Fired Up For Your Faith

There’s A Fire!

“What’s that smell?”

“Something’s burning!”

Those are not the kind of words you want to hear on New Year’s Day. (or any day for that matter).

What in the world?

Sure enough, something at our house was on fire.

You just never think it’s going to happen to you.

It was so scary.

No Time to Spare

where's there's smoke

You might think it started in the fireplace.

After all, it was freezing outside, with a wind chill of 0 degrees.

Brrrr!

We had a fire burning in the fireplace all day.

Everything seemed fine for hours, until one of our dogs started acting up.

They always know when something’s wrong, don’t they?

He started running around like he was looking for a place to hide.

Uh oh.

Then we started to smell it too.

A bad burning smell wafted into the family room.

We both got up and frantically started looking around.

My husband went to the kitchen and opened the oven.

First place you look, right?

There was no food burning, and no flames to douse.

Where the heck was that smell coming from?

I decided to open the back door to let some fresh air in, and that’s when I saw it.

A thick cloud of black smoke hung over the whole porch, and big flames were dancing and flaring out from the grill.

I yelled, “It’s here!!!!!!”

Sure enough, I had located the source, and we needed to act fast.

My husband ran outside to fight the fire. I opened some windows inside the house to get some fresh air in, and tended to our dogs. They were absolutely terrified. I was shaking too, as I consoled them.

It took a little time, but we finally got the fire out.

“Grateful” doesn’t even describe how we felt, once the flames were doused.

I’m so thankful that no one was hurt, and also for our dog for warning us.

My husband and I said a prayer of thanks. It could have been so much worse.

Get Fired Up

Our porch fire was a close call and an important reminder that life can change in an instant.

There was no thinking about it first, or putting it off until later.

We had to act fast to get the flames out.

The whole incident got me thinking.

Do we get just as fired up about strengthening our faith? Are there areas of our faith we need to improve?

There are difficult times up ahead on the global stage, and we need to be ready.

An important goal for me is Scripture memorization.

“It Is Written” For A Reason

Why is Scripture memorization important for all of us?

Because Jesus knew and quoted Scripture. (good enough for me).

Knowing and continuing to learn about Scripture is essential to knowing God.

It saddens me when I hear that some religious leaders want to change the words of, and/or reject the Bible.

They are misleading many people and they will be held accountable for that.

We must have discernment, now more than ever.

Christians – please don’t put your Christianity on a shelf, get fired up for your faith!

fired up for faith

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*Oswald Chambers quotation, public domain, and as quoted from Christian quotes.info

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Scripture Memorization

Do you have trouble with Scripture memorization?

Scripture memorizationIf so, you’re not alone.

I didn’t become a Christian until I was 30 years old, so I have a lot of catching up to do. I was raised in another faith and, unfortunately, never exposed to the Bible as a child. As a result, scripture memorization has been most challenging. However, I’ve discovered some new tips and a Scripture memory system that I think are fantastic and I hope are helpful to you as well.

You may remember that back in November of last year, I posted about a Bible memory website called Scripture Typer. It does work. If you love electronic devices, then this website could be a good choice for you.You can save your favorite verses, test yourself as you learn, and have access to the verses with just a few clicks of the keyboard or mouse.

Not everyone likes to use a device though, so there are alternative Scripture memorization systems that may be a lot simpler and more personal.

First, my journey to finding the right system.

Here’s what didn’t work for me:

    • File cards. I bought some file cards and wrote down all of my favorite verses. It worked for about a week and then they ended up strewn in a drawer.
    • File folders. Inspired by a Bible study at church, I created file folders then separated them by categories, such as “Apologetics Info” and so on. Some people successfully use this method. For me, the file folders were a big fail. Too easy to forget about looking in the file box over there in the corner of my office.
    • Sticky Notes. I never realized the clutter this could cause until I got well into it. I posted Bible verses on sticky notes and then attached them to my computer. The problem was the sticky notes take up a lot of room on my computer screen. I was constantly having to move them around to do some work.

What to do, what to do.

Bible memory apps cell phoneThere are some great Bible memory apps for your cell phone. These are handy for quick reminders of your favorite verses. Here are a couple of options for your consideration:

– Verse[d)
– Bible Trivia

The cell phone app idea is not without its problems. Most of us always have our cell phones at work or in our cars. We don’t need distractions (even if it’s for a good cause) when we should be focusing on work projects or driving somewhere.

Everything Old Becomes New Again

The good news is that I found a very creative idea for memorizing Scripture while searching on YouTube yesterday.

It’s a simple DIY project you can design yourself and you can be as creative as you want.

The video for you below.

This is a neat system which uses file cards and an index card box.

I think this is a really simple method for anyone who would prefer not to use a computer, Kindle, or phone for memorizing Bible verses.

Check out this video from AtHomeWithNikki and look how beautiful your new file box of verses can become. I really like this!!!

I love that!

Nikki references the originator of the project, Charlotte Mason, so I wanted to provide her website information for you as well.

Charlotte Mason’s Bible Memory System

Happy memorizing and God Bless!

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