Finally!!!!!!!!
Are you ready, Sisters? Do you hear me cheering?? I have never been more excited about doing this.
I am on the verge of doing about 10 backward flips on my hardwoods. I said on the verge. Not quite doing it. Well, I’m doing it in my heart. That counts for a lot around here.
SO LET’S DO THIS THING! Now, promise me this! Promise me you will read this entire post before you leave a single comment. I know you’re about to burst and I am, too, and, for that reason, I’ll keep it as short as possible. It’s so important that we get our ground rules firmly established so that we’ll have a fabulous experience. Remember, hundreds of our participants this time around are brand new so let’s make sure everybody’s on the same page.
A few things you absolutely MUST KNOW:
*Your comment to this post is your official registration onto the team. Everybody starts at Verse 1 no matter when they begin the process. (Word gets around and we often still have people joining in with us even in March and April. We don’t mind how late they begin as long as they can catch up, memorize their verses, and document each one of them on the proper post as an official participant.) This launch post will remain right here in this January 1st 2013 slot all year long and each new person will need to make her first entry here. This is how we track who signed up when we get to the end of the year and it’s party time.
*Your comment must be strictly limited to the following 5 pieces of information: name, city, verse, reference, translation. I’ll say it slower now for those brand new to the process:
Your name (or first name if you prefer), city. Your verse for that two-week period written all the way out, the reference for it (where it is found in the Bible: Book, chapter, verse) AND the *translation you’ve taken it from.
(*For instance, is the Bible you’ve pulled the passage from a KJV, an NAS, HCSB, NIV or NLT? Or is it The NET Bible, The Message or another similar version? The translation almost always appears on the outside spine of a Bible. If not, you will find it on the first few pages. If you’re looking on line, you’ll get an option to choose a translation. Do so as it speaks most clearly to you. We aren’t fussing over translations here in our memory work. You also do not need to stick with one version throughout.)
Just those 5 pieces of information! They will comprise every comment to this post. And the moment you start scrolling through all of them, you’ll see why. Page after page after page after page of Scripture and each one telling a reader exactly where to find it. It is the most powerful sight to behold. This invites people who are not participating in the memory work to reap tremendous benefits by just reading the comments and taking strength from verses they may not have known existed. This way it has the potential to bless our whole community or any weary visitor to our blog. I’ve been in crises before and gotten on the comment pages and scrolled from Scripture to Scripture and practically wept with relief and fresh courage or revelation. That’s why it’s best to keep the SSMT comments as succinct as possible. If you’ve got an exclamation in you that you just can’t hold back, you can occasionally make the briefest comment like, “I really need this one!” or “I’m sharing so-and-so’s verse” but, please, no more than that.
Comments other than the verse-entries on the 1st and 15th of each month can’t be approved. I’m so sorry and I hope you’ll understand. Thousands of us will be doing this together so the moderation process is monumental from the administrative side. The verses will be all Lindsee and I can handle in the comments for our two SSMT days per month. Keep in mind: NONE OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS PERTAIN TO THE OTHER BLOG POSTS HERE AT LPM. We will be completely free to do our regular thing on all other posts! The really stringent rules are only for the 1st and 15th of each month in 2013 and in reference to Siesta Scripture Memory Team. I hope that makes sense!
*Your comment may take 24 hours to get moderated (or posted if you’re new to the blog process) and sometimes a bit longer if it falls over a weekend. We try our hardest to stay up with it but on those days when 500+ come in at once, it’s quite a task! But we love it! It just requires a little patience on all sides! Before you assume that your entry somehow vanished and you’re tempted to write it again, give it one full day and see if it shows up. Keep track of what time you posted it and double check the comments around that same time. The accidental repeats make it much harder to track participation through the course of the year so always double check. If you don’t find it a day later, by all means, post it again!
*Remember that you get to choose your own verse! That’s really important! The ease with which you can memorize a verse is greatly impacted by how much it means to you. The more you need it or want it, the more you’ll absorb it. If you come up dry at times, no problem! You can either share my verse or another in the comment line that really speaks to you.
*PRAY that God will bless you in this endeavor and will enable you to memorize His Word! Ask continually throughout the entire year! When I get stuck and frustrated that I can’t get my words in order, if I’ll stop what I’m doing and ask God to supernaturally infuse me and help me to concentrate, you would not believe how quickly a breakthrough will come.
Are you about to stuff a sock in my mouth?? I’m about 2 seconds from stuffing one in my own mouth. Melissa gave me two new pair of boot socks for Christmas so at least I have fresh choices.
All right, already! Here goes mine! In honor of our process ahead and how willing the Holy Spirit is to help us…
Beth from Houston Texas, But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26 NIV84
Here’s one more alternative if you’ve never memorized it for a new year! I just love it for January 1st:
You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 NIV
May God’s grace abound to you, Sweet Thing. WELCOME! We have such a fabulous challenge ahead of us. GOD, GRANT US YOUR GOOD FAVOR!
