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
Lila from Salem, Oregon
“Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (HCSB)
Connie from Amarillo, Texas
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 NIV
Name: Judy
City: Houston
Verse: For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Reference: 2 Timothy 1:7
Translation: American King James
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Charlotte B.
Kingwood, TX
Psalm 1:1-2, NIV
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
Jenna
Waco, TX
“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
NIV
Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and in searchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3 NLT
Whom have I in Heaven but you? And, besides you, I desire nothing on earth. Psalm 73:25 NASB
from Hartland, MI
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and
not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NAS
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” 2Chronicles20:12 (NIV)
Mare J. from Frankfort, NY
Becky Bailey: Indy., IN
Isaiah 49:8/9a NIV
This is what the Lord says :
“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will be your help; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
Epsilon, Winter Park, FL
Song of Solomon 8:4 NKJV
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love, until it pleases.
Ashleigh from Mobile, Alabama
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 143:8 ESV
Micah 6:8
He has showed 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.
NIV
Karen from Kernersville, NC
Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Psalm 119:34 ESV
Kristen Vick; Evans, Georgia
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Short and sweet, but on my heart for the new year
Psalm 105:4 NIV
“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”
Tara Marie Moor Fountain, Colorado
Kelly – Costa Mesa, CA
Ephesians 1:3-4 (MSG)
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.
If someone says,”I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
Jennifer, North Charleston, S.C.:
Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV)
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Lisa in Laguna Niguel John 3:16 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
KaRetha, Denham Springs, LA
“You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance.”
Psalm 65:11 NIV
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 NIV
Alanna, Frisco, Texas: Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)
Psalms 90:17
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us
Sandra from Lynchburg, VA.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” -Romans 8:5-6, ESV
Shannon from Mandeville, LA, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from?” Ps. 121:1, TNIV
Ashley from Plainview, TX
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
I already messed up – the John 14:27 I’m memorizing is NIV
Deborah, Nacogdoches TX
Psalm 86:11 NLT
Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.
Lisa from Greenville, SC
Psalm 62:1-2 NIV
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Angela, Dinuba, CA
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2Cor.3:17
Joy from Richland, WA: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 NIV
Dora, Debary,FL
For as the heavens are higher than the earth; so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts
Isaiah 55:9 NKJV
Jennifer Taylor, Mansfield, TX
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
Meghann from Lawton, OK
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5, NIV
Atlanta, GA
NIV
Nehemiah 6:3 So I sent messengers to them with this reply, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go donw to you?”
Ruthann from Ontario, Canada
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 NIV
My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long. Psalm 35:28 NIV
Kendra STurgis MI
Isaiah 41:10 NIV
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Lauren Labbe, Bristol, CT
“And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing that the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house…” Deuteronomy 26:11a, KJV
Tessa from Dallas, Oregon: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.-Philippians 4:8 (NIV)-
Mitzi from Midland, TX
“Love The Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5
Melissa, Boston, MA.
“You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11 NIV
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, an he will make your paths straight” – Proverbs 3:5-6
Amy from Choteau
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6 NKJV
Carrie Kittinger, Tulsa, OK
John 14:26 (NIV 84)
“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.”
Christy from Ft. Worth “You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11 NIV
Becky Hibbler; Edmond, OK
Ephesians 2:8,9 NIV84
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
from Plainview, TX
Ps. 37:7-9 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off,but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. ESV
Sue Johnson, Wellington. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV84