WEBVTT - 481 The Importance of Scripture Memory Part 2: Alana's Testimony 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:08.880 Life Audio. Hello, Welcome to the Praying Christian Woman podcast. 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:10.600 I am Alana here with Jamie. 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.840 How are you doing great? How about you good? 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.599 I am so excited we get to keep on talking 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.800 about Bible memorization. And I don't feel like people need 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.160 to go back and you must listen to part one 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:27.760 before we go here. But we've just been chatting about 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.960 the benefits of Bible memorization, tips and tricks for memorization, 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.240 some of my testimony that hopefully I want to share 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.600 some more about that with you, about Bible memory and 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.199 continuing to have that talk. So what's been in your 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.240 mind since we last talked, which is only a couple 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.480 days ago when we recorded the first part. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.800 Yeah, I've just been thinking a lot about how little 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.600 I've been committing scripture to memory, and so as I've 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.600 been trying to memorize this verse that we talked about 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.200 we're going to memorize the verse, my brain isn't It 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.119 doesn't work the same, I think because I haven't been 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.160 memorizing scripture. My brain is different, and so I can 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.560 feel the gears start to gradually start, you know, moving, 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.120 and I know and I can tell that the more 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:20.880 I work on it, the more it's going to help. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.760 So this scripture memory is going to help not only 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.319 with memorizing scripture, which is going to be good, but 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.520 probably with my brain in general and just like you know, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:34.520 elasticity and neuroplasticity and all of that stuff. But yeah, 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.440 I've been thinking back to the days when I began 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.959 memorizing scripture, which was very cool because it was kind 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.440 of a time in my life where I sort of 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:49.040 rededicated my life to Christ, when I started praying in 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:52.280 ways where I saw God starting to move like I 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.520 never had before because and I was looking at prayer 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:56.640 in a different way. It was it was just it's 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.840 kind of stoked the flames of my faith a little 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:02.720 bit to remember back to that time. 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.600 Yeah, one thing that I did because you and I 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.320 in the last episode decided that we would both choose 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:11.519 a passage to memorize and that would be our worst 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:12.880 of the day. And like I said, we've only had 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.320 two days, so either of us probably have a full 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.640 passage memorize, but well, we'll do what we can. But 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.560 what I did is, while I was working on it, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.600 I had a post it. You know how much I 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.760 love my post it, and I would jot down all 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.160 of the blocks that popped into my head while I 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.280 was doing it, and one of them was kind of 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.200 like what you said, Like if it's not as easy 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.560 as it was when I was twenty, why bother right? 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.720 And it's just this idea of when you look at 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.440 it in a certain way, and I can't explain how 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.400 nonsensical was, Like what in the world does anything about 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.080 when you were twenty have to do with anything? 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:52.959 Right? 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.760 Like mo cares that that has no bearing on today. 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:00.280 So it might be like saying, you know, when I 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.400 wrote my first few books, I could write six thousand 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.639 words a day, and I can't write six thousand words 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:08.480 a day anymore, so I'm not gonna write like that's 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.520 not really like it's a dumb metric. It means nothing. 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.239 The fact that I'm not writing six thousand words a 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.280 day certainly doesn't mean I can't write two thousand words 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:22.200 a day. And just because I can write two thousand 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.760 words a day today doesn't mean that if I'm eighty 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.720 and can only write two hundred words a day that 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.080 I still won't like writing, you know what I mean? Like, 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:35.360 they're just it's so arbitrary, it's to me, it sounds 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.000 like it makes sense, but when you look at it, 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:42.200 it's like saying, well, I can't go be the bridesmaid 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.000 in your wedding even though we're best friends and no 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.560 Jamie's not getting remarried or anything. Jamie and our husband 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.000 are still happily together and happily married. I'm just trying 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.400 to pull out like the dumbest hypothetical I can, like, sorry, 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.280 I can't be your bridesmaid because when I was twelve, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.280 I went to a junior high dance and wore red 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.240 shoes right like to me, And it would be like 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.640 as if in my brain that made perfect sense to me. 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:05.760 That's what it sounds like by saying well, since it 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:09.440 was easier to memorize when I was this age, who cares, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:10.040 you know? 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:12.800 Yeah, No, totally agreed. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.000 We're different people and we have different things in our lives, 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.840 and thank God for our brains that adapt to our 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.880 place in life, Like our needs for our brains are 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.760 very different from when we were twenty and had no, like, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.240 let's face it, super responsibilities other than making it to 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.840 class and memorizing scripture. I mean, that's maybe simplifying it 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.440 too much, because schools demandle it. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:40.600 But it is. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.640 But yeah, I mean there was studying, but our minds 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.200 were primed to memorize things we were studying. We had 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.960 just come out of high school, we're in college, you know. 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.559 So anyway, all of that to say, thank you God, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.240 that's what where I'm going to land. I'm going to 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.839 take what you said totally resonate with it and say, 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.120 I'm going to thank God for the ways that He's 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.720 transformed my brain to deal with the things that I'm 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:05.960 dealing with on a day to day basis now. And 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.240 I'm also going to thank him that I have a 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.839 brain that is able to get back into scripture memory 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.000 and that I can work at it and it can 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.400 probably become easier as I go. 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.760 Yeah, yeah, exactly. Another big block that came up for me. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.760 I think this might be one of my biggest blocks 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:28.240 that I encountered was because I've memorized in the past. 