So…what are you waiting for??? SIGN IN WITH VERSE ONE!
PS. I thought you guys might find it a bit amusing that I brought in the first 300 comments in the CAR on the way to the airport to catch my Atlanta flight for Passion 2013. Laughing. You keep your blog mama busy. I love you so!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Anna
Louisville, KY
“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”
Psalm 56: 3-4
NIV
Dawn White, Chesterfield, SC
“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,
act like it.
Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is.
See things from his perspective.”
Colossians 3:1-2 (The Message)
Donna from Eastland, Tx
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NAS
Michelle, Exton, PA
Psalm 59:16 “But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.”
Oops- I forgot the version- nkjv
Jeannie-Birmingham, Al
Numbers 6:24-26
KJV
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace”
Carol Hulin Belleville, ON “We will support you, take courage and DO IT” Ezra 10:4b NIV
“I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.” (Ezekiel 36:26 GNT)
Erin – Tokyo, Japan
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”
Romans 15:13 NIV
Paige from Plano, TX
“for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.” Luke 1:49 NIV
Tina ~ White Salmon, WA
1 Corinthians 3:9 (NKJV)
“For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, you are God’s building”
Shellie from Richardson, TX
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. Romans 8:26 (NLT)
Nancy Reeves – Wichita, KS.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105, King James Version
Jennifer Lawrence; West Monroe, LA
Isaiah 40:28 HCSB
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.
Cathy George
Amarillo,Texas
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.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Morgan Hope Williams, Hoover Alabama
Jeremiah 15:16 NET
“As your words came to me I drank them in, and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you.”
Anita, Big River, Saskatchewan
Deuteronomy 30:19,20
(NIV84)
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life…
Sheila, Cameron
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.Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Karla from Houston
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in The Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
NLT
Rachel from Blue Springs, MO-Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground. (Psalm 143:10 NIV)
Diann, Fernandina Beach, FL “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Romans 8:26 NIV
MBK from Tennessee, Titus 2:7-8a, NIV
In EVERYTHING set an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned…
Dana from Pflugerville, Tx.
Don’t let anyone think less if you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
1 Timothy 4:12 NLT
Connie ~ Protection, Kansas
Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:12-15 NET
Sara Beth; Fredericktown, MO “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13, 14 NIV)
[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him-that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding [the wonders of His person] more strongly and more clearly. And that I may in the same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers]; and I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into. His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] Phil. 3:10 (AMP)
Krystle Renfrow; Chattanooga, TN presently
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Shana from Wichita Falls, TX
“So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.”
James 1:21 NET
Sara Cain. Hiram, GA.,
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” Hebrews 10:39 NIV
Jenny Hope Williams! Hoover, Alabama
Hebrews 12:1
New English Translation (NET)
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,
Debbie from Greenback, Tennessee
O Lord, be gracious to us; we LONG for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. Isaiah 33:2 NIV84
Emily from Anchorage, Alaska
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV).
Carla J, Cypress, Tx
“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” James 2:5 ESV
I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:17-18 NLT
Lisa from Frisco, TX; “For I know the plans I have for you,” said the Lord. “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope,” Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
Janese – Green Valley, IL
Psalms 103:12 NIV
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Amy Jones, Fayetteville, GA Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated-it can only bring harm. Psalm 37:8 HCSB
SUE G; Houston,TX.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21 NIV
Kate Marlow from Chesterton, IN
He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good:
and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Proverbs 16:20KJV
Julie, Brighton Mo.
And how blessed all those in whom you live, who lives become roads you travel; they wind through the lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain.
Psalms 84:5-6 The Message
Caroline from Knoxville, TN
A wife of noble character, who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10-12 NIV
Married Saturday…on my honeymoon 🙂
Adrienne ~ Houston, TX
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:9-10
Littleton, CO
Psalms 34:15
New American Bible
“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
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.”
“For where your treasure will be, there your heart will be also” Luke 12:24 NIV
Heather from Fleming Island, Florida:
Oh that we might know The Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the dawn or the coming of the rains in early spring. Hosea 6:3. NLT
Glenna, Cumberland House, SK
“I will sing of your love and justice Lord. I will praise you with song. (2) I will be careful to live a blameless life-when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.” Psalm 101:1-2 NLT
Brooke from Houston, Texas You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 NIV
Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Phil 4:6 NLT
Cammi from Magnolia, TX: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.—Romans 12:2 NIV
Karen from Lubbock, Texas.
O my soul – only wait on God – submit only to Him. All I hope for and expect are from You; My Lord. Psalm 62:5 (paraphrased)