It started as a literal Chronicle of my journey to Colorado Springs, it continues as a literal chronicle of my journey through God's plans in my life. It wont always be easy... but I'm committed to the end.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Home is....
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
4-6Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as "my dear husband." You'll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.
I love that one day, when I am married, the Word says that a man will be captivated by my life of holy beauty. This world gives off an impression of what husbands and wives should be, and I gotta tell you, sometimes I'm not impressed. I don't always look forward to being a wife if the worlds vision of what a wife should be, holds true. The portion that I put in bold is my favorite. I won't have to worry about what I look like. If I'm too fat or too skinny, or too short or tall... I won't have to wear pretty jewelry, or make sure that my hair is colored the perfect shade, and I have the perfect cut when I leave the salon. What will matter is my inner disposition. And that is something that even now, I work on. I want God to take hold of me and make me who he wants, that way one day a man will be captivated and it won't be because of what I've done, but because of what God has done in me.
I don't mean to say that I won't care what I look like and dress like a slob and never shower... but it kind of takes the pressure off a little, don't you think? As long as I work to be exactly what God has called me to be.
This entire book is amazing. If ever you are having a bad day or you just need encouraging... read it.. take every word in. Stop every once in a while and just let the words sink into your soul. I promise you'll be amazed once again of how great our God is and with how much he loves you.
After you read, come back here and tell me what you thought. What passages stood out to you? What scriptures gave you goosebumbs? Cause I know there's a few that gave me some!
I love all of you and for those of you in California, I'm looking forward to spending time with you starting next week!!!
Jess
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Another Quick update...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Hearing God's Voice Vs. Obeying God's Voice
Monday, October 5, 2009
He remembers all....
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Just a quick update....
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.....
We started our retreat in our groups. I am teamed with 7 other people that I have never met before coming to Colorado. I think it was a "God" thing, because not even the girls that I have been hanging out with are on this team. That should have been my first clue that God was trying to speak to me.
Anyways, we started off the low ropes activity with something that seemed simple. One person had to stand in the middle of a tight circle created by the other people on your team. All you had to do was lean toward them and let them gently push you around the circle. I was one of the last people to go and even though it sounds simple, it was so hard. To close your eyes and just trust that these people weren't going to let you fall, was a hard task, especially for just meeting them. We all accomplished the task and I was ready to move on...
That was, at least until they told us what the next one was.....
When I was younger we used to play that game "Light as a feather, stiff as a board". One person would lay on the ground and other people would stand on the sides of them and put their hands under the person's body. Slowly they would lift you off the ground and lift as high as they could. Now as a kid this was easy for two reasons: 1. As a kid you put a lot more trust in people 2. You were a lot lighter in weight than you are now!
I was seriously thinking of just telling my team that I didn't feel comfortable doing this. In my head I'm thinking "There is no way that these people are going to be lifting me above their heads (which, by the way, was what we had to do.) But I quickly remembered that when I came out here I told God that I wanted to him to change me in some way, and I was quickly reminded that this was part of that process. So I laid on the floor and trusted my team to pick me up off the ground and back down to the ground. Success!!!!
After this, we had another task ahead of us. It was called "Magic Shoes" In this task we had to find a way to get all 8 members of our team from one log to another. The catch? The space between the two logs was "Molten Hot Lava!" We only had one pair of magic shoes and only one person could wear them at a time. So we gave ourselves 25 minutes to complete this one. As we started to strategize how we were going to do this, we figured out that we were going to have to carry people on our backs...and some even had to carry people on their feet. This was where I realized that I'm a lot stronger than I think. I carried two girls on my body and walked from one log to another. And this was also where our team got really close! We had to literally carry each other across these two logs and get everyone to the other side safely. We tried twice and this one, sadly, we did not succeed at :(
After this we had to blindfold ourselves and walk in a line, holding each others shoulders, to the next activity. We had to rely on each other to know where to go and which obstacles were in the way. This is where the title of my blog comes in. We memorized and repeated Proverbs 3:5-6 while we walked to the next location.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and we will make your paths straight."
