So you’ve prayed for God to speak to you, now you have to listen. Really listen. As you’re going through the passages, open yourself to the one verse that tugs on your heart. Listen for the one that makes you feel warm and loved. Or perhaps it’s one that feels like an all-to-true scolding that you needed to hear.
Choose a verse and write it down on a small piece of paper or in a note on your phone. Repeat this verse to yourself many times throughout the day.
When I was a Protestant, we would memorize a bible verse every week. We would say the verse 100 times everyday. That sounds like a lot but most of the verses were short and I would do them in bursts of 10. It’s not so hard to do that 10 times throughout the day. And if you do that all week, it’s amazing how the verse really begins to seep into your mind and into your heart.
Your goal may not be to memorize many verses but you should carry one verse with you everyday. Let that verse fill your mind with truth and goodness so it pushes out the negative influences of the world.
MY BIBLE REFLECTION:
“Train yourself for devotion, for, while physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future.” I Timothy 4:7
This may seem like an odd verse to focus on but I think it’s really relevant to me today. I’ve been trying to get back in shape after have three babies and three miscarriages in five years. I need some strength back in my body. So I’ve been focusing on eating healthy foods, taking walks and doing some light strength training until I can build up to more challenging exercises.
But I’ll admit, I’ve never liked exercise. I don’t like doing physical things so I’d love to cling to this scripture and say, “See, God doesn’t really want me to run three miles today, he wants me to do my daily devotional instead!”
Of course that’s not what this scripture is saying. Choosing to train ourselves physically is not a bad thing but it can become an idol if we are so fixated on accomplishing physical goals that we don’t have time for spiritual ones. I always think it’s wonderful to hear of famous athletes who have a deep devotion to God. You can just feel His hand has guided them through their journey.
I feel like God is guiding me through my journey right now. His word gives me the strength to do the physical training even when I don’t want to. I know that if I want Him to bless me with more children, I need to be healthy and strong enough to take care of them.
But I am His servant. I am completely devoted to Him. I will do whatever He asks of me even if that’s not to have anymore children or if it’s it’s to bear the cross of carrying them in a weak body.
I’m glad you’re on this journey with me and I hope by the end you are truly happy to become a bible reading Catholic!
Thank you, Sterling! I’d love to start helping my children memorize Scripture. Do you have any ideas on where I could start? Do they have Catholic Bible verse flashcards? LOL
You know, I’ll be honest, I usually Pinterest more Protestant style ways of teaching scripture and then adapt it to the Catholic bible! They’re just so good at that aspect of things. With our kids, we focus on these virtues cards from We Choose Virtues and each one has a scripture with it so I’ve been using those. And yes, we do use them kind of like flash cards!
I’m planning on starting my eldest memorizing Bible verses soon…and I think I’ll just join in right along beside her. 😉 I used to be better about doing this when I was younger, but have fallen out of the habit. It’s a good one to inculcate!
Like I mentioned, Pinterest can be a great resource for easy scriptures for kids to memorize and you can just print them out. We also love the We Choose Virtues program which has an assigned scripture for each virture!