A little over a year ago, I challenged myself to start memorizing more Bible verses. Now, who would take on a challenge like this at my age, when it is so difficult for me to remember what I had for dinner last evening.~smile~ But I did, it has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.
Did this make me super spiritual? No, but it has caused me to look more deeply into my walk with the Lord, it has challenged me to be more obedient to the what God's Word says.
I decided that I would not only commit scripture to memory, but study the verse or verses I was memorizing and try and apply them to my daily life.
I have found that that there is a big difference between just reading scripture, and taking the time to study and memorize them, I only wished I had started this years ago. So I will tell you about the first verse I memorized on this new journey.
It was on a cold, but sunny day in January, 2018, as one of our usual firsts in the morning, besides coffee, DH and I have devotions together, plan our day and week. At this time Jack was living, (as you know he passed in August) he always joined us, I usually read and DH prays, I was about to begin reading when I noticed the sun was shinning on Jack in such a glorious way, of course I had to take a photograph, as it was one of most beautiful sights ever, I remember looking at him and thinking of how God's light shines on us as well, so I ran reference in my Bible and came upon this scripture verse.
Isaiah 60:1~ Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
WOW! No matter what is going on in our lives, we are to ARISE and SHINE for God's glory is resting upon us. His light illuminates over all our situations, from this warmth we are reminded that He is still in control.
It had been awhile since a verse had spoken to me with so much volume, at that moment I committed to memorizing it and took it as my verse for the year, I then challenged my self to memorize even more verses, DH joined me, so at the end of our daily devotions we would quote the verses we had memorized. Needless to say our daily devotions were and are getting longer, ~wink~
As 2018 drew to a close, and I began thinking of a new verse for the new year, I almost kept this one for 2019, but another verse we were memorizing just jumped at us, (I will share later.)
Why write about us memorizing scripture? I believe as believers we are always to be growing, in our faith, and we should share with others.
May the Lord bless and keep you as you grow in HIM!
Blessings,
Blessings,
Sue
P.S. Thank you so much to my many friends who checked in on me during my blogging absence, you are so precious to me. Much love .to all
19 comments:
What a blessing! A great way to learn and grow in the Bible! Have a blessed and beautiful day dear friend, HUGS!
This is something that I have not done consistently for many years.Like you, remembering things has become more of a challenge as I grow older. What a sweet picture of Jack with the sun shining on him. It helps you remember that first memorized first for sure.
Some memory from a long time ago has floated up in reading this. It is about the POWs who tapped out Scripture verses to encourage one another in their captivity. The crux of it was that they could only have as much of The Word as they had memorized. Amazingly, collectively, they had remembered large portions of Scripture.
Personally, I love singing Scripture songs. Setting the words to music is very helpful. It is for that reason that I know this Scripture.
♥️ So happy to find you home today!
first memorized verse...I don’t write so well either...🙃
Hi Sue
I can't think of anything more special than to memorize and constantly have with you, the word of God. There are certain scriptures that I have memorized through the years, that I use and refer to often in my life. What a blessing it is to have the scriptures at our fingertips! I love the picture of Jack, and what a perfect scripture for that moment.
Many blessings to you!!
Hugs and Love,
Barb
When my children were young, they had a book of Bible verses with illustrations, that went through the alphabet. I read it so many times that I memorized it. Even now, many years later, I recite those verses when I'm unable to sleep, or in the car while driving. Hiding God's word in our hearts is a wonderful way to be aware of his presence with us.
A wonderful post!
Dear Sue, So glad you have found such riches by memorizing and studying His Word. I'm glad to see you back here. I have found it harder and harder to blog lately and although I will keep it open, I am only posting once a week or so. Sending love to you this cold winter day.
Noreen
First of all, it's was such a nice surprise to see you pop up! Glad that you posted.
Secondly, memorizing verses is very rewarding but as you said, very rewarding.
I love that your hubby and you are doing it together!
Dear Sue, I think God brought you to my blog because I didn’t know yours and I needed a push to renew my devotions. I was a regular Bible reader and church goer before we moved here. But since we moved to this part of UK 20 months ago I just haven’t been to a church here.. your post about memorising verses is something I used to do, but got out of the habit.. so tomorrow morning I shall! Thank you for visiting my blog.
Every Blessing Chrisx
Sue, I love that picture of your sweet puppy and the Bible verse is perfect! I try to work on my memory verses but I'm not terribly diligent about it. Your blog has encouraged me to continue!
I am so glad to see you blogging again. I've missed you! xo
Sue, just dropping by to thank you for your prayers and kind words. My husband was recently (this Thanksgiving) diagnosed with CLL Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. So far he is not symptomatic. He needs to see the oncologist every 3 months to be tested/evaluated for treatment. One of the best cancer treatment hospitals/centers is in Philadelphia thus the reason we most likely will be moving. This is his second bout with cancer. It does run in his family. Years ago, his father had Hodgkins disease (cancer of lymph nodes). Anyway, just catching you up. xo
I have always thought that this is the best thing I can do with my mind. I am so glad you wrote a blog.
Blessing to you,
Hi! Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting. I am sorry about your husband. My husband and I are thankful for each day that God gives us together as it will be 59 years married this June. I have a hard time memorizing too but have written some out on cards. I work at it for awhile and then stop. I need to get back to it. I have to review the cards so that I don't forget them and I have a hard time sometimes remembering where they are found. I still remember some verses I memorized as a child! Best time to learn them. Thank you for sharing. Nancy
Hi Sue ~ thanks so much for visiting my blog, Thoughts for Sunday.
I enjoyed reading your story and will be back to visit you again.
I love the Word of God..and hiding it in your heart is the best way to have it. We have a memory verse with each lesson in our women's Bible study, "Behold Your God".
I love the picture of your beloved pup, Sue! What a wonderful idea of memorizing certain verses of scripture. May you have a wonderful Valentine's week!
Sue, thank you so much for sharing this! What a wonderfully encouraging post!
I would always ask my young Sunday School students when I taught children, "Which is easier, to memorize a verse word perfect, or to obey what the verse teaches?" Of course they could memorize very easily, but obeying was difficult.
Memorizing is more of a challenge as we get older, but it is still doable. You are so wise to also take the time to study the verses and apply them to your life. As you are finding, this is how real spiritual growth takes place! I love it that your husband is memorizing along with you. At church we work on one memory verse per month as a congregation. Sometimes my hubby writes out the verse very large and tapes it to the dashboard of his work truck so he can work on it during his commute. He's hoping that once he retires, we can do more with devotions together as you and your hubby are doing.
Thanks again so much for sharing this! Can't wait to hear what verse you have chosen for 2019!
Oh, it is definitely much more difficult to memorize as we grow ~ahem~ older, but hiding God's Word in our hearts is worth the effort! Maybe I can't memorize 50 verses a year, but I could probably memorize 5, right? So inspiring, Sue!!
Hello dear Sue, happy to see a post from you and such an encouraging one, too. Dear and I have been more diligent this year in not just reading God's Word but studying it. There is so much to learn even in old age and in fact we need to keep after it till God calls us home. May God continue to bless your time in the Word, memorizing and reading!
What a fantastic idea and I think the Lord is using you to convict many of your blogging friends to do the same. Such an inspirational post!
I am inspired by this post! Thank you!
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