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.200 I know how much work it takes to keep what 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:35.760 you've memorized in your brain. Right, So my block is, well, 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.279 I'm memorizing this now, but in two weeks I'm not 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.359 going to have it memorized. And so what I have 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.919 had to combat that block with is. It's not about 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.440 keeping it memorized for the rest of my life. It's 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:56.320 about absorbing it in the act of memorizing it, almost 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.680 like in fifty first States, Right, it's like I might 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:01.919 forget who you are every single day, so then I 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:03.840 get the joy and the privilege of falling in love 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.240 with you every single day, right, as opposed to I'm 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.159 not going to remember you tomorrow, so why should I 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:10.720 even go on a date with you today? 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:10.960 Right? 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.080 You can, you can flip it, and I'm like, well, 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.839 it's not about am I going to know this in 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.839 a year, It's about right now. The act of slowing 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:24.320 down and memorizing this passage has allowed it to absorb 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.159 in my spirit in a way that nothing else does. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:33.320 So that in itself is the spiritual discipline. And if 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.719 I happen to remember it two weeks from now, that's 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.800 the almost the bonus. And then I also absolutely recognize 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.160 that if this verse, I'm going to say that I 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:47.520 am eighty percent comfortable in my memory of this verse, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.560 and so another block might be, you know, unless I 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.479 know it one hundred percent and can guarantee that in 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.440 six months i'll know it one hundred percent, then it 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.080 wasn't worth the time spent doing it. I'm choosing to 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.680 trust that when the recall is going to be required, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.760 that the Lord will give it to me. I have 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.719 a friend who runs marathons, and basically what she told 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:13.320 me once was, if you can run about fifteenish miles 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.920 on your own, then you can almost definitely run a marathon. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.200 So it's not like you go from fifteen and then 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.200 you work sixteen, then you go from sixteen, then you 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.000 go to seventeen. It's almost like, if you get to 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.960 a certain point, then by the time you get into 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:33.560 marathon mode where there's adrenaline and there's positive peer pressure 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.440 and motivation, like you don't muster up when you're running solo, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:41.760 you're going to be able to do it. And I 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.480 kind of think of it like that. Like so again, 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.600 if we want to go really, really dramatic, I'm sitting 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.160 in the jail cell and have no Bible, I probably 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.400 can trust that if I needed this exact passage that 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.160 I've been working on and right now I have eighty 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.960 percent accurate, that either eighty percent accurate is going to 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:03.760 be good enough for me in that moment, or God's 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.480 going to give it to me with better accuracy, right, 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.520 So it's I have it good enough, and good enough 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.040 can be good enough. Yeah. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.760 I mean I think about it as putting scripture in 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.960 the well of your brain so that the Holy Spirit 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.320 can bring it to mind if you absolutely need it. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:30.280 It's there, your unconscious subconscious mind retains it, even if 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.080 your short term memory might discard it in favor of 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.960 something more vital to survival at the given moments. But 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.200 it's there and the Holy Spirit can take it and 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.800 bring it to the forefront. I mean, realistically, I guess 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.720 the Holy Spirit could just plant it in there in 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.960 the first place. But I do believe that God wants 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:49.760 us to partner with him in some way. So that's 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.439 that's how I look at it as. Even if it's 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.280 not one hundred percent the act of going through the 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.920 process of getting it so that it's memorized, it's going 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.480 to be there for the Holy Spirit to more easily 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:01.640 bring it to your mind when you really really need it. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.840 Yeah. So I'm choosing to go into this phase of 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.560 scripture memorization with even if I don't even remember a 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.360 single word tomorrow, what I'm doing today is still worth it. 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:14.360 Yeah, there you go. 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.319 So with that, what have you chosen to start memorizing? 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.400 So I'm going to tell you my process. 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:27.280 So I wanted to memorize the passage where Steven kind 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.520 of gives like this gospel recap it's long though, it's 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.520 so long long, and so I'm going to begin at 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.679 some point. But at some point in my looking into 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.520 like passages that kind of do like the Gospel in 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:47.439 a nutshell. Yeah, one passage came through that really isn't 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.840 what I was looking for, but it has a story. 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.880 So this is Matthew twenty six, sixty three and sixty four. 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.040 I haven't memorized all of it. But when our oldest 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.760 son was like maybe in middle school, maybe twelve thirteen 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.960 and thirteen fourteen, he was kind of wrestling with I 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:06.920 believe there's a God. 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.160 I know the stories of the Bible. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.120 I know about Jesus, and I want to believe in Jesus, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.200 but I have a kernel of doubt that Christianity is 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.880 the true religion. And I just he's always been kind 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:21.880 of analytical, and I was like, well, you know what, 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.880 just ask God to help you. Just tell him that 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:30.200 and see what happens. And so at one point in 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.600 that sort of general timeframe. I came into the room 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.600 in the morning to wake him up, and he said 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.280 as soon as he woke up, he didn't say a word. 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.800 He was just like, Mom, get my bible, get or 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:46.640 get a Bible and look up Matthew twenty six sixty four. 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.280 I think this is the passage, because I just remember 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:54.600 that when he said sixty four, I was thinking, I 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.280 don't know if it goes that high, you know, I 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.240 must don't. And I was thinking, what are you doing God, 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.400 Like this is scary, And I got kind of panicky, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:04.920 because of course we want to make it, you know. 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.760 And so anyway, if this is in fact the verse, 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.160 which I think it is, I opened up the Bible 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.160 and sure enough it was there. And we hadn't talked 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.360 about this particular thing in a long time, like this 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.600 in a while, and so I just read it and 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.200 I said, you have said so, Jesus replied, but I 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:21.760 say to all of you, from now on you will 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.400 see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.480 of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.080 And I said, okay. And He's like, WHOA, Like that's 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.080 that's really cool. I said, well, why and he said, well, 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:34.720 last night I did what you said. