Memory Verse for the Week

This week my son has been memorizing 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

My daughters verse is from the same passage: 

 "Be joyful always..."

This verse has also led to a vocabulary lesson:...
 

 Joyful: full of joy

 Continually: all the time without interruption or ending

 Circumstances: the way things happen,
 the situations we face in life

 God's will:  what God wants to happen 

After repeating my definitions in several different ways and answering his question and discussing each word over again...and again, I was still met with that look of, "I don't get it, Mom."  So, I'm not convinced he understands what he has memorized. 

This was discouraging to me at first, but as I considered it and prayed about it, I was reminded of a verse in Isaiah,

 "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:10-11

So, I trust that as he dedicates these words to memory, God will accomplish His purpose for those words in my son's life.  The Holy Spirit is able to teach Him.  I also know that as he does grow in his ability to comprehend the meanings of these words, he may recall the verses he has learned and finally understand what it is he has been reciting all along. 

AND, not that those reasons aren't enough to learn these Scriptures, but it's a good brain exercise for him anyway...and if he's going to memorize something, what better words to fill his mind with than God's Word?!

So, don't be discouraged when your child doesn't seem to understand it all.  Keep teaching them.  If we are faithful to plant the seed, God will be faithful to grow it into something useful in due time.