"Somewhere In The Bible"

So, I have not been on to post in awhile because I was too busy.  Besides the everyday business of working, housekeeping, and raising children, I am back in school again for my Masters degree and a new set of food allergies has me having to totally re-vamp the way I cook (again).  I said I would never make 2 separate dinners to please everyone in my family, but now I am forced to, because frankly, I wouldn't make my family eat some of the things I eat simply because my choices are so limited.  But anyways, my allergies are not what this post is about.  It's about my being too busy, or so I thought!  God was about to show me other things!  Sometimes when my pastor is preaching a sermon on something I'm very familiar with, I find myself wandering around in my Bible reading the nearby scripture passages and accompanying devotionals.  Almost always, I find something very applicable to what's going on in my life.  Yesterday, that was definitely the case.

The devotional on the following page was entitled "Somewhere In The Bible".  It was the story of a  young man witnessing to his lawyer friend about Jesus.  Throughout his attempt to explain salvation, the Christian young man kept saying "Somewhere in the Bible it says....."  His lawyer friend asked him to go to his office with him and showed him his expansive collection of law books.  The lawyer said to the Christian, "If you came to me with a legal problem, I would know exactly what book to look in for your situation.  You, as a Christian, have one book to master, to learn, to memorize and to handle to correctly, yet you do not know where anything is found.  You tell me the central person of this book is the most important thing in your life, but I find that hard to believe."  

This really struck a cord with me because at the beginning of the year (when everyone is making those New Years resolutions), I was thinking about doing a 52 verses in 52 weeks challenge.  However, I got too busy and never got around to getting started.  It has popped into my head a few times but then quickly was removed by other pressing thoughts.  I stumbled across the blog that gave me the idea again last week and thought, "Oh, I really still feel like I should be doing that, but I'll wait until November to start and then it will be a nice even number of weeks".  Of course, this was my perfectionism mindset taking over.  There is no reason I can only memorize scripture in designated months or years, and I needed to change my way of thinking.  The closing for the devotional said this: "If God is to speak to me in everyday situations, I need to study, memorize and know how to apply his words.  Then the insights that hit me are the ones I can share with others.  After all, I can't share what I don't know".  How true is that!  If God is going to use me to reach others, I have to be able to speak to their current situations, and how am I going to be able to do that without seeking God through diligent prayer and memorizing scripture to be able to share with and encourage others?

Therefore, I am NOT going to way until next week to get the "equal 2 months worth" of scripture memory.  I am starting now!  My first verse is going to be Ephesians 2:10 and I already have a list of the rest of them.  My goal is to memorize 1 verse a week from now on.

"For we are God's masterpiece.  

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, 

so we can do the good things He planned 

for us long ago".  (Ephesians 2:10)

How about you?  Are you committed to memorizing scripture?  If so, how do you go about actually doing it?  Any practical tips for me as I start out on this journey?  (I hate to admit it, but I haven't actually memorized any scripture since my freshman year of college, so I could really use some practical ideas.)  Whatever you are doing to keep God's word fresh in your minds, keep it up!  You can't go wrong when God is involved!