Share the Adventure
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Share the Adventure! (The Lucas and Mary story so far)
Solitude Reflections - J (August 2026)
For the last 8ish years,
Is it an increase in quantity?
Mom Group talk (September 21, 2025)
MomGroup talk - September 21, 2025
Today, I’m going to talk to you about two practices that have changed my life. One I started ten years ago, and one I started three weeks ago.
First, let’s go back in time to December 30, 2014 to that version of Mary Thomas. I was thirty years old and two days away from my 4th wedding anniversary with my husband Lucas. We had our first two sons by then – Carter, a bright-eyed three-year old and sweet baby Calvin. I had been a Christian since I was seven and came down to Kentucky to attend Asbury where I thrived in the spiritually nurturing environment. I was heavily involved in the children’s ministry at the church where Lucas and I met – serving at multiple services every week. Our church applauded leadership way more than discipleship, and I was on track to developing my leadership skills, pouring into not only the preschool kids but also the volunteers under my care. I was also a leader professionally, thriving at a Christian school where I taught music and technology and led the preschool chapel services. On paper, I was a great Christian leader. And morally, my character lined up with that, too. But even though I was leading every day of the week, I rarely opened my Bible (unless to work on a talk or lesson plan). The Bible had become stale and familiar to me, and with as busy as my schedule was, I sure didn’t make time for it.
So THAT version of myself read this Facebook post from my friend Lyndsay I hadn’t talked to since high school: I have done this challenge for two years, and it has been a really great way for me to keep my mind focused on scripture. I am going to do it this year, so if you want to join, we can encourage and keep each other accountable!
She was referring to Beth Moore’s Scripture memory challenge of picking a new verse every two weeks and then posting as a comment on her blog what you were working on. I love a good goal, especially at a new year, so for 2015, I decided to go for it. For the first six months, I faithfully picked out a verse twice a month (this, really, was my only time in the Bible). I wrote them on cards and practiced them throughout the days, throughout the weeks. Once I had memorized them, I could recite them anytime, anywhere. I still have some of those cards:
Ears to hear and eyes to see – both are gifts from the Lord. -Proverbs 20:12
“ ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for you have found favor with God!’ “ -Luke 1:30
“A wise woman builds her house; a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands.” -Proverbs 14:1
Meditating on these verses was like laying kindling down, and halfway into the year, the Holy Spirit ignited that kindling into a bonfire. Suddenly, instead of never opening my Bible, I had a voracious appetite for it – reading it, memorizing it, studying it. I would steal away during my planning period to the prayer chapel and just devour His Word. This was like a step function of growth that has continued (maybe not with the number of hours I spent in that season but with a sustained deep hunger).
At the end of 2015, I knew I wanted to keep memorizing and decided that I could aim for a whole book this time – Philippians. Those 104 verses changed me, and I was hooked. I recited the whole book during the elementary chapel at my school, and committed to learn the Sermon on the Mount the next year. This continued, and when I decided to memorize the 176 verses of Psalm 119, I knew I needed to do more than the rote repetition method, so I started creating songs. And I’ve continued that – every verse I’ve memorized since then is linked to a song, whether I found it or adapted it or used a familiar tune or wrote my own.
Every year, I’ve completed a memory project –
James in 2019,
Titus in 2020,
Romans in 2021,
John in 2022,
Ephesians in 2023,
and last year, Hebrews.
I’ve also added in Jonah with my boys and Haggai with a Bible study group here at FAC.
Memorizing Scripture has been life-changing for me. There’s something incredible about having the Word INSIDE you – it’s portable, and you can take it anywhere. It naturally comes out in conversation and in prayers. Since I memorize whole chapters, I know the context for verses pulled out. And perhaps my favorite, it has made Scripture like a treasure hunt. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across a verse that is familiar to me but not from the book I memorized because, for instance, the author of Hebrews quotes often from the Old Testament. So I’ll see a passage in a psalm that I’ll recognize because it is later quoted in Hebrews. It’s especially fun to make these connections when they’re not listed as cross-references in my Bible. It’s like I’m my own cross-referencer!
Scripture memory has also spread beyond me. When I switched schools and began teaching in the regular classroom, I told my fourth graders that my goal for them was not just to do well on their Bible memory test on Friday but to remember these verses the rest of their lives. I looped up with them to fifth grade, and by the end of those two years, we sat down in front of a videocamera with a list of all the verse references we had learned, and we were able to sing over 100 verses from memory!
