Preview....memorizing article for Journey

To my loyal readers...

I'm blessed to be in the process of publishing my first article in Journey Magazine

I thought I'd give you my list of how I memorize/meditate on scripture ahead of time... believe me when it's in print. I'll share this again with the rest of the article!! I've been working diligently the past 6 weeks to memorize God's Word, and I'd love to hear your additions to WAYS you use to get it in your brain for the long term. I've finished Psalm 103 and am 8 verses into Psalm 71, and have really found memorizing in the shower each day is my best protection to memorizing. 

Here's part of my article as it is today...


Memorizing is important to people at Emmaus, the challenge is figuring out strategies to make it a regular discipline.  Here are some ideas that are helpful.

• ·         Use hand written notecards or print verse cards.
• ·         Make them prominent in your life (on mirrors, by the sink, in the car).
• ·         Use first letter cards (of each word) to practice a verse.
• ·         Use audio files or music to hear the Words.
• ·         Make up motions, actions, or find images to go with the concepts in the verse.
• ·         Play games.  Erase words on a small white board. Jump with each word. Cover words.
• ·         Attach memorizing to a task like showering or washing dishes.
• ·         Choose verses that you NEED and memorize by theme.
• ·         Choose to memorize in NKJV because of the cadence and rhythm of the words.
• ·         Listen to Seeds Family Worship. They have produced  7 CDS of scripture set to music for adults and children.   Each CD has a theme: Courage, Faith, Encouragement, the Character of God…
• ·         Memorize scripture with your kids and take turns reciting.
• ·         Find a system or program like AWANA or verses with your Bible study.
• ·         Use the Fighter Verses from Desiring God (cds, notecards, and an app).
• ·         Use the Navigators topical programs. 
• ·         Listen to scripture, YouVersion (an app) will read it, or Faith Comes by Hearing has scripture as an mp3 file (kids or adult) . 
• ·         Post Scripture in your home where you do repetitive tasks.
• ·         Make the posted scripture beautiful artwork.
• ·         Print and frame scripture texts.
• ·         Write and post scripture with dry erase markers on mirrors/windows, a white board, a shower wall, or a frame with colored paper in it.
• ·         Use a computer program like Biblememory.com (You can measure your progress by typing speeds, get email reminders, print your own cards, join a community working on the same verse/passage, and you can choose your translation!)
• ·         Join a blog: Do Not Depart.com (and Facebook group) to encourage memory work.  They choose a passage to work on over several months.  They provide tons of resources to make it easy. (They’ve done Romans 8, Sermon on the Mount, and now Psalm 71). 
• ·         Watch a YouTube video of someone reciting an entire book of the Bible.
• ·         Set a goal and create a plan to memorize a passage or collection.

Everything mentioned above and MANY more examples are in the links at the end of this article.

Need more motivation?

·         I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart. 

Psalm 40:8 (NLT)

·         This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  Joshua 1:8

·         All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness   2 Timothy 3:16

·         How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.  Psalm 119:9

Online Resources:  http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=403242  www.whisperingtheword.blogspot.com, and http://pinterest.com/sarah_poling/spiritual-disciplines/

No More Perfect Moms SPECIAL deal

If you but they book this week....  here's info about free stuff..

If you've ever forgotten to pick your kid up from soccer practice or accidentally worn two different shoes to the grocery store, this book is for you. Being a mother is not for those who display symptoms of the "Perfection Infection." There is simply no such thing as a perfect mom. And there are no such things as perfect kids, perfect homes, perfect bodies, perfect marriages, or even perfect meals. With refreshing honesty, author Jill Savage exposes some of her own parental shortcomings with the goal of helping mothers everywhere shelve their desires for perfection along with their insecurities of not measuring up to other moms.

When you order the book online or purchase it in a brick and mortar store between February 3 and February 9, 2013, you will be given access to well over $100 worth of resources that will help you on your mothering journey – absolutely free!

Send a copy of your receipt to NoMorePerfectMoms@moody.edu. Scan it, take a picture of it – just be sure to send it to the email!

What will you receive?

