WELCOME, EVERYONE, TO THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE 2015 SIESTA SCRIPTURE MEMORY TEAM!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!
Allow me to introduce myself to you as your fellow sojourner for the next 12 months and your official cheerleader. It will be my pleasure to remind you often that, in Christ Jesus, you most certainly CAN be victorious in this adventure of the faith, this challenge of the mind and this discipline of the Spirit.
Nothing we’ve done on this blog since its inception has seemed to attract more outrageous favor from God. We are convinced that He loves it. God never misses a single individual going to the work of memorizing His Word but imagine His delight when a huge community of tremendously diverse women in age, background, and worship tradition band together in a pilgrimage of faith. You don’t have to stop and wonder if it’s God’s will for His words to abide in you. The Word of God alive, active, and abiding in us speaks to us, shields us, warns us, strengthens us, sanctifies us, equips us in our callings, and directs us in our decision making. It sharpens our insight and improves our discernment. It makes us wiser and, let’s be bold enough to say, even smarter. Our brains were hardwired to flourish across the board when nourished by the Scriptures. Above all else, Scripture abiding and thriving in us builds up our faith, for “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Â And, Girlfriend, we want to be women of faith. That faith erupts into works that were planned for each of us before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 2:10)
OK. I want to get right to it before I lose some of you so that no one will be unclear about the protocol.
The entry of your first verse is your official registration for SSMT (Siesta Scripture Memory Team). Everybody who joins us needs to start right here in a designated comment to this exact post. Even those who may jump in with us a couple of months late who are willing to work double-time to get it all done will start right here.
For a quick recap of our objective: Remember, we are committing to the memorization of 24 verses in 12 months. Two a month. We each get to select our own verses to align with our personal needs and challenges. Choosing a Scripture that resonates with you is immensely helpful in the memorization process. If you have trouble coming up with one of your own, you can always share mine or look through the other entries for ideas. You’ll find your SSMT posts right here on the blog at 8:00 AM on the 1st and 15th of every month in 2015. [Under the LINKS section listed on the right hand side of our blog home page, you will find all SSMT posts will store together for easy access. See “Scripture Memory Team 2015”.] If you haven’t had a chance to read all the instructions and hear about our end-of-year celebration, please go back and read the informational post then return to this spot. Questions unanswered here are answered there.
One of the most important things for you to know from the top is how to arrange your comment with the verse you’ve selected. We limit each comment to this information:Â
Your name, city, verse (written all the way out), reference, and translation.Â
SO, here goes mine! I’m obsessed with the Book of Ephesians right now so much of my memory work will probably come from those pages.
Beth Moore, Houston, Texas. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19 ESV
We’re fellow citizens with the likes of Peter and John and James and Stephen and Paul and Timothy and Barnabas and Joanna and Susanna and Lydia and Tabitha and just try counting all the Marys. We’re fellow citizens and members of the household of Middle Eastern believers confessing Christ in hostile climates, of Chinese believers meeting in house churches, of Eastern European believers finding hope in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Thessaloniki, in Paris, in Belfast, in Riyadh, in Copenhagen, in Calgary, and Rome. We – right here in this community – are sisters to a household of God that stretches across this globe, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. By grace through faith. “It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) That’s what makes us family. We, beloved sister, are in gorgeous company. Let’s give our time on this planet as part of this household all we’ve got. Christ is so altogether worthy.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! One last thing before I say Go! Don’t panic or jump the gun and post a second time if you don’t see your verse published soon. I will be moderating all these launch comments by myself because I don’t want my staff to have to work on the holiday so I beg your patience. I’ll be hard at work on it but it will take me a while to get them all posted. As a rule over the next 12 months, only post a second time if it’s been 48 hours since you left the comment and you still don’t see it.
****I noticed that some of you posted verses earlier than this post was published and they came up on the SSMT informational comments.  I should have doubly emphasized what time the posts will go up each round: 8:00 AM, each 1st and 15th. So sorry if I did not make that clear enough! If you submit your verse earlier than that, it unfortunately appears under the wrong post and, the way blog moderating works, there’s no way for us to transfer the comments over. If you left your 1st verse under any other post than this one, please add it here as well. This is the official registration post.  I know it’s a bit complicated at first! Hang with it! So sorry for your extra trouble!
