It’s a meeting I will never forget: my friend and I were sitting over coffee and sandwiches when she started sharing hard parts of her story with me. Her tears flowed freely, and when she finished talking, she looked up at me with red, expectant eyes. In that moment, I felt as though time froze; I just sat there, staring back at her with nothing to say, nothing to console her with, nothing to give her solace.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the conversation. I know that grace met us there, but I will not forget the emptiness I felt having nothing to offer my hurting friend.
Have you ever been there? Had absolutely no words of comfort and no idea what to say? It takes wisdom in knowing when to say something and when to just be a listening ear. But, when there is something to say, what is it?
Your friend pours out their struggle with sin to you, Friend, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. Take heart. You are not alone.
When you struggle believing that God is there and cares for you specifically, Self, He has clothed the lilies of the field and gives food for the sparrows, how much more does He love His child?
When your friend’s heart is grieved, God says, ‘I am your Helper and comforter in this very time.’ He is your deliverer. He will not let your foot be moved.
When you want to pray but don’t know what to say, Oh God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me…
Memorizing God’s Word gives us not only words of wisdom to share (again, sometimes we just need to be a listening ear!) but is an overflowing source of comfort, help, and insight in our everyday lives. Locking Scripture into my heart has strengthened me when I’ve been at my lowest of lows and has been a source of finding wisdom while raising my children. It’s helped me know how to fight the ever-prevalent sin in my life. It gives me tools to fight those spiritual battles that so easily can overtake me!
In different stages of my life, I’ve memorized scripture differently. As a high schooler, I used to memorize a short verse and wrote it down during the day whenever I could. As a college student, I memorized a verse or section of a verse weekly or monthly, writing them on small 3×5 cards to pull out while I was running, keeping rhythm with the verse.
As a mother of young children, I write verses on cards and hang them in the bathroom or kitchen (where I spend most of my time!). There are even many apps to use such as “Fighter Verse,” which my husband finds particularly useful.
It helps that this is a discipline I require of my four children as well. I use kid-friendly wording and write down their names and a corresponding verse on a piece of paper, which I then hang in our kitchen, and we recite the verses as a family after evening devotions. I cannot require of them what I cannot do myself!
When we memorize scripture, we have a larger well from which to draw. Sometimes I imagine myself in jail, being persecuted for my faith. Sitting there with no Bible available, what would I be able to remember from His Word? How could I comfort the fellow Christians with me? What would I say to myself in this time?
If memorizing the Bible seems like a bite too big to take, start small. Start by re-memorizing verses you did as a child. Start by memorizing one verse per month. Ask your friend or spouse to keep you accountable and have them ask you to recite the verse for them! A few good places to start are Psalm 1, or the Romans road, or finding a good kids’ CD with music to help learn verses. Singing verses is also memorizing.
God’s grace meets us where we are, and He knows what we can take in. He’s offered His Word as a letter of His love for His precious children. It’s where we meet Him, know Him, and understand His love for us more and more. His love that is deep and kind and steadfast. As you start step-by-step to learn it and let it sink into your heart, you will be blessed.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
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Caitlin, we all come with some baggage when it come to spiritual disciplines and mine is in this area. In college I was part of a ministry that emphasized scripture memory above all else. It was worded in very (how appropriate) scripturally accurate words, but it was laced with manipulation and shame. I think you all have picked up on the stubborn streak in my personality. Motivating me with manipulation will have the opposite effect — usually this is OK to not bend to manipulation, but in this case it mean I ran as far from scripture memory as possible. Not great.
All this to say, I so appreciate the tone and love you extend. And the healthy relationship you are fostering within your home. Thank you for this piece. xxo.
Oh Amy, what a tragedy of an experience. I am so sorry that you had to go through that, especially in light of the beauty of God’s Word. It’s a privilege to have it and be able to memorize it and shouldn’t be something that we are coerced into doing or legalistically pressured to do it. Just thinking about this gives me a yucky taste!
Thank you for your encouragement! His Word is so important and I fear that sometimes we undervalue the treasure we have at our fingertips. What a beautiful love letter our God has written for us! So thankful for you, your ministry, and all that you are doing to touch the lives of so many! Thank you, Amy!
Hey! I am not actively doing any memory now, but a couple of years ago, I read something that really clicked with me…it was encouraging me to memorize full chapters, and do one verse per day with review. That made it part of my daily life, not something I tried to do weekly or didn’t really have a goal for. I learned 2 Cor. 5 as part of grieving my mom’s death. My kids memorize long poems and paragraphs of facts for their local schooling, and I often have to listen to it and check their paper while they practice. They really liked having the tables turned as they checked me on my verses! 🙂
T, that is a great idea and very encouraging! I love the idea of kids memorizing large portions and how you guys are doing memorizing together. What neat memories for them and a way for you to draw closer to each other.
Thank you for sharing how you memorized as a part of your grieving process. Although I’ve grieved myself, I never have thought of that. It must have been so comforting. Thank you for sharing and responding!
Oops, I must not have been clear. My kids go to public school here, and they have to memorize long poems about springtime and big chunks of history/geography/science, so they can write it down word-for-word on their exams (in Arabic!). They aren’t doing Bible memory at the moment…
Oh no I misunderstood. But it’s still great practice to be memorizing and get into that habit! Will make memorizing scripture that much easier!
I have struggled with this for most of my walk, half-trying at different points, but always knowing I needed to do more. What is working now is memorizing with my kids. Since I have one in pre-K and he’s studying the letters, I have one picked out for each letter, and the 3 of us memorize one a week. It’s posted in our homeschool room as well as our dining room. My 6yo often stares/repeats/reads it while he eats, and the 4yo repeats him. I’m so thankful when they bring up a verse in conversation, and of course, I bring up the character-building ones often. 🙂 Thank you for more encouragement to press on!
Ashley, Thank you for your response. How precious to be memorizing with your children like that and so rewarding to hear your kids use it in outside conversation! I haven’t had that with my kids and it may also be a language thing. But, maybe one day! Thank you for your encouragement!
I haven’t memorised scripture for quite a while and reading this has reminded me of the importance of storing Gods word in our hearts and minds. Thanks friend for your faithful writing and for sharing your passion for Gods word. Look forward to working on knowing and locking away more of Gods word in my mind and soul ??
Thank you, Sam, for your encouragement!! I also need to work on memorizing more consistently. We’re all a work in progress 🙂
We do Fighter Verses too:) Sovereign Grace Music has great ‘scripture songs’ for families as well. Music is always so helpful for memorization!
Great suggestion w/the songs–I meant to mention Seeds Family Worship is mostly verses as well, w/the reference included in the song. you can finds lots of their music videos w/lyrics on youtube, and if you subscribe to their newsletter from their website, they do at least monthly give-aways.
Yes!! Their new “The Ology” cd is on repeat in our house! And we love the Seeds CDs as well. It helps me memorize too!
Thank you very much for this awesome encouragement to memorize Scripture! If memorizing Bible verses doesn’t come easily, I recommend the app Bible Memory: Remember Me. It features fun quizzes and flashcards, you can record yourself recalling a verse, listen to audio, and track your success systematically using the app’s intelligent review system. It’s so easy to use, it’s even part of Google Play for Families.