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
Michelle Moultrie, Birmingham, AL
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up…” Ephesians 4:29 ESV
Tina Shelton – Richmond, TX
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 NIV
Highlands Ranch, CO
Ps.86:13
For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.
Trudy Middletown, OH
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 NLT
Courtney Kelly, Starke, FL
Ephesians 4:20 “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—” (ESV)
Tina D, Biloxi, MS
Ps 27:14 (NIV)
Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Kim Kobayashi
Monroe,WA
Psalm 100:1 ESV
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
“The Lord watches over you–your Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.”
Ps. 121:5-6 NIV
“The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.” Psalm 16:7 – 8. MSG
Robin Wickman, Merriman, NE – ““But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.””
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
Jennie Spearin Granite Bay CA
“But You are my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the Day” Psalm 71:7-8 NKJV
Brenda Gerber from Grafton, OH
Romans 4:22 (NIV)
” this is why it was credited to him as righteousness. “
Psalm 143:8 NIV
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Jenni, Elk Grove, CA, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness,” Acts 4:29 (NAB)
Linda from Enumclaw
James 1:6 ESV
But let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven & tossed by the wind.
Claire Veronie, Bryan, TX
“For you have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:8-9 NASB
Carol- Salem, OR
Psalm 37:34 NLT
Put your hope in the Lord.
Travel steadily along His path.
He will honor you by giving you the land.
You will see the wicked destroyed.
Sandy Bowers, Bryan, Ohio
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32 (HCSB)
Bobbie, Litchfield, MN
Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
1 Samuel 12:24 (ESV)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 2 Samuel 22:2 NIV
Deborah, Nashville TN
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Isaiah 61:1(ESV)
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Acts 16:30,31.
San Juan Capistrano, CA
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Psalm 5:11 (NIV)
Jessica from Battle Ground, WA
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 NIV
Marcy in Garland, TX
This helps me focus as life keeps crowding the days with obligations and busy-ness.
“I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses.
Now choose life!
To choose life is to love the LORD your God,
obey Him,
and stay close to Him.
He is your life,…
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NCV
Bethany in Pueblo, CO
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
Vivienne B, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)
Carrie Lyons Homer Glen, IL
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore is anyone is in Christ the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here.
Elaine – Powder Springs, Georgia ~ The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Psalm 34:16 ESV
Michele S.
Edmond, OK.
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. Ps. 3:3 ESV
Everything is possible for him who believes.
Mark 9:23 NLT
Tracey M, Margaree Valley, NS
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)
Lynn Bennett, New Smyrna Beach, Fl
‘Don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you’ (v.17, MSG).
Betty Murphrey, Wendell, NC
Romans 12:12 NET
Rejoice in hope,
endure in suffering,
persist in prayer.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do note quench the spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.
I Thessalonians 5:16-22 (NASB)
Donna Banks from Franklin, TN
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.”
Psalm 92:1-2 (ESV)
Robin Sandlin—Denver City Tx-
….and do not be grieved for the joy of The Lord is our strength.
Nehemiah 8:10 Life Application New Revised Stanard Version
Barb, Medina, Oh
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Rom 12:19 ESV
Andrea Larmer, Hephzibah, GA
“Our God is a God who deliv:ers; the LORD, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death:.” Psalm 68:20 (NET)
Dian Helgerud in Cocoa Beach
Genesis 28:15 (niv)
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,
And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you.
Andrea, Milton FL (formerly Havelock, NC)
“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.”
1 Cor. 15:58 MSG
Misty Keith – Pflugerville, TX vs. 22 “The Lord’s loving-kindness indeed never ceases, for His compassion’s never fail. vs. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
Pam Hendersonville, NC
“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” II Timothy 1:13 KJV
Lynn Watson Hurst, TX
Psalm 4:4 NKJV
Be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.
PS Love your post, Fran! Inspires me to run the race and never give up. ❤️
Joni, Port Neches, TX. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” Psalm 1:1, NIV84
Jennifer, Michigan
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)
Jennifer, Tomball, TX “You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.” James 1:3 The Message
1 Peter 1:15-16 NIV
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Angie Shockney Lafayette, IN
Janice Stumpff – Topeka,KS
I John 5:14 NIV
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Dee Dee Fernanda Beach, Florida
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became a joy and the delight if my heart, for I am called by your Name, O LORD, Gid if hosts. Jeremiah 15:16 ESV