Hey, I am so glad you’re doing this with us. So much love to you.
OK, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kitty Soma, Traverse City, Michigan, In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23 NAS
Mary Fadel, Baltimore, Maryland
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 (ESV)
Diana Jones,DeSoto Missouri.
Ephesians 6:10-11 (NASB)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Kathleen Snyder Wendell, NC
For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall. Psalm 18:29 NKJV
Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jer 33:3 NLT
Isaiah 55:6 seek the Lord while He may be found; call on him while he is near NIV
Chelsea, Phoenix, AZ
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
June E
Fayetteville AR
18 Forget the former things;
Do not dwell on the past.
19 See I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I ammaking a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19
NIV
Isaiah 43: 18-19
18) Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. 19) “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
Tia Padgett, Maumelle, Arkansas
1 Corinthians 10:13New International Version (NIV)
13 No temptation[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[b] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Amanda, Fort Payne, AL
“In the wilderness prepare the way for The Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:3 NIV
Laurie Chester
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13 NAS
He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:4 NIV
Sherry Monroe, Wheatley, AR
John 16:33 (NIV)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
New International Version (NIV)
Crowley,TX –
Psalm 95:1-2 MSG
Come, let’s shout praises to God , raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let’s march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns!
Ashley, Peachtree City, Ga. “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 NAS
Psalm 119:18 open my eyes so I can see what you show me of your miracle-wonders
Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
Tina Harrell from Chesapeake, VA
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(NIV84)
Rachel, Waldorf, MD
Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3 NASB
Emily. Elberfeld,IN. I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!” (â€John‬ â€16‬:â€33‬ GNB)
Pam Williams, Nicholasville, Kentucky
“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
Proverbs 16:32
New King James Version
Colleen in Conroe,TX
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NIV84
Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourself, it is the gift of God
Warrenton, NC Phil 4:13…I LIVE it every day !!!
Lees Summit, MO
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 NKJV
Shiela Meert Elkhart, IN
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9 NLT
Monroe, Ohio
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. NASB
This is my New Years resolution!!!
Isaiah 46:4 I am he. I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
My version was the NIV
Heather from Bel Air, MD
Psalm 119:165 NKJV
Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
Amanda Hodge. Littlefield Tx
1 Thessalonians 5:5-6
5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.
Amy Battles
Midland, Tx
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Jer. 32:17 NKJV
Ah, Lord God. Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
Nicole Stevens, Brookneal, Virginia
James 5:16 – The Message
make this your common practice: Confess your sins o each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
Susan Beasley, Brentwood, TN. “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 ESV
GOD’S WORD® Translation
I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don’t you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land. Isaias 43:19
Sara Carrera
Plano, TX
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
Stacey Young, Glendora, California. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” â€James‬ â€1‬:â€2‬ ESV
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18-19
I write unto you,little children because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I John 2:12
Liz Myers, Pineville, LA: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34 NKJV
Jennifer Cavalier, Mansfield, OH
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2 ESV
Laura D, San Antonio, TX “Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.” Psalms 25:5 NLT
Vickie Nagalapadi, Cordova, TN. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”. Galatians 2:20 NKJV
Marcia-Portland, OR
Nehemiah 6:3- msg
I’m doing a great work, I can’t come down. Why should the work come to a standstill just so I can come down to see you?
Katie Brown
Greenfield, IN
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 NIV
My younger two kids and I are memorizing the 10 commandments then moving into beatitudes this time around.
Angie Miller, Macon, Mississippi
1 Thessalonians 1:4, NIV
For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you.
Proverbs 3:56
Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him And He will make your paths straight. NASB
Tina Blankenship, Auxvasse MO…Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation with prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving present your requests to God. NIV
Philippians 4:6 NIV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, give your requests to God.
Kristen High, Manheim, Pennsylvania
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.
Life Application Study Bible – NIV