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:36.440 I prayed and I asked God. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.200 I told him I didn't know, and I said, can 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.480 you just give me a sign that Jesus is real 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.920 and that he's really your son and that Christianity is 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:50.560 actually true? And he said, I woke up And so 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.440 he didn't have the scripture in mind. He had the 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:59.640 numbers like Matthew twenty six sixty four, and so to him, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:05.080 that was God's answer. It was, okay, Jesus is the 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.240 son of Man. He sits at the right hand of 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.360 God and he's real, you know, And so that is 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:15.079 he's kind of stood on that as he's had doubts 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.680 and things as something where he felt God really spoke 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.000 to him. So anyway, this popped up in my and 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:22.120 so I was like, well, I might as. 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:23.040 Well memorize this one. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.480 So yeah, great, do you want to try it or 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.280 do you Okay? I haven't. We want everyone to know. 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.440 Jamie and I committed to this, but we thought that 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.000 we were going to record in a week and we're 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:35.200 recording two days later. 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.400 I know, and I just started memorizing it today. But 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.959 I can do I think verse sixty three, so verse 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.199 sixty threas starts out, but Jesus remained silent, which doesn't 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.440 really go along with the rest of it. But so 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.280 the rest of it is okay, the High Priest said 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.319 to him, I charge you under oath by the Living God. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.680 Tell us, if you are the Messiah, the Son of God. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.200 You have said it was, you have said it is so, 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.559 Jesus replied, You have said so, Jesus replied, So that's 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.559 as far as I got. Sorry, it's not very kind 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.680 of anti climactic, that is. And then he goes on 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.800 to actually say, but I say, from now on, but 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:14.880 I haven't gotten to that part yet, how about you. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:19.520 Yeah, yeah, I also started today because, like I said, 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.960 we committed for a week, and to be fair, I 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.040 had a couple of those. 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.760 Blocks to have to get over, which is in itself informative. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:28.640 So that's a good thing. 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.280 Yeah. Yeah, it was really useful to have that post 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.120 it and just john him down because I knew that 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.319 you and I were going to be talking about scripture memories. 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.439 I'm like, okay, here's all the blocks that had come up. 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:51.960 Let me see if there were any more on my 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:56.040 posts that I forgot to mention for me accuracy was 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.360 a big one. It was like, if I practice it 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.920 just to my but I say a word wrong, I'm 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.360 not going to know, and then I'm just going to 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.240 be reinforcing the wrong word. 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.200 I had that too, because I kept looking back instead 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.680 of trying to memorize it myself. I kept looking back 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.760 at the thing because I didn't trust myself and I 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.240 didn't want to say it wrong because I didn't want 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.320 my brain to like imprint that yeah ession. 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.000 And I think that just again becomes where good enough 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.000 is good enough, Like you say it is so, or 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.520 you say that it is so, they mean the same thing, 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:37.080 and so it doesn't matter like which you use. You know, 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.520 the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want versus 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:41.320 the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:46.440 one like, hey, that one's just which shepherd translation you've 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.040 decided to go through, But b it means the same thing, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:55.120 so it doesn't really matter. So yeah, I have learned 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:00.760 to accept the fact that like, yeah, percent, that's a 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.400 bee getting a B and Bible memory is going to 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.080 be good, Like I'm okay with my eighty percent, and 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.160 if feeling like I need to get one hundred percent 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.480 is actually what's keeping me from doing it at all? 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.440 That I would way rather be a B student and 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.800 get eighty percent of a big chunk of scripture memorized 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.040 and never opening up my Bible because I'm afraid I'm 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:24.960 not going to get a hundred. 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.160 Well, and you have to think, if you're in that 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.960 prison cell with no Internet and no Bible, will you 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.840 get the point across missing a couple of words. And 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.920 I am not in any way saying that we should 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.080 paraphrase scripture, but the bottom line is if you get 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.320 the idea of what it's saying, then that is, you know, 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.360 at some point, it's absolutely better than not having access 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:48.120 to it at all. 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:53.400 Absolutely right. Like memorizing the Beatitudes, for example, it's more 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:57.520 important to know that God has called the Peacemaker's blessed 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.680 than to know the exact threeason why, because like when 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.160 you read the Beatitudes, there's like, you know, eight or 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.280 ten different virtues and then eight or ten different reasons 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.840 why they're blessed. But they're all fairly enterchangedabolans, you know. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.960 Not that again, not that we want to mistreat scripture, 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.560 but it's not a sin for me to say, blessed 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.440 are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of heaven 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.240 if like if actually the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.080 the meek, and I, you know, and I mess them 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.400 up right, like I think God is gonna give me 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:36.240 some grace there. And all right, so I had chosen 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.800 to go to Romans eight, and I'm gonna be starting 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:45.520 at twenty eight, and I am I've just decided I 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.960 found one of my really old, like old school nibs, 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.920 and I'm just gonna stick with that. So all right, 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.400 let me get myself started. I'm to where like I 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.440 need to look at it to get myself started. It's 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.640 almost like the training meals you know what I mean, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.240 and then I can and then they like, okay. And 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.480 we know that in all things God works for the 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.960 good of those who love Him, who have been called 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.760 according to his purpose. For those he fore knew, he 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.880 also called to be conformed to the likeness of his son, 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.880 and those he fore knew he also called. I got 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.720 some of those wrong, okay. If he foreknew them, he 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.399 predestined them. And then for those God for knew he 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.120 also called. Those he called he also justified. And as 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.000 he justified, he also glorified, And that's kind of what 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:33.960 I mean. It's like they all sort of mean the 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.560 same thing. So if I like I switched up in 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.320 my brain the order between being called and predestined, is 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.359 God going to be mad at me for that? No? 