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
Ecclesiates 3:11 NLT
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
Kaylin from Searcy, AR
“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds- his name is The Lord- and rejoice before him.” Psalm 68:4 NIV
Mary
Woodway, Texas
“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:30 (NIV)
Matia, Fort Worth
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 ESV
Marla
Bolivar, MO
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 NAS
Lauren Morton, Decatur TX. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV84
Joni, Port Neches. “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” James 2:25 NIV84
Mandy
Waco, TX
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Colossians 1:28-29 (ESV)
Tara from Bolingbrook, IL
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13, ESV
Hannah from Bolingbrook, IL
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8, ESV
Cathy, Jackman, ME NLT
John 15:12 “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
Heather—Corpus Christi, TX. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
Kim, Littlestown PA. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9 (NKJ)
Stephanie, Lititz, PA “Yes everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8 NLT
Talia: Cincinnati, Ohio
Be firm (steadfast) immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord (always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord) knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile (it is never wasted or to no purpose) 1 Corinthians 15:58 Amplified Bible
Terra from Owasso, Oklahoma
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. Romans 10:17 NLT
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 NAS
Debbie, Hattiesburg, MS:
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
Ann Gonzalez
San Antonio, TX
“The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
And his kingdom rules over all.”. Psalm 103:19 NIV
Theresa, Cincinnati, Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. Eph 4:1, HCSB
Love is patient, love is not jelous or boastful or proud
1 Corinthians 13:4
August 15 – Psalm 91: 9-13 NIV
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
Georgine East
Austin, TX
Holly, Ramona,CA; Proverbs 16:24 (NASB)
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
Jill Sayles, Puyallup, WA
Psalm 31:14-15, NLT
“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say you are my God! My times are in your hand!”
Abbie, Katy: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perserverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV
Tracy Baker Kountze, TX
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5 NASB
Alexia-Champaign, IL
The Soverign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Habakkuk 3:19 NIV
Jeri, Lynchburg, VA. Jesus said “Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgement.” John 7:24 NIV
Parents, don’t come down too hard on your children or you’ll crush their spirits.
Colossians 3:21 (MSG)
Ashley, Kingwood
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB
Sarah Cox from Jay, Ok
“Honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise.”
Ephesians 6:2 (KJV)
Vanessa, Anderson, SC:
“Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Luke 7:23 (ESV)
August 15
DLynn; Argyle, TX
1 Corinthians 13:2-3 NIV
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Charlotte Good
Mesquite, Texas
Though one person may be overpowered by another, two people can read just one opponent, a triple – braided rope is not easily broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 NIV
Beth, London Ontario
1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
And His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead…
Ephesians 1:19
Cindy, New York City (…just catching up and loving your verse Lyndsee…hope it’s Ok to use. It is resonanting with me right now…I need a clean heart 🙂
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 Amplified
Lori, San Angelo, Texas
He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who preverts his ways will be found out.
Proverbs 10:9 NASB
Meredith, Blacksburg, VA
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Isaiah 40:29 ESV
Summer, McCurtain, OK
The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful.
James 5:16 HCSB
Tina, Cincinnati Ohio – Acts 4:12 – Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (NIV)
Melissa J – Houston, TX
Philippians 1:21 NIV
For to me, to live is Christ and die is gain.
So behind!!!
Sharon Modesto, Ca.
Ps 16:1 NIV
Keep me safe ,O God, for in You I take refuge!!!
Marla
Bolivar, MO
Let me hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in Thee; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to Thee I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8 NAS
Lynchburg, VA.
Deuteronomy 20:4 (English Standard Version)
for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21 NIV)
Selina, Aberdeen. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2 NKJV
Stacy, Greenfield, Indiana “Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive.” 1 Corinthians 10:23
Carol, Poplar Bluff, MO
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22 NIV
Tina, Houston,TX
Pleasant words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)