Last Chance!!!!

Are you looking for a life changing experience? 

Are you wanting to deepen your relationship with your best friend, Jesus?

Is "Study and Memorize the Bible" on your list of want-to-do's, but you just never seem to get around to doing it? 

If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, then I have an answer for you. Let me introduce you to the... *drumroll*

National Bible Bee!

The Bible Bee began in 2009, inspired by the testimony of Shelby Kennedy. Shelby was a young woman who LOVED Jesus Christ and His Word. Unfortunately, Shelby passed away from cancer in her twenties, but her legacy is still changing lives today. 

The Bible Bee is a competition in which young people from the ages of 7 to 18 are encouraged to study and memorize the Scriptures. This Word is life-changing! The Bible Bee provides each contestant with a Study Guide (in which contestants are guided through an in-depth study on a book or passage of the Bible. Last year it was on St. John 1-6.) and a list of passages to memorize (last year, we memorized approximately 40 verses to memorize during the summer). 

I have participated in the National Bible Bee for five years, beginning when I was 13. I truly believe God put it in my life at just the right time. Each year, I've learned many valuable truths and the in-depth study and memorization of the Scripture has truly changed my life!! I can't imagine my life without the Bible Bee, seriously! (And I have a very vivid imagination, too, so...)

This year, 2016, is my first year of being too old to compete, which is very bittersweet to me. But I know there are many of you out there who are within in age bracket of 7-18! So...I want to challenge YOU to participate in the Bible Bee! It will change your life, I promise. 

BUT HEADS UP! Registration for the Bible Bee ENDS SOON! So don't wait around, please! If you're wanting an activity to make your summer worthwhile and life changing, GET INVOLVED IN THE BIBLE BEE! Anyone can do it, anywhere in the world! :) 

Just head over to the Bible Bee website for more information! When you're ready to register, just click the tab that says "Register" to get started! 

If you have ANY questions, feel free to post a comment below, and I will try to answer it the best I can. 

Whether or not you compete in the Bible Bee, I pray that you will find God's Word real in your life and that you will hunger and thirst for Him! 

Whatever the Test...Trust in Him

“Rachel, you’re next!”

My turn had come. The moment I had been preparing for the past four months was here. My heart pounded and my mouth felt as if I hadn’t had a drink for 24 hours. I followed the man who had called my name to the door of the testing room.

One of the testing rooms for Bible Bee Oral Rounds 

“Do your best!” he smiled as I entered the room. My mind was whirling. I felt cold. I was both very excited and very nervous. As I walked up to the front of the room, I looked around for my Dad. Our eyes met and he gave me thumbs up and an encouraging look. I got to the front of the room and stood in front of the table as I had been instructed. My judges, a man and woman, sat behind the table. The woman smiled and handed me the headset. I took it and put it on, adjusting the microphone so it was in the correct position.

She began to give me my instructions for the oral test. “You have up to 5 minutes to quote up to 3 passages. Don’t feel like you need to rush because you will have plenty of time.”

“Yes,” I thought to myself. “Do. Not. Rush!” I let out a slight nervous sigh as she finished giving me 

my instructions.

“When you’re ready, just state your name and the Bible version you will be using.”

I sent up one more prayer for strength and focus. I had to quote these three passages of scripture with as few mistakes as possible, with about thirty people listening to me! I didn’t know what three passages I would be reciting…only that they would be 3 out of the 205 passages I had memorized for the 2015 National Bible Bee. These 205 passages totaled up to over 800 individual verses and the passages all varied in length from 1 verse to 22 verses! And while I had worked diligently to memorize and perfect these verses the last 3 months, I still had those passages I struggled with. I hoped I would not receive one of those passages, but I knew all I could do was my best in God’s

Bethany, Emily, Bella, and I: waiting for testing to begin

strength. And here I was, ready to take my oral test at Nationals 2015.

Somehow, I found my voice.  

“Rachel C-----, King James Version.”

Ready or not, here I go!

The woman gave me my first reference and started the timer. “Please recite: Romans five, one through eleven.”

Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes and began, in a shaky voice, to recite the given passage. “Romans five, one through eleven. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also…”

I quoted the passage, not too fast, but not too slow either…thinking about each word. God showed Himself strong! Just before my oral round, I had a practice session in our room with Daddy, quoting verses and warming up so my mind was “in motion”. During that practice session, I had quoted this passage, and had a brain freeze - forgetting how the passage continued at one point in the middle of it. Because of that, I had gone over this passage several times. Now, I was quoting that same passage, which was fresh in my mind, and I didn’t blank! Praise God!

