Top 10 Tuesday/ Hide His Word update

It’s no secret that I’m having a rough time right now…I have 3 boys under 3.5, my dad is battling Stage 4 cancer, I work full time and am trying to do it all.  My postpartum depression has grown into full blown depression, my weight loss has plateaued (despite my promises to my dad not to give up), and I’m physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.

But the thing that has sustained me has been scripture memorization…so today I’m double dipping…you get a two-fer!!!  I’m linking this list up to Oh Amanda and Do Not Depart. 

I decided to split my top 10 Tuesday list into 2 parts. 

1st- 

5 way to memorize scripture (as gathered from Do Not Depart and A Holy Experience)
1. Write it down (I love my hhw moleskine)

2. Read it often

3. Listen to it (I love the links that Katie provided at Do Not Depart to the verses set to music…has helped me so much)

4. Hang it up everywhere (I have it hanging in my shower!!)

5. Practice with first letters (I’ve made index cards that you can see in the picture above that shows the first letter of each word…great for helping me recall.

 

2nd

Reasons to memorize scripture:
1. Fighting depression- I find that I need to take my thoughts captive when the depression starts.  Between Hide His Word and Seeds Family Worship I’m thinking about things that are true, noble, right, pure and lovely (Phil4:8)

2. Fighting fatigue- I am exhausted and restless.  Insomnia haunts me…so I play my verses on my iPhone and fall asleep feeling the Lords comfort.

3. Fight compulsive behavior- I believe that my depression and my emotional eating are forms of compulsive behavior.  I’m currently reading Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. A quote from Chapter 1 of this book that has hit me hard is this: We consume what we think about.  And what we think about can consume us if we’re not careful. I want my thoughts to be on things above!!  She also uses the scripture “everything is permissable, but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 10:23) as a battle verse…and I’m gonna cling to it too!!! 

4. Strengthen my faith walk- I can’t imagine how hard these last few months would have been had I not been as deeply rooted in the Word…I love being able to fight this battle with the Sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17)

5. All the cool kids are doing it!! I love the camaraderie and support I get from my sister friends on twitter.  The gals following the #HideHisWord hashtag are so encouraging and all my gals from #hellomornings, #warriorprayers, #b90days all are ready with verses to encourage and lift up one another.

 

So there you go…I feel like this blog post could also be titled,

“How memorizing Scripture has Changed my Life”

 

It’s amazing to have the Word of God always on my lips.  It’s almost automatic for me now because I’ve been working on it so much.  But I still need to make a conscious decision to do it.  Last week I paused to review (aka…didn’t touch it all week)….now I’m motivated and ready to tackle it again head on!!!

Do you have a top ten list posted today?  Do you have any additional tips for memorizing scripture?  Post a comment, I’d love to visit your blog too!!!

Much Love,