Your word has been true in every season of my life…
I’m sure you’ve had one of those moments where a song or message hits you just right. Maybe it’s the fact I have been awake since 3am, maybe it’s the excessive amount of caffeine I have consumed today, maybe it’s that life is just A LOT sometimes, but I know it’s definitely that God will speak to us when we need it most.
There is a common theme I’ve been really intentionally putting my focus on over the last year— scripture memory. I know, I know… it is super intimidating and many of you want to stop reading right now. But, hear me out. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I was intimidated to start. I can’t remember to send my child’s snack to school half the time, or why I ran all the way upstairs. Hmm.. surely it wasn’t to fold the laundry that’s been in the dryer for two days? Nah.
But once I started last summer, I realized I had pieces of verses memorized still from my childhood, and without a lot of effort, I was able to fine tune those. I began memorizing verses from 100 Verses Everyone Should Know which I discussed in my last blog post (You can buy the book on Amazon HERE, along with the scripture cards I created HERE).
Fast forward to January 2024, the theme of scripture memory continued to come up in my life, and even if I tried to avoid it I couldn’t— I had been asked to join a group of women going through Bible Theology and memorizing scripture together, another mentor asked the group I was meeting with weekly to memorize a large passage of scripture together (totally frightening, more thoughts on this in a future post), and so I set a goal for myself for 2024 to memorize 100 (NEW to me) Bible verses this year.
One thing that really stuck out to me that I want to share with others about scripture memory is something my very wise mentor told me. She said something like, “You’re in a busy stage of life. Some days you don’t have a quiet moment to sit down alone and read scripture. But what you CAN do is memorize it. Meditate on it. Store it in your heart so that in those busy moments you can still have His Word right there with you.”
Y’all, I can’t stress her words to you enough. I hope you find them as encouraging as I have over the last year. And let me tell you, she was right. I can repeat a verse to myself as I wash dishes, fold that never ending laundry, drive my kids to sports practices, or when I lay in bed at night and can’t fall asleep. His word brings me comfort in the moments when I am meditating on it, but it also brings me comfort and hope in the moments when I’m struggling, when I’m ridden with anxiety, when my kids have pushed every button and I just want to snap, when a loved one dies… but also in the beautiful moments, too!
Now, to get to my main reason for writing this post today. I’ve heard this song several times and I liked it, but it didn’t really have that much effect on me until I heard it today. I immediately started ugly crying and put it on repeat. Here’s some of the lyrics…
“Great Aunt Maurine said at a hundred and three
Write scripture on your heart for when you need it
Cause anxiety hates Psalm 23
So just say it to yourself ‘til you believe it
And I’m feeling like I’m needing it right now”
In several different places, the Bible actually calls us to memorize Scripture. Colossians 3:6 tells us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” and Deuteronomy 11:18 tells us to, “Lay up these words of mine on your heart and in your soul”.
His word will transform our minds.
She then sings PARTS of Psalm 23— (so many people never start memorizing scripture because they are too afraid they’ll mess up or miss a word. In the heat of the moment, it isn’t going to matter if you quote it perfectly!)
She then goes on to say,
“I’m laying fear down
Here at Heaven’s riverside
Your word has been true
In every season of my life”
As if I weren’t already sobbing, that last part just made me raise my hands in praise. Your word has been true in every season of my life. Isn’t that so beautiful and true?
I encourage you to go listen to that song! (Still Waters (Psalm 23) Leanna Crawford
I’d love to know if anyone else feels as moved as I did listening to it today. As always, please reach out to me if you have questions, comments, or want to start memorizing but need some help! I’d love to chat! And if you’re close to Savannah, GA, we’d love to have you join us for our Women’s Conference September 6-7th where we learn all about applying God’s Word in our lives. Reading it, Praying it, Memorizing it. Praying for each of you reading this.
lightonahillco@gmail.com or message me on social media @LightOnAHillCo