“…we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Romans five, one through eleven.”

One down, two to go!

“John twenty, twenty-four through thirty one”, was the next passage I was given to recite.

I swallowed hard. This was one of those passages I had struggled with. But a couple weeks before Nationals, I had found a pattern to the saids and saiths that had confused me, and added hand motions. That helped tremendously. If I focused and used my motions, I could quote it right most of the time. I practiced it often. And here I was: needing to quote this passage for my oral recitation. I knew it was possible, but I must really focus under the pressure. “Lord, help me,” I silently prayed.

“John twenty, twenty-four through thirty-one. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails…”

Waiting for Opening Ceremony to begin the first evening.
So much fun! ^_^

I was here to do my best. As I quoted the passage, I used my hand motions, careful thinking about each word before I pronounced it. I came to the last two verses, which were especially good ones…

“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing ye might have life through His name. John twenty, twenty-four through thirty-one.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, for as far as I knew at that point, I felt like I had kept it all straight! Praise the Lord! Two passages down, one to go.

The woman gave me my final passage. “Please recite: Psalm sixteen.”

 “Psalm sixteen. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord…”

This passage was a favorite, and I knew it well. Like Romans 5:1-11, I had quoted this prior in my warm up session with my Dad. God allowed me to have one last run-through of the Psalm.  I also remember, that day, walking down the hallway to go somewhere, and I held a portion of my verse cards in my hand, reading this Psalm. I had reviewed it then, too!

I emphasized the familiar words…

“…Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Psalm Sixteen.”

I took a deep breath. I opened my eyes. I was done. As I removed the headset with shaking hands, the woman congratulated me and said I may go sit down. My eyes welled up with tears of happiness and relief, and through the applause of the crowd, I made my way back to where Daddy was sitting. He gave me a hug.

I sat there and sent up a prayer of thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father. God had girded me with strength, and had made my way perfect.¹ I had quoted all three of my passages with no passes, no word prompts, and no tongue twist-ups. Glory to HIS name!  I had trusted Him to help me, and He did!

Closing Ceremony evening. Here's the annual "winner!"
picture! Congratulations, Delie! 

At that point, I didn’t know how many points I received, or if I made any mistakes, but six weeks later, I found out my total score of both written and oral recitation tests.

Guess what? I received…a perfect score!!! Praise the Lord! I ended up placing 34^th out of all the contestants in my division of 15-18 year olds. All during the study season, I had prayed that He would bless me with a perfect oral score, and I placed my trust in Him for strength. Without Him, I knew I could not have memorized 880 verses word perfectly in three and a half months. I just had to give it over to Him, and trust Him completely for the results. It was totally worth it.

So now, I’m going to give you a dare, but it’s a good dare. I dare you…whatever you are facing in life, maybe with an upcoming test, a trip or an event you’re worried about, or any difficulty; you fill in that blank…Trust fully in God. He promises to never leave you, or forsake you.² He is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble.³ Ask Him for strength. Fully rely on Him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. He shall direct your path!⁴

As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. {Psalm 18:30-33} 

Oh…while we’re on the subject of the National Bible Bee, I really want to encourage you to compete in it, if you are 7-18 years old. I can honestly say it changed my life for the best. Digging into God’s Word will never return void! Doing the Bible Bee has been one of the best things I've ever done! :) I looked forward to competing each year with great excitement. ;) Registration for the 2016 Bible Bee is now open!!! Click HERE to go to the Bible Bee website and find out more information. If you have any questions, I would be happy to try to answer them for you. =) Blessings!

1: Psalm 18:32. 2: Hebrews 13:5. 3: Psalm 46:1-3. 4: Proverbs 3:5-6. 

Can I really?

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13

I KNOW THIS IS GOD’S REALITY FOR ME!

Lately, God has been teaching me a lot about trusting Him for strength. In June of this year I signed up for the National Bible Bee. Although I’ve competed for the past three years, I’ve never made it beyond the state level. This year I was hoping to make it to nationals – but I felt so out of focus. I lacked concentration when I studied, and I was soooo busy,

Then July came. Four of my siblings and I were supposed to volunteer at a summer camp. I was super excited about the trip when, the night before we were scheduled to leave, I got really sick. I had really, really wanted to go and I felt like God had let me down… I prayed and prayed that I would wake up the next morning and be well enough to go, but it just didn’t happen. Instead, I spent the next week in bed.

That morning as my siblings pulled out of the driveway without me, my sister leaned out the window and said, “Beth, maybe God is keeping you home from camp because you need the time to study; you’ll probably make it to Nationals!” I shook my head and thought, “No way am I going to make it… I’m only a few weeks away from my test and nowhere near ready.”

Time flew and before I knew it, the test day was only a week away. I felt so unprepared, I almost gave up altogether; but a dear friend of mine talked to me into persevering. She told me I had committed to compete and I shouldn’t’ be a quitter. I knew she was right.

During the last seven days of study, I began to pray. I prayed really hard that God would show me exactly what to study in the little time I had left. When testing day arrived, I felt completely at peace. I wasn’t nervous at all, even though I had not completed all of the study I had wanted to get done.

I WAS READY TO DO MY BEST, AND TRUST GOD FOR THE REST.

I had a lot of people praying for me that day. As I took the test, God brought all the things He had been teaching me to mind. As I clicked the “finish” button on my test,  I somehow felt like it had gone really well. In fact, I even dared to hope that maybe I had a shot at getting to nationals after all.

A week later I went to the Bible Bee awards ceremony to receive my score. I had been praying all week that God would help me to be content with where he had placed me – whether I got to go to Nationals or not. As the host read off the scores I waited for my placing fully expecting that I either wouldn’t make it all, or that if I did I would be #120 (the lowest position which can qualify). Then they said my name, followed by “you placed #88 in the nation.”

I WAS LITERALLY JUMPING UP AND DOWN… I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT.

Here I was, ready to give up altogether, discouraged because I had missed camp…shaking my head in disbelief when my sister had suggested that maybe God was keeping me home so I could study… and now I was on my way to nationals!

I wasn’t ready when testing day came along, but God showed me that He can take my weaknesses and use His strength to show himself strong. As Christians when we are facing an “impossible” task, we don’t need to fear because we serve a God who does the “impossible” all the time.

“For we know that with men this is impossible. But with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

A huge thank you to my dear friend, Bethany Stelzl, for sharing with us. :) I am so excited that we made it to Nationals together...I can't wait to compete with you in November! :D Bethany occasionally blogs over at 1 Love for Christ. 

Photo Credit: Flickr

At long last I return...

Hello friends! I don't know if any of you have noticed, but I have not posted on here in a very long time. Due to the fact that Bible Bee studying had been taking much of my free time. Now that Nationals is over, I hope to get back into posting regularly. It was so nice to meet several JOJ readers at Nationals...blessings, Christianna, Elanee, Elizabeth, Eden, and anyone else I missed! :) It was also wonderful to see many friends again. The whole event was amazing...even though I didn't make the Semi-finals I had a blast :) 

{watching the challenge rounds!} Christanna and I sat together for a couple of these...that was fun! It was exciting to have friends up there competing! :) 

{Late night visits with friends} I am third from the left. We had so much fun!

So I hope to get back into regular posting soon! I'm going to miss you Esther. :( 

We'd love to do some guest posts on JOJ in the future...if you're interested, drop us a line! :)

Rachel 

By Faith :: Music Video

Hello friends! I am so sorry I haven't posted recently...my life has been, well, should we say, busy? :) The Lord is so gracious...He allowed me to qualify for the Nationals in Bible Bee, so from August 29th until October 29th, I am busy memorizing 750 Bible verses and studying the book of Nahum. Hence the reason for my absence ;-) 

I thought I'd share a music video I recently saw...hope it blesses you! :) 

God bless your week! Press on! 

Rachel 

Waiting

Waiting.

None of us like to wait, especially for things that we want to happen or are looking forward to. Waiting is not an easy thing. I am reminded of this as I am waiting for something myself this week. 

I've been thinking about verses that speak of waiting. Waiting on the Lord. Patience. 

So...you know what you're waiting on...meditate on these verses and "Run with patience the race that is set before us!" :-) 

~*~*~

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. -Isaiah 40:31-

~*~*~

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  -Hebrews 12:1-2-

~*~*~

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: -Romans 2:7-

~*~*~

What are some of your favorite verses on waiting? I'd like to hear them!

Press on! There a course to finish and race to win!

My favorite way to memorize scripture

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...(2 Timothy 3:16). 

One thing I really enjoy doing is memorizing scripture. Whether a longer passage or a short verse, all scripture is beneficial to us as Christians. It's amazing how sometimes a verse I have memorized will suddenly pop into my head in the different situations of life.

I've had people tell me "I can't memorize" or "It's too hard". But I know this, that practice makes perfect...The more you memorize, the easier it becomes. 