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.000 Am I going to sacrifice somebody's eternal soul if I 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.400 am witnessing to someone in a jail cell where there's 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.160 no Bible and I say called before predestined, when really 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.960 it was predestined before called no. Right, So and that's 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.720 a pretty big step for me to learn to be 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:05.280 okay with Okay. Yeah, So that's that's kind of been 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.920 my journey. So now that we've done our versus the day, 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.120 I guess it's time to open up in a worder. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.359 All right, God, we just thank you for your word, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.000 and we just thank you for the ability to let 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.359 go of perfectionism for the sake of just loving your 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:25.360 word and being open and excited about committing it to memory. 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.159 And we just pray that today we would just be 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.320 able to appreciate even more the gift of scripture. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.640 And for those of us that have a hard time. 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:41.000 Getting back into memorizing things, I just pray for the 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.000 supernatural ability to open ourselves up to learning something new 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.639 or to relearning something that's gotten difficult over the years, 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.920 so that we can not just to check something off 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.760 of a list, but to seriously just for the process 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.720 of getting to know you more deeply and and actually 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.199 incorporating scripture into our being in a way that just 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:05.880 makes us love you more. 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:06.679 Amen. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.439 So interestingly, one of the blocks that I thought I 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:14.200 would come against that I really didn't is this question 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.359 of like, how do I choose what to memorize first? 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.960 Did you have that or were you just kind of like, Okay, 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:22.639 this is the one I'm going to. 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:23.679 Do it sort of? 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:25.959 I mean, it took me a little bit of time because, 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.280 like I said, I had in my head, Okay, I 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.840 want to memorize something where I can just present the 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.760 Gospel in a nutshell to somebody in I'm picturing the 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.120 prison cell. That's my goal, is what are my wants 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.639 and go tos if I'm on a deserted island with 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.600 twenty people. And so my block was that it's long 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:49.880 the one that I thought I wanted to start memorizing. 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.719 So I'm going to And then I realized about myself, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.880 I'm I'm going to start small and so it wasn't 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.120 that bad, but it was a little bit of a process. 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.560 Huh yeah, I I figure that that would be one 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.760 of my biggest blocks because it's almost like, by choosing 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.720 Romans eight, I'm saying that Romans eight is better than 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.800 Isaiah Forte. Who am I to say that? But it 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.000 sort of did, like, Okay, I think it was just 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.479 God being like, here's where you should start. So if 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:19.639 people do have that as one of your blocks, I 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.640 would just prabay and ask God to show you. And 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.720 for me, it was just kind of really natural where 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.520 to begin with that. Another option could be think about 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.199 times where you wish Bible recall would come to you. 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:36.399 So maybe it's at night and you feel anxious, so 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.160 then maybe you could just google good Bible versus for anxiety. 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:42.560 You know, you could do it kind of topically or 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.639 issue based, or maybe you have a hard time with 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:52.520 a specific sin. Maybe you are hot tempered and you 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.080 can just look up what are some verses that speak 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.679 about anger and make that one that you do. But 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.520 by choosing, you're not saying that that verse is more 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.440 important than another. It's just what God is bringing to moments, 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.919 you know, just like if I eat spaghetti for dinner tonight. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:13.600 I'm not saying that spaghetti is inherently better than lasagna. 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:15.680 You know, they're just two different meals. 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:17.880 They just are. Yeah. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.760 Well, where I started when I first started memorizing scripture 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:25.480 in college was the Navigator's Topical Memory System. And we're 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.120 not like promoting it in terms of like we don't 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:30.439 get a kickback. I think it's a free resource. But 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:34.520 it's the topical memory system. And they actually have categories. 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:38.160 So if you have something that you want like living 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.840 the New Life, they have you know, Christ, the Center, 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.920 Obedience to Christ, the Word, prayer, fellowship, witnessing like they have. 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.439 They have it topically organized so you can choose like 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.439 which ones, and they do have kind of a method 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.679 to what you memorize, kind of to equip you to 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:58.160 share the Gospel more fully, more easily. And so yeah, 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:00.520 it's it's a pretty Oh I guess you do have 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:04.200 to buy it, so but I think you probably you 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.560 can buy the cards that you can tear apart, but 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.719 they have all of them listed so you can create 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.439 your own cards based on their resource. So all of 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:15.680 that to say, if you need to use something, it's 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.040 that's a really easy one to use. But there are 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:18.640 tons of them. 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:22.200 Absolutely, we have Google now, we even have chat GPT. 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.440 So you could even say, I'm the fifty year old 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.199 woman trying to get back into Bible memory, and I 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:31.679 like this translation and I want a passage it's not 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:33.960 too long that talks about this, and it'll give you 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.040 a bunch of options, and you could pick one right 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.120 from there. Maybe double check that I have not had 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.679 chat GPT. Ever, give me a Bible verse. It's not 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:44.639 a Bible verse, but I have had chat GPT, just 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.480 like make up facts that are true. 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:50.000 Me too, Oh my gosh. And it'll always say, oh, 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:50.960 you caught me. 