Calling all Scripture-Memory Siestas: It’s time for Verse 9! Get those spirals out and ready!
We purposely reserved the blog all week for Melissa to share her India trip with us but, needless to say, we have to push pause long enough for our Scripture memory team to sign in with our verses. I’m so anxious to hear Melissa’s report about the Compassion blogger team meeting the children they sponsored that I told her to go ahead and post even on the same day if she has it ready. SO, you may end up with two posts today. Keep an eye out!
I have relived so much of my own time in India through Lis’s vivid descriptions. As I looked at the pictures she posted for us, I had the same thought that occurred to me over and over while I was there: the stark contrast between all the brilliant, rich colors and the darkness of poverty and oppression. They are honestly the most beautiful people you have ever seen in your life. The children are breathtaking but the shocking life they are forced to live is so haunting that a pang goes through your heart every time you picture one in your head.
That’s the real price of a mission trip. You can no longer act like those kinds of conditions don’t exist. So many stories stick out in my mind from the time I spent in India but one in particular recurs in my thoughts almost weekly. I’d been in southern India the first week where there is a large population of Christians and where our women’s groups were comprised of hundreds. I spent the second week in northern India. A completely different story. We went places where you could get arrested if you crossed certain verbal perimeters in public. We served in areas where people who put their faith in Christ signed up instantly for a life of persecution. Stunning. Here’s what I will never forget: one evening I addressed a small group of women in a very modest meeting room. I prepared a Bible lesson that I prayed would reach across our cultural barriers. The twenty-or-so women sat on the floor and listened carefully and respectfully as I shared through an interpreter but I could tell we were not connecting. I mean, why should we? What on earth did I really have to say to them? We had almost nothing in common. I was nearly shamed. I kept delivering the lesson but, in my spirit, I was imploring God for a breakthrough. Then the oddest thing happened to me.
It was like God reached all the way down into the recesses of my memory and emotions and pulled up to the surface the part of me that had experienced abuse and oppression and helplessness. He touched off a whole part of myself I do everything possible to avoid. It was as if all of it had happened the day before. I went straight to my knees and began crawling from woman to woman, laying hands on them and praying things over them only God could have told me to pray. I bawled and they bawled. I wish you could picture the interpreter crawling right behind me. The Holy Spirit fell on us that day and I knew right then one of the reasons God allowed me to have those horrible experiences. How could we even begin to know what others are enduring if no suffering has come to us? We can say the words but nothing is quite like feeling the feelings. No, I still couldn’t enter into their world or their insurmountable challenges and, yes, I’d been free of that oppression for years and they probably never would be this side of Heaven. Still, it was the closest I could come to sharing some small measure of their pain. That evening in northern India was one of the first times it occurred to me that other people could become worth what you’ve been through if Christ could touch them through you. I’ve thought it many times since then. God alone is worthy.
Thanks for letting me share that with you. I’m so proud of you for jumping on board with sponsorships and copious prayers for the Compassion children that I hardly know what to say. Never EVER feel pressured on here about any kind of participation. I mean that concerning everything from Scripture memory to summer Bible study to Siesta Scholarships and to Compassion children. Only do what the Holy Spirit Himself prompts you to do. Otherwise, you’ll miss the ecstatic joy that so often follows obedience. We’re just sharing our ministry lives with you as we live them.
OK, I haven’t forgotten what we’re doing on here today. It’s time for Verse #9! Please, please, PLEASE don’t quit! Our minds are being renewed. Can’t you feel it??
Here’s mine. I just love it! You’re welcome to share it if you’d like:
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 1 Peter 1:8 NIV
Let’s hear it, Siestas! Name, City, Verse and Translation!
I love you so dearly and I am honored to serve this generation beside you. Keep the faith, Darling Things.
I really think I posted on this before but couldn't find my comment. (Needle in haystack?) To be sure, here is the verse I learned at the beginning of May:
Philippians 1:19-20 (NIV)
For I know that through your prayers and the help given me by the spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be put to shame but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body.