There are many different methods people use to memorize, but today I'll share one of my favorites. It's actually kind of guessing game! :)

1- Choose a verse, passage or chapter from God's Word to memorize. You may want to read it all the way through before starting. Also pray before you begin! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

2- Find a whiteboard/dry erase board and some markers. Write out the verse on the whiteboard. 

3- Check your verse one last time to make sure that you have it correctly written out. It's challenging if you find out later that it's slightly off. :P

4- Read the verses out loud from your white board over and over, erasing one word or so each time you start over. When you get to the erased part of a verse, then you try to remember and say the missing word. Fill in the blank! :) And you can erase less or more, if you'd like. :) 

5- Once the whole board is erased and clean, say the entire verse from memory. Do you have it memorized? Practice and review it to get it mastered. (Also, you could definitely do this with paper and a pencil, but just make sure you erase it completely so you can't see what you erased.)

........................

There you go! :) Pretty, simple, right?

Blessings to you as you memorize Scripture! It seems as I read the Word, I find more and more verses I want to memorize...I have a on-going list of scriptures I would someday, like to master. ;-)

I have also found Memverse to be very useful in reviewing your memorized verses. There are different learn features, fun weekly Bible quizzes, and much more! And, it's 100% free and nothing to download. A plus for me :D

How do you memorize Scripture? Is there a verse or passage that you've been working on recently? 

Please share in the comment box!

...........................

P S A L M   1 1 9  :  9  - 1  8 

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach my thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."

Bible Bee :: What I'm learning from Jonah

I sure have been learning a lot about Jonah! That is because I have been studying that book for the National Bible Bee 2014!!

Maybe I should first start by telling you a little about the Bible Bee... :)

The Bible Bee began in 2009 by the Shelby Kennedy Foundation. Shelby Kennedy went to be with the Lord in her early twenties from cancer. She loved Bible study and memory and would surround herself with her favorite verses. She loved to serve others. She would often go to a lake or pond and throw a stone in and then say, “See the ripples? That’s how I want my life to be.” Thus the Shelby Kennedy foundation started in order to help promote Bible memory.  The National Bible Bee officially started in 2009, requiring the contestants to memorize up to 1,500 Bible verses. 

The study requirements have changed some through the years, but the goal is still the same: to encourage young people to memorize and study the Word of God, and to encourage them to grow in their walk with the Lord. There are three age divisions, Primary (7-10), Junior (11-14), and Senior (15-18). 

This summer, thousands of young people ages 7-18 (including myself and 4 siblings), are studying the book of Jonah in-depth and memorizing approximately 60 Bible verses. This is my fourth year to compete and I have been soooo blessed! I highly recommend the Bible Bee to anyone...it is a tool the Lord has used in my life.  Registration is closed for 2014, but possibly you can do it next year! :-)

After the summer level, the top 120 scoring contestants from each division are invited to the National level, which they are assigned to memorize up to 750 verses, and to study an additional book of the Bible in-depth. 

I thought that for my post today, I would share some of the many things I have been learning over the past month...when I first started, I didn't realize I could learn so much from a little book like Jonah!! :-) 

• Jonah is categorized as a minor prophet, but that doesn't mean it is less important! ;-) It is a unique book, as it is a narrative, prophetic, and historical story with some poetry, rolled into one.
• Jesus referred to Jonah in Matthew 12:38-41. He told the Pharisees and scribes that the 3 days and 3 nights Jonah spent in the fish was a sign of his time he would spend in the heart of the earth, at his death. (As I study Jonah, I am seeing this more and more. It's amazing how much Jonah ties into Jesus!) 
• In 2 Kings 14:25, I learned that Jonah was God’s servant, the word of the Lord came to him, he was the son of Amittai, a prophet, and from Gath-hepher.
• Genesis 10:1-11: The founder of Nineveh was Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. He was the great-grand son of Noah.
• We've studied some Hebrew words for "God". A few are as follows: El is God, the strong/mighty one. Elyon is the supreme, most High, Elohim is the Supreme God. El Roi and El Shama is"the God who sees and hears".

There are sooo many other things I have been learning the past month, but hopefully you found the little I shared to be interesting. :-) Maybe, if you enjoyed this post, I will share more insights and information concerning Jonah and things relating to it in another post. 

Now for a challenge...go and read the book of Jonah yourself!! :) If you notice something interesting, or have any insights from your own personal devotions, feel free to share it in the comments below. 

God bless you as you study his word. Press On!