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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Missy Pocahontas AR But the comforter,which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you.John 14:26 KJV
Nancy Barrow, Bloomington, IN
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ”
PHILIPPIANS 3:8 (NIV)
Debbie from Denver, CO. My verse is Isaiah 54:4 âDo not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.” NIV
Pamela Houston, Buena Park, CA
“Oh LORD, You have searched me and known me.”
Psalms 139:1 NASB
Kim DeSha, Louisville, KY.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
âWrite the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
Habakkuk 2:2, NKJV
Ann Ledet, Ankara, Turkey – Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Phil 2:3-5
Pensacola, Florida
1 John 3:20
“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” KJV
Traci Peil, Naugatuck, Ct “I can do all things in Christ, who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NIV
but those who hope on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 NIV
Shavertown,PA Don’t be afraid for I am with you, don’t be discouraged for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
Megan, Boise, Id, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Philippians 4:12 KJV to go with a favorite verse 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:4 NIV
Praying this over my daughter Psalm 3:3 ‘But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the one who lifts my head high.’
Carla, Aurora, IN “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of Light.” Ephesians 5:8 ESV
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 NIV
Elkview, WV
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ESV
Julie Fairfield, Keller, TX “Look to the Lord and his strength, see his face always.” Psalm 105:4 NIV
Shaila Syracuse Indiana
Isaiah 26:12. NIV
12 Lord, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
Jill Adams, Jennings, FL. – “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8 ESV
Vickie, Nashville, TN – âDo not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37 NIV
Jill Erickson, Findlay, Ohio
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10 NLT
Sara Bowyer, Little Rock, AR
For I know the plans I have you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. Jeremiah 28:11
Lisa Williams, Houston, TX – “My prayer is that your love may more and more abound, both in understanding and wealth of experience” Philippians 1:9 NAB
Judi, Darlington, Pennsylvania
Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now, it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Psalm 37:23-24
23: The steps of a man are directed by the Lord when he delights in his way.
24: Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps his hand in support and upholds him.
Sabrina Aunspaugh,Taylor,TX “The Lord himself will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will never leave you.He’ll never desert you. So don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope.” Deuteronomy 31:8 NIRV
Stacy Young, Loganville, GA “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NIV
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for one another, just as ours does for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV
Meghann DeLong, Lawton, OK : “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16, ESV
Debbie Barnes, Andersonville, TN “For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
Beth Lesesne, Sumter,SC- ” Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart;consider what great things he has done for you.” I Samuel 12:24 NIV
Stacey M. Savannah, GA “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Robin Oaster Secane, PA (NKJV) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
Nickie Newhouse, Redford, MI “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
Lyn Toney, Helena, AR “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.” Psalm 150:6 NIV
Kathy Crenshaw, Lillington, North Carolina
I sought The Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4 (NKJ)
Jeremiah 29:12-13 NASB
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart.”
Tisha, San Antonio, Texas-
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT
Christie, Gadsden, AL Jesus looked at them and said,” With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 NIV
Diana Love, Mustang, OK “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
Psalm 105:4 NIV
John 14:27 NIV
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.
Lisa Markley, Cary, NC- When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal the sick. Luke 9:1-2 (NIV)
For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go. Psalms 91:11
Chrissy Jones, Clemmons,NC:
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12,NIV
Jackie Keiser, Nappanee Indiana. “Nay in all these things we are more than
Conquerors through him that loved us” Romans 8:37 KJV
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
Titus 2:11-12 ESV
Robin Wade, Warner Robins, GA. “For the eyes of The Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 2 Chron 16:9a. NIV
Peggy Durst, Decatur, IL Colossians 3:23-24
Lauren from Bealeton, VA
“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)
Sandy Ott, Ashland, KY. “For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:37 NIV