Memorizing Scripture Verses by Zoe M. McCarthy

I was six years old, living in St. Petersburg, Florida. My first-grade teacher said, “I need a volunteer to read Psalm 100 at the assembly tomorrow.” My arm shot up, and I got the job. At home, I couldn’t wait to share the news with my mother. Her eyes widened. She knew I couldn’t read. We sat together and practiced until I memorized the five-verse psalm. I still recall verses in the King James Version.

Zoe M. McCarthy

Around age forty, I became a Christian. I fell in love with the Twenty-third Psalm. Again, I memorized it in the King James Version. I recite the psalm a lot. It comforts me. John 3:16, too, but in the NIV.

Sometime after that, I memorized 1 Chronicles 4:10, the prayer of Jabez in the NIV. Probably because it was a fad, I remember the gist but the words have left me.
As a more mature Christian, I attended a Christian church conference. In one workshop, a woman recited the whole book of Ephesians, speaking as if she were Paul. Her performance awed me. I couldn’t stop contemplating how she took the time to memorize all six chapters and become Paul for others. 

While a children’s leader for Bible Study Fellowship, we studied Romans. The eighth chapter was rich with meaning. Recalling the woman who memorized Ephesians and moved on to memorize Philippians, I decided to learn the words of Romans 8. I did much of my practice when I had insomnia, but I mastered it. The meanings of the verses sank in, and I liked to think I was Paul, as I recited them to myself.

I drew enough courage from the Lord to recite it at a BSF leaders’ group fellowship. I spoke it, as I believed Paul would emote the words. Now, I can’t recite Romans 8, but I understand that chapter better than most.

A friend has scads of verses memorized. I can count on her to know a verse when we need it in the Bible study I lead. Her retention of so much Scripture is a gift.

What is your verse-memorizing story?

About the Author

A full-time writer and speaker, Zoe M. McCarthy, author of The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, andCalculated Risk, writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. When she’s not writing, Zoe enjoys her five grandchildren, teaching Bible studies, leading workshops on writing, knitting and crocheting shawls for a prayer shawl ministry, gardening, and canoeing. She lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Zoe blogs regularly atwww.zoemmccarthy.com.


Cooking Up Kisses (Five Sweetly Scrumptious Novellas)

Cooking Up Kisses (Five Sweetly Scrumptious Novellas)

LOVE ON A DARE BY MARY MANNERS
Alana Mulvaney’s life is in a holding pattern. Consumed by day-to-day operations of the family business, Alana has no time for fun or romance. But a little fun and a whole lot of romance is just what Alana’s sisters have in mind when they learn childhood friend Donovan O’Reilly has returned to town.

HUMMINGBIRD KISSES BY DELIA LATHAM
Toni Littlebird believes that when she meets the man God created for her, she’ll know—and she’ll love him in that very moment.
But then Dax Hendrick roars into Hummingbird Hollow on a noisy, crippled Harley, stinking up the air and chasing away her beloved hummingbirds. One look into the intruder’s eyes and her heart sinks. He’s “The One.” She’d been right about knowing, but wrong about something far more important: She will never love this man!

HEARTS ON THE HARBOR BY ROBIN BAYNE
Cara Peyton is content with her life, her trendy Baltimore bookshop is perfect for her. But when her ex turns up to remodel the store, asking for a second chance, she’s torn and unsure about risking her heart again. Can he convince her to trust him, and God, before the job is finished?

HIS VALENTINE PROMISE BY DORA HIERS
Another Valentine’s Day and Quinn Randolph prefers to spend it with her sweet rescue lab. Who needs men and their broken promises? Especially Pierce Karson’s! Years ago, his desertion shattered her. Now he’s trying to steal the property she targeted to expand her florist shop! Pierce only wants to belong…and for Quinn to choose him. His Valentine Promise…

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN IN A RED DRESS BY ZOE M. MCCARTHY
Candace Parks lives a passionless life in Richmond. The computer programmer returns to the empty family home in the Blue Ridge Mountains solely to evaluate her job, faith, and boyfriend. Her high school crush, Trigg Alderman, who barely remembers her, visits his Gram next door. Sorting her life out? How about nothing of the sort!

Oh Lord, I Need Your Grace Today by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

If I’d only known those words: “Oh Lord, I need your grace today.” But I didn’t know the Lord.

At the time, I wished I hadn’t known what had been said about me behind closed doors in the company of three people. One person, I’ll call Power, disparaged my abilities to Lesser Power. The third, Peer, came to me and told me what had been said.

I carried a bowling ball around in my stomach for the rest of the day. I had no one to run to for comfort. My rock, my husband, was out of town on business, a rare occurrence back then.

