An Update on learning God's Word

Back in January, I wrote this post sharing how I had committed to memorizing scripture a few months earlier. It was just time, I felt, for me to take up the discipline of scripture memory and better hide God's word in my heart.

But I already blogged about all that....as I linked above. The reason I'm writing about it again is that some of you have asked me exactly what I do to memorize, and what I choose. Well, you may be unimpressed because it's very simple. Here's how I started.

1. I took an empty notebook lying around my house (see it, with the birdcage?)

2. I wrote a verse in it that I wanted to memorize.

3. I read it a few times a day until I no longer needed to peek.

4. Then I wrote a date at the top so I know when I learned it.

(By the way, writing that date at the top has become a little reward for me. I don't write it down until I can revisit my notebook a couple of times, know that verse completely, and not need any hints.)

For much needed accountability, on the 1st and 15th of each month, I'd type my newly memorized verse into a comment at Angel's blog under her memorizing posts (for more about that, read my post linked at the top from Jan). It made such a difference for me to have that goal; those dates of each month were reachable markers for me. Anyone can learn a verse in two weeks. I quickly realized it wasn't that hard.

And often times there, I'd read other people's verses in the comments, and think, "OH! That's what I want to learn next." Or I'd come across a verse in church that would speak to me, or think of one I sort of know from the past and decide to find it and REALLY learn it.    Right now, I'm thinking of the Fruits of the Spirit. Do you know that whole verse verbatim? It's in Galatians 5, I believe. I don't know exactly where. I can name all 9 of the fruits, but I don't know the whole verse. I don't know the verses before or after them. I'd like to learn this portion of scripture better. So I may look it up in my Bible, or on www.biblegateway.com in order to read it in different versions, and then record it in my memorizing notebook.
I just looked in my notebook and counted from when I started memorizing in October, almost a year ago. I have committed to memory 38 verses! Oh my. That is more than I realized. Some were in passages or familiar sections, so there were like 4 verses in a group at times. And to be honest, I had a few months in there where I didn't memorize anything. My dates in my notebook jump quickly from March to July. Spring is always our busiest season, so I had grace on myself for those few months, and got back on the horse in the summer, with my kids.

Here's my suggestion. If you are feeling like it's a good time in your life to begin or restart the practice of scripture memory, find a notebook and start with Matthew 4:4. It was one of the first verses I recorded in my notebook:

It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Jesus said those words. It tells me that as much as I hunger for food in my body, I desperately need God's words in my spirit. They are my sustenance. I need to learn them and hold onto them like precious treasure.

One I'm working on next is 2 Timothy 2:15, also relevant to scripture memory (now I need to glance in my notebook):

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

I so badly desire to rightly handle the word of truth, friends.

I hope to see you at Angel's on the first of October!!  I'll be recording my latest verses tomorrow, since it's the 15th....the end of a longish passage I memorized with the kids (in a kid's version, no less - yes, that still counts!) over the summer.

Have a great weekend, and look out. Because next week, something BIG is happening. Something I've been working on for the last few months.

No, it's not a baby in my tummy.

Okay, I'll tell you a little, but I won't show you yet.

{My etsy shop opens!!}

I'm really excited.