Hey Y’all!
Before I fool anyone, each of you should know that this is Lindsee posing as Beth for this particular SSMT post. She and her girls on a little girl’s getaway that is much deserved. So when she mentioned that she might not be able to work this post out, I told her not to even think of it and enjoy her time away!
Side note: She was telling me yesterday she’s not sure when her last actual vacation was because our siesta mama has spent the last two scheduled vacations either being Bibby for a week (her grandma name), or writing for a week! So! Needless to say, this girl’s getaway is earned and joyfully welcomed! We blessed them as they walked out the doors yesterday and promised them they didn’t need to worry about one detail here. She also assured me she’d hopefully have some fun pictures for you guys when she gets back!
SSMT is a big detail. So here I am. I realize that was a much more detailed description as to why I’m taking over SSMT this time than you probably cared to know, but now it’s in official wording and I’m leaving it.
Beth gave me the option to share my verse with you guys along with the one she’s memorizing this go around, so I decided to take her up on that. The more the merrier, right?
My verse is actually probably very familiar to y’all, but it hit me fresh a couple of weeks ago and knew it needed to be put into my memory for good. It’s one of those verses I know, and I could quote it, but not verbatim and I really wanted to be intentional with it this go around, especially since I really mixed up the version I’m memorizing it in this time which really makes it pop in my mind.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (Amplified)
This I know to be so true, I need Jesus. And I need Him to steady my heart, because He alone can do that. Want to hear some synonyms of steadfast? Steady, firm, stable, constant, staunch, and immovable. Each of these descriptions are things I want to be said and true of me. I think it’s so fitting that persevering and steadfast follow each other because it’s in my persevering that He makes my spirit steadfast, but I tend to get really distracted and unsteady pretty quick. Which I guess is why we’re told to persevere in the first place. Maybe it’s just me, but so many times I allow my circumstances to determine my steadfastness. When things are going good (translation: the way I want them too), persevering comes easy, as well as a firm and steady devotion to the Lord, but it’s when the going gets tough, that the tough get going. That’s when it’s time to wrestle that hard thing out with Him. For me, an example that comes to mind is singleness. Some days I love the freedom it brings, while other days I’m wrestling my way through this season. Very quickly I can go from steadfast to discouraged. Steadfast to lazy. Steadfast to frustrated. I want so badly to be faithful in each season of my life, and to truly live in an “undivided devotion” to the Lord that Paul talks about, but we can all admit it’s not always easy. If it were easy, the vast majority would be doing just that.
I don’t always want to do the work it takes to have a clean heart, and a persevering Spirit, but I know all too well that when I’m not yearning for it is the perfect time to ask for it. So I’m asking for a clean heart! That God would renew me from top to bottom.
You’re more than welcome to join me this go around.
Or for those of you curious what our Siesta Mama has chosen, you can join her. This time she is memorizing Colossians 1:16 in the ESV version:
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16 (ESV)
Amen. He sees everything. He knows everything. He created everything. If you stop and take that verse a part line by line and dwell on that, it’s really mind blowing.
ALL things were created BY Him. (Things we cannot even lay our human eyes on.)
THROUGH Him.
And FOR Him.
ALL things.
I have no doubt our Siesta Mama would have more to say about that, but I’m just going to leave you with wow. So, if that scripture stirs something up in you, tag on with her.
(And now I’m going to make this really slick transition to close out the post. Could this be any more awkward? I’m kind of gifted in that. You know, making things awkward.)
Well, ladies! Time to persevere to the end! We’re so close. If you got through summer, you can certainly make it through the fall. Oh, and because I’ve been getting some emails and phone calls, I’ll go ahead and let you know that we’re planning on having all things SSMT celebration and details up SOON. Like, hopefully as in the next SSMT post or two. We’re so pumped and we love y’all dearly.
Let’s hear your scriptures!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Melissa, Augusta, GA
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7, NIV
Ps. 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to your name, O Most High. To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night.
