"Lydia, what is that on your arm? Did you get a tattoo?"



All the chatter at our small group brunch immediately halted when one of the girls posed this question. Lydia held up our arm, showed us the handwritten gibberish, and explained that it was her way of memorizing Scripture. She would write the first letter of every word of the Bible verse, and it was a way to quiz herself on the verse throughout the day. Then, she proceeded to quote the verse from Romans 8 that she had on her arm that day.

If you're like me, Scripture memory is a struggle, but it's a spiritual discipline that I'm wanting and trying to grow in. I've actually used Lydia's method the past week and have found it to be extremely effective. But if you're not up for writing on you arm, here's a few other ideas for how you can memorize Scripture...

• Use an Expo marker and write a verse on your bathroom mirror. Think about how much time you spend in front of the mirror each morning and night. I find it's helpful just to have a verse to meditate on as I begin or wind down my day. This was how I memorized all of our Threads verses last spring.
   
• Do notecards. Whether you sit them in front of your computer, on the fridge, are waiting at a red light (just be careful, please!), or have them in your purse, you can flip through them as you go.
   
• Put it to a song! If you're creative, write your own, or you can download songs from The Verses Project. One CD I've been listening to in my car is James: The Indelible Project, and it's the whole book of James put to music. And it's so not hokey. The songs have more of an indie, acoustic feel.
   
• Take a picture of whatever verse or passage you're memorizing, and use that picture as your backdrop on your phone (if you have a smart phone) or as the backdrop of your computer. So whenever you turn on your phone, it's what you see. If you want to get fancy, The Verses Project has made some awesome, creative backdrops you can download.
   
• There are all kinds of apps that you can download as well such as Fighter Verses and Remember Me. If you have kids, computer games or apps can be extremely helpful tools. Impress Kids created by our Children's Minister, John Tice, is a great resource along these lines.
   
• Keep a list in your journal. The front page or two of my quiet time journal is where I list memory verses. When I get a new one, I add it to the list, and while I don't look at the list every time I study my Bible, I look at it once or twice a week and review verses I memorized weeks or months ago. As I've found out with Spanish, algebra, and a host of other subjects, if I don't use it, I lose it. So this list helps me to "use" it.

These are just a few ideas. I typed in "memorizing Scripture" to Pinterest and to Google and founds loads of other ideas, but what have you found that works for you? We'd love to hear your comments and suggestions!