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
Sheila, Williston, ND
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”
Jude 1:20-23 NASB
Madison, MS
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near of you.
James 4: 7 and 8A NKJV
Heather Wilkinson
Springfield, VA
1 John 4:4 (NIV)
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Allison from New York
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
-Psalm 62:8 NIV
Sherry Lee, Owensboro, KY
But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
Psalms 13:5
Madison, MS
Ask, and it will be given you, seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. Matt 7:7 NKJV
Port Lions, Alaska
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes on notwhat is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
( Ephesians 4:17 – 18 NIV )
DeQuincy, LA.
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5:6 NKJV
Tracie Johnson, Taylorville, IL
Matthew 22:38 KJV (This is a follow-up to my last verse)
This is the first and great commandment.
Debbie, Marion, IN “You are good, and what You do is good: teach me Your decrees.” Psalm 119:68 NIV
Missie Ables, Marble Falls, TX
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be pleasing to you oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Laura, Clay Center, KS
2 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV)
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus/sake.
Leah, Westerville, OH
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23 NIV
Leslie Young
Wisner, La.
I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27 NIV
Paula, OKC, OK: My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:12 NIV
Debbie Levin
Cannon Falls MN
“Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.” Romans 4:20 NLT
Heather Hoch Pflugerville, TX
Jer 9:24 (NASB)
but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Luke 2:1-2 KJV
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
Cedarville, OH
James 1: 1-2 NIV
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings, consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
Lynne Brown, Jackson, Alabama
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,”
1 Peter 5:6 (NASB)
Claire in Boone, NC
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Brenda, Crosby, TX
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. Hebrews 10:36 (NIV)
Sarah ~ Appleton, WI
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
John 15:4-8, NKJV
Laura Proctor, Madison, MS
Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
NIV
Debbie, Reno, Nevada
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 NIV
Letha Mahan. Mountain Home, Arkansas.
“I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.”
Psalm 71:16
Psalm 32:6. NIV “therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found, surely the raising of the mighty waters will not reach them.”
in him was life and the life was the light of men. John 1:4
Nancy English, Laramie, Wyoming
Your word is a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 NIV
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ”
Philippians 1:3 (ESV)
Patrice in ABQ
“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 (NIV)
Kabrina Ethington, Chandler, AZ “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,”
Hebrews 10:26 ESV
Lori Boone, Renton WA. Isaiah 48:17 NIV This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
“The LORD gives His people strength; The LORD grants His people security.”
Psalm 29:11 NET
“Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”
Luke 18:16 NLT
Jennifer Chatman
Jonesborough, TN
Rom. 12:9 (NIV)
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
from Costa Mesa, CA-“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
Shannon Hoots, Greensboro, NC
“The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.”
Psalm 103:6-7
Catherine, Centreville, VA.
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Acts 4:29 (NIV)
Vivian, Person, NC
“Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in HIM and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.”
1 John 2:8 NKJV
Heidi Worthey, Moreland, GA
“The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”
Psalms 121:7-8 NASB
Becca Canfield, Nacogdoches, TX
Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5 NIV
Kathy VanAmburg, Norwalk IA
“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.”
Ephesians 5:23 NIV
Alyssa Ethington, Chandler, AZ “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7 NIV
Betty M Voltaire ND John 14:1 ESV “Let not your heart be troubled believe in God, believe also in me.”
Winder, GA
Colossians 3:16 (NASV)
“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs singing with thankfulness in your heart to God.”
Cindy Barnfield – Cypress, TX
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV
Amanda, Sherman, TX
Psalm 34:4 KJV
“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
Lisa Jensen, Lyman, WY
Proverbs 31:25 NIV
She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.
Amy, Hood River Oregon, “March on, my soul; be strong!” Judges 5.21 NIV
Donna, Houston, Tx
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8