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:52.960 Yes, I'm just. 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:57.440 Like what, So double check it before you do it. 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:02.240 But that is an option as well. So when you 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:05.800 memorized the one that you started working on, did you 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:09.720 just start looking at it and learning it or did 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:13.480 you have any other systems for how to do the 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:14.960 act of memorizing. 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:19.800 I did just basically. I would do the first few words, 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:23.679 cover it up, say them, and then I did the 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:27.440 first few words plus a few more. Now, though as 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:30.080 you say that, I remembered what you said about memorizing. 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.639 The large amounts of scripture, it might be beneficial to 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:39.480 memorize the first few words, then memorize the next few words, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:40.840 and then put the two together. 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:43.720 I'm thinking for my brain because when I just keep 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:45.960 adding and adding and adding, one. 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:48.800 Of my blocks is ooh, that's too long, like when 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:51.000 I start to see the string getting longer and longer. 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:54.120 So I think, maybe, like you what you did, only 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:56.359 I do it on a micro scale of like, okay, 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.720 first few words, then the next phrase, just memorize that 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:01.880 phrase and then put the two together. So I think 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:03.720 that's what I'm going to do for the remainder. But 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:07.320 what I had been doing was reading a little bit, 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:09.640 then adding a little bit more, adding a little bit more, 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:10.960 and it was challenging. 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:16.120 Yeah, eventually you know what your brain capacity is and 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.679 you need to basically make it into a smaller chunk 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:23.280 than what max is out your brain capacity. 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:24.520 Yeah. 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.679 One of the I don't think this is a block, 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:30.560 This is just a logistic problem that I come across 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:33.600 when I memorize, is how do I know if I'm 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:37.080 getting it right? Because if I'm just here doing it right, 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:40.280 Like we think of Bible memory as something that a 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:42.640 kid does in Sunday school and there's a teacher there 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:44.920 and you're chanting it with the group, and all of 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:47.560 those things are so good for memory, right, like speaking 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:50.520 of it out loud, doing it kind of more chanty, 0:24:51.160 --> 0:24:54.880 doing it in a group, so there's reinforcement. But if 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:58.440 you're just sitting there with your Bible, most of those 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.159 aren't available to you. You I would come up with 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.920 a chant. I think that's actually very beneficial, but I'm 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:06.720 too self conscious to do that out loud, even if 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:10.119 I'm home alone, which you know, there's another block that 0:25:10.160 --> 0:25:11.240 I could eventually get over. 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:14.720 Yeah, well one thing if you're not if you're open 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:19.040 to it, I remember it was for a Wana. There's 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:20.880 a CD that you can get and if you are 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:26.960 not opposed to singing little kids songs, it was so effective. 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:30.280 And it's not like great music. It's not great tunes. 0:25:30.320 --> 0:25:33.840 It's very repetitive and generic sounding. But you would be 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:38.320 amazed if you haven't already learned things through Auana music. 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:41.399 Or no no, no, no, I'm sorry. Was it a Wana? 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:43.160 Or was it Good News Club? 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.800 There's tons of resources and most of them. 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:49.600 Are both Good News Club. 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:54.000 But yeah, even the most sing songy generic tunes stick 0:25:54.040 --> 0:25:57.359 in your head better stick in my head absolutely well. 0:25:57.400 --> 0:26:01.920 And there are some albums for Bible memorization that are 0:26:02.040 --> 0:26:05.159 more geared toward adults. So honestly, for me, if I 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:06.399 were to do it, I'd be like, give me the 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:10.640 kid stuff. It's more fun, it's more catchy. But there 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:12.680 was definitely a time in my life where I would 0:26:12.680 --> 0:26:16.920 have been almost insulted by that and it just wouldn't 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:19.719 have resonated with me. And so I do know that 0:26:19.760 --> 0:26:23.040 there are lots of people who make scripture memory versus 0:26:23.720 --> 0:26:28.400 set to music, and sometimes they're more paraphrase and sometimes 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:31.879 they are definitely like verbatim to the word, And you 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.959 just have to decide what you're most comfortable with. Do 0:26:35.000 --> 0:26:39.280 you know the band Shane and Shane, So they have 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.840 an entire album. It's just an acoustic album called Psalms, 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:48.320 and it's beautiful and they're all inspired. All the lyrics 0:26:48.359 --> 0:26:52.200 are inspired by Psalms, but they're not like verbatim from Psalms. 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:56.520 But I know there are also people who for adults 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.280 take John three sixteen and set it to music. But 0:27:00.320 --> 0:27:02.439 like I said, to be fair, the kid's stuff is 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:05.640 catch here, it's going to be in your head more. Yeah, 0:27:05.680 --> 0:27:07.160 to me, I'm at the stage of my life where 0:27:07.160 --> 0:27:11.199 it's more fun anyway. So yeah, the one thing that 0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:14.359 I could definitely see myself wanting to add that I 0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:19.000 wouldn't be self conscious about doing home alone is signing. 0:27:19.440 --> 0:27:21.840 So the whole thing that I came across it was 0:27:21.880 --> 0:27:25.200 like called predestined, justified, glorified, and like it's like, what 0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:28.800 order do those go in? I think I could definitely 0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:33.080 if I learned the sign language for those, or even 0:27:33.200 --> 0:27:38.480 just some kind of hand q that helps me do 0:27:38.520 --> 0:27:40.280 it in order, I think I would memorize it more, 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:43.080 or if I really wanted to, I could come up 0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:47.679 with a mnemonic, right, so I could be Okay, first 0:27:47.840 --> 0:27:53.399 it's called then it's predestined, so CP. So now I'm 0:27:53.440 --> 0:27:55.600 thinking about cerebral palsy, which is kind of a sad 0:27:55.640 --> 0:27:57.359 thing to be thinking about, but that's what I'm thinking about. 0:27:57.600 --> 0:28:00.280 So you know, I can I can tell myself it's 0:28:00.280 --> 0:28:02.959 a three were palsy verse. So okay, those he called 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:06.160 he predestined because see has to come first, right, There 0:28:06.200 --> 0:28:10.439 are lots of mnemonics there. One of the things that 0:28:10.600 --> 0:28:14.000 I find for when you get logistically to just if 0:28:14.000 --> 0:28:17.439 you're learning a passage by yourself, and you don't have 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:22.399 a great way to test yourself. There are apps that 0:28:22.440 --> 0:28:25.080 will do this, or I like to do it in paper. 0:28:25.520 --> 0:28:32.040 What I like is to write down the first letter 0:28:32.200 --> 0:28:34.720 of each word and then just put it on a 0:28:34.760 --> 0:28:36.840 note card and look at the note card and see 0:28:36.880 --> 0:28:38.640 if I can do it all of that way. It's 0:28:38.680 --> 0:28:42.520 basically the equivalent I know a lot of Sunday school teachers. 