Hiding His Word in my Heart

(This post is actually a comment that I left on Brenda's blog. Because it was so long and a bit of an update of where I am, I thought I'd copy it to my blog. How's that for killing 2 birds with one stone?!!!)

A few years ago, you gave the challenge to memorize 1 Peter. I started then just memorizing chunks of 1 Peter, but not the entire book. Then I went through a GREAT trial in my life and this book really helped to guard my mind and give me strength in the battle.

1 Peter is my favorite book (ask my friends...I reference it all the time). I have the Bible on CD and over the years I have listened to 1 Peter sooo many times and continued to read it. I was challenged by a msg on Revive our Hearts (ROH) to begin memorizing large sectiions of scripture or even book. Of course, 1 Peter came to mind. I am also doing a Precept study of this book now. I brought a spiral set of notecards and started working on chapter 1. Without even knowing it, I almost had all of 1 Peter 1 memorzied because I had meditated on it and listened to it so many times. I am so motivated to memorize the entire book...even the saluations at the end!

I called up a friend, and she joined me in memorizing Ps. 19 just about 3 weeks ago. Each Friday we quote the passage that we have decided on to one another. We are currently on the last 3 verses of Ps. 19. The accountability really helps to. Next she is going to start on 1 Peter! What a blesing to hide God's Word in my heart.

You can go here, to listen to the 1st message in the 3 part series from ROH. The woman that Nancy Leigh Demoss (host of ROH) is interviewing has memorized 14 books of the Bible (including Revelation and Ruth) and over 100 chapters! I use this woman's same method...carry my spiral around with me during the day and memorize as I do my daily chores.


By the length of my comment, I guess you can tell that I really value Scripture Memory.

Voices of the True Woman Movement

So, what could possible motivate to write on my blog after a 4 month hiatus? It's the new book edited by Nancy Leigh Demoss called, Voices of the True Woman Movement. Revive Our Hearts sent the book to me for free with the commitment that I had to write a review of each chapter. I needed some accountability to get back writing on my blog, so I thought this was just the ticket. (Not to mention that I LOVE free stuff!) Without further ado, here goes!

This book is a compilation of all the sermons/talks given at the True Woman '08 conference. I had the privilege to attend the conference in Chicago at that time. My friends, Nicole and Antoinette among others joined me on this trip. It truly left a lasting impression on my life as I can still remember so much of what was said. Pastor John Piper delivered the opening message and it is therefore the 1st chapter in the book.

Pastor John makes the statement that "Wimpy theology makes wimpy women." He gives examples of what the opposite of a wimpy woman looks like. She has courage to bear up under struggles when in the face of opposition, temptation, and fearful circumstances. Her trust in God's sovereignty leads her to glorify Him. I've been memorizing 1 Peter and as I read this chapter I continually thought of 1 Peter 1: 6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The women that he highlighted had suffered great trials, but their faith was proved genuine because they withstood the trail to God's glory. Only He could strengthen and equip them to bear the death of loved ones, sickness, and imprisonment in a way that honored Christ. These women saw the God centered purpose for all things that came into their paths.

Pastor John says that true womanhood is a distinctive calling of God to display the glory of His Son in ways that would not be displayed if there were no womanhood. God knew that womanhood and manhood could display Christ's relationship with the church and therefore, he made me a woman.



So how do I glorify God as a woman? I do this, by living out His Word and living a life that is contrary to the world. To live out His Word, I must know His Word. It is my goal to spend time daily reading and memorizing the Bible. (More on Scripture Memory in the next post). I want to display Christ likeness to my husband and children, as well. As a wife, I seek to honor God by submitting to and honoring my husband. Whoa, that's a mouthful and not an easy task to accomplish. Serving my husband means putting his needs above my own. That can sometimes be very hard to do! It means, trusting God in decisions that Eddie makes and following him. Boy, do I need to meditate on that. But truly, submission should free me up to please God. I can trust that because God set the order of a household, He knows what is best. As I submit to Eddie's decisions, God is honored.



As the mom of 3 under 3 and 1 on the way, I have a home full of little disciples! They are watching to see how I respond to things, and how I use my time. Breezy, my 3 yo mimics nearly everything that I do. O, that I would show her the things of the Lord and she would follow me as I follow Christ.

