To Him Who Overcomes…
01.25.12
We are overcomers! The book of Revelation tells us that to him who overcomes there are incredible rewards waiting. We resonate with this idea, not just in the church, but in our culture. We love a story of an overcomer, and I have a great story of one for you.
A few weeks ago two of my boys were asking for something. They really wanted this thing and mentioned it a couple of times. I said to them, and included Sophie, that I would get it for them if they memorized the book of Titus. Sophie, being so quick witted, said she didn’t want that thing so she wasn’t going to memorize Titus. I made a different offer to her, and she said she still wouldn’t do it. She was intimidated by the task.
Sophie has dyslexia. It is a challenge for her to read, so memorizing that much is a huge challenge. Jill and I encouraged her, told her she could use her Kindle, which reads to her. We
told her that we would help her and give her some tips on memorizing. She began to get excited. She began to believe that she could do it. She was on her way. She also refused to use her Kindle because no one else was using one.
Today Sophie completed the task! She not only memorized the book of Titus, but she also beat everyone, including me. Sophie is beaming, knowing she overcame a huge obstacle to accomplish this task. She is ready to move on to the next book. An appetite has been 
created, and we intend to feed it!
I tell you this story not to brag about my daughter, but to encourage everyone in two things. First, if you are looking at a seemingly insurmountable task, push on. Sophie gave up before she even started this task. After a little encouragement and the promise of a little help, she gave it a shot. She found some success early and discovered that she was capable of doing something she was sure that she could not. But she overcame!
Second, I tell you this story so that you too can be encouraged to memorize God’s word. We don’t do this just for the sake of memorization, we do it to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2) and so that we hide God’s word in our hear that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). I hear people all the time tell me that they can’t memorize. People tell me that their mind just can’t do what it used to do. I say those are excuses and you are to be an overcomer!
LOVE it! Way to go Sophie! Thanks for sharing the encouraging story. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Love,
Lisa
Thank you Lisa!!!
Dear Jill: I greet you with peace of our Lord, expecting everyone to be well, and hoping that soon you can answer the previous email I sent. How important is to encourage our children, especially those with disabilities like mine, go ahead and take strength in the Lord, He will give the capacity to break down every obstacle in the path found. I’ve seen people with terrible disabilities do incredible things I could do, sometimes not complain about our limitations and we forget those who are physically or intellectually limited and surprise us with things they can achieve, playing piano blind, athletes disabled winning gold medals in Olympics, and so on. and so on. God gives us all we need to draw talent from within, because for we are all important, no respecter of persons. Jill want to know more of you that ministry have, if your husband is a pastor, that you do, only have a sincere friendship in the Lord. I would like to share Isaiah 58, verse 7 to 11. To me this has been encouraged in helping, sheltering the homeless, take care of the needy, to me is a ministry that God has granted me like you, we must be like the woman of Proverbs: Many women have done good things, but you surpass them all. Answer me soon, receives blessings from Argentina.
What a wonderful encouragement, Sophie! I know that your parents are so proud of you. May God richly bless you as you continue to hide God’s word in your heart!
I hope that y’all are all doing really well.
We love y’all!
Blessings,
Mallory~
Praise the Lord for your diligence, Sophie!! You will never be sorry that you conquered that challenge. I personally love the book of Titus and want to encourage you to keep reviewing it… over and over and over and over. Think about it, read through it often… and you will find that the Lord will bring those verses to mind at times when you really need them. By God’s grace, I speak from experience on this one as I memorized it a few years ago. Many times since then, I have been in discussions with others and needed Scripture to back up my belief… and guess what the Lord brought to me! The verses from Titus! God’s Word will not return void, but will accomplish His purposes. Press on, dear Sophie, hide the Word in your heart, and He will reward you abundantly!!
Go Sophie! What an encouragement! Keep it up!
way to go Sophie! can’t wait to hear what else the lord helps you to overcome!
Thank you for your nice comments. The hardest part was remembering to do it every day. The best part was being finished!!!! I was very excited!
Thank you everyone,
Sophie
What a blessing Sophia to hear of a young person at your age taking the time to hid God’s word in your heart – keep it up!
Mr. Martin, Thank you for your timely exhortation. When I read the phrase: “if you are looking at a seemingly insurmountable task, push on.” I was both challenged and comforted. It reminded me of somethings my Dad often says: “The only time you lose is when you quit.”
Matthew, I have heard your father say those same words. What a great truth that is. The Lord is always working on us to make us more like Christ, and when we quit we lose the opportunity to be shaped by Him, and that is the greatest loss. May the Lord bless you as you push on.