Don’t Give Up Before You Start!

Entrusted, the new Bible study from Beth Moore on 2 Timothy, is waiting for you at http://www.Lifeway.com/Entrusted.

This is a word of encouragement to those who may be contemplating the memory challenge as well as to those who never even considered it.

If you did the study on James, and heard in that first video that Beth Moore was going to challenge us to memorize the book of James you may have thought the same thing I was thinking, “The whole book? That’s ludicrous! Beth Moore’s got to be crazy!”

Add to thinking Beth was crazy that I was taking my first steps out of a four-year depression so I just knew I couldn’t even consider it. As my students would say, “Ain’t no way!” I knew it wasn’t happening, so to be honest I didn’t watch the video on the memorization. Didn’t even take the time to consider that memorizing James would have helped my climb out of the pit. 

Fast forward to 2016. Over the past few years I’ve had to deal with deteriorating health issues – basically 24/7 severe, debilitating, chronic pain. I live alone so I have to work. I have friends who help when they can, but there’s no one in the next room I can call to help so I have to fend for myself. I have to do when my body is screaming to leave it alone. Sometimes there’s a mutiny where my body just says,, “Good luck with that! We’ll be right here waiting for you when you get back.” LOL.

So now what was just a physical battle has also turned into part spiritual warfare with the battle for my mind being just as much of a 24/7 ordeal to not fall back into depression. That is what motivated me to consider memorization challenge with the new Entrusted Bible study. Accepting the challenge to memorize 2 Timothy would help me to keep my mind stayed on Him and keep it so full of His truth the eneny wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

The challenge Beth Moore gave us is to memorize the entire book of 2 Timothy, BUT I don’t consider it an all or nothing task like I did with the James Bible study or I’d still be too hesitant to start.

Beth would love for us to learn the entire book and that is my ultimate goal, but I can’t see her thinking less of me if I only got the first chapter memorized right now. I see it as I now have 18 more verses “hidden in my heart” that weren’t there before. That can’t be considered a failure.

Some of us can think of it as going back to when we were children memorizing verses with our parents, in school, or in Sunday School class, etc. It’s just that now all the verses are coming from the same place, 2 Timothy. So we’re not memorizing a whole book of the Bible. We’re memorizing verses from 2 Timothy. When I considered it in that manner, it didn’t seem like such a daunting task.

Look at it as memorizing one verse and then another and then another vs memorizing the “entire” book.

And even though she gave us her technique, Beth Moore clearly repeated throughout the video for us to find what works best for us. That means I can do what works for me, and unlike with my Sunday School class where I had to have it done by the following Sunday or I felt like a failure in front of the rest of the class, there’s no time limit for memorizing. 

In thinking back to James, if I remember correctly, the memory video challenge that I skipped was the video we were to watch the last session. Beth didn’t expect us to attend the study, do the homework and have James memorized by the end of the study. And she doesn’t expect it with this new study of 2 Timothy either. So it can take weeks, months, a year – however long you need – to memorize 2 Timothy, and that’s okay.

That makes this memory challenge completely fail proof.

I know it will take me months to memorize because sometimes it just takes too much to think. I don’t write that for anyone to feel sorry for me. God has given me a wonderful support group of prayer warriors who keep me lifted before my Heavenly Father and He IS faithful.

However, with hearing that so many people felt about memorizing 2 Timothy like I did about memorizing James, I felt compelled to share how God helped me change my mental approach to the memory challenge. I just wanted to encourage anyone out there…to encourage YOU out there to at least give it a try.

Just don’t allow yourself to get discouraged and give up before you get a chance to start!

It’s probably not spiritually correct to say misery loves company when talking about memorizing scripture (LOL), but I’m sure it would help to have a buddy to either memorize with you or to encourage you as you accept the memory challenge. And if you can’t find anybody, I’m here! Plugging away one verse at a time. 😉

So are you ready? Let’s memorize some 2 Timothy! Click on the link below to hear Beth Moore share the challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZN6qCaj6uA