Hey sweet siestas!
How much fun is this? Can we all just stop for a minute and thank our beloved leader, Bible teacher and yes, friend, for spurring us on in this world of scripture memory? I fail every time on my own. We need our people to conquer this task, don’t we? I’m good for a couple of months and then I flat out quit and blame it on something other than myself. But, I won’t quit if I have y’all! I’m thankful for this community. I’m thankful for the accountability. Memorizing scripture has transformed my heart and mind…the Word is living, and we have the privilege to breathe it in when we open those sacred pages and be changed from the inside out.
Something that I have done as I have memorized scripture is to write a brief synopsis of why I chose the verse on the back of the index card. I also date it. At the end of the year, it’s so powerful to go back and read a mini-journal of God’s faithfulness and the journey you’ve taken together that particular year. Go back and do that if you haven’t done it already. I’ll bet it won’t take you long to recall why you picked a particular verse. It will be a sweet gift to read through at the end of 2015.
Ok, my name is Fran Thomas and I’ve been married to Chip for 21 years! That’s crazy to me! I swear I’m still 30-something. We have 3 teenage boys. That’s another kind of crazy! Our oldest is 18. (Insert tears of high school graduation, starting college and hoping you can cook and do laundry on your own) It’s nuts, y’all. Savor the moments, mommas. It flies.
We are living life in Jackson, TN, and I love our community of people here. I work at Union University, teach college girls on Sunday mornings, sing in the choir, and serve with our jail ministry at Englewood Baptist Church. I am also a partner in a non-profit ministry with my two best friends, Christy and Robyn, that we founded called “More than a Mission Trip.” Our heart is missions in every form and fashion. Our heart is for the lost, the saved who are lost, God’s precious people at the ends of the earth and those who are around the corner. Our desire is to encourage other women to serve God locally and globally…there is no better time than NOW to love, obey and serve Him with all we have! We can’t question or delay what God clearly calls us to do.
So how appropriate for me to choose a verse that has me in a season of being scared to death of what God has called me to do. Would this be the Christian “pot calling the kettle black” or what? I like safe and comfy just like you do. It’s predictable and doesn’t make my stomach hurt. I know the scriptural promises from Him, but there is simply something terrifying about taking new steps with Him after a season of predictability. *sigh*
So, we press on, sisters. We believe Him and take Him at His word. I’m doing this even with the butterflies alive and churning about! Unfortunately, I think I have an unbelief issue right now, but I’m choosing to believe Him for this season because He is able! He is faithful… Me? Not so much. He never fails. NEVER.
“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6
I don’t want to doubt or be tossed around because of my unbelief. I want my feet to be steady and secure in Him, His voice, and His direction. I really want to believe Him and trust Him even with these butterflies during this new season. I don’t just want to say, “Yes, Lord I believe you,” but it only be a temporary belief or trust. We’ll start strong and then fade, don’t we?
Lord, help my unbelief.
It’s easy to say, “Sure, I’ll get out of the boat, and walk toward Jesus,” but it’s a whole other thing to actually put the feet into motion, isn’t it? Let’s not be tossed around, sisters. Let’s walk by faith and take Him at His Word. Let’s choose to believe Him girls!! Declare it even when we don’t feel it. We’ll begin to believe what we know and speak over that situation. Let’s declare the Truth that we are hiding in our hearts.
Y’all are such a blast! Hang in there and march on strong and steady because we are MORE than conquerors! We CAN do this because He WILL show us the way! He will NOT leave us! He WILL show Himself faithful! He has good plans for this season! He will NOT harm us! And on and on and on the promises go. Declare them. Believe them.
It’s such an honor to journey alongside you. I will be your biggest fan and cheer you on like nobody’s business. Fix those pretty eyes on Jesus and let’s run our race well. I’m praying for us all. I desperately need Jesus and His Word.
Love y’all,
Fran
Brentwood, TN
This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2 (NIV)
Janet from Odessa, TX
. “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready;”
. Revelation 19:7 ESV
Ronda from Murfreesboro, TN
Psalm 63:3-4(ESV)
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
Sarah, Kingwood, TX “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” Nahum 1:7 NIV
Kathie-Alburtis, Pa. John 17:26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” NIV
jenna, ft worth, tx
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 ESV
Lynne
Telford, PA
“For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.” Psalm 33:4, ESV
Dawn Fuhrman, Cape Coral, FL
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 ESV
Denise Ciofani, Lexington, NC. “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.” Ephesians 3:20 NIV
Nottingham U.K. England
Psalms 89:14-15 NLT
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as descendants. Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
Vicky, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.”
1 John 3:1. NIV
stephanie Hilton, League City, TX
“Truly I say to you; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matt. 18:18 ESV
Pamm W. from Albuquerque, NM
…..”But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…..”
Nehemiah 9:17 (NIV)
Megan, Dothan, AL
“We write this to make our joy complete.” 1 John 1:4 NIV
Karen McCormick-Waco, Texas
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Liji Oommen
Columbus, OH
“Do you not know your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
– 1 corinthians 6:19-20, NIV
Patience Nason, Citrus Heights, CA
“So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to preserve so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Heb. 10:35&36 NIV
Lisa Walden Grand Prairie Tx
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Melani Shock, Alexandria, LA
Psalm 91:7-8 (KJV)
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come night thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Jeannine Anderson Pelican Rapids, MN
Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
John 7:38 ESV
Christina Fort Worth
17 I will not die, but live, And tell of the works of the LORD. (Psalms 118:17 NASB)
Patty from Redmond, Washington.
Psalm 33:4 NLT
For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
Vickie, Spokane,Wa.
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test,
he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12 NIV
Susan G. Overland Park, KS
“Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.”
1Pt. 3:4 MSG
Bixby, OK
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
Lisa Parker Arkansas And pray in the Spirit on all kinds of prayers and request, with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
Julie/Deer Park, Texas Psalm 19:13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. NIV
Amy, Murfreesboro, TN
1Corinthians 10:13,NIV
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Carol B., Conyers, GA.
The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked shall rot.
Proverbs 10:7 AMP
Linda, Holts Summit, MO
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, My Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
Diane Hotchkiss from Cypress, TX
24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
I Thess 5:24 NASB
Hillary Dickey, Diberville, MS
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. Romans 10:13 NIV
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1 NIV
Katie Davila, Tomball, TX:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV
Christy, Cape Girardeau, MO. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Romans 14:8 (NIV)
N. Seattle, WA
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10 (NASB)
John 3:16. NIV For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in his shall not perish but have eternal life.
toni from tallahasse fl.
Hosea 13:4 niv
But I have been the lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt you shall acknowledge no God but me, no savior , except me .
Gay
Round Rock, Tx
“Keep me safe, my God, for in You I take refuge.”
Psalm 16:1. NIV
Debbie from Colorado Springs
Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Great Examples of Faith
11 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Tina Lockhart, Gulfport, Ms
Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.Jeremiah 33:6 ESV
Lisa Landis
Castro Valley, CA
Psalm 147:18 NIV
“He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.”
Thanks for sharing…love your heart!
Ashley Roth, Peachtree City, GA.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16, NAS
Suzanne
Tenaha, TX
Romans 15:13 NIV ’84
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
Trust in Him at all times, o people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8. NIV
Linda Chuplis
York Haven, PA
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 NIV
Adrienne, Valdosta, GA
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
1 Chron 16:11 NIV
Ashley, Alexandria, La 71303
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1 ESV)