Update on James

In the past year or so I have made more of an effort to memorize God's Word.  I recently got the crazy idea that I could/should memorize the ENTIRE book of James.  This is one of the best decisions I have ever made!

First of all, a year ago I would have said to you that I couldn't memorize at all.  Six months ago I would have said to you that memorizing verses is beyond my brain capacity.  Today I can truthfully say, "The more you memorize, the easier it gets."  I can't believe it, but I am almost through the first chapter of James!

Here are some things that have helped me:

*It takes time.  Just looking at a verse for a few minutes doesn't cut it...at least for me it doesn't.

Writing out the verses helps. If you look back at my original post you will see I am writing out the whole book of James. For some reason this is really helping the words stick in my brain.

Daily review really helps.  I have been spending some of my time at the pool while one of my kids takes lessons memorizing.  This is a daily event.  On the weekends I still review a bit.

Looking for themes in the verses and asking myself what the verses are really saying has helped commit them to memory.

For me the greatest benefit from memorizing James has been how my thinking is changing. James is such a practical book with wise advice...I am using what I am memorizing almost on a daily basis.  This only motivates me to memorize more!