And then, obviously, it has trickled into my home. I now have five boys, and we are always memorizing something. For three summers, they have memorized and quoted enough verses to earn a full scholarship to Scripture Memory Camp in Louisiana. The older four also learned the Sermon on the Mount last year.
And then for the past four summers, we have memorized a different psalm. Back in 2021, we hosted our first Recitation Celebration with two other families who had also memorized a psalm. The next summer, we had 0 participants but some other friends joined us while we recited our psalm, which was the one I recited for you at the beginning of this talk. Then last year, there were 3 families who participated. This year, because we did a challenge for our Sunday School class, 31(!) families memorized a psalm this summer, and 16(!) joined us at the park for the 4th annual Recitation Celebration. It was one of the coolest events I’ve ever been a part of, and you’re invited to join us next summer! I plan on memorizing a psalm every summer, Lord willing, for the rest of my life.
I keep sowing seeds of Scripture memory – whether recitations (I’m reciting Hebrews this Saturday at Wesley Village if you want to come!), family challenges, songs posted on YouTube, or talks like this…because I never know how God will use me as a “Lyndsay” in someone else’s life. She probably never could have imagined how that simple Facebook post has literally changed the trajectory of my life and others in my sphere. I didn’t even tell her that I was memorizing with her until the end of that year. So, too, I may not know until heaven the impact of my gentle prodding to GET IN THE WORD! As Priscilla says, “You DO have time!”
I told you I was going to tell you two practices that have changed my life. Scripture memory is one of them. But even as I was renewing my mind, I was still frustrated that I wasn’t gaining traction in other areas of my life. My spiritual life was thriving, but the rest of my life was not (and I’m realizing that they’re all connected!). Two years ago, I came to my first Mom Group, and I still remember Jan Biddulph’s opening, “Are you overwhelmed?” Um…yes! That constant sense of overwhelm was my reality then and in the years since then…until three weeks ago when the other practice came into my life. It was right after the Recitation Celebration when I hit a breaking point in regards to physical and mental clutter. I was, simply, drowning in stuff. And I know I’m not the only one because the average American home has 300,000 items in it, and friends, we were not made to manage all that inventory! I realized that it wasn’t just “how I am;” I began to name it for what it really was – bondage, idolatry, SIN. So I started de-cluttering like a crazy person for the last three weeks.
At first, I thought de-cluttering was a “worldly” thing, compared to the “holy” thing of sitting in my chair reading/praying/memorizing. But then all these related verses came to mind that I had memorized:
Matthew 8 - Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Galatians 5 - It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free. Therefore do not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Matthew 11 - Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Hebrews 12 - Let us also lay aside every weight …so that we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us
Luke 12 - Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in the abundance of possessions
Matthew 6 - Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
Matthew 7 - Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s (erhmm husband’s) eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye…First take the log out of your own eye (in other words, first deal with your own clutter)
I had been a hearer, a memorizer but had failed to put these words into practice. I memorize faster than I obey.
James 1 - Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Matthew 7 - Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.
As a kid, I thought the rock was Jesus. And yes, he is the rock (Psalm 144:1), but it’s putting his words into practice that is the Rock. And now that I have been doing that, my life has become in alignment. And y’all, everything in my life is better as a result of having less stuff:
-more mental clarity
-more bandwidth to handle what life throws at me
-less stress in our home
-less nagging about messes because there’s less to mess up!
-better relationships with my husband and boys
-more peace and joy in our home – it really is becoming a haven (something I never thought possible)
-enjoyment in cooking
-more productivity
-more time to focus on wellness
-great reflective conversations with Jesus
I could go on and on, but I’m convinced that this is the way we were meant to live – freely and lightly. So the leaders asked me to talk about Scripture memory, which has shaped my life for these last ten years, but I also just had to share how that has worked out in my life the last three weeks. And I’m not asking you to go home and declutter your whole house or memorize the book of Matthew. But what’s one step forward you can take in your Scripture memory journey? Going from zero memorizing to one verse a month? Going from one psalm over the summer to a psalm quarterly? Going from individual verses to a whole chapter? And as for simplifying your home…what’s one small project you can tackle this week? What space is driving you the most crazy?
One more time from the Message paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?
Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.
I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” May it be so, Mamas.
Questions… Check your seat!
Solitude Reflections - 15 years, 10 years, 1 year ago (August 2026)
The pain of 2016 wasn't wasted
Share the Adventure! (The Lucas and Mary story so far)
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I am THRILLED that 30+ couples/families from my Sunday School class have committed to memorizing a psalm together this summer! Wow! What a w...