6 Sixty Minute Audio Workshops (MP3 format) from Hearts at Home
■ Desperate for Wisdom – Dr. Juli Slattery
■ How to Fight for Your Marriage – Dr. Juli Slattery
■ It is Well with Your Soul – Jennifer Rothschild
■ Multiple Intelligences – Dr. Kathy Koch
■ Ten Stress Strategies Every Mom Needs – Jill Savage
■ The God Who Sees You- Tammy Maltby

4 Printables from Hearts at Home
■ 10 Stress Strategies Every Mom Needs
■ “Love Is”–I Corinthians 13 for Parents
■ Mom Rules
■ How to Fight Fair In Marriage

3 Free E-book’s (including PDF, Kindle, iPad, and Nook editions!) from Moody Publishers
■ Live Free by Kendra Smiley
■ Growing Grateful Kids by Susie Larson
■ Real Moms Real Jesus by Jill Savage

1 Contest Entry

You will be entered in a drawing to win hotel accommodations and two Hearts at Home Mom Conference registrations for you and a friend at a conference of your choice! (If unable to attend a conference, a Hearts at Home Conference To-Go will be substituted for the winner and a friend.)

This offer is available for this week only!

It’s “mom university” delivered right to your computer!

Tell your friends, share it on Facebook, and Twitter, and with your girlfriends, neighbors, and moms at your kids school!

For more information about the book, including where to buy, visit www.NoMorePerfectMoms.com.

No More Perfect Moms Review

The review of this Mom book I shared on amazon and goodreads.... 

Have you fallen prey to the perfection infection? Do you need the antidote to this ugly disease?  I encourage you to seek the cure for the mom comparison game.  It not only shares real stories of imperfect moments, but helped me see “our imperfect lives are counter balanced with a perfect God.”  It leads me to be honest about my emotions.  To seek the One true source of perfection who challenges me to see myself through His eyes, and recognize that the Bible is my guide.  “You were taught to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires… and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:22-24. 

It helps me remember: God’s love and grace is the source of strength for becoming who He designed me to be. It challenged me to embrace humility, confidence and grace rather than pride, insecurity and judgment and to recognize that when I seek to be the ‘perfect mom’: I am comparing my insides to other people’s outsides or to media that is airbrushed to perfection.  It encourages me to share authentically with others that life is imperfect. But it’s okay to embrace the imperfect as the character building life God has given me and pushes me to LOVE it! 

As a believer, I love that Jill’s wisdom was authentic and biblically based. She gave practical advice and you feel like she’s having a cup of tea, chatting with you as you read her thoughts and you wonder, how does she know me so well?  A great book for women to rethink life and love every moment of it!

Memory Tools

Some day I'm going to finish memorizing Psalm 103 and quote all 22 verses together!! (I've wanted to accomplish this for 3 years!) 

I've set it up in a tool that I've used previously for one week challenges, and I think it may be the key to my success. 

http://scripturetyper.com/

It has grown since I last looked into it, and I even learned that I can ignore the punctuation/capitalization in the passage (you do have to spell 100% correct), but that has renewed my vigor and made it possible for me to type a mostly memorized passage at 50 words per minute pace!   (I can do the first 11 verses now!)

Scripture typer has grown and just introduced an APP this new year to help review and learn your passages, I need to see if it will work with my new phone and the text to type feature, but I'm content to let it be a typing test and to practice on the laptop.  

This blog/facebook group has even started Psalm 71 as a community on scritpure typer, so you can compete or just find accountability, or just register on the blog for encouragement.   There are links to resources like the scripture typer program, printable cards with the text or just the first letter, a calendar with 2 verses a week and review.... 

I'm going to finish Psalm 103 before I join a group project, since I've been working on it so long, but I'm going to use many of the same resources to get myself going. 

My "one word" for 2013 is to ABIDE, and one way I'm going to live it, is by meditating while I memorize God's promises!  How do you like to memorize? 

No More Perfect Moms, a new book

I am a Mom. I am not a perfect mom.  I yell at my kids more often than I want to admit. I put them off and say, one more email, or just a minute, more than I want to, and I don't take enough time to 'score' myself and set goals on how to improve my role as a Mom, like I do with things that other people see far more (like my teaching, my ministry, etc.)  But yet, I should. It is my first calling and it is so important!  

I am a Mom who is delighted to know that I am a sinner saved by grace, and have learned that for my own personal survival, I have to stop comparing myself to other people.  I am the woman that God created me to be, and it is only my job to listen to the Holy Spirit and change who I am based on His nudging!  Not the voice in my head that says... didn't you notice that Gladys and her kids did "blah, blah, blah".  I am ever amazed that even though I am a self confidant and independent person by nature, I still find my inner head making choices and decisions based on other people and what I know of them (or imagine about them!).  It has been a matter of prayer and conviction for me for quite some time!  I need to stop comparing myself, my choices, my actions to others! 

