty-- His grace and goodness-- in the mundane and melancholy as well as in the miraculous. She is also a wife, mother of four adult children--two with Cerebral Palsy, grandmother and minister of the Gospel. "You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance." Psalm 65:11 NLT

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