I'm not a Bible scholar. I didn't go to a Christian college. I haven't even taken a single class on the Bible. I'm just passionate about God's word. A passion that had been fading a bit before last night.
Monday nights are community group nights for me. I always look forward to going to community group. I enjoy seeing everyone, hearing about their weeks and getting discuss Sunday's sermon and how we can better apply it to our lives. But something different happened last night. We went on a biblical tangent.
Last night’s biblical tangent was about Noah. It isn't the topic of the tangent that was so meaningful to me, but it was the openness to ask a question. Questions to me are very powerful, especially when you can tell that the person asking them has a real passion and desire to have their question answered. It reminds me of when I first became a believer and was attending my very first small group. I asked questions about everything we discussed and had a genuine desire to know as much about God as I possibly could.
My desire to know as much about God as I can hasn't changed. I want God and I to be close, it’s that simple. The main way I grow closer to Him is by reading His word and questioning the things I don't understand. To me questions really challenge my faith and draw me closer to Him. Yes some questions won't get answered while I'm here on earth, but questions can teach me about who God is and why He does the things He does. I also like sharing my questions with other believers. I want to know what other people have to say about God's word and am curious as to what in God's word challenges them.
Questions are what I miss and last night reminded me of that. It's getting passionate enough about God's word to want to understand and question it. I don't want to be content to just read my Bible like it’s just another book. The Bible tells us who God is, what He's about, how He wants us to live and most importantly how much He loves us. If that doesn't raise any questions, am I really passionate? I'm now on a mission to raise questions and restore my passion. Get prepared.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
The world of weddings
There is a lot of pressure to have the "perfect" wedding. Little girls grow up fantasizing about their wedding day. Picturing what their dress will look like, where they will have it, what kind of flowers will be in their bouquet, who their groom will be waiting for them at the end of the aisle. Wedding frenzy starts the moment you get engaged and ends the moment your reception is over. Much of engagement is spent planning for the big day. Bringing those childhood dreams to reality, that's what our culture tells us is important. There are an abundant number of TV shows ("Say Yes to the Dress" being my favorite), magazines and websites ready and willing to help make your day "perfect". As a culture we love weddings, and we want them to be perfect because it's the "best day of your life".
I agree that your wedding day is a very special day, one that you will always remember and cherish. It's the moment that two lives become one before God. A holy covenant that I can't wait to be a part of. It's the day that your life will forever be changed by and that is very exciting.
But amidst all the planning and general wedding excitement, I need a reality check. What's the outcome I want at the end of the day? A healthy, loving, God centered, long-lasting marriage is my goal. That is what we need to prepare for. Yes we're planning for the biggest celebration that we ever will plan for. But in the end, our wedding day will last just that a day.
We are doing premarriage counseling at the church we're going to. Our pastor gave us the best illustration of what marriage is like and the kind of preparation that is necessary. He said that marriage is like jumping out of a plane. You don't know exactly what is about to happen, but you do know that you're going to need something to make sure that you don't crash. That is where a parachute comes in. You put on a parachute before you jump out of a plane because you know that eventually you will need it. Premarriage counseling is like putting on that parachute before taking the big jump of marriage. Learning about what God says about marriage, learning good habits to get into, talking about things before they become issues down the road, speaking to couples that have been through the hard times and have come out on the other side. These are the things that make the parachute for marriage, so that we don't crash when things get tough. Because we all know that eventually life will get tough.
This is what God says about marriage:
"4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." ~ Proverbs 12:4
" 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” " ~Matthew 19:4-6
"1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." ~ 1 Corinthians 7:1-5
"21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. " ~ Ephesians 5:21-33
I can't wait to be married. I'm so blessed that God has given me the chance to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Our wedding will be perfect, not because everything will go exactly how we plan it, but because at the end of that day we will be man and wife.
88 days to go!
I agree that your wedding day is a very special day, one that you will always remember and cherish. It's the moment that two lives become one before God. A holy covenant that I can't wait to be a part of. It's the day that your life will forever be changed by and that is very exciting.
But amidst all the planning and general wedding excitement, I need a reality check. What's the outcome I want at the end of the day? A healthy, loving, God centered, long-lasting marriage is my goal. That is what we need to prepare for. Yes we're planning for the biggest celebration that we ever will plan for. But in the end, our wedding day will last just that a day.
We are doing premarriage counseling at the church we're going to. Our pastor gave us the best illustration of what marriage is like and the kind of preparation that is necessary. He said that marriage is like jumping out of a plane. You don't know exactly what is about to happen, but you do know that you're going to need something to make sure that you don't crash. That is where a parachute comes in. You put on a parachute before you jump out of a plane because you know that eventually you will need it. Premarriage counseling is like putting on that parachute before taking the big jump of marriage. Learning about what God says about marriage, learning good habits to get into, talking about things before they become issues down the road, speaking to couples that have been through the hard times and have come out on the other side. These are the things that make the parachute for marriage, so that we don't crash when things get tough. Because we all know that eventually life will get tough.
This is what God says about marriage:
"4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." ~ Proverbs 12:4
" 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” " ~Matthew 19:4-6
"1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." ~ 1 Corinthians 7:1-5
"21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. " ~ Ephesians 5:21-33
I can't wait to be married. I'm so blessed that God has given me the chance to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Our wedding will be perfect, not because everything will go exactly how we plan it, but because at the end of that day we will be man and wife.
88 days to go!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Work vs School
Working full-time is NOT like school. With school you can make all of your classes in the afternoon so that everyday is like the weekend and you can sleep in. Work however is not like that. You must get up early every morning during the week and fight traffic to get to your job.
School has lots of breaks and time off. There is no winter or summer break with work. Even when schools are closed for a snow day, you must still work because the roads are never bad enough to make it so you can't work from home.
The good thing about work is that as long as you are low enough on the totem at work, once you leave work, work is done. School is not like that; once you leave school , homework must