This is also a concept that Jill Savage addresses in the first chapter of her new book (I am reading a pdf of it, the perk of being on her review team!)Here is a quote from the book:   "We compare out messy insides -- our struggles, our failures, our less-than-perfect lives -- to other women's carefully cleaned-up, perfect-looking outsides."I look forward to reading on and seeing what else she reminds me of, and how she encourages me to reflect and grow in this most important job!  I'm also looking forward to some email ideas starting tomorrow!



You can get ideas and help from as well, here are some options:

1. Sign up for Jill Savage's "No More Perfect Moms" 31-Day Email Challenge. Click here to sign up so you can start receiving them in your inbox on Jan. 1.

2. Don't buy the book yet, but get ready to do so Feb. 4-9. Along with the release of "No More Perfect Moms," Hearts at Home and Moody Publishers will offer additional bonus resources worth more than $100 if you order/buy the book anytime Feb. 4-9. Click here to learn more about this and sign up to be reminded of the release date.

3. Visit "No More Perfect Moms" website. This is where you can share stories, learn more about the book, and view motherhood resources.
 

Book reviews, my explaination

I'm extending the purpose of my blog a bit, to review books that are sent to me because I have a blog!  I believe that the Bible needs to be our main reading each day, especially if we are in the season of young children/very busy lives... but I also believe that in that season, hearing some one else's point of view that is biblically founded can be very helpful.  I also hope to have the 10 students in my Children's Ministry Course review some books this spring as well! 

My biggest struggle as a mom of three kids, who works part time and is active in ministry, I loose the time to think, and I definitely loose 'quiet' time.  When I am alert and at my best, there are almost always people and commotion all around me.   But I am a reader, and I read to learn, to grow, to reflect, to process, and on vacation I read for fun.  For the last 11 years (my oldest turned 11 in November) I have read primarily non fiction and even then it is christian life or books that relate to my areas of expertise/teaching (assessment, classroom management, children's ministry, parenting, and the Bible).  

So I will title these reviews, book reviews and if they aren't your cup of tea, just skip them. But I feel very blessed to be getting a few free books to review and enjoy.   The latest one is called No More Perfect Moms, and I assure you, I've known that for a long time, but as women, it is so reassuring to know that others know it is true as well... if I get comments and approval, I may also extend it to other books I read as well.  

Thankful part 2

Note the Thankful banner in the background.... Looks a little smaller on a gym wall, than on the wall in your house! 

These are from the first lesson. The children worked with their small groups to look up the verses, and to create a bigger second banner with attributes of God to be thankful for!

Part Two of the lesson

Review from last week, being THANKFUL:  

• WHO we are thankful to and WHY we are thankful to God. 
• We will define the word THANKFUL and look at truths about WHO God is using an acrostic (as the children work in small groups to synthesize from the Bible characteristics of God.)
• We will review that to be thankful to God for Who He is, we must know Him personally.  

Last week, we focused on God being : Truth, Help, Above, Never ending, King of Kings, Faithful Forgiver, Unsearchable, Love

Why are we thankful for each of these characteristics of God? 

Because that is what it means to give thanks or praise God- saying Praise the Lord is remembering we need to praise Him, but it’s NOT praising Him. We praise Him by sharing who God is. 

Let’s practice:

God is good.  (say it slow and sad)

God is good (say it soft )

God is Good (say it with joy or a jump or an !)

It matters WHAT I say and it matters HOWI say it! 

In Psalm 113 we are taught HOW to give thanks/praise to God.  We need to do it for His character, in public, and with excitement boasting of His Goodness and Grace sharing the truth and how I see it in my life! 

So today we are going to practice!

In your groups- look at our letters or what you know of the CHARACTERISTICS of who God is or His promises from Sunday School  look at the reasons WHY these are characteristics to thank God for.  Then practice sharing how YOU know this is true. 

T is for Truth.  God’s Word is true, I am thankful that God speaks to ME in His Word.  (and I need to say that not as a tired, sad person, but as a person who is SOOOO happy, excited that the TRUTH of God is known to me!)

If we really want to praise God… we must… do it..here’s the HOW….

Stated with integrity (truth, honesty, honor)

The Bible tells us we need to offer thanks to God.  Psalm 113

Background info:

Hallelujah means Praise the Lord.  But saying “Hallelujah” is just saying Praise the Lord—it’s really not offering praise to the Lord. 

Halle is the command to praise and jah- YAH, YAYWEH- the Lord

Praise means- to excitedly boast (like when your team wins, when you get something you really want like a new toy, trip, etc.)  

How do we excitedly boast? Let's act it out....

concepts adapted from a sermon by Dr. James VanDine, Asbury Community Chapel, November 2012.   His exogesis from Dr. Ronald Allen's book And I will Praise Him