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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kim, Yorktown, VA. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (â€Colossians‬ â€3‬:â€17‬ NIV)
Prov.4:26 NKJ Ponder the path of your feet and let your ways be established. My prayer to be established in God in 2015.
Lisa Ragsdale, Wichita Kansas
Lamentation 3:22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. NIV
Rebecca Bates, Houston
“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.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
“Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.” II Peter 1:2. NKJV
Sandra Beard, Maple Valley, WA “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14 KJV
Patty Schrader Sioux Center Iowa. Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” HCSB
Melea Weece, Joplin, MO: “16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
Ashley, Indian Trail NC “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5 ESV
For I am about to do something new. See I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 NLT
Kim OConnor – Oxford, Alabama
Though you have not seen him, you love him and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. 1 Peter 1:8 NIV
Susie Sharrai,Harrisburg, PA
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
Wilma, Tholen, The Netherlands. John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
OOOPPS messed up 1st post. Sorry.
Jacqueline Civitello, L.I. N.Y
Eph 3 NIV
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom every familya in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
May Your unfailing Love be my comfort, according to Your Promise to Your servant Pslam 119:76
Renee Hui,Vancouver, British Columbia
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (NIV84)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. I Corinthians 13:4 NIV84
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
Christy Wright, Ada, Oklahoma
These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;
Zechariah 8:16 – NIV
Mical, San Angelo, TX. The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (HCSB)
Catherine Henderson, Houston, TX: For my ongoing journey to reclaim my body for Christ: “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” I Cor. 6:19-20 ESV [0/130 lbs.]
Jody Gall, Mason City, Iowa
“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”
Proverbs 31:30 NASB
John 16:33 NASB
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcame the world.
Alie Bucklin, Spencer, Ohio: Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn’t grow tired or weary. His understanding is beyond human reach, giving power to the tired and reviving the exhausted. (â€Isaiah‬ â€40‬:â€28-29‬ CEB)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV
Renee Lakeville, MN
Tammy St. Louis, MO
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. Proverbs 21:15 (ESV)
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
Psalms 119:105 NIV
Yvonne Sherard, Charleston, SC. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds… ,”(James 1:2, NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV
Boise, Idaho
“I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” Phillipians 4:13 NKJ
JEREMIAH 29:11-13
“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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Katie Fox,Nyenga,Uganda “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety” Proverbs 29:25 NLT
So very excited to begin scripture memorization this year 2015!!! Praise the Lord for His people!
New Albany, IN “Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving Col 4:2 New American Bible
Makenzie Prince, Smyrna, TN, “Above all, keep fervent in love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 NASV
Casey Getzin, Muncie, Indiana: “2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)”
Portia Jordan, Hendersonville, Tn. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. John 3:16
Black Mountain, NC: “But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” Psalm 3:3
Oceanside, CA Romans 8:26 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.
Matthew 11:28-30 niv
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Susan Dodson, Douglasville, GA,
Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.. Philippians 4:6 NRSV
Jessica, Maryville, TN
“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “The Lord be exalted!”
Psalm 40:16, NIV
Leslie Freeman, Hueytown, AL “For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.” Psalm 33:21 NAS
Jennifer from Dunwoody, GA
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6 NIV
Kirstine Bering, Chesapeake, VA
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the alrighty. Ps. 91:1 NIV
Nicole Taulman, Windsor, MO, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” 1 Cor. 4:2 (NIV)
Susan Henry – Gardendale, TX
Psalm 141:3
3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Vicki Maynes, Trimble, MO.
“You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. ”
Matthew 5:3 The Message
Michelle, Hospers, IA, “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.” James 2:12 NIV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3