That evening, I struggled to hide my misery around my sons. I suddenly understood how people with depression felt. I was in a deep, deep hole, and there was no way to climb the slippery walls out. I knew people dealt with this awful feeling 365 days a year. How did they survive?

I went through a gamut of thoughts and feelings during the sleepless night:

• How cruel Power and Lesser Power were to gossip about me.
• Was I really that incompetent? 
• How unkind it was for Peer to warn me about the hurtful words said. If I didn’t know them, I’d not be suffering.
• Why did this happen on the one day and night John was away?

For a while, I was nervous around Power and knocked heads over business issues with Lesser Power. They were not my favorite people.

With hindsight, I can see how God was orchestrating amazing things in my spirit.

First, I became a Christian. God showed me how to give grace to those who had belittled my worth.

After Power moved on to another job, her son died. At the funeral, with genuine sorrow in my heart, I was able to hug her and tell her I was praying for her.

When Lesser Power was in the process of quitting smoking, I sent her a card with a whale bursting from ocean waters. She came to me with tears in her eyes, thanking me for my encouragement. After she stayed home to be with her husband, who had a rare terminal disease, and then suffered a terminal disease herself, I prayed daily for her and sent her letters and cards.

And as far as my competence? I became a manager, and when I retired, the director whom my area supported entreated me to come back as a consultant.

That’s not the end of the story.

Years later, I was blindsided by an email with disturbing news. The Sender asked me to be involved, but in The Sender’s way, not the Lord’s. This time, I dropped to my knees. Only God’s comfort kept me going for months. He helped me to keep responding to The Sender in love and forgiveness until God answered my prayers and orchestrated a good outcome.

Over the years, I had learned powerful lessons. When I heard the critical words during John’s absence, I needed to learn to seek God, not my husband. A human rock might not always be beside me like God is. And he may not give the best advice. I also learned that ongoing forgiveness gives me peace.

How have you had to depend on God’s grace?

A story of God’s grace during adversity. Click to tweet.

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About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John. 

Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books

*Image by Baruska

Suffering? Don't Waste It by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

As people in this fallen world, the reality is we will suffer.

Jesus made it clear. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peac. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 NIV)

A dear friend who has suffered great losses always says, “You can choose to be bitter or better.” I think that reaction is a good beginning.

In a recent Bible study, I jotted this from the leader’s lecture:

“Don’t waste your suffering on how miserable you are, even in the worst circumstances. Ask yourself what you are doing with your suffering when it comes.”

Image by chezbeate

I think a writer who recognizes her vulnerability in dealing with her past hardships can depend on Christ’s power and use her suffering in her writing. With Christ’s help, she may boldly dredge up feelings from her past and use them to make a heroine’s feelings believable during her suffering.

Or possibly, like author Mary E. DeMuth, a writer can use her journey of suffering to write about her own or fictional harsh experiences to inform and to help others who are suffering.

Mary says, “I see my past as a dance floor for Jesus to dance on. Because I know my lack, I can only go to God’s strength to get to the next place that He’s calling me.”

Also, we can “pay forward” the comfort we have received in our suffering to comfort others in their sorrows.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV)

Or we can rise above our suffering and become stronger people to do whatever God calls us to do. We can glorify God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-5 NIV)

I think the following true story is a great example of not wasting suffering.

Mama Kwong of Project Pearl Suffered Prison in China

While Mama Kwong sat in her cell, she received a message from the Lord. “This is to be your ministry.” She cried out, “How can I minister to anyone when I’m here alone in this cell.”

As she prayed about fulfillment of the message, she received an idea and called the guard. She asked him if she could do hard labor for him. She pointed out that the cells were filthy. If he would give her a brush and water she would clean the cells.

While she scrubbed muck from the cells, she preached Christ to wasted and tortured prisoners. When they understood they could have eternal life, they got excited and received hope. Soon all prisoners believed in Christ.

Mama Kwong did not waste her suffering and was imprisoned three times.

How have you found strength, and even joy, in the midst of suffering and let God use it for good.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)


Don’t waste your suffering on how miserable you are. Click to tweet.

<<>>

About the Author

Zoe M. McCarthy believes the little known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is: Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Now retired actuaries, Zoe and her husband evaluated the financial risks for insurance companies. Nick, in Zoe’s debut novel, Calculated Risk, is an actuary. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys leading workshops on the craft of writing; speaking about her faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com

Calculated Risk

Calculated Risk
by Zoe M. McCarthy

What happens when an analytical numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…

Jilted by the latest of her father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.

Nick wants little to do with Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.

Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books