0:28:42.560 --> 0:28:45.160 You'll write the entire verse on the board yep, and 0:28:45.320 --> 0:28:47.479 everyone will say it out loud, and then you'll just 0:28:47.520 --> 0:28:50.640 erase one word at a time, and when you're with 0:28:50.680 --> 0:28:53.640 a group, and when you're doing it in a kind 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:57.640 of sing songy tone, by the time every word's been erased, 0:28:57.760 --> 0:29:01.280 you can do the whole thing. So I like having 0:29:01.520 --> 0:29:04.400 the first letter of each word as a cue. And 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:08.200 then what you can do is, once you get comfortable 0:29:08.200 --> 0:29:10.760 with that as you can turn it into the first 0:29:11.000 --> 0:29:13.920 letter of a phrase and then like the first letter 0:29:13.960 --> 0:29:16.719 of averse or the first letter of a paragraph, just 0:29:16.800 --> 0:29:21.000 kind of to keep you on track. But right now, 0:29:21.040 --> 0:29:23.520 if your only options, like for me, my only option 0:29:23.640 --> 0:29:25.240 is to have it in my head or to have 0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:27.400 the whole thing in front of me in the Bible right, 0:29:27.520 --> 0:29:30.040 and so there's there's not an imagery, but I know 0:29:30.080 --> 0:29:33.760 there are apps that will do this as well, and 0:29:34.600 --> 0:29:38.440 so it can be specifically a Bible memory app. I 0:29:38.440 --> 0:29:42.520 don't have any to recommend, but I know there exist, 0:29:43.240 --> 0:29:47.280 or I know there are apps designed to help people memorize, 0:29:47.600 --> 0:29:50.520 you know, like a speech or something. There are some 0:29:50.600 --> 0:29:54.240 where you can if you're an auditory learner, you can 0:29:54.280 --> 0:29:57.400 record yourself saying it and then what it will do 0:29:57.560 --> 0:29:59.720 is it will read it back to you but leave 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:02.200 out certain words, and then in your brain you're filling 0:30:02.200 --> 0:30:04.720 them in. So basically you're doing the same thing that 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:07.680 Sunday school teacher is doing by erasing one word at 0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:11.240 a time. Another way you could do it. Another kind 0:30:11.240 --> 0:30:15.959 of logistic hurdle I come across in this is if 0:30:16.240 --> 0:30:18.880 if it's just me, I don't know if I'm saying 0:30:18.920 --> 0:30:21.000 it right or wrong right, so I might think I 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:23.480 have it totally right, but I might be forgetting an 0:30:23.640 --> 0:30:26.440 entire middle section. So I know there were apps where 0:30:26.440 --> 0:30:29.880 you can record yourself and it will tell you, or 0:30:30.320 --> 0:30:32.040 you know, you could even just there are so many 0:30:32.160 --> 0:30:35.000 voice memo apps. You could just record it as a 0:30:35.080 --> 0:30:38.320 voice memo and then go back and check it against scripture. 0:30:50.960 --> 0:30:54.160 And one of my favorite ways to memorize scripture was 0:30:54.160 --> 0:30:56.440 with a partner, Like I had a friend and we 0:30:56.480 --> 0:30:58.840 would get together once a week and so she would 0:30:58.880 --> 0:31:00.960 have it in front of her and I would say 0:31:01.000 --> 0:31:03.280 it and she would, you know, go like this, and 0:31:03.440 --> 0:31:05.640 if I made a mistake, and that would. 0:31:05.440 --> 0:31:07.120 Cue me to try again. 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:10.880 It was you know, you can get a live human 0:31:11.000 --> 0:31:13.360 to just kind of bounce back. I had forgotten the 0:31:13.360 --> 0:31:16.120 whiteboard thing when I was a Sunday school teacher, and 0:31:16.400 --> 0:31:19.000 that was my favorite way because it was so really 0:31:19.040 --> 0:31:21.880 so easy for me because I would just yeah, and 0:31:21.880 --> 0:31:24.520 that way, like you're not just reading all or nothing. 0:31:24.640 --> 0:31:27.520 You're taking away and you're practicing and reinforcing. 0:31:27.600 --> 0:31:28.800 That was my favorite way. 0:31:28.840 --> 0:31:32.040 I think I'm actually I have a whiteboard that we 0:31:32.080 --> 0:31:34.120 haven't used forever. I saw it in my son's room 0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:35.880 the other day. I think I'm going to actually do 0:31:36.000 --> 0:31:37.400 that and use it for my Yeah. 0:31:37.800 --> 0:31:40.120 Yeah, that one's a useful one. Or when I did 0:31:40.120 --> 0:31:42.680 Sunday school, I think we even did this sometimes in 0:31:43.000 --> 0:31:46.320 middle school youth group in order to incorporate more motion. 0:31:47.120 --> 0:31:49.120 You would all stand in a circle. We'd have a 0:31:49.160 --> 0:31:51.840 ball like a beach ball, and you would throw the 0:31:51.880 --> 0:31:54.600 ball and say a word, oh yeah, and that person 0:31:54.640 --> 0:31:56.800 would catch it and say the next word and throw 0:31:56.800 --> 0:31:59.800 it to someone else. Because I am such a firm 0:31:59.800 --> 0:32:02.680 below and I know it works two varying degrees. It 0:32:02.720 --> 0:32:07.000 works for me so much better when there's a physical component, 0:32:07.040 --> 0:32:09.760 and for some people that's less important. But I don't 0:32:09.800 --> 0:32:12.080 think in most I don't think it's ever detrimental to 0:32:12.120 --> 0:32:14.360 add the physical component. It's just some people it helps 0:32:14.400 --> 0:32:17.120 them like a bajillion times like me, and some people 0:32:17.360 --> 0:32:21.080 it might help you a little bit extra. But so yeah, 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:23.840 that would be I would say, if I really wanted 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:26.840 to add one more component for myself, it would probably 0:32:26.920 --> 0:32:30.040 be in the tricky parts where I get caught up 0:32:30.240 --> 0:32:33.160 learning some of the sign language or some kind of 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:37.520 hand motion to help me run through that. 0:32:38.000 --> 0:32:41.160 Yeah, as long as you're consistent, it doesn't matter what 0:32:41.200 --> 0:32:43.240 the hand motion is. You can make up whatever you 0:32:43.320 --> 0:32:46.320 want as long as you do it the same every time. Yeah, 0:32:46.360 --> 0:32:49.560 although it would be very cool to learn sign language, Yeah, I. 0:32:49.520 --> 0:32:51.840 Mean, it'd be a nice way to learn some signed vocabulary, 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:54.760 so I may as well do it that way. Unless 0:32:54.760 --> 0:32:59.040 there's a huge reason to make it a different way. Yeah, 0:32:59.360 --> 0:33:01.320 So well, I want. 0:33:01.160 --> 0:33:02.520 To hear your testimony. 0:33:02.560 --> 0:33:05.880 I want to hear the part where you found yourself 0:33:06.000 --> 0:33:08.120 unable to memorize scripture. 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:09.800 I've never heard this story. 0:33:09.880 --> 0:33:12.840 It wasn't until we started talking about Bible memory that 0:33:12.920 --> 0:33:17.320 I even like considered this part of my testimony. And 0:33:18.440 --> 0:33:23.760 I got super emotional even thinking about it, because it's 0:33:23.960 --> 0:33:29.600 slight losing a sense, Like that's how significant it was. 0:33:29.760 --> 0:33:33.760 So in our previous episode about Bible memory, I did 0:33:33.840 --> 0:33:36.680 talk a lot about like growing up with a lot 0:33:36.720 --> 0:33:40.920 of Bible memory, incorporated into our family life and incorporated 0:33:41.000 --> 0:33:44.400 into my spiritual disciplines, and so it was definitely just 0:33:45.120 --> 0:33:47.360 part of me and of like being someone who likes 0:33:47.360 --> 0:33:51.120 to listen to music is just part of me. And 0:33:51.160 --> 0:33:54.120 then I went to college and for a couple of 0:33:54.200 --> 0:33:59.480 years I didn't have a church, and I was also 0:33:59.840 --> 0:34:06.720 just really intellectually bombarded with so much outside questions, like 0:34:06.760 --> 0:34:09.919 the questions that your son had. But it wasn't it 0:34:09.960 --> 0:34:13.680 was never like is God true? That was never it, 0:34:14.040 --> 0:34:18.000 but it was you know, think about every single like 0:34:18.239 --> 0:34:21.960 liberal college campus and all of the questions that would 0:34:21.960 --> 0:34:25.040 come at you. And if you've come from a pretty 0:34:25.080 --> 0:34:28.920 sheltered Christian life, like you're just ready for all of 0:34:28.960 --> 0:34:29.880 those questions. 0:34:30.080 --> 0:34:34.480 Yeah, right, taking like a New Testament and Old Testament 0:34:35.200 --> 0:34:38.920 literature classes, and one of the professors was an atheist 0:34:39.400 --> 0:34:42.399 and he wanted us to be shaken. He saw all 0:34:42.400 --> 0:34:46.000 these young, wide eyed Christians and he's like, hey, guys, 0:34:46.040 --> 0:34:48.560 this isn't a Bible study. This is a class. And 0:34:49.320 --> 0:34:51.480 it was paradigm shifting for me. 0:34:52.080 --> 0:34:55.640 Even to learn how non Christians would view the things 0:34:55.640 --> 0:34:58.799 that I just never even thought about. Yes, it was like, 0:34:59.320 --> 0:35:02.680 what do you mean that your God told his closest 0:35:02.719 --> 0:35:06.560 follower to slaughter his son on a mountain? Like we 0:35:06.680 --> 0:35:09.680 learned that as a cute story of God's provision and all, 0:35:09.800 --> 0:35:11.320 wasn't Abraham so faithful? 0:35:12.080 --> 0:35:16.319 We don't realize the actual act and what it would 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:17.440 have happened, And. 0:35:17.560 --> 0:35:24.040 Yeah, yes, and so yeah, it was just intellectually such 0:35:24.200 --> 0:35:30.880 a difficult time for me. Plus I was so absorbed 0:35:30.960 --> 0:35:33.360 in my studies because I needed to get the A 0:35:33.440 --> 0:35:35.520 plus and everything. I wasn't okay with being a B 0:35:35.640 --> 0:35:39.200 student at that point, and so like my brain was 0:35:39.320 --> 0:35:42.200 just so tired, and I really think that's what it was. 0:35:42.239 --> 0:35:45.480 Like I went years without reading a novel, which I'll 0:35:45.480 --> 0:35:49.719 look back be like that is so sad, and because 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.400 like my brain, Like I did take some literature classes, 0:35:52.719 --> 0:35:55.800 but after I graduated, like I went two years without 0:35:55.840 --> 0:35:58.239 picking up a single book other than the Bible. It 0:35:58.320 --> 0:36:03.400 was just my brain was tired. And so I think 0:36:04.000 --> 0:36:06.080 those were some of the things, Like if I had 0:36:06.120 --> 0:36:08.640 to go back and be like, you know, how did 0:36:08.640 --> 0:36:12.759 this happen? A I wasn't being regularly fed the Word 0:36:12.840 --> 0:36:17.439 because some of my Bible memorization, I was fortunate enough. 0:36:17.440 --> 0:36:20.920 And I think this is just like genetically in personality, 0:36:21.280 --> 0:36:23.600 like I could pick it up just by hearing it, 0:36:23.960 --> 0:36:26.600 you know, And so I didn't always have to sit 0:36:26.640 --> 0:36:29.080 down and force myself to memorize. I did that as 0:36:29.120 --> 0:36:32.800 a practice, but like there were a lot of verses 0:36:32.840 --> 0:36:35.480 that I knew just because I heard them in sermons 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:37.640 and stuff. And since at that point I'm going back 0:36:37.680 --> 0:36:39.560 on my rant, I was hearing them all in the 0:36:39.600 --> 0:36:41.880 same version of the Bible, and I didn't have twelve 0:36:41.880 --> 0:36:43.279 conflicting versions on my head. 0:36:43.680 --> 0:36:46.560 The versions just or the passage just stuck. 0:36:46.960 --> 0:36:50.800 So I wasn't getting fed a regular input of scripture. 