The Most Important Love Story

Whether you celebrate Valentines Day or not, don't forget the most important love story of all! Jesus loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. No matter what your past relationships have been like, he will always love you and welcome you back into His arms. The best part is, you don't have to explain anything. 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a]

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-40

This is a love humans are almost incapable of understanding because by nature we allow the past to dictate our feelings. But Jesus wipes the slate clean and loves us unconditionally. Smile and know that you are loved, even if you don't know Jesus yet!

-Jessica

A Moment

I took these pictures a few days ago right as the sun came up and the trees and ground were still covered in glistening diamonds. I looked out the window, saw the beauty coming and ran outside, clad in pajamas, winter boots and a big hat. It was chilly and I looked ridiculous but it was worth it to capture such a beautiful sight. Had I waited 5 more minutes or took the time to put on all of my winter clothes and I may have missed a wonderful opportunity. 

God provides us with opportunities every day to act immediately on showing His love to others. Never wait to tell someone you love them, never wait to forgive one another and never wait tell others what God has shown you. Be a light in the darkness and put your faith to work. James 2:14-17 says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

-Jessica

Let Go

Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you- for you know in your heart that many times you have cursed others. Ecclesiastes 7:1-22  Its about this time of year that I start counting down the days until spring. I have more feelings of irritation than joy. I don't want to have to scrape the snow off my walkway. I don't want to have to put a bunch of layers and coats on me or my kids. I don't want to park far away at the grocery store and have to walk through the snow and slush. My feelings may not be too far off of most peoples. We are quick to get angry about things out of our control. Our displeasure of these things can make us quick to place blame, yell and speak things we wish to take back.

Let's let go of the things we can't control and make sure the things we can control are kept in check. Our minds, our mouths and our actions. Let's use the passion we feel for a situation and make sure it gets put into helping others. Whether that be through kind deeds, warm thoughts or gracious words. In the same token, let's be quick to forgive others for things that have said or done, for we have all had our moments of chagrin.

When faced with the choice, try to forgive someone immediately. It will bring joy to your heart and to theirs!

-Jessica

Planning Your Garden

I love planning my vegetable garden. In the middle of winter I can dream about all the fresh and tasty foods that will be prepared and eaten by my family. It takes more than just some open soil to have a garden. You have to plan how big you want it, what vegetables you will have, if you are growing them from seed or buying plants. Which plants compliment each other and which need to be on opposite sides of the plot. Then after you plant them you have to care for them. Water and compost have to be added to make sure your garden flourishes. If you are like me it grows well but weeds eventually take over because I get busy with other summer activities. It takes research, time and energy to grow a successful garden. Just like it does to be successful at anything we do research and plan for our future. We need to take the same approach about having a relationship with Christ. Reading the Bible daily to research what God expects from us, planning the words we will say to others so that we can be made to look more like His image and growing through our strengths and weaknesses, learning from our mistakes. Once we know what God wants us to do in every area of our lives, we must strive to be the best for Him and for each other.

Read the Parable of the Sower and why it is important to hold God's word close to our hearts- Matthew 13:1-18

Are you planning a garden this year? What are your favorite vegetables and flowers?

Heart- A Vital Organ

Put your hand over your heart and close your eyes. I mean it, just stop reading and do it right now. Feel it beating life into your body. This small but mighty organ gets little praise from us. We don't typically stop and thank our heart for keeping us alive and yet it continues on, pulsing blood through our veins. Our hearts are a made for much more than keeping us alive though. In the bible it says our hearts show our intentions and thoughts (Hebrews 4:12), they can trust (Proverbs 3:5), they believe (Romans 10:10) and our hearts need to be pure (Matthew 5:8).

In the King James version, the word love is only mentioned a little over 300 times, compared to the word heart, which is printed over 900 times. (1) In my opinion means that our hearts have more responsibility than just loving. God intended for our hearts to help guide us through our life and make the right decisions. We may be compared to other people by our outward appearance but God has made it clear that He will be judging us by our hearts. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

-Jessica

1. The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769; King James Bible Online, 2015. http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Popular-Bible-Words.php

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Close To Your Heart

What do you hold nearest to your heart? Your loving home you have built and everything in it? Your beautiful family? Your relationship with Jesus? Probably all of those thing rank close to the top if you are being honest. When disaster strikes it is devastating to lose your belongings because it can feel like you have lost everything. The same goes for family members, the world stops when someone is taken away from us through death. But having faith in Jesus, and knowing that no matter what happens there is a glorious place where He will meet you, is something to celebrate! That is what we need to hold closest to our hearts. Because in the end God owns everything and He gives and takes away.

Read this quick story of Job who Satan thought would turn away from God if God took everything from him: possessions and family. Job 1:1-22

Job held God closest to his heart and no matter what he lost, he still did not blame God.

Some inspiring stories have circled our media of people who showed robbers and thieves the love of Jesus because that was on the forefront of their mind. Challenge yourself to see what you hold nearest to your heart and pray that God will give you a loving heart willing to give up anything for Him.

-Jessica

Trials & Struggles

Trials & struggles. We all have them. Often times I feel as if that's all my life consists of. But recently I started realizing I need to turn those struggles into blessings.God puts hard things in our lives to test us,to make us better people for him. You see God desperately wants purity in our hearts,that is the reason for the hard things in our lives. He is testing the reigns to see how we handle our struggles,He wants to bless us! But if we constantly complain about them he will not. We need to embrace our trials and struggles because they are all part of Gods work in us.

So rather than dread trials that are coming our way, we need to take courage in the fact that God is faithful, His strength is sufficient for any trial you and I face or will face.Whenever I feel like life is to much I just can't make it through something I turn to these verses and remember God will not put me through something I can't handle.

1 Peter 5:10 "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast."

James 1:12 "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those that love him."

Romans 5:3-4 "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance,character, and character, hope."

-Stefanie