Have you seen this “subway art” that is so trendy right now? I like to call it “word art” since nothing I’ve seen in the subway looks very nice. Anyway, it is pretty fun and easy to do. You just choose a saying or a scripture verse that you’d like to make and call your daughter. I usually say, “Since you’re so good at this do you think you might have time to make something for me?” Soon in my email, I get this delightful surprise! It works pretty well! All that to say, I am very thankful for Andrea’s crafty computer-ness!
She did this verse which impacted me my very first year in BSF as we studied Israel and the Minor Prophets. I think I had it on a 3x5 card at my kitchen sink a lo-ong time. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet, so it is just hanging on a little clipboard on my crafting desk.
She also did this verse which I have loved and depended on in many a crisis. It was highlighted in our study this past year in Genesis. I framed it for the wall and as I come up the steps into our apartment it is hanging right in front of me!
Then in May when I was wanting to write a few “thank-you” cards and I had no time to make them, I asked Andrea if she could make it into a card size. How wonderful to get that email that had been formatted to just print the card, cut and fold it!
And recently I asked her if she could make a little title card to fit inside a 3x5 card organizer. I wanted to give them as a little gift to encourage the girls in my family to memorize scripture. I was just looking for a title that read “Moments with the Lord” and she gave me this. It comes in three colors that I thought all us girls would like, blue, purple and green (that’s for me).
To be honest I was thinking about Andrea and her new busy life with four little ones crying for attention. I know the thought of a “quiet” time for her is probably a “hysterical” thought! But it is also so necessary. Having a handy notebook of scripture verses to look at when she sits down to nurse, and she has that encouragement, a moment with the Lord right there! God’s Word is in her mind as she settles yet another dispute between Nolan and Elaine and she lacks the patience, or wisdom to do it rightly.
I was also thinking about a conversation my Mom, Robin and I had over tea back in January about wanting to memorize God’s Word this year. Well here we are at the half way point and I have made little progress in that New Year’s resolution!
I was renewed in my desire after listening to a podcast on Revive Our Hearts with Janet Pope called His Word in my Heart. Two things she shared have changed my perspective. One, I have always looked at scripture memory as a “thing to get done.” Janet Pope said that she knew she could not find more time in her day to do something else, so she determined to memorize while she was doing other things…like blow drying her hair in the morning, or working in the kitchen. Things we do all day that keep our hands busy but not our minds. (By the way she has memorized 14 books of the Bible!) That appealed to me because in the morning when I am showering and getting ready, I’m not quite awake and my thoughts seem to run away on their own, and I just let them take off. So I'm discouraged as I step out of the shower and my day has not yet begun. I know it is a battleground every day. I have written out some verses and hung them on the medicine cabinet so a quick glance at God’s Word, His perspective really, reels those thoughts…and the following emotions…back in again. So better yet, why not memorize His promises to me?
The other thought that I took away from the podcast is that when you have a verse memorized, dwelling on it and meditating on it, you are actually dwelling in God’s presence! Right in the middle of a busy day, or a difficulty I don’t know what to do with, I am transported into His very presence, receiving His help, strength, and encouragement! That was a “light bulb” moment for me!
Mom, Robin, and I are starting with Psalm 1. It is only six verses and they are familiar already. They are reminders of how blessed our life is when we choose to delight in His Word! Robin is taking her little book along to chemo and she texted me one day that she had written out the verses and is “all snuggled down in memorizing mode!" What a good picture of what His word in our hearts is all about! I have heard Mom and Robin quote verse one already!
How thankful I am that God’s Word is alive and full of power for my every need! And it is also very accessible when it is hidden away right in my heart!
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
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