Charlie
Magee, MS
"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."
Psalm 48:14 (NIV)
Sherry
Springfield, TN
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
I John 1:9 (NIV)
Sharon McLaughlin
Panama City Beach, FL
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
Kathy, Austin, TX
You are my God and I will give you thanks; You are my God and I will exalt you.
Ps 118:28
kzerbe
Lovettsville VA
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Prov 23:17 KJV
Ashley Smith
Crestview,FL
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
Kim
Perrysburg, OH
Lohri Williams
Plant City
May have the power with all the saints to grasp how wide & long &high & deep is the love of Christ.
Eph. 3:18 NIV
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3 (vs. 4-6 for My 15th)
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.
Nahum 1:7
Jennifer Wolf
New Braunfels, TX
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
Jennifer Wolf
New Braunfels, TX
"Where can I go from your Spriti? Where can I flee from your presence?" Psalm 139:7 NIV
Caressa Hall
Arlington TX
John 15:5-6 NIV
I am the vine;you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Tina H. Montgomery, AL
May 1
Joshua 3:5 Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.
Eunice Fowler
Iona Station, ON
Michah 6:8 NIV
"He has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Carol K
Amarillo, TX
Michah 6:8 NIV
"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to wak humbly with your God."
Carol K
Amarillo, TX
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
Robin
Morehead,
Ky.
You will seek me and find me when you search for Me with all of your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13
Robin
Morehead, KY
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Beth Schwartz
Lancaster, PA
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, sould and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Katy Lin
Iowa
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine." Isaiah 43:1b RSV
Leann from Alabama
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough troubles of its own.†– Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
Kenzie Stanfield
Katy, TX
We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, always thankingthe Father, who enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light.
Colossians 1: 11-12 NLT
Stephanie
Lititz, PA
Psalms 46:10
Let be and be still, and know that I am God.
Traci in Franklin, TN
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins"
1Peter 4:8 (NIV)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
James 1:2-3
Jamie H.
Birmingham, AL
" May He strengthen you, in His glorious might, with ample power to meet whatever comes with fortitude, patience and joy, and to give thanks to the Father."
Colossians 1:11-12
Emily
Rouge Valley OR
Psalm 45:11 NIV
The king is enthralled by your beauty, honor him for he is your Lord.
the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins
Luke 5:24
Carrie Jones
Ontario, Canada
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Galatians 5:1 NIV
Debbie Nix
Dalzell, SC
Matt 5:8 NIV
Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
which goes with:
Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Prov 4:23
Missy
Houston
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deut. 6:5 NIV
Deena Jefferson
Springboro, OH
Nikki
Santa Rosa, CA
NIV
I Thessalonians 5:24
The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, "We are His offspring."
Acts 17:28 (NIV)
Kaci Rodriguez
Dumas, Texas
(used to be Amarillo, Texas–reason for posting so late. But, I've been memorizing all along!)
Christina Modesto, CA
Isaiah 26:3 NIV
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Lorraine
Wilson's Mills, NC
Psalm 34:10 "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they who seek the Lord will not be in want of any good thing."
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
Isaiah 32:17 (KJV)
Fran Dockins
Corryton, TN
Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials.
Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4
Psalm 119:9-11, NIV
How can a young [wo]man keep [her] way pure? By living according to your word.
I will seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Rose in Dallas
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Colossians 3:12 NAS
Sharon
Union City, CA
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:22-25
NIV
Rhonda
Anderson, IN
Catching up
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him: and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an expressible and glorious joy.
1Peter 1:8 NIV
Verna
Berea, KY
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."
1 Peter 1:18 NIV
Staci — Kalamazoo, MI
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Darlene
Logansport, IN
The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.
1 Thess.5:24 (NASB)
Denise in Slidell
Romans 12:12 (NLT)
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep praying.
Jenn, Manhattan KS
(behind on posting due to summer travel & can't remember if i posted here already)
Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
NIV
Erika Chapman
Florence, SC
Nicole
Winnipeg, MB
NIV
Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.