Further, the Lord has placed other single ladies in my life. It has been my joy to ivite them into our home. "Doing life" around them has hopefully been a representation of the Gospel. I want to spread the aroma of Christ and make them long for Him.

How do you glorify God?

I'm gonna keep on keepin' on!

As of today, I'm on the reading for Jan. 29. But, I'm not giving up. I still feel motivated to complete this task...on time. I got behind about 2 weeks ago when I went to Atlanta. I left my reading Bible at my mom's house and did not get it back for a week. I picked up another Bible to read and printed out a schedule, but I wasn't doing the entire 12 pages of reading each day. As you know, it doesn't take long to get behind. Each night before bed, I would think about the fact that I was getting more and more behind. (Sad face).

I know that the only way I will catch up is to cut some time stealers out of my life. This week, I've decided to stay off of facebook and Twitter until I have fully caught up. And I am getting back to my commitment of no TV or internet until I've completed the reading for the day. (I'm on the internet now because it's important for me to use the online community for accountablity. When I finish this post, I will get off the net until I've completed my reading for the day.) On Monday, I read 2 days worth and wanted that to be my plan to catch up. However, yesterday I only did a little over 1 days worth of reading. So today, I need to do 3 days of reading. I woke up at 6:30 this morning and have already completed 1 day. My plan is as follows:

Feb. 3- Complete readings for Jan 28, 29, 30 (2 Kings 15-1 Chron 23)
Feb. 4- Complete readings for Jan 31, Feb 1 (1 Chron 24- 2 Chron 23)
Feb. 5- Complete readings for Feb. 2, Feb. 3 (2 Chron 24 - Ez. 11)
Feb. 6- Complete readings for Feb. 4, Feb. 5 (Neh 1 - Job 7)
Feb. 7- Complete readings for Feb. 6, Feb. 7 (Job 8- Job 41)

If I stick to my plan, I'll be caught up on Sunday! Yes, this is a lofty goal, but by God's grace and my hard work I will accomplish this.

The best times for me to read are early in the morning before the kids get up and around 1 pm when they take a nap. If I'm not done by then, I can also do some reading before bed.

Of course I'm not just reading for the sake of reading. God is using his Word to change me. As I'm reading 1st and 2nd Kings now, I'm seeing how so many Kings did evil in the sight of the Lord. I've been thinking about that a lot. When I pray, I pray that Eddie and I and our children would do right in the sight of the Lord. Each time I read that someone did evil in His sight, my heart sinks a little. O, that we would be people who pleased the Lord in all things.

Menu Plan Monday

I hadn't really been serious about the pantry challenge so far this month. But, I decided to give it a try for this week. I've made it my goal not to go the grocery store at all this week. We're making do with what we have. I had another menu plan for the week, but I decided to change it. I'm planning to go to Atlanta this weekend for my sister's 30th birthday, and I would like to use the savings to fund this trip. So, here's what's on the menu.

Monday- Stewed Chicken (a friend from St. Lucia came over to show me how to make it), rice, black beans

Tuesday- Roasted Chicken (purchase on sale last week for $0.79 per pound), veggies, salad. I plan to brine the chicken and prep it using an adaptation of Alton Brown's recipe. Eddie will just have to put it in the oven as I'll be working this day.

Wednesday- Chicken Sausage and Pasta with Marinara Sauce

Thursday - Crockpot Beef, Rice, Veggies

Friday- Homemade Pizza

Saturday - Fried Fish, Baked Potatoes

For more menu plans of those eating from the Pantry, check out Life As Mom

Pressing on in the 90 Day Challenge

Well, so far we've made it through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and part of Judges...and it's only day 18!!! Thank you, Lord for getting me this far.

Over the past week, I've had a greater desire to retain some of what I've been reading and meditate on it throughout the day. To me, if the Word of God doesn't make a difference in my life and character then I have only read it for reading's sake. But, if I apply it to my life and burn it on the tablet of my heart, then I'm getting the true benefit of God's Holy Word. The Bible teaches that physical training is of some value but godliness has value for this life and the life to come.

I have started memorizing Deut. 5:32-6:9. Unfortunately, I only have the 1st two phrases down. I wrote it on a notecard and placed it above the kitchen sink today b/c frankly that's where I spend a lot of time! Hopefully, I'll get more of it down this week. I also think that if I write down a key phrase or something that sticks out to me from the reading, I'll be more likely to ponder it throughout the day. Too often, I find that I read the Bible in the morning and forget about my reading as the day goes on.