Our blindfolded walk, led us to our next activity. A rope hanging from a wire in the trees, two platforms and a full open water bottle. The object? To get all of your team mates and the full open water bottle to the other side, only by swinging on the rope. Now I wish I could have taken a picture of the platform so you could see how impossible this was going to be with 8 people. We managed to complete this task, but it was not easy. There were people falling off the platform which led to either one person being blindfolded through the whole activity, or the whole team doing push-ups and sit-ups (by the way we had two "blind" people and one "mute" and we had to do some sit-ups and push-ups) So you can see how hard this task was. This one activity was pretty hard for me. Unfortunately I am short, so the platform that we were standing on was not tall enough to allow me to get on the rope and swing over without falling. I discovered this by trying twice and falling twice! We asked our leader if we could add a platform so that I could have a few more inches to climb onto the rope. He told us no and we should try to get creative. So this very awesome guy Brandon decides that I should just use him as an extra platform. So he got on his hands and knees and told me to stand on his back!!! That's what I call dedication, people!
We had to again walk to the next activity blindfolded but this time it was in a circle. Again, we needed to rely on each other to communicate what obstacles were in the way.
This led us to our final activity. The Trust Fall. Most of you know exactly what this is, but for those who don't. Each of us had to stand on a lifted platform probably about 5 feet off the ground and fall backwards onto the hands of our team. When I first saw the platform that we would be falling off of, I freaked out for a second.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
All My Delight is in You Lord...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
One Week, Two Days...and It's all falling into place....
Monday, July 27, 2009
2 more weeks...
Isn't it amazing how God works??
This blog post is more a prayer request to you guys. I'm planning on leaving California in exactly 2 weeks and 2 days....and I still have no place to live. I've been looking around at some apartments and even almost had a place to live with three other girls that are also going to New Life, but God closed that door and I'm believing that it was for a reason.
I was always told that when you pray, you should be specific with God. So please pray that God will provide a great place for me to live, that's close to school (so I don't have to use lots of gas), and that is pretty cheap! Right now that is the only thing that I am stressing about.
Daily Devotional Scripture of the day:
“The Lord has hidden Himself from His people, but I trust Him and place my hope in Him” (Isaiah 8:17 TEV).
I was telling Shane the other day that I'm starting to freak out a little about moving. It's all happening so fast and I feel so un-organized about it all. I sometimes feel like God said "Ok, I want you to go to school in another state" and now I'm getting no other instructions from him!
You know how when you were a kid it was always fun to count to three and on three let the other person jump in to the freezing cold water, but you stay on the ledge of the pool?? That's what it feels like God is doing to me sometimes.
And then I read scriptures like Isaiah 8:17, he may feel so far away, but I still place my hope in him.
Just a little lesson for the morning.....Something to get me through the day.
Love you all!
Jess
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Waiting...
Vacation Bible School is next week and we've been so busy trying to get that all together. My days begin and end so fast that I havent had time to think, let alone write down what I think.
I can say this. God is really testing me. My move to Colorado is FAST approaching. I'm still waiting on information from school, and I can't do anything until that info comes. I still don't know where I'm going to live, or how I'm going to pay for everything and I very quickly want to panic and say "God, come on!! When will the pieces start falling into place!??"
I've pretty much decided that I'll be leaving on August 12, late at night. Which gives me exactly 4 weeks from last night left in California. I thought about that this morning, and just about flipped!!! I have 4 weeks to figure out where I'm going to live, pack and move!! Not to mention saying good-bye to everyone!!
And then God stepped in, like only he could.
I got an email today from Shane's mom. It was a daily devotion on Habakkuk 2:3. I loved whatever version they used.
"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" (Habakkuk 2:3 LB)
Have you ever seen that V8 commercial, where one person is looking at something that's not so healthy to eat, and then the other person with them slaps them on the head because they know it's not good for them, and you hear that konk noise?
