Good Morning All,
I hope you are all doing fine this lovely Friday morning. I am in a particularly GREAT mood because I fly back to Texas today for the week and it is always a joy to see family and friends.
I am writing just a short blog this morning to encourage you and to praise the God who is great and merciful. This morning while eating breakfast in the cafeteria of my women's dorm in NYC I was amazed. This same cafeteria was the same cafeteria I sat just 3 months ago wondering how I would ever make it.
You may be saying "Oh Jess...dramatic, much?" Although you might be right and I could honestly agree with you, well now. But then, I thought my world would never be at peace again. I thought the agony of walking away from the friends, family, church, and life I had in Denton could never be the same or replaced by a strange and crazy city.
Are there times in your life when you just can't see past your circumstance?
I am writing this because God knows you and I both need to be reminded that you are not alone. You have been given a purpose and a calling and you have been sent according to HIS purposes and for HIS will to be done. I spend hours thinking I might miss out on what God is sending me into, all the while He knows that His plan cannot be messed up. HE KNOWS.
So I encourage you, although times may have been or are tough, thank God for the grace and mercy that He still knows you. May it give you a peace to know that although the world may seem strange and crazy some days/weeks/months, the God of your heart is never strange or crazy, He is known and peaceful.
May we be reminded to rely on the known and peaceful.
This was my growth in the cafeteria, although the growth in my heart is proving to be much more appealing :)
Have an amazing Thanksgiving and may you be thankful for your friends, family, and the beautiful place you call your temporary home!
<3
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Angels in the Wilderness
Through many times in our lives we all come to a point where life, love, and hope are all interuppted by heartache or heartbreak. There is no notice of these interupptions, only the grace of God leading you to a way of healing before you ever realize you will need it.
I sat in my dorm room here in NYC last night and cried out to the Lord wondering why, how, and if. These are common questions we all face in life. These are what I call my interupptions. As mentioned before God has changed me, transformed me, and loved me through this whole new wilderness. I have been tested, and although it has been longer than forty days, I know the angels are still attending me.
I am learning to love God through whatever circumstance, trust in Him in whatever waiting period, and fall in love with Him through the however long this season of singleness! He has wooed me, pursued me, and is now changing me to be the woman He sees me to be. His plan is beautiful and perfect. So the flaw is only my unbelief in that plan.
So all I can do is cling to His truth and be thankful for my angels in the season of wilderness. I am thankful for The Apostles Church, my Flatiron Community Group, my wonderful friend Ramzy, and my beautiful and angelic mother. These are just a few of my angels, though many more are here...not all physically, but spiritually.
This is why I write these, in hopes that God's angels would wrap around you in the world of your own wilderness. I don't know where you are at or where God has brought you, but I do know that God loves you and that He has brought angels to attend you just as He did with Jesus. So be aware of where the angels are in your life, for those are His little miracles He gives you to let you know He is here.
"At once the Spirit sent him into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended Him."
Mark 1:12-13
I sat in my dorm room here in NYC last night and cried out to the Lord wondering why, how, and if. These are common questions we all face in life. These are what I call my interupptions. As mentioned before God has changed me, transformed me, and loved me through this whole new wilderness. I have been tested, and although it has been longer than forty days, I know the angels are still attending me.
I am learning to love God through whatever circumstance, trust in Him in whatever waiting period, and fall in love with Him through the however long this season of singleness! He has wooed me, pursued me, and is now changing me to be the woman He sees me to be. His plan is beautiful and perfect. So the flaw is only my unbelief in that plan.
So all I can do is cling to His truth and be thankful for my angels in the season of wilderness. I am thankful for The Apostles Church, my Flatiron Community Group, my wonderful friend Ramzy, and my beautiful and angelic mother. These are just a few of my angels, though many more are here...not all physically, but spiritually.
This is why I write these, in hopes that God's angels would wrap around you in the world of your own wilderness. I don't know where you are at or where God has brought you, but I do know that God loves you and that He has brought angels to attend you just as He did with Jesus. So be aware of where the angels are in your life, for those are His little miracles He gives you to let you know He is here.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
When You Wake Up
This morning I woke up in the midst of many feelings and emotions. Realizing the brink of my life was in the hands of myself. Today is a new day, it will never be November 8, 2011 again. You have the chance to change, create, love, redeem, hope, laugh, and pursue anything and everything today. The choice is yours.
I want to encourage you to lift up your hands praise, or if not hands, just your hearts in reverence of the God who created you and me. I post these post because I do believe that community is engaging in the lives of our brother's and sister's in Christ, no matter the miles that separate them. I am a few thousand miles away from most of you, but what I do know is that God is never more near than He is right now.
So when you wake up today or any day, remember through exhaustion from the late night before or the lack of energy from the busyness of the week that you are created in the likeness of a man who was tired and busy just as you and lived a perfect life so that you may live today.
I encourage you to smile, rejoice, and remember that you woke up this morning, that is more than many can say!
Don't just wake up from sleep, wake up from the life of absent-minded lifeless living into a new and exciting day of joy and hope.
Be the joy to someone today and soon you will find joy in all you do.
Be blessed and know that I am praying for each of you!
<3
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
I want to encourage you to lift up your hands praise, or if not hands, just your hearts in reverence of the God who created you and me. I post these post because I do believe that community is engaging in the lives of our brother's and sister's in Christ, no matter the miles that separate them. I am a few thousand miles away from most of you, but what I do know is that God is never more near than He is right now.
