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.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Anne
Katy, TX
Psalms 31:9
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.
Eleanor
Memphis, TN
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
Angie
Anna, TX
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
Mandy
Waco, TX
John 8:32
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Trudi Tedrick
Lynchburg, OH
Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope:
be patient in affliction:
be persistant in prayer.
Trudi Tedrick
Lynchburg, OH
Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me! My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with Me." And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."
Psalm 27:7-8 NLT
Beverly
Brenham, TX
Philippians 1:9 NASB
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment
Becky
Indianapolis, IN
Oh, that you would belss me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me and keep me from evil, so it may not grieve me.
1 Chron 4:10
Libby
Dallas, TX
Revelation 17:14 NIV
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers.
Anne
Lorton, VA
Luke 11:9-10 NIV
So I say to you; Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find it: knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives: he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be opened.
Teach me, oh Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them with all my heart. Give me understanding, that I may keep your commands and obey them with all my heart. Ps. 119:33-34
James 4:10
NLT
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor."
Heather
Cypress, TX
Janice H.
Summerville, SC
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV)
But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Wendy-Rome, GA
heather in austin, tx
2 Cor 10.3 NLT
We are human, but we don't wage war with human plans and methods.
Debbie
Marion, IN
NIV Romans 8:31
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Robin Sutherlin
Katy, TX
Psalm 27:14 NIV
“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.â€
Kristi Parks
Eugene OR
"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him"
Nahum 1:7 NIV
Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil.
Ephesians 4:31 NCV
Tonya, Searcy, AR
Please delete last post….should be on #10. Thank you.
Tonya, Searcy, AR
For we are His creation–created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10
Casey
Bumpass, VA
Heather F
Beaumont, TX
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 NIV
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you." Psalms 139:17-18 NIV
Sandy P
Eugene, OR
"Your beauty …
should be that of your inner self,
the unfading beauty
of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is of great worth
in God's sight."
1 Peter 3:4
NIV
Christine K
Eugene, OR
"Set guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.""Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil. To take part in wicked deeds. with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies."
Psalm 141:3-4 NIV
Michelle
Richmond VA
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Ist Corinthians 15:58 (KJV)
Mulls
Chuckey TN
The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.
Exodus 14:14 (kjv)
Mulls
Chuckey TN
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
Aimie Markham
Murfreesboro, TN
Cortni B.
Watauga, TX
1 Cor. 13:4-8
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
You are my Lord; Apart from You, I have no good thing.
Psalm 16:2
Paula
Atlanta, Texas
Ps. 119:10:11 (NASB)
"With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You."
Karen, Derry NH
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against these there is on law.
Galatians 5:22 NIV
C Chamblee
Philadelphia, MS
"See if there is any evil way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."Ps 139:24 NIV
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
II Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
Kristie
Queen City, TX
A soft answer turns away wrath. But greivious words stir up anger.
Prov 15:1
Rebecca H.
Malvern, PA
Psalms 91:1
I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trus.
Beth R
Liberty Lake, WA
NIV
Ro 8:1-2 NIV
1 Therefore, there is now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
2 because through Christ Jesus
the law of the Spirit of life set me free
from the law of sin and death.
Julie
Boone NC
Amanda in Katy
John 17:9 Niv
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
NLT
Ecclesiastes 7:8
"Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride."
I paraise you becasue I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14 (NIV)
Stacy
Amherst, NE
John 17:9 (New Living Translation)
9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man.
Kimberly
Houston, TX
Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love, that I may sing for joy and be glad all of my days.
Ps.90:14NIV
Tammi G
Florence, SC
I – If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:14
Romans 4:20-21
(She )did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in (her) faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.
Lisa
Edinburg, TX
Psalm 16:9
NIV
Therefore my heart is glad
And my tongue rejoices
My body also will rest secure
Michelle
OKC, OK
Do everything without complaining or arguing,
Phil 2:14 NIV
Cedar Creek, TX
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:21
Isaiah 55:9 (KJV)
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ninette G
Seagoville, Tx