Memory Mondays

I just returned from She Speaks, a conference for Christian women who write, speak and lead. The weekend was filled with informative sessions, creative women and convicting speakers. Karen Ehman was the last speaker yesterday morning. She talked about how she had been convicted about memorizing God's word. She told us that she could memorize a 14-minute monologue, but she found herself only able to recite about 30 verses word for word from the Bible.

As she spoke, God began speaking to me. I began to think about how many verses I knew word for word including the reference. What I discovered is that I don't know nearly as many as I thought I did. God's Word is the most important tool we have for teaching our children. Children are concrete thinkers. If we can show them a verse in the Bible that relates to the issue they are facing, it's much more effective than if we simply say "The Bible says..." If our children can see and hear the Word, their chances of remembering it are much higher.

With all that in mind, I want to challenge you to join me in a new feature on the Everyday Truth blog: Memory Mondays. Join me each Monday as we learn a new verse together that we can then use as we are training our children. I'll post the verse each Monday along with ways you can use that verse with your children. Try to learn the verse by the following Monday when I'll post a new verse and ask you to post how God used the previous week's verse in the lives of you and your children. If we learn one verse a week, by this time next year, we'll all have 52 verses hidden in our hearts. If you want to join me, leave a comment on this post. I'll have the occasional  giveaway for my Memory Monday readers, so keep an eye out for giveaway posts. If you forget which verse we are memorizing, I'll have it posted on the right-hand side of the blog each week.

Let's start this week with Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." You can use this verse with your kids when they are afraid or feeling abandoned and alone. It's a great reminder of how God goes with us no matter where we go. He promises us His strength and His help. His hand will hold us up when we are weak.

So sign up to join me in hiding God's Word in our hearts so that we can be more effective in training our children. I can't wait to see how God can use this in your life and the lives of your children.