My commitment to keep the TV off and stay away from the internet is working like a charm. However, on Saturday, I broke my commitment saying, "I'll read later." Well, guess what. I had to finish Saturday's reading on Sunday! No surprises there.

From this week's reading, Deuteronomy was my favorite. Reading about the talking donkey and chapters 6-8 were very interesting. The secod half of Joshua was quite a challenge as I didn't enjoy reading where all of the bounderies were for each of the tribes land. Some of the cities were very hard to pronounce.

To find out how others are doing in the 90 day challenge, check out Momstoolbox.

Menu Plan Monday

One of my goals for the year was to do a menu plan each week. I've been on track ALL year...all 11 days of it! LOL!

Monday- Cynthia's Cheesy Chicken , rice, mixed vegetables, bread (made extra to take to our neighbor whose twins recently came home from the hospital)

Tuesday- Bacon Cheeseburger meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans

Wednesday- Penne with Chicken and Spinach, Italian breadsticks

Thursday- Angel Chicken

Friday- fish and fries

Saturday- Homemade Pizza. I first served this at the twins' 1st birthday. It was a real hit. I'm trying to make it a family tradition to have this Pizza weekly. I just love family tradition.

Publix has boneless, skinless, chicken breasts for $1.99/lb this week...we'll be clucking by the end of the week!

Bible in 90 days- 11 days down, 79 to go!

Well, it's the 11th of January and I'm still going strong in my Bible reading. So far, I've read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and most of Numbers! I can hardly believe it. I truly look forward to waking up in the morning and reading God's Word. I was one day behind, but yesterday I caught up.

The thing that has helped me most with this challenge is not turning on the TV or the internet until I've completed the reading for the day. It takes me about an hour to do the reading. Like I said before, I can waste an hour easily, so that's one reason I decided to take on this challenge. The early morning (around 6) is the best time for me to do the reading. That's about the only time that the house is super quiet. Once Halley and the tiwns are up, there's no turning back! I try to remember to put the coffeemaker on auto so that my coffee is waiting for me.

Reading so much each day gives me a broad view of the Scriptures. I do see the good that could come out of reading the Bible at a slower pace. If I did, I would have more time to research and find answers to my questions. But doing it this way let's me see the forest instead of focusing on each individual tree. And getting through Leviticus in 3 days was an added bonus. Of course, I know all of God's word is God breathed, but to be honest Leviticus is VERY detailed and I had a hard time focusing.

God is showing me that He means business in dealing with sin. Today, I read that He swallowed an entire family into the earth becuase of their sin. Moses wasn't able to see the promised Land becuase He didn't obey God's word as he had told him. (God told him to speak to the rock and water would come up. Moses struck the rock and thereby struck himself out of the picture for seeing the land that flowed with milk and honey.)

On a funny note, I find myself cringing each time the people begin to grumble to Moses and Aaron. I want to shout out loud, "NO...YOU'LL DIE!" LOL. When will they learn? So many Israelites died because of their grumbling. Even though the Israelites saw God deliver them many times, they always doubted and grumbled. I can't look down at them though, for I see this same thing in my own life.

Reading the Bible in 90 days has brought some much needed discipline to my life. It has been a joy to come to God's Word and learn His Ways. I have enjoyed checking in with others who are reading along, too. Please go to Momstoolbox to read insights from others who are reading the Bible in 90 days.

Macky Boy's 1st Haircut

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New Year, New Goals

Ahhh, a fresh start! Oh how I love the new year. I woke up early this morning and started working on my 1st goal to read the Bible cover to cover in 90 days.
My other goals are:

Spiritual
Memorize one long passage from the Bible each month. (I still need to choose a passage for January. I'll pick the passage before each month begins and start working on it.)

Continue to pour my life into the women that God has brought into my life. I want to be intentional in spurring them on to the Lord.

Read 1 book a month. Subjects: spiritual growth, parenting, marriage, fun stuff. January's book is Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.

Physical

Work out 3 times a week. I want to get rid of my belly fat!

Limit junk food intake to 1 snack a day. Increase fruit intake. Limit the amount of junk food I buy. If I don't buy it, I can't eat it!

