I know I haven't posted much lately; I've been busy with school and when I am online I have been reading other folks' blogs quite a bit. Lots of inspiring stuff out there. Thanks to everyone who shares!
I just wanted to update my last post about my New Year's resolution for 2007. I am still working on being healthier; haven't given up yet, and we're 6 weeks into the year now, so maybe it's a habit at this point!
The other more important resolution that I made is to start really focusing on memorizing scripture. I made a commitment to read my Bible through in 2006, and despite falling behind for a couple of months during the summer, I managed to catch up and finished it all just before going to the Mt. Carmel youth meeting. It's amazing how every time you read the Word, you find things that you never noticed in there before! I will of course still read as well, but I want to read more for specific subjects and study than just to finish the whole book this time.
The reason that I decided to work on memorizing instead of just reading the Bible through this year is that it often seems that I can "quote at" a scripture pretty good, but don't know where to find it. When a minister is up preaching, I can usually finish up the verses he starts, but I have to resort to my concordance to find it. This is particularly bad if I'm the one up talking. I would like to get to the point where I've got enough scriptures solidly lodged in my mind that when I'm up speaking or just witnessing to someone individually that the Spirit can quicken a scripture to my mind and I can go directly to it, or give the reference so that others can find it. I've heard it said that the Spirit can't "quicken" something to you if it's not in your mind in the first place!
So I'm using note cards to write down scriptures that I'd like to commit to memory. I write the tex on the front of the card and the location on the back. That way I can glance at the first few words of the location, close my eyes, and see if I can finish it and give the chapter and verse as well. Sometimes I do it backwards... flip the cards over and look at the location and quote the verse from memory.
My plan is to memorize one location a week. Each location usually includes 2 or 3 consecutive verses. I'm keeping the old cards and recycling so that I continue to keep all of them fresh in my mind. This way, by the end of the year, I will have memorized 52 different locations of scripture. I plan to choose the scriptures in several different ways: sometimes those that I often hear quoted in church, other times verses that are particularly meaningful to me, and at other times I may learn several locations that help reinforce a particular doctrine or go along with a particular subject.
I just wanted to let others know what I'm doing that seems to be working for me in case you might want to try it, and also to cement my own commitment to continue doing this. I did good with this for the first 3 or 4 weeks, then I got out of the habit for a couple of weeks until a few days ago. I believe writing it down will help me to keep it up! I may blog about particular verses that I'm memorizing throughout the year. I've already discovered that this is a good way to meditate on the Word! I try to keep the cards handy and when I have a few spare minutes during the day, I'll grab them and think on them for a few minutes. It helps to refocus your mind as you go through your day.
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