NASB
Sue ~ Hartland, MI
Therefore my beloved brethern, be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not
in vain in the Lord.
1Corinthians 15:58 NASB
Stacey Gaines
Corpus Christi, TX
“…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
(Philippians 1:11, NIV)
Alyssa Mochen
Rio Rancho, MM
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV
Indianapolis, IN
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (Psalms 18:30 ESV)
Lilburn, GA
Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (Proverbs 31:25, 26 NASB)
Kim; Poplar Bluff, MO. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:28 (NASB)
Sheryl, PA
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Proverbs 27:17, NLT
Julie from Bristol, Tennessee
Proverbs 3:13,16-17
Blessed are those who find wisdom and gain understanding; for long life is in their right hand and in their left hand is riches and honor. Their ways are pleasant and their paths are peace.
mariel
wake forest, nc
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 cor. 13:7 esv
Sarah, Christina and Esther May; Wenatchee, WA
“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
James 3:16 NIV
Heather
McDonough GA
“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” Romans 12:12
Janice, Harrison, AR
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.” Psalm 89:14. AMP
“This is the word of the LORD …: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” ~Zechariah 4:6 NIV
Bonnie B, Flotown, CO.
“The LORD confides in those who fear Him;
He makes His covenant known to them.”
Psalm 25:14 NIV
Kristi Rogersville, TN
Psalms 92:3 NIV
To the music of the ten-stringed lyre
And the melody of the harp.
Philippians 3:13,14 (NIV)
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.
Margie
Hilton Head Island, SC
Lori in Pine Island, MN
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 NIV
Sarah Miller New Palestine, IN
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10 NIV)
Judy
Panama City, Fl
Hebrews 11:6 (NCV)
Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him.
Kay,Tucson. Psalm 23:5 KJV “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
Tina, Columbus, Ohio
The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1&2 NIV
Shelly Wilson, Fort Worth, TX
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Susan,Fairhope,AL-What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things, I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8 (NIV)
Hannah, Perry, MI
“Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.”
Isaiah 52:2, NIV
Cathy Morris Sedona, AZ Romans 3:23-24 ESV
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”
“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” Job 5:9
Lila, Salem, OR
Psalm 33:20 (NIV) We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our help and our shield.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
Michelle O’Banion Grandview, TX
Psalms 18:1-2 HCSB
I love You, Lord , my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Jan
Hawkinsville, GA
Continuing with Psalm 103
Psalm 103:16 (NKJV)
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
Lisha Adam, Wetumpka, AL
If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless.
James 1:26 (CEB)
Lisa, Frisco Tx, Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. (Psalms 15:2 NLT)
Angie G
Albertville AL
“This I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:17 NASB
Leigh, Montgomery: “My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love.”
1 John 3:18 MSG
But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. Gal 6:14
Alice, Dallas, TX: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” Ephesians 1:18-19
Brenda – Hendersonville TN
Psa 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. NIV
Donna from Bartlett, TN
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.Against such things there is no law.
Ashley Sullens
Kings Mountain, NC
Psalm 27:13 (NASB)
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Pamela Williams, Olive Branch, MS
so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:5 NIV
“Keep yourselves in God’s love
as you wait for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus christ
to bring you to eternal life.”
Jude 21, NIV
Linda
Fort Collins, CO
Ruth Hency from Oran, Mo “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” 1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV
Vanessa, rio rancho NM
” May your unfailing love rest upon us, oh Lord, even as we put our hope in you” psalm 33:22 NIV
Angela, Warsaw
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2 (NIV)
Jackie UK
Proverbs 16 verse 20 The Message
It pays to take life seriously,
Things work out when you trust in God.
Michelle from Waterloo, ON, Canada
“Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8 NIV
Missy Newman, Andersonville, TN NIV John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Maureen, Pascoag, RI
t is honourable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.
Proverbs 20:3 NRSV