MEDITATION FOR SPIRITUAL PROFIT--Guest Elizabeth Maddrey

MEDITATION FOR SPIRITUAL PROFIT

By Elizabeth Maddrey

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

I recently stepped up at our church to become the Commander for our AWANA club. For those who might not know, AWANA (which stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed from 2 Timothy 2:15) (www.awana.com) is a fantastic children’s program that focuses on helping kids (ages 2 – 18) memorize Bible verses, learn about God, and grow in their faith.

In a previous AWANA club where I worked, the leaders also spent time memorizing verses and I knew that was something I wanted to implement. So from the very beginning, I started encouraging our leaders to memorize Psalm 1. And, because I think it’s important to lead by example, I started working on it myself. I participated in an AWANA program when I was growing up, and many of the verses I learned are still with me, immediately accessible – so I was excited to have motivation to challenge myself with Scripture memory again.

With Psalm 1 firmly in my brain, I’ve found pieces of it coming to mind at opportune moments. One of the big challenges to me was verse 2 – a reminder that the righteous man meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. This was driven home again by the Community Bible Study I’m participating in right now. We’re studying Deuteronomy. Over and over as Israel is preparing to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminds the people to keep God’s laws at the forefront of their minds. They’re to bind them on their arms and foreheads (Deuteronomy 11:18) and train their children to follow and obey His commands (Deuteronomy 11:19). This is how we show that we love God – we obey His commands (Deuteronomy 11:1). And we can’t do that if we don’t know them without looking them up. We need to hide His words in our hearts (Psalm 119:11). Then we can “be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” (Psalm 1:3)

Bio:

Elizabeth Maddrey began writing stories as soon as she could form the letters properly and has never looked back. Though her practical nature and love of math and organization steered her into computer science for college and graduate school, she has always had one or more stories in progress to occupy her free time. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books and has mastered the art of reading while undertaking just about any other activity.  Elizabeth is a member of ACFW and lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. with her husband and their two incredibly active little boys.  Visit her website at www.ElizabethMaddrey.com

About “Serenity to Accept”:

Contemporary Christian Romance.

“Serenity to Accept” by Elizabeth Maddrey is book three of the ‘Grant Us Grace’ series.

Is there an exception to every rule?

Karin Reid has never had much use for God. There’s been too much pain in her life for her to accept that God is anything other than, at best, disinterested or, at worst, sadistic. Until she meets Jason Garcia.

After his own mistakes of the past, Jason is committed to dating only Christians. He decides to bend his rule for Karin, as long as she comes to church with him.

As their friendship grows, both will have to decide if they’ll accept the path God has for them, even if it means losing each other.

Release date: September 9, 2013.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-938708-23-7
Ebook ISBN 978-1-938708-24-4