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
Regina Orr
Floydada, Texas
“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” ~ Ephesians 6:11-12 NLT
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:3-6
Sarah Miller. New Palestine IN.
“and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,”
1 Thessalonians 4:11 NIV
Sherry from Perry, Georgia
“For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
Kathy, Baton Rouge, LA
My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. Haggai 2:5 ESV
Jan Horne
Bossier City, LA
Matthew 6:34 NIV
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 NIV
Lori Collins, Columbus GA
Psalm 46:3 KJV
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.
–John 1:10 (RSV-CE)
ooops–that John 1:10 was from Donna, Athens, GA
South Portland, Maine
Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet.
Psalm 140:1-4 (NIV)
Kathy Walden, Knightstown, IN
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. Phil 3:7 NIV
Jeanette Plummer, Mesquite, TX
“By God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.” ~Romans 15:32 (NLT)
Eleanor MacKay, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Can.
‘To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.’
Ephesians 3:19-20.
Vicki
Murfreesboro, TN
1 Thess. 5:16-18 (HCSB)
“Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Lori, Pueblo West CO: “They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants.” ~ Isaiah 65:23 NET
Cindy Gandy
Hazlehurst, MS
Ephesians 4:20 (ESV)
But that is not the way you learned Christ!
Patricia Gandy
Florence, MS
Judes 5:21
March on, my soul, be strong.
Tina, Columbus Ohio
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’
Deuteronomy 33:27
Palm Harbor, Fl
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God-this is your true worship. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Debbie Weaver, Cumming, GA.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:1-2 NIV
Michelle G. from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5 NKJV
And He replied: “Go, say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking but do not perceive. Isaiah 6:9
Suzanne Bailey, Harrisville,RI
“So we, though many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Romans 12:5 ESV (part of a series)
1 John 4:7 ESV
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
martha loyd
Lauren from Steinbach, Manitoba
Deuteronomy 27:10 (NLV)
“Obey the Lord your God”.
Michele Moore, Fairfield, OH – Psalms 19:14 NIV
May the words of my mouth & the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my Rock & my Redeemer.
this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it. psalm118:24 NIV
Amanda from Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
Nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
Nor the plague that destroys at midday
Psalm 91:5-6 NIV
John 1:16
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
NASB
Psalm 139:16b-17: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them.”
Vicki C., Lenexa, KS
Galatians 5:25 ESV
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Natalie, Anchorage AK
1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
psm 112:7 niv
he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
Vivian, Birmingham, Alabama
Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness
You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1 NIV
Carolyn Medlin Oceanside Ca
Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
Jeremiah 17:14 NIV
Deborah Mott, Bradenton. Ephesian 6:12 For our struggle is not against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.
Stephanie B.
Augusta, GA
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Teresa, Walla Walla, Proverbs 7:2-3 TLB “Obey me and live! Guard my words as your most precious possession. Write them down, and also keep them deep within your heart.”
Laura from Apopka
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Psalms 51:16-17 NLT)
Teresa, Chadron, NE
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
Tammy,
Lusby, MD
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the almighty. Psalm 91:1 ESV
Kimberly Kleimann, Chico, CA
Psalm 103:2
Bless the Lord, O m soul, and forget not all his benefits:
opps sorry my verse pSALM 103:2 is KJV
Deborah, Harstville, SC “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 NASB
Diana Scott, Romulus,MI
James 4:10 NLT – Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up in honor.
Cyndi Patterson, Bloomdale, OH
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Ephesians 5: 1-2 NIV
Colleen, Orlando, Fl.
“God keeps in perfect peace those whose hearts are stayed on Him.”
Isaiah 26:3
Ephesians 6:11 (NIV)
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
Sandy F from Bowie, MD
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”
Colossians 1:9 KJV
Beth, London, ON
Psalm 90:16-17 ESV
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Joy – Georgetown, Tx Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature,- 2Peter 1:4a NIV