THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE May 3, 2004 Issue

Testing times

By Barbara Weigt

The first words from the Bible that I committed to memory were "He careth for you." This phrase is part of a longer statement that reads, "[Cast] all your care upon [God], for he careth for you" (I Pet, 5:7). However, for me as a four-year-old, the short version was as much as I could manage.

Soon, Scripture memorization began to play an important role in my life. The Sunday School in which I received my early spiritual training encouraged us to learn new Bible quotations every week. I happily participated in the challenge to recite what I'd learned, though my diligence wasn't always motivated solely by a love for what I was reading in the Bible. The Sunday School offered incentives such as earning points toward summer camp scholarships—and I loved summer camp!

As I grew, so did the length of the passages I memorized, and so did my appreciation for the richness of their messages. Somewhere along the way, the words became truth for me—something I could hang on to, a foundation on which to build my life. And the rewards for having programmed those gems into my personal memory bank proved immeasurable.