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

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

Linking up at christianmommyblogger.com

Everything begins with the Heart

Can I tell you this has been a long time coming? A few months to be exact but I am finally here. I am so excited to be able to share what God is doing in my everyday life with all of you. I am not a profound writer by any means and in part I am writing this for my kids. Yes, I know they can't read, but I realized if I am going to be raising my children to rely on God and they start asking me questions about Him or why we should read the Bible, I need to have the answers for them. Or at least tell them where to find them. God says we need to teach our children His commands in Deuteronomy 4:9. Writing this will help me to be accountable for how I spend my time and energy. I am also doing this because the internet and social media are so popular right now and if I can inject the name of the Lord into those in any way and lead even one person to Christ, then this has been a success.

So why should you read this? For those of you who are super organized (not me exactly) I made a list of some of the things I will probably touch on throughout this next year:
1. Prayer
2. Importance of reading the Bible
3. Fellowship
4. Scripture Memorization
5. Highlighting some awesome people in the bible and living today

I promise to keep it entertaining so just stay with me for a while! Shortly my awesome sister Stef will be joining me on here as well, she is full of wisdom and has a kind heart. We hope you will follow us and gain some knowledge and inspiration.

Sometime in the last 20 years of my life I made the choice to follow God. I didn't have that profound moment that some have where one day they opened up their Bible and made the decision that day to walk with Jesus. But that's ok because I know my story is just at important to Him as the person who has risked it all to proclaim Jesus as our Savior. His love is unending and never failing and I want to have a heart that shows that love and compassion towards others. It's true, we think and make decisions with our minds but our actions come from our hearts. Look at the Bible verses Luke 6:45 and Proverbs 23:19. Let's make sure our hearts are full of love and compassion and whatever we speak and do will be good.

Take a moment today, on this first day of the new year, and turn on or open your Bible. Whether its been a few hours or days or years since you last had, God doesn't care, he wants a relationship with you now! When in doubt, a good place to start is always the beginning of the book ;-)

-Jessica