Wife
Focus on Eddie. Daily think of how I can help and encourage him. Ask him what I can do to be a helper suitable to him.

Prioritize our physical relationship. (I started reading Rekindling the Romance by Dennis and Barbara Rainey earlier this week. It has helped a lot with me preparing my mind for action.)


Mother

Start teaching Halley the ABCs (one letter a week). Use Totally Tots.

Use Songs for Saplings to teach her the Scriptures.

Continue working on the Children's Catechism. One per month.

Read to the children daily.

Budget/Stewardship

Sit down with Eddie before the month begins and talk over our budget. Spend every penny on paper before the month begins. Use the envelope system.

In the Kitchen

Plan our meals every week.

Recycle and Reuse where I can.

Bake all of our bread using my new Bread Machine.

Stick to our food budget.

Blog

Update my blog atleast once a week. I've set this goal in the past, but I'm going to try again.

Well, that should be enough to get me started, dontcha think?

A HUGE Challenge!

Ok, here goes:
By God's grace and with the discipline he supplies and the encouragement of other believers, I'm going to read the entire Bible in 90 days!

(Whew, I said it!)

I've been a Christian for a very long time, but I've never read God's Word from cover to cover. Two years ago, I committed to doing so and got the farthest I ever had, by making it to Isaiah. I bought The Daily Bible In Chronological Order for myself, mom, sister, Joy, and Keisha (a close friend). I told them, "Don't waste my money. Read the whole thing." Guess who fell off the wagon first. ME!

However, I was still proud that I made it that far. I've heard it said that if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time. If I hadn't set the goal, I would not have even started. So, I'm thankful for what I did read and the things that I learned of God during those day. That's one of the reasons that I love the new year. I feel like it's a fresh start and that excites me!

So, you might ask: "If she couldn't make it through the Bible in a year, how in the world is she going to make it through in 90 days?" Answer: By God's grace! In December, I started thinking about my goals for the year. I had decided to attempt to read the Bible in a year. But this time I wanted to start with the New Testament. You see, I've tried reading the entire Bible so many times, that I've got Genesis down pat! Lol! I thought that since the NT is shorter, reading it first would give me some much needed momentum. Last night (Dec. 31) I printed off a schedule to read the NT in 90 days.

This morning, I got on the internet (more on that later) and came across this blog for the 2nd time. The challenge was to read the Bible in 90 days. I liked this idea b/c I would be reading along with a community of other online friends. And Lord knows I need the encouragement. Also, last year I read 2- 500 pg Christian fiction books (The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers) in about 1 month each. Some days, I spent well over an hour reading those books. I know if I could spend time reading those, I can read the entire Bible. However, I had lots of reservations (aka discouragement in my own mind).

I went back and forth in my head. What made me take the plunge to spend approximately 1 hour reading the Bible a day is this: I waste lots of time daily. I can spend an hour reading other people's blogs and surfing the internet easily for 1 hour. Shouldn't I be able to read God's Word for an hour a day. After all, it is living and active. It is God's Word! So that's what got me in.

This morning I started reading with Gen. 1 around 7:10 a.m. I finished the reading at 8:07. I may not be able to read it through every morning for a straight hour, but if not, I will read it during the kids' nap time. I am going to make the commitment not to get on the internet or turn on the TV until, I've completed my reading for the day. Like I said, I waste a lot of time on the internet and I really need to make the Bible my priority.

I'm looking forward to the Twitter parties (where we will discuss our reading) on Monday nights and being encouraged by others. There is a specific Bible that you can purchase for this challenge. They say that reading with this Bible with increase the likelihood that you will read the entire Bible. It's divided into 90 days and has some reading tools in it I think. However, last week when we were in Atlanta we went to Fellowship Bible Church. At the entrance to the sanctuary there were paperback ESV Bibles. I had been wanting an ESV Bible and a thin one to use specifically for my Bible reading for the year. I picked one up (hope that's ok). So that's the one I'll be using. I printed off the reading schedule and placed it in the back of my Bible.

You can read more about the challenge at Mom's Toolbox and join in or you can go directly to the Bible in 90 days website.

What about you? Have you made any spiritual goals for the year? Either way, I need your encouragement. Check back here to see my progress! By God's grace, 2010 is going to be the year that I read the Bible cover to cover.