0:36:51.960 --> 0:36:55.440 I was still reading the Bible myself, and I would 0:36:55.520 --> 0:36:58.399 still for a bunch of it, like there was still 0:36:58.400 --> 0:37:01.080 like a dorm Bible study. I would ATTENDANTU. But there 0:37:01.120 --> 0:37:03.960 wasn't like a church community where I was sitting and 0:37:04.000 --> 0:37:05.680 listening to a sermon. So I don't know if that 0:37:05.760 --> 0:37:08.000 had to do with it. I'm sure some of it 0:37:08.080 --> 0:37:11.640 had to do with one hundred percent of my mental 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:15.240 energy was focused on schoolwork, and so maybe my brain 0:37:15.320 --> 0:37:17.400 was even trying to protect me. It was like, you 0:37:17.440 --> 0:37:21.799 don't have room to keep these memory versus in your 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:25.759 head and learn all of these nomenclature rules for organic chemistry, 0:37:26.239 --> 0:37:29.000 so let's just put these aside, kind of like the 0:37:29.080 --> 0:37:31.880 cleanup crew in Inside Out, where they're just cleaning her 0:37:31.920 --> 0:37:35.600 brain from memories she doesn't need anymore. Yeah, I think 0:37:35.600 --> 0:37:39.880 my brain, Yes, I think my brain was probably like, okay, 0:37:40.320 --> 0:37:44.400 if getting an A is her primary goal, which at 0:37:44.400 --> 0:37:47.560 that point it was, and I have to choose between 0:37:48.040 --> 0:37:52.880 remembering this random fact about Raskalnikov in Crime and Punishment 0:37:53.120 --> 0:37:58.440 versus what does Romans six say? Okay by Roman six, 0:37:59.120 --> 0:38:02.000 And then I think we add on to that just 0:38:02.320 --> 0:38:05.160 you know, stress, emotional stress from being away from home, 0:38:05.719 --> 0:38:10.200 physical stress. I ate really poorly. I tried to I 0:38:10.280 --> 0:38:12.640 decided that I wanted to try to be vegetarian, but 0:38:12.680 --> 0:38:17.000 basically that just meant I ate like pasta, like for 0:38:17.160 --> 0:38:21.440 a semester, so like, you know, no veggies, no protein. 0:38:22.239 --> 0:38:25.759 So I think I think there were so many things 0:38:26.440 --> 0:38:32.160 that went into it. And then in addition, using my 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:41.000 brain and my faith together heightened this sense of unease 0:38:41.120 --> 0:38:44.920 that I felt being in that environment. So again, I 0:38:44.960 --> 0:38:46.960 think my brain was kind of like, Okay, we'll talk 0:38:47.000 --> 0:38:50.080 about faith when we're not talking about intellectual stuff, and 0:38:50.120 --> 0:38:52.520 we'll talk about intellectual stuff. You know. I think my 0:38:52.640 --> 0:38:56.000 brain was trying to do me a favor by really 0:38:56.040 --> 0:39:00.919 compartmentalizing the two. And so like I believed in God, 0:39:01.080 --> 0:39:05.799 still followed the Bible, still acted like, you know, an obedient, 0:39:05.840 --> 0:39:12.080 moral Christian girl, but I could not recall a Bible verse, 0:39:12.600 --> 0:39:15.279 like it would have been hard for me to tell 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:17.800 you what John three sixteen said, and that's you know, 0:39:17.920 --> 0:39:20.880 I mean, that's one of the ones that's just you know, 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:26.280 from being three years old and up. And it wasn't 0:39:26.400 --> 0:39:31.200 as if I knew that I had lost it. It 0:39:31.320 --> 0:39:36.240 was more like so it's hard to explain. Like again, 0:39:36.360 --> 0:39:40.680 I think my brain got so compartmentalized that it probably 0:39:40.960 --> 0:39:44.160 just didn't think about the fact that I didn't have 0:39:44.920 --> 0:39:49.359 Bible recall, and it came out. It came to a 0:39:49.440 --> 0:39:54.160 huge head this summer before my senior year of college. 0:39:54.200 --> 0:39:57.680 So for people who have followed this story on Christian 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:02.240 true crime junkies, I told my whole testimony of joining 0:40:02.280 --> 0:40:06.920 a really abusive, authoritarian cultish church. This is the summer 0:40:06.960 --> 0:40:12.760 before that happened, and so this is where it all 0:40:13.400 --> 0:40:15.359 kind of came to a head. So what happened was 0:40:15.440 --> 0:40:18.360 I went on a mission trip that summer. It was 0:40:18.360 --> 0:40:20.600 a first mission trip, actually the only mission trip I've 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:24.719 ever been on, and I went to Russia. And at 0:40:24.760 --> 0:40:28.200 the time, I had just taken the MCATs, I was 0:40:28.239 --> 0:40:31.520 waiting to get my MCAT scores, or I think I 0:40:31.560 --> 0:40:34.720 had just gotten my MCAT scores before I left, and 0:40:35.280 --> 0:40:39.239 I had at least started the process of applying to 0:40:39.280 --> 0:40:43.839 medical schools, and this mission trip to Russia was kind 0:40:43.840 --> 0:40:46.319 of going to be like the one the one thing 0:40:46.400 --> 0:40:49.480 I did before. I just like jumped right back into 0:40:49.920 --> 0:40:54.760 the grind of a really growling school year and finished 0:40:54.840 --> 0:40:59.279 up my senior year. And while I was there, I 0:40:59.560 --> 0:41:02.560 was lying in bed. It was kind of like first 0:41:02.600 --> 0:41:04.840 thing in the morning, I was probably jet lagged or something, 0:41:04.920 --> 0:41:07.120 so like I was lying in bed but not asleep, 0:41:07.719 --> 0:41:10.319 and the verse came to me and it said, do 0:41:10.440 --> 0:41:13.799 nothing out of selfish ambition or rain conceit. And it 0:41:13.920 --> 0:41:19.840 was the first time that God had allowed Bible recalled 0:41:19.840 --> 0:41:22.840 to come to me in years, like maybe since I 0:41:23.040 --> 0:41:28.160 left for college, like after high school. And it was 0:41:28.640 --> 0:41:34.520 so convicting because I knew, like simultaneously what God was 0:41:34.560 --> 0:41:37.160 telling me, and what God was telling me was that 0:41:37.320 --> 0:41:42.359 my medical school plans were just selfish ambition. It was 0:41:42.719 --> 0:41:44.319 just because I wanted to prove that I was the 0:41:44.360 --> 0:41:47.200 best student. And in the early two thousands, what did 0:41:47.280 --> 0:41:48.520 you do if you wanted to prove you were the 0:41:48.520 --> 0:41:52.000 best student? You got into medical my doctor. Yes, And 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:58.799 it was so convicting. It was also difficult, like it 0:41:58.880 --> 0:42:02.320 was it was a bagi things. Simultaneously, it was the conviction. 0:42:02.920 --> 0:42:05.759 It was one of the heaviest senses of conviction. I've 0:42:05.840 --> 0:42:10.279 ever experienced. It was also oh, no, my parents are 0:42:10.280 --> 0:42:12.360 going to be really mad, So there was fear there. 0:42:12.960 --> 0:42:16.600 And also I was worried about what the other people 0:42:16.719 --> 0:42:19.520 that we were on this mission trip would say because 0:42:20.480 --> 0:42:23.799 in all of the pre mission trip stuff. It was like, 0:42:23.880 --> 0:42:27.360 now this is the caricature of what I was told, 0:42:27.680 --> 0:42:30.279 So this is more extreme. Now you're going to get 0:42:30.320 --> 0:42:32.960 there and this is going to be so new for you, 0:42:33.000 --> 0:42:35.239 and you're going to get so excited about serving the 0:42:35.280 --> 0:42:36.800 Lord that you're going to think he wants you to 0:42:36.840 --> 0:42:39.960 be a missionary. But it's okay, it's just the emotions. 0:42:40.000 --> 0:42:43.000 You're going to get caught up in emotions. Just know 0:42:43.120 --> 0:42:45.759 that it's going to pass. It's just a face, sweetie. 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:48.880 That's really what they wear into cancers. I get is 0:42:48.880 --> 0:42:53.040 an important warning. You don't want people to make rash, 0:42:53.200 --> 0:42:58.319 life altering decisions from a heat of the moment emotional level. Right, 0:42:58.560 --> 0:43:01.239 Just like I can't tell you how many people I've 0:43:01.280 --> 0:43:04.400 met who when you ask them how they got to Alaska, 0:43:04.520 --> 0:43:06.839 they say, well, I went on vacation here once and 0:43:07.000 --> 0:43:08.200 either never. 0:43:08.160 --> 0:43:11.719 Lever came back or yeah, never never went back home, 0:43:12.080 --> 0:43:15.399 or yeah, or like went home, packed up and knew 0:43:15.440 --> 0:43:16.680 that I had to live here forever. 0:43:16.880 --> 0:43:18.600 Yeah. Right. It's kind of a trope. 0:43:18.960 --> 0:43:19.759 I mean it is. 0:43:20.680 --> 0:43:23.160 And there was that trope of being on the mission 0:43:23.160 --> 0:43:25.320 field and thinking that God was calling you to be 0:43:25.360 --> 0:43:28.640 a full time missionary. But oh, that's just your emotions. 0:43:28.800 --> 0:43:33.040 And so I was afraid of getting pooh pooed if 0:43:33.080 --> 0:43:35.319 I were to go and tell the people that I 0:43:35.440 --> 0:43:39.120 was with that I had had this extremely convicting moment 0:43:39.120 --> 0:43:42.160 because basically I knew it. I had wanted to be 0:43:42.200 --> 0:43:44.440 a missionary from the time I was very, very little, 0:43:44.960 --> 0:43:48.480 and the medical school was the nope, you got to 0:43:48.520 --> 0:43:52.279 have an actual career. And so basically, as it was 0:43:52.320 --> 0:43:54.719 getting downloaded into my brain to do nothing out of 0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:58.880 selfless ambition, it was don't go to medical school, disappoint 0:43:58.880 --> 0:44:04.399 your family, pooh pooed by the people on your mission trip. Oh, 0:44:04.400 --> 0:44:06.560 and by the way, you're going to become a missionary. 0:44:06.640 --> 0:44:08.319 And that side of it never happened. That's a whole 0:44:08.320 --> 0:44:11.280 other story that had more to do with medical stuff. 0:44:11.320 --> 0:44:13.680 But it was, like I said, the very first time 0:44:13.880 --> 0:44:19.600 that a Bible verse came to me in years. And 0:44:20.400 --> 0:44:23.800 so then I got home, I did have that renewed 0:44:24.000 --> 0:44:26.120 thing that they warned me against and that everybody poo 0:44:26.160 --> 0:44:27.799 pooed of, like I got to read my Bible, I 0:44:27.840 --> 0:44:31.359 gotta do all this stuff. And in the same way, 0:44:31.400 --> 0:44:34.560 I hate when people make fun of or belittle like 0:44:34.680 --> 0:44:37.920 teenage crushes. I hate when people make fun of or 0:44:37.960 --> 0:44:41.919 belittle like a spiritual high after a retreat or after 0:44:41.960 --> 0:44:45.200 an experience like this. Okay, is that the way I'm 0:44:45.200 --> 0:44:47.600 going to feel for my entire life about the Lord? No? 0:44:48.080 --> 0:44:49.839 Is it a gift that I felt that way when 0:44:49.880 --> 0:44:53.160 I got home from Russia. Yes, and so I was 0:44:53.200 --> 0:44:54.880 spending a lot more time in the world. Now. What 0:44:55.000 --> 0:44:57.880 I was terrified of was that I was going to 0:44:58.000 --> 0:45:01.680 have to go and rememorize every single Bible verse that 0:45:01.840 --> 0:45:05.680 I had ever known. But I think, really, when I 0:45:05.719 --> 0:45:08.239 look at it, I don't think it was that the 0:45:08.320 --> 0:45:10.839 versus left my brain. I think that they were just 0:45:11.960 --> 0:45:16.440 trapped and sealed, and so the act of getting them 0:45:16.480 --> 0:45:21.280 back it was scary and daunting. But once that safe 0:45:21.360 --> 0:45:24.640 got opened, it first slowly came back and then it 0:45:24.719 --> 0:45:28.200 was just there again. So it happened faster than I 0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:32.040 expected it too for it to come back. But it 0:45:32.440 --> 0:45:36.160 absolutely made me realize what a gift it is, because 0:45:36.200 --> 0:45:37.839 I had just taken it for granted in the same 0:45:37.840 --> 0:45:39.600 me that I don't look at my hand and be like, 0:45:39.600 --> 0:45:42.359 I'm so thankful I have a hand to day right right, 0:45:42.440 --> 0:45:47.640 Like that's kind of how having scripture just you know, 0:45:47.840 --> 0:45:51.719 I used like people used to joke that, you know, 0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:53.920 that I was kind of a walking concordance because if 0:45:53.920 --> 0:45:56.080 they would be like, what's that one verse about that 0:45:56.120 --> 0:45:58.719 one thing? And this is pre google and I could 0:45:58.760 --> 0:46:00.960 be like, I could either tell them it was or 0:46:00.960 --> 0:46:04.080 I could flip into my Bible and find it pretty quickly. Yeah, 0:46:04.120 --> 0:46:08.400 And to me, it didn't enter my head that that 0:46:08.680 --> 0:46:10.760 was like the Lord give it and the Lord taketh away. 0:46:10.800 --> 0:46:12.640 It didn't enter my head that that was something that 0:46:12.680 --> 0:46:13.160 I could. 