Family Pic

Just a fun family pic to post for a bit!  

This was at JJ's 4th birthday party -- 

Lighting McQueen of course from the movie Cars!

MVP Verse 2

Here we are!!!!!!   I just know that verse 1 is memorized in your heart and you are ready to use it in the coming year for good!!   You'll be ready to roll those words off your tongue for yourself and your friends and family by the power of the Holy Spirit at the most needed moment!

How did you do with your first verse?  What was helpful to you to keep memorizing it?  Did you like Beth Moore's RENEW?  I just like HER! :)  As we were memorizing verse 1, I've also been working on putting together a Bible study called "How to Read the Bible."  I've created these daily homework sheets on how to work through reading a Scripture.  It's a 5 week class that I've put together and have even made each person a three ring binder with all the stuff in it.  I thought I needed to make a "sample" lesson already done for them to show them how to work through the daily reading charts.  And so I used my verse from this week to do a little exegesis on.  I just thought I had found a "neat little verse" about serving God.  But oh my!!!!! When I read the whole chapter that my verse is in....it had a whole new meaning to me!  This was my verse (from memory)  :)  

"It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.  Keep His commands and obey; serve Him and hold fast to Him!"  Deuteronomy 13:4

But the whole context of this verse is about not listening to false prophets and not worshiping other gods.  The end of the chapter even states that they (the believers) are to STONE TO DEATH those who do choose to follow false prophets and worship false gods.  Little did I know what I got myself into when I choose that verse.  But I'll remember it now....for fear of being stoned to death! ha!

So....chime in....how did you do?  What did your first verse teach you? What did you learn about God's Word in memorizing your verse?  Post your Scripture (by memory?!!) in a comment below and then tell us what your new verse is!!!!!!!

This is mine:  "Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds on what the Spirit desires." Romans 8:5.  I chose this in hopes that it will be a sense of helping me be centered in teaching the Bible study in the coming weeks.  (gulp!)

Your turn!! Come on you MVP's!!! You are great! Don't you just love toting around your spiral cards with Scripture on them and glancing at them at a stop light?  waiting in line to pick up kids?  before you get out of the car at Walmart?   I hope they are worn slick and well used by the end of the year!!!!

Beach!

Has nothing to do with MVP...just changed the background on the blog because I'm cold!!!!!!!

NFM

Color Codes

Now don't think I'm the one that dreamed up the color coding thing.  I didn't.  I wish...but I didn't.

This last fall I did an INDEPTH Kay Arthur Bible Study....she is the color coding queeeeeeen!  So, from my new Bible I bought for my husband to give me for Christmas, this is her "cheat sheet" on color coding. Noooooo, don't get bogged down in this part of it....just didn't want to take credit for the idea so I thought I'd share this as a resource.  DO NOT GET BOGGED DOWN IN COLOR CODING!! It is not required! :)  It just helps me..... AND...I'm just sharing.  I like it. Thought someone else might too!!This is from her (Kay Arthur) Inductive Bible Study method.....

Verse 1 part B

Okay...so I've been TRYING to memorize this.....let's see...without looking....

"It is the Lord your God who you must follow, and him you must revere.

Keep His commands and obey; (thinking........) serve him and hold fast to him!!!!!"  

Shew!  I've been working on it....its taken a lot of looking and reading it over and over...I've really meditated on it and thought about how it all connects.  I had to think about it alphabetically too...its the teacher in me....I had to remember that "IT" would come before the word "KEEP" alphabetically.  Then I color coded it all with colored pencils.  Here....look........

The words in yellow are all about God..."the Lord" and even the pronouns that refer to the Lord... even highlighted the word "him" and "his"because it refers to the Lord.  

The words in red are who its is written to... "YOU"   ......

Interesting to count how many times there are yellow markings and how many times there are only red markings.  To me...it means that IT IS NOT ABOUT ME.....its about God!!! :)  

The words in blue are about "me" and what I am supposed "to do" ....according to this verse.  This just helps me think about it visually and in my head.  THEN...after I colored those words in blue I noticed a list....look here:

Nothing like a list to shorten all the words down.... to meditate on and hold to heart.

You MUST: follow, revere, keep, obey, serve and hold fast....TO HIM!

Now that I should be able to work with....its not about solely memorizing....its about meditating on it in your heart and REALLY looking at the Scripture.....not just what it says...but what it means and how it really applies to you.  For me...this is great! I'm learning.  I'm thinking.  I listening to the Word.   

Keep practicing...find a method or technique that helps you memorize too. I love Beth's idea to help me get it started...to help me find one that works for me...to help me even begin to work on the memory part.  I've written this on the inside cover:

Keep on!! You are doing great!!

Time to get ready for Spanish lessons at 4:00!

Come Ye MVP's!!!!! Verse 1

Oh stars!! How exciting!! I'm sitting here with my spiral cards....just wrote down my first verse for the new year!!!!!!! Are you ready to witness?????????! :)

Come on friends.....we can do this. How crazy is this world and how greatly we need God's Word dwelling in our hearts?!! In our minds??! In our MOUTHS!!!!!! To share. To witness. To serve. Words to eat...instead of everything else in the fridge and the pantry...can I get a witness???! :) Eat these words...not the food when you are stressed, lonely, bored, overwhelmed....you know what I'm talking about, chicas! :)

Okay...my first verse to learn in these next two weeks! This is it:

"It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere.

Keep His commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him." Deut. 13:4 NIV

Now then....a little commentary. This is extra...just because the house is quiet!! :)

"It is the Lord your God you must follow...." not to follow the world, not your friends, not society....follow the LORD....HE is your God....

"MUST REVERE"...doesn't say "might" "could" or "should" says MUST! :) Oh me..."revere"--what we all need to do more of "with" God....revere Him, honor Him, admire Him, respect Him, think highly of Him, put Him on a pedestal (okay...a throne will do!)..... 'Nuf said.

"OBEY & SERVE" .....this is THE ONLY reason I've been attempting to put together writing and teaching a Bible study. Trust me. I didn't sit down to do this....God has laid it on my heart and I get to obey...yes, GET TO and this is my gift to Him...to serve and if I only have one person show up in Bible study....and they get SOMETHING out of how to read the Bible in a more meaningful way, then I have served the Lord and obeyed! :)

"HOLD FAST" ....not to the pop, the cookies, the icing, the candy.....(can you see where my thoughts are today?) hold fast to the Lord, your God, whom you get to obey and serve...hold fast. That one Spirit filled moment might slip away...do NOT miss God and how He wants to bless you this year. It's a face paced world...no matter who you are....its goes by quickly and sometimes we get swept away.....grab what He gives you and treasure it! HOLD ON...it's gonna be a good one!!!!

Now then...YOUR turn. You don't have to explain why you choose this...that's between you and God. You don't even have to explain what the verse means to you. Just type your verse and where its at and even what version. (we might need to learn it for ourselves later!)

To do this: just click on the link below for "comments" and leave your verse and name! Walaa! That easy. You MIGHT need an account from google...its free...just sign up for it. Or you can click "anonymous" but still leave your name in your actual post!

come on....YOUR turn to be an MVP! Learn your verse in the next two weeks using the RENEW method you watched in Beth's blog. And then, remember on the 15th, we'll do this again and you'll be ready to pick another verse.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!