Let’s just call him “Mr. Affirmative” to somewhat mask his identity.

“My brain is filled with sawdust,” Mr. Affirmative lamented to me one afternoon. I can’t remember anything.” (This was back in 2007 when I was an advisor to the Seventh-day Adventist church in Tai-Kadai and Mr. Affirmative had come to me for advice.)

Sending up a quick prayer for wisdom, God blessed me with a plan. “Memorize Psalms 1, 23, 51, and 91 and Hebrews 11 perfectly without any mistakes and that will cure you of brain-sawdust.”

“How can I do that?” Mr. A moaned. “I can’t remember anything.”

“Just learn one verse at a time. When you get a chapter perfect, you can recite it to me and I’ll check it off. You asked me how to remove sawdust from the brain. Memorizing Scripture is the best method.”

Three weeks later, my duties brought me back to Vientiane and I looked up Mr. Affirmative. He groaned when he saw me. “I wish I hadn’t drunk so much alcohol when I was a teenager and before I became a Christian. My brain is so messed up.”

“How did the memory work go?” I asked hesitatingly.

“I worked hard every day for three weeks and I can just now say the first verse without any mistakes.”

“Keep it up,” I encouraged. “It will get easier.” And it did! The next verse took over a week to learn and the verse after that a few days. By the time he finished, he was memorizing several verses a day. Mr. Affirmative went on to earn a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and is now one of the leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist church in the Ta-Kadai region. What a testimony to the power of God’s word combined with steadfast perseverance.
Truly, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130).

Please join us in praying for an open door for God’s word to do mighty things among the people of Surat Thani.

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