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
Jackie, Mobile, AL
“Judgment will again be founded on justice, and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.”
-Psalm 94:15 NLT
Sherry Deer Park,Tx
Psalm 143:2 NIV
“Do not bring your servant into
judgement,
for no one living is righteous
before you.”
Kathy French, Austin,
“Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days!” Psalm 90:14 NIV
Amber
Katy tx
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. (Psalms 127:3 NLT)
Barb, Kentwood MI:
“the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you”
Jer 31:3 ESV
Angela A, Shelbyville
I Corinthians 10:12-13 (NLT)
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
Amy; Milton, WA
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against these things there is no law.”
Gal. 5:22-23, NIV
Tshaka;Belgium; Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life.
Psalm 142:8 NIV
Redfield
[2] Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
2 Corinthians 8:2 (NIV)
Kelly Collett, Buckhannon, WV
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”.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (Amplified)
Kelly P., Concord, NC
Cindy, Beaumont, TX: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 NKJV
Ashley, Fort Worth, TX
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain.
Psalm 119:35-36 NIV
Rachel D., Meridian, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” 1 John 5:4 (NLT)
For the word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12
“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11 NIV
Kay Martin
Tupelo, MS
Lynda, Monterey,CA:
Psalm 90:12 (NIV)
“Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Linda, Longview:
We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.
II Corinthians 4:8-9 NCV
Karen, Reading PA
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1 RSV
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV Cheryl H., Huntington, WV
Carolyn, from Ringgold GA
Romans 8:18 NET
For I Consider-
That our (my) present sufferings
CANNOT even be compared
to the coming GLORY
that will be revealed to us!
“The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.” Psalm 145:9
jackie from MO
Ps 139:23 niv
search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Sarah, Montrose, CO:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2 (ESV)
Vicki from Grapevine, TX
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him! ~ Isaiah 30:18 NIV
Allison – Huntsville, TX
JAMES 4:4-6 NIV
You adulterous people,don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us]? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
Michelle W
Boynton Beach, FL
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. 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 12:1-2 NIV
Neeley from Auburn, AL
James 3:16- NIV
“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
Continuation of James 3
Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalms 31: 24
KJV
Sheryl Blake, NIles, MI
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3 NIV
Linda in Chester, VA
” . . . he rescued me because he delighted in me.” Psalm 18:19b (NIV)
Shelli, Karalee, Katelyn; Royse City, TX: I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you, I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:2 Much love …
Lisa, Mauldin, SC
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)
Maria – Macomb, MI
Psalm 27:4 NIV 1984
One thing I ask from the Lord,this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lordall the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the Lordand to seek him in his temple.
“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”
Acts 3:16 NIV
Katie Swaney (McDonough, GA) – …word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11 NIV
Jennifer
Germantown, WI
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 NLT
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”
Eph.5:22 (NIV)
Sue
Carmel, IN
he is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17 NIV 84
Camille Taylor. Starkville, MS. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30 NIV
Canyon, VA
Psalm 103:15
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;
James 2:17
New International Version (NIV)
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Continuing in Jude, TNIV Vs 15
to judge everyone and to convice all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in an ungodly way and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Debbie, Rochester, MN
But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. 1 John 2:5 NLT
KATHY CARENZA NEW PORT RICHEY FLORIDA
Isaiah 5:3
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you. Luke 6:26NIV
Leanne, Billings, MT
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 AMP
Yvonne, King, NC Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:31 New American Standard Bible
Susan Sarver, St. George UT,
“My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.” Jer. 17:7 NET
Jessica, San Diego
John 3:30 NIV
He must become greater; I must become less.