I swear God did that to me, and I heard the konk noise!
Why am I so worried?? Do I have valid reasons for being worried about where I'm going to sleep and how I'm going to pay for small essentials like food & gas?? Yes I believe I do. But my God is bigger than my worries and my fears. After all that God has brought me through in my life, why do I still question him??
I really hope that it's a lesson that I will learn soon. I don't like getting konked on the head by God.
I have a friend who asked me to sing at a ministry kickoff event last weekend. It was and awesome night and I'm so thankful to have been apart of it.
Brian and Laura Warth are doing some amazing things within the prison ministry.
Check out their website at http://www.youngmanarise.com/ for more information.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Even though it's too late...I'm sorry...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wow....
Do you ever have those moments when a light bulb goes on over your head and you grasp hold of a concept and you just sit there and....wow!
I had one of those moments last night. I got the opportunity to lead worship last night and I ended up pulling the song "Amazed". Church started and we went throught the set, people were worshipping and we get to the second chorus in "Amazed" and it says : You paint the morning sky, with miracles in mind, my hope will always stand, cause you hold me in your hand"
I got goosebumps when we sang the last line, so much so, that I had to sing it again, "My hope will always stand, cause you hold me in your hand"
I got this picture in my head, it was me, as tiny as could be sitting in this HUGE hand, just me sitting cross-legged in the palm of Jesus' hand.
Worship ended and we went on with the rest of service. The scriptures that Pastor spoke on was Philippians 4:6 and Matthew 6:25-34. As I read those scriptures, I thought about the picture that I saw as I was singing...."My hope will always stand, cause you hold me in your hand".
I really think that God is trying to tell us something. We live in a scary world, where people are losing jobs, families are falling apart, children are growing up before they are supposed to. It's natural for us to worry about things everyday. But in his word, God says, "Do not worry"
I especially like the Matthew 6:30, "And if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are her today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you, why do you have so little faith"? That verse alone was a "WOW" moment for me. If you think about it, flowers are beautful for a few days at most, and then they are gone, but God still cares "wonderfully" for them. How can we as human beings that were created in his image, think that he wont take care of us?
This post didn't really have much to do with Colorado, and there will probably be a few posts like this, me just sharing something that God is revealing in my life. To me it was just confirmation of my pervious blog post. God is good. All the time.
My prayer for you today would be that you will have"WOW" moments like these. That he will continuously amaze you everyday, through even the littlest things.
Monday, June 15, 2009
My Soul Waits...
Anyways, today's devotional for me was on Psalm 130:5-6.
"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning".
It is so hard for me to wait on God. I grow so impatient and feel that I must know all that's going to happen before it does. This verse to me means that I need to trust that God's word is true no matter how impatient I get. My impatience isn't going to change that fact. I know that God will provide, but only in his time. He knows what's best for me.
I'm slowly starting to see God provide in my going to Colorado. He has already provided a TON, but I'm seeing little jobs that he's providing me with. I was asked to sing ONE song at an ministry kick-off event. It's a paid gig, but more than that it will be a chance for me to use the voice that he gave me to reach this world. So not only is he providing, he's giving me a chance to use what he has provided me with.
Another example, I was asked to teach piano to one of the boys in our church. Also a paid gig, but now I'm helping to teach the next generation how to worship God and who knows what plans God has for this kid, but I'm excited to be apart of even just a little bit. I love sitting back and watching what God is doing in my life. It makes me excited for this next part of my life. I feel like he's finally fitting puzzle pieces together
OK, so now that I have written A LOT!! Here's my challenge to you:
I challenge you, be continuous in your prayers. Don't give up. Believe that God will provide ALL of your needs, not just some. Keep reading his word, and wait with expectation, knowing that he will come.
And when he does answer those prayers, come back and tell me about it. I need to be encouraged just as much as you do.
Have a great day!!!