Memory Work
I've been feeling a bit like Ruth lately. Two years ago we took a journey through the book of Ruth and she remains one of my favorite characters and, her story, one of my favorite stories.
She is a woman following God and doing some hard work in the process. How can we forget her first words to us, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
One of the features I love best about her story is the idea that circumstances "just so happened."
Ruth and Naomi just so happened to return to Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning (Ruth 1:22), Naomi just so happened to have a relative on her husband's side named Boaz (Ruth 2:1) and when Ruth went to glean in the fields, as it turns out, she was working in a field of Boaz (Ruth 2:3). Wouldn't you know it, but just then, Boaz arrived and greeted the harvesters (Ruth 2:4)!
So I feel like I am a little like Ruth right now because I have a lot of "it just so happened" moments.
I just so happened to be writing a little devotional and I just so happened to be reading a fictional book about Rahab and Jerico and Joshua and all the other characters surrounding that wornderful story. And as it turns out I discovered that I "needed" Joshua in the devotional. And as I worked on memorizing Joshua 1:9, someone else mentioned it in light of the importance of memorizing scripture.
So here we are at the beginning of another year full of opportunity. And we have two wonderful options for scripture memory, "memory work" as our pastor just so happened to mention recently.
Twice in the past I've worked on Beth Moore's scripture memory team. She is "hosting" it again this year. Every two weeks you select your own verse to memorize. Because you choose a verse that is meaningful or applicable to you, memory work may be easier. One year I ended up choosing many verses related to fruitfulness, productivity, growth and harvest.
But this year I am going to do something else. For a while now, I've been feeling like I need to memorize a cohesive chunk of scripture. Ephesians keeps coming to mind, and I have intentions of working on memorizing that, but for now I have just been reading and re-reading it. And then yesterday Ann Voskamp posted about her plan and invitation to memorize sections of Romans.
And the more I read, the more my heart burned in me. And the more excited I grew. So that is what I will be working on this year. Memorizing Romans 1 and 8 and 12.
If you care to join me you can download the pdf here or go to Ann's blog for the introduction and files. You can also check our Beth Moore's scripture memory team. Or you could do both...or something else altogether.
There is no other way to get scripture overlapping with you life than to actually have scripture in your mind and in front of your eyes and ringing in your ears. The perfect combination to yield a moment that begins with, "it just so happens..."
Let me know what you are memorizing!
She is a woman following God and doing some hard work in the process. How can we forget her first words to us, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
One of the features I love best about her story is the idea that circumstances "just so happened."
Ruth and Naomi just so happened to return to Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning (Ruth 1:22), Naomi just so happened to have a relative on her husband's side named Boaz (Ruth 2:1) and when Ruth went to glean in the fields, as it turns out, she was working in a field of Boaz (Ruth 2:3). Wouldn't you know it, but just then, Boaz arrived and greeted the harvesters (Ruth 2:4)!
So I feel like I am a little like Ruth right now because I have a lot of "it just so happened" moments.
I just so happened to be writing a little devotional and I just so happened to be reading a fictional book about Rahab and Jerico and Joshua and all the other characters surrounding that wornderful story. And as it turns out I discovered that I "needed" Joshua in the devotional. And as I worked on memorizing Joshua 1:9, someone else mentioned it in light of the importance of memorizing scripture.
So here we are at the beginning of another year full of opportunity. And we have two wonderful options for scripture memory, "memory work" as our pastor just so happened to mention recently.
Twice in the past I've worked on Beth Moore's scripture memory team. She is "hosting" it again this year. Every two weeks you select your own verse to memorize. Because you choose a verse that is meaningful or applicable to you, memory work may be easier. One year I ended up choosing many verses related to fruitfulness, productivity, growth and harvest.
But this year I am going to do something else. For a while now, I've been feeling like I need to memorize a cohesive chunk of scripture. Ephesians keeps coming to mind, and I have intentions of working on memorizing that, but for now I have just been reading and re-reading it. And then yesterday Ann Voskamp posted about her plan and invitation to memorize sections of Romans.
And the more I read, the more my heart burned in me. And the more excited I grew. So that is what I will be working on this year. Memorizing Romans 1 and 8 and 12.
There is no other way to get scripture overlapping with you life than to actually have scripture in your mind and in front of your eyes and ringing in your ears. The perfect combination to yield a moment that begins with, "it just so happens..."
Let me know what you are memorizing!
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