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:17.600 Have lost and might have been like, you know, maybe 0:46:17.640 --> 0:46:20.480 you even were just like, yeah, this is something that 0:46:20.600 --> 0:46:25.440 I made happen, as opposed it's probably to make this happen. 0:46:25.840 --> 0:46:30.160 And so I deserve to have these verses at my 0:46:30.200 --> 0:46:33.560 fingertips because I worked to memorize them, and I did 0:46:33.600 --> 0:46:36.440 spend a lot of time in the Bible in my teens, 0:46:36.600 --> 0:46:39.400 and so yeah, there was a sense of well, you know, 0:46:39.520 --> 0:46:42.560 I hate to attribute this to myself, but I'm sure 0:46:42.640 --> 0:46:44.640 there was some you know, if you worked hard, you 0:46:44.680 --> 0:46:48.279 could have this too, you know, But then to have 0:46:48.400 --> 0:46:51.400 it just taken away and then given back with a 0:46:51.440 --> 0:46:53.800 snap of the fingers was very humbling. 0:46:54.360 --> 0:46:57.680 That's very cool, that's really neat to see. And I 0:46:57.680 --> 0:46:59.600 think we can apply that to a lot of things 0:46:59.600 --> 0:47:01.920 in our life lives that you know, you and I 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:05.319 talk a lot about the dangers of focusing so much 0:47:05.360 --> 0:47:08.160 on the strengths of others that we don't recognize the 0:47:08.200 --> 0:47:11.000 strengths and ourselves. And I think for you that was 0:47:11.040 --> 0:47:14.600 a huge strength and a huge thing that you just 0:47:14.800 --> 0:47:17.800 like you said, it's like, you know, writing with your hand. 0:47:17.960 --> 0:47:20.360 You don't think about that hand being a gift? Do 0:47:20.400 --> 0:47:22.440 you think about it as just how things are? 0:47:22.800 --> 0:47:23.920 So I don't know. 0:47:23.960 --> 0:47:25.960 It's a reminder to be able to kind of without 0:47:26.000 --> 0:47:29.280 having things taken away. If we could take a moment 0:47:29.440 --> 0:47:31.600 and just reflect, like what are the gifts God has 0:47:31.600 --> 0:47:31.960 given you? 0:47:32.000 --> 0:47:35.600 What are the things that you're using well now for 0:47:35.640 --> 0:47:36.720 His kingdom. 0:47:36.560 --> 0:47:40.800 Or otherwise for you know, your creative process, your gifts, 0:47:40.840 --> 0:47:42.000 your talents. 0:47:42.320 --> 0:47:45.560 Yeah, yeah, I think a good kind of listener holmework 0:47:45.600 --> 0:47:48.600 could be ask yourself a Christian who knew you well, 0:47:48.760 --> 0:47:51.200 what would they say, like, Oh, that comes so easy 0:47:51.239 --> 0:47:53.920 for you, and you're like, doesn't it for you know, 0:47:54.040 --> 0:47:56.839 kind of like Elwood's what like it's hard, Like ask 0:47:56.880 --> 0:48:00.840 yourself what is that thing for you, and then assume 0:48:01.239 --> 0:48:04.400 that that is a gift from the Lord, So a 0:48:04.719 --> 0:48:08.840 drop any pretense of pride about it, but be realize 0:48:08.880 --> 0:48:12.479 that there's a lot of responsibility. There was a long 0:48:12.560 --> 0:48:16.520 time where I thought that God withheld that from me 0:48:16.640 --> 0:48:19.080 as punishment because I wasn't walking with him like he 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:22.839 wanted me to be. And I think that there is 0:48:22.880 --> 0:48:27.040 a sense of whoever has will be given much and 0:48:27.040 --> 0:48:29.440 whoever doesn't use what they have, what even what they 0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:31.239 think they have, is going to be taken from them. 0:48:31.560 --> 0:48:34.680 It's you know, it's Jesus's version of what Uncle Ben 0:48:34.719 --> 0:48:38.600 tells Peter Parker. With a great gift comes a great 0:48:38.600 --> 0:48:41.600 sense of responsibility. So think about the one or two 0:48:41.600 --> 0:48:44.400 things that are easy to you or at your worst, 0:48:44.480 --> 0:48:47.000 what you might be judging about others for like, this 0:48:47.040 --> 0:48:49.160 is so easy for me, why can't why can't you 0:48:49.320 --> 0:48:54.640 do this? And then recognize, Okay, that actually is probably 0:48:54.680 --> 0:48:58.040 a gift. That's probably not something I've fostered in myself, 0:48:58.080 --> 0:49:02.160 because yes, I foster your Bible memory work. But I 0:49:02.160 --> 0:49:05.520 wouldn't have done that if God hadn't made it easy 0:49:05.560 --> 0:49:06.919 for me. Do you know what I mean? 0:49:07.280 --> 0:49:09.839 Yes, No, I totally get it, and I feel like 0:49:10.320 --> 0:49:13.680 it just makes me realize that there are things that 0:49:14.160 --> 0:49:18.160 we might just be thinking like it's this isn't really 0:49:18.560 --> 0:49:19.759 work of the Lord. 0:49:19.600 --> 0:49:22.920 This is this is cheating because it seems so easy. 0:49:23.400 --> 0:49:25.759 Of course, in order to serve God or to you know, 0:49:26.239 --> 0:49:29.319 use my talents, I should have to put some skin 0:49:29.360 --> 0:49:32.040 in the game. I should have to be like, work 0:49:32.080 --> 0:49:35.640 hard and sacrifice and be a little bit miserable for 0:49:35.680 --> 0:49:39.839 it to count right, right? And I think, while, yes, 0:49:40.320 --> 0:49:44.080 we don't need to just be only focusing on things 0:49:44.080 --> 0:49:47.240 that come easily, but I don't know to appreciate like, Okay, 0:49:47.280 --> 0:49:49.919 this is how God made me. And if I love 0:49:50.040 --> 0:49:52.880 doing this thing all the better, you know, let me 0:49:52.960 --> 0:49:55.360 just keep doing it and doing it well and keep 0:49:55.800 --> 0:49:58.200 working at things I love. 0:49:58.520 --> 0:49:58.920 I don't know. 0:49:59.040 --> 0:50:01.920 I don't know, yes, And if my story might be 0:50:02.000 --> 0:50:05.000 you know me, I'm not a fearmongerer, but I would 0:50:05.000 --> 0:50:08.359 not mind my story being used as a tiny bit 0:50:08.400 --> 0:50:10.240 of And what would you do if God took that away? 0:50:11.080 --> 0:50:14.160 You know? Or is there a chance that if you're 0:50:14.200 --> 0:50:16.160 not using the gifts God has given you that he 0:50:16.280 --> 0:50:17.040 might take them away? 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:17.960 There absolutely is. 0:50:18.600 --> 0:50:23.280 I don't think that he does it capriciously. But if 0:50:23.960 --> 0:50:28.839 you know, let's say, if doing hospitality is something you 0:50:28.920 --> 0:50:31.640 love and just comes so natural and you're so good 0:50:31.680 --> 0:50:35.080 at it, and maybe you're even tempted to look down 0:50:35.160 --> 0:50:37.399 your nose at people that it doesn't come as easily too, 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:41.200 And then you go four years or that ever inviting 0:50:41.200 --> 0:50:45.120 anybody into your home because of this, that or the 0:50:45.200 --> 0:50:49.120 other thing. Don't be so brash to assume that the 0:50:49.160 --> 0:50:51.279 minute you decide to pick it back up again, that 0:50:51.360 --> 0:50:54.439 it's going to be there for you. Yeah. I think 0:50:54.480 --> 0:50:58.040 of it almost like how the ancient Greeks would think 0:50:58.040 --> 0:51:01.359 of a muse, like the creative muse. They were seen 0:51:01.400 --> 0:51:04.759 as extremely capricious. It was like here one day, gone 0:51:04.800 --> 0:51:06.920 the next, and you never know, so you're always thankful 0:51:06.920 --> 0:51:10.719 when it shows up. And I don't say that we 0:51:11.239 --> 0:51:14.440 think of God that way, but I think there should 0:51:14.440 --> 0:51:17.640 be a tiny bit of healthy humility when we think 0:51:17.640 --> 0:51:19.440 about the gifts that we've been given. Just because God 0:51:19.480 --> 0:51:22.000 gave you a gift today doesn't mean he can't take 0:51:22.040 --> 0:51:26.239 it away. And that means that we do needs to 0:51:26.320 --> 0:51:29.960 be good stewards of it, and we shouldn't be prideful 0:51:29.960 --> 0:51:34.359 of it. And if you're not using it. There might 0:51:34.640 --> 0:51:38.839 need to be a tiny bit of healthy fear and 0:51:38.960 --> 0:51:43.280 just that uneasy feeling in your gut. Ooh, maybe maybe 0:51:43.320 --> 0:51:47.640 I'm not living up to God's expectations for me. Yeah. 0:51:47.719 --> 0:51:48.960 No, that's a really good point. 0:51:49.440 --> 0:51:52.239 Yeah. Well, anything else do you want to add regarding 0:51:52.719 --> 0:51:55.759 either just kind of spiritual gifts or back to the 0:51:55.760 --> 0:51:57.320 Bible memory side of things. 0:51:57.920 --> 0:52:00.600 I don't think so. I just I'm excited to be 0:52:00.719 --> 0:52:02.359 back into it. It's fun. 0:52:02.440 --> 0:52:05.359 Yeah. Yeah, I'm really glad that we got into that 0:52:05.440 --> 0:52:08.880 discussion about it and I got kind of a reason 0:52:09.160 --> 0:52:12.720 to get back into it too. Well. With that, let's 0:52:12.880 --> 0:52:15.799 close with our blessing and an addiction. May God fill 0:52:15.840 --> 0:52:17.839 your heart with greater joy than all the world could 0:52:17.880 --> 0:52:20.680 ever offer. May He fill you with joy and his presence. 0:52:21.360 --> 0:52:24.040 May God Himself be your joy and your delight through 0:52:24.120 --> 0:52:26.319 sorrow and sadness. May the joy of the Lord be 0:52:26.400 --> 0:52:29.360 your strength. May the Holy Spirit himself annoint you with 0:52:29.400 --> 0:52:32.160 the oil of joy gladness to strengthen and encourage your 0:52:32.160 --> 0:52:34.040 spirit to stay and forevermore. 0:52:34.520 --> 0:52:37.480 And our benediction is from Psalm sixty seven, verse one. 0:52:38.160 --> 0:52:40.680 May God be gracious to us and bless us and 0:52:40.719 --> 0:52:42.600 make his face to shine upon us. 0:52:43.040 --> 0:52:43.400 Amen. 0:52:47.360 --> 0:52:49.279 We'd like to take just a quick second to thank 0:52:49.320 --> 0:52:51.719 the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us 0:52:51.760 --> 0:52:55.040 on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com 0:52:55.080 --> 0:52:57.560 you will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in 0:52:57.600 --> 0:53:01.520 their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, 0:53:01.680 --> 0:53:08.520 and so much more. That's life audio dot com.