"For by this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Thats in my brain. Forever. And it has helped me so much. Thanks Paul, and your desire to write a letter to Rome. It's helped a lot, buddy.
How else could memorizing something someone else said help me? Its so easy to memorize insults, memorize verbalized disappointments, memorize things said against us; why can't we memorize more encouraging things? Instead of hearing negative comments over and over again in my head, why don't I speak truth into myself, and into my situation, into my life, my thoughts?
Why do I give someone else such authority in my life, instead of realizing who really has that authority?
Sovereign.
That word has been following me for a while.
It means "surpassing all others in quality; one that exercises supreme, permanent authority." There's only One I know that truly fulfills those definitions. Not only is He my God, but He's my King, my Priest, my Intercessor.
I need to hand over the reigns to Him more often (hah, reigns, sovereign, anyone else seeing the connection here?). I need to give Him a chance to speak into my life. He's already comprised all of the best info into one book for me, I just need to read it and commit it to my heart.
So enters my new challenge for myself. And this is tricky, because maybe only 2 of you are reading this, but still, thats 2 people that will know about this, and 2 people I could potentially disappoint by not following through with this, but I'm going to tell you anyways. I plan to memorize 3, yup, 3 chapters in the bible over the next year. Ann Voskamp has an amazing story, and in this case, an amazing challenge for me. Memorizing the sermon on the mount, one of Jesus's most hard-hitting, convicting and encouraging messages ever. Lots of great encouragement, mixed with lots of hard things to do, but all necessary if I want to live life with any kind of joy at all.
I need something, because the world and my fears and my doubts have been getting louder and louder, and they need to be drowned out. What better than something described as sharper than a double-edged sword to do the job? I need to cut through the torrents of discouragement, lies, and fears that are coming my way constantly and make a path for truth, joy, hope, peace, and everything else promised to me by the Word. Thankfully I am incredibly competitive, so hopefully that will help in this quest. Anyone want to join this challenge with me? The competition can only help :)
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