Tag Archives: scripture memory

New Seasons, Real Life, and Plans Revisited

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July is a great month! I hate to see it end!

In North America Everyone is in the depths of their summer.

I love July.
I love summer.
I love  family and fireworks.
I love warm weather.

Enjoying the warm outdoors, warms my soul!
This summer I hosted a neighborhood Kelly Minter bible study on the book of Nehemiah (highly recommend it and will write a review soon). As I prepared for the last meeting I was struggling, and it seemed like there was nothing that could lift my heavy heart.

Oddly, the homework for the last chapters of Nehemiah included a discussion on how life tends to make full circles and often brings us back to similar places and different circumstances. We are given second chances, and boy do we need them.

As August begins, I continue to have a slight funk about me and need a second chance. I want to make the rest of this year count. I want to treat August like it is January. A fresh start.  Why not review my goals and consider new goals to add or old ones to change?  As I complete one season and prepare for another, my heart is committed to make this fall and winter special. It is all too easy to lack focus and exuberance as I approach the end of the year.

Scripture memorization is one of my 2012 goals.  My memorization goal through the month of July is complete. Hooray! Let’s celebrate!  Uh… Not so fast….The problem is that I don’t have another plan. Sure, one can just take a favorite scripture here or there and work on it, but I want a new focused plan. Since my 2012 one word is ‘decide‘, I am on the verge of making a decision. Remember the old Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

I’d love to hear how you handle this time of year as school starts, seasons change and holidays rapidly approach. Do you lose sight of goals you made back in January? Do you renew and review?

Here’s my suggestion for a great verse to memorize.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers victory it’s sure. Prov. 15.22

Love to you… and success with your plans…

 

Courageous Fathers = Courageous Families

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The men 18 years old and over stood in unison reciting the ‘I Wills’. Indeed they were words read from a piece of paper, “The Resolution”, but they have the power, the potential, to impact generations.

We need our men.
We need our fathers.

The blessing of a father committed and engaged with his family is unmatched.

This weekend our churchcelebrates our fathers with a special ceremony of commitment in all seven services. Amongst the casual attire most often worn by many in our Friday night service was a smattering of coats and suits, as proud men from all walks of life stood with their families reciting their pledge.

With today’s family unit commonly shattered and fatherhood devalued, the release of the movie, Courageous, last fall, was an inspiring must see and prompted our Fathers Day focus. It is a family drama where four men come to grips with a common calling: to serve and protect their families. On this, the eve of Father’s Day, it seems fitting that we revisit our values, honor our fathers and resolve to fight courageously for our families.

Below is the resolution the men proudly recited:

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love God with all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

I WILL pray for others and treat them with kindness, respect, and compassion.

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins, and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church, obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. —Joshua 24:15

I was intrigued when Brent chose to participate in the ceremony since we don’t have children…he realizes we DO have a family unit, a church family, an extended family and a community in need of courageous men. I am proud to have a husband willing to fight for future generations and to courageously be a father to the fatherless.

Memory verse: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. —Joshua 24:15

You can find more information and additional resources here

It is never too late for a man – a father – to become a “dad”.

Special honor to all courageous men this Father’s Day…

 

Scripture Memorization #9 – A Sacred Event

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This week a dear family friend, a husband, dad, grandpa (Pop Pop) who was like a father to me left this land of the dying to be with Jesus in the land of the living.

It is a sacred and holy event.

He knew he probably only had four to six weeks to live when he found out about his disease so he visited with family and friends and asked them to take on a challenge.  To honor him and his family I’d like to extend his daily challenge to you as part of our scripture memory post.  He asked that all his loved ones and friends commit to read a chapter of the New Testament and to ask Christ to speak to them through the scriptures each day.  A simple request.  It’s a few minutes each day that changes lives.  Maybe you’ll consider the challenge because:

There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. 2 Tim. 3:15-17 MSG

Although family and friends undoubtedly persevere in sorrow when a loved one goes on, my prayer is that grief and joy can beautifully dance together in mourning a loss and celebrating a life and legacy.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV

A couple of potential memory verses I’ve had on my heart to share:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.  2 Cor.  1:3-4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matt. 5:4

May our ears and eyes be open to the true riches of this life so often found in suffering…and if I may ask…what would your final request be if you thought you only had a few weeks to live?  I’m pondering and would love to hear from you.

-Madge

Scripture Memory #8 – A Sweet Relief!

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I’ve been planning to get this post done all day, and now that I’ve filled up on strawberries with cream cheese frosting** for dessert – I am really ready!  I have had my fill of sweet strawberries and that decadent dip of creaminess on the bottom.  We made the frosting fresh this morning!  Come on my sweet friends, I know you want to join us on this amazing journey.

Below are a few handy sweet scriptures I like for the end of April.

How sweet are your words to my taste,  sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Ps. 119:103

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Prov. 3:24

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.  Prov. 16:24

I’ve been laboring a bit with verses in the second chapter of Colossians for the past week or two and I’m happy to share these two verses because I love thankfulness:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,  rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Col. 2:6-7

In the book One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp says, “Thanksgiving creates abundance; and the miracle of multiplying happens when I give thanks – take the just one loaf, say it is enough, and give thanks – and He miraculously makes it more than enough.”

 

My prayer is that we overflow with thankfulness through the circumstances…today and every day, and He will make it more than enough. —-Madge

**Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
-8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
-8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
-3 cups confectioners’ sugar
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl to soften. Beat until smooth and well blended. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, and continue beating until smooth. Store in container in refrigerator.  Yummy and gluten-free.