So when you wake up today or any day, remember through exhaustion from the late night before or the lack of energy from the busyness of the week that you are created in the likeness of a man who was tired and busy just as you and lived a perfect life so that you may live today.
I encourage you to smile, rejoice, and remember that you woke up this morning, that is more than many can say!
Don't just wake up from sleep, wake up from the life of absent-minded lifeless living into a new and exciting day of joy and hope.
Be the joy to someone today and soon you will find joy in all you do.
Be blessed and know that I am praying for each of you!
<3
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Simple Things in Life...
Hey Y'all,
(This one is going to be deep, so get ready for the dive!)
HANDS: Yesterday I received my birthday gift from my parents in the mail. As I walked into the elevator, I ran my fingers over my mother's handwriting. I missed her hands. I remember her hands holding me when I was sick, holding me when my eyes couldn't cry another tear, her hands driving me to school every morning in high school. Her hands holding me tight as she said goodbye when I moved to Denton and her hands the last time I hugged her goodbye before moving to New York. Her hands, so simple, yet so very much cherished.
LOVE: I sit and prayed for my aunt last night and thought about the last time I was home with her. Her body so frail, but her heart and spirit so strong. I remember distinctly one conversation I had with her and my uncle. She travels to the hospital every two weeks and they are in that hospital room for two weeks. I remember sitting there and tell them how much I know they love being home. They look at each other and say "We can't wait to be home so we can sleep in the same bed together." To go two weeks laying side by side while she is in the hospital bed and he lies in the fold out chair, the one thing they long for is to be able to be by each others side. I prayed then and now that God would bring me a man that I would love like that. Their love, so simple, yet so divine and beautiful.
BOOK: On Sunday after church I have made it my routine to find a book to read at the B&N in Union Square. I have heard great things about this book, "Is Heaven for Real," and have been wanting to read it. I picked it up, but then saw another book that was perfect for the time in my life right now "Resolution for Women." So I checked out and knew that night that it was the book I was meant to purchase. BUT, God had other plans. Remember I recieved a gift from my parents yesterday, within this box was the book "Is Heaven for Real." One book, so simple, yet so timely placed.
Hands, Love, and a Book; all these together would mean nothing to one other person, but to me, they will be remembered forever.
I have been struggling recently on understanding God's timing and the reason's for certain things He has called me into. As I opened that present and was given these things that I knew my mother so intricately picked out for my joy, I was overwhelmed. I was loved, adored, prayed for, and specifically given this gift for my 23rd birthday. It was one of the best gifts I have even been given.
I thank God today for my mother's hands, for the memories I have been given with her and with my aunt and uncle. I thank God for the reminder of a child-like faith in this book and that this is not my eternal destination. No matter what struggles or misunderstandings I am going through I know the simple truth that Heaven is waiting for me and so is my loving and beautiful Jehovah Jireh.
So today, as you read about my life, may you reflect on your own!
Blessings and simplicity to you!
(This one is going to be deep, so get ready for the dive!)
HANDS: Yesterday I received my birthday gift from my parents in the mail. As I walked into the elevator, I ran my fingers over my mother's handwriting. I missed her hands. I remember her hands holding me when I was sick, holding me when my eyes couldn't cry another tear, her hands driving me to school every morning in high school. Her hands holding me tight as she said goodbye when I moved to Denton and her hands the last time I hugged her goodbye before moving to New York. Her hands, so simple, yet so very much cherished.
LOVE: I sit and prayed for my aunt last night and thought about the last time I was home with her. Her body so frail, but her heart and spirit so strong. I remember distinctly one conversation I had with her and my uncle. She travels to the hospital every two weeks and they are in that hospital room for two weeks. I remember sitting there and tell them how much I know they love being home. They look at each other and say "We can't wait to be home so we can sleep in the same bed together." To go two weeks laying side by side while she is in the hospital bed and he lies in the fold out chair, the one thing they long for is to be able to be by each others side. I prayed then and now that God would bring me a man that I would love like that. Their love, so simple, yet so divine and beautiful.
BOOK: On Sunday after church I have made it my routine to find a book to read at the B&N in Union Square. I have heard great things about this book, "Is Heaven for Real," and have been wanting to read it. I picked it up, but then saw another book that was perfect for the time in my life right now "Resolution for Women." So I checked out and knew that night that it was the book I was meant to purchase. BUT, God had other plans. Remember I recieved a gift from my parents yesterday, within this box was the book "Is Heaven for Real." One book, so simple, yet so timely placed.
Hands, Love, and a Book; all these together would mean nothing to one other person, but to me, they will be remembered forever.
I have been struggling recently on understanding God's timing and the reason's for certain things He has called me into. As I opened that present and was given these things that I knew my mother so intricately picked out for my joy, I was overwhelmed. I was loved, adored, prayed for, and specifically given this gift for my 23rd birthday. It was one of the best gifts I have even been given.
I thank God today for my mother's hands, for the memories I have been given with her and with my aunt and uncle. I thank God for the reminder of a child-like faith in this book and that this is not my eternal destination. No matter what struggles or misunderstandings I am going through I know the simple truth that Heaven is waiting for me and so is my loving and beautiful Jehovah Jireh.
So today, as you read about my life, may you reflect on your own!
Blessings and simplicity to you!
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