When our mama hearts hurt, we need to turn to Scripture for encouragement. While we might think we need to get our strength from doctors, people, or things, clinging to God's Word is the only thing that can provide lasting endurance.

And right now is the best time to begin committing verses to memory. Even if your mama heart isn't suffering at the moment, if you memorize Scripture now, you'll have it readily available if something unexpected happens either to your family or to someone else near you.

When Turbo was diagnosed with diabetes, we had no idea that the diabetes bombshell was about to hit our family. But when I needed it most, verses I'd memorized as a child came flooding back. More than that, when I asked family and friends to pray, many of them also offered words of comfort from the Bible. Both they and I already had these and other parts of Scripture memorized, and God used them to minister to me. Had we all not taken the time to memorize years before the actual trial, we wouldn't have been as prepared to handle things.

There's no shortage to the verses that God can use to encourage us in times of difficulty. And the verses that might speak volumes to one person might be completely different from the verses that mean the most to you. The Lord can use any part of Scripture to minister to you.

If you're not in a regular habit of memorizing the Bible, you could start with a few very familiar passages. Chances are good that you have parts of them memorized already, so this would be a way to quickly expand your Scripture memory "repertoire."

If you already have a good selection memorized, you could either add in more references or expand the sections you've already committed to memory. I'm a big fan of memorizing larger passages rather than a verse or two here or there. I think longer passages can go a long way toward preventing taking things out of context.

Three passages that the Lord has used to encourage me are:

Joel 2:18-27 - During the first few years that Jon and I lived in the Bay Area, he worked nights, finances were always tight, and it wasn't a lot of fun for either of us. I've long envisioned that those years were sort of like our "locust years" that Joel describes in this passage. Whether or not the Lord repays your locust years here on Earth, as Christians, we know that Eternity with Christ will wipe away all Earthly tears.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 - My mom introduced me to these verses many years ago. I love how Habakkuk chooses to praise the Lord even when all physical resources are gone. It doesn't matter that there's no flocks or food; he puts his trust in God and not physical things.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - This is probably the most well-known of the three passages I'm sharing today, and it's a good one. God reminds Paul that the infirmities He allows in Paul's life are for Paul's good. While it doesn't always feel like our struggles are producing anything beneficial in our lives, we can trust the Lord that He is using them to glorify Himself and to refine us and make us more Christlike.

You certainly don't have to memorize any or all of the passages I've mentioned here, but I would highly encourage you to begin memorizing some part of Scripture. It doesn't have to be specifically about suffering or parenting. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you find verses that will minister directly to you and your current situation.

If you need some tips for memorizing God's Word, here is an excellent post for getting started. I found it to be really helpful even though I've been working on Scripture memory for several years - I still struggle with long-term memory retention, so this was just what I needed!

I hope you'll join me in hiding God's Word in your heart. We all need to know Scripture, no matter what our season of life is at the moment. The Bible offers words of comfort, conviction of sin, and fellowship with the Heavenly Father. Let's not miss out on the beauty of committing Scripture to memory!

Note: This post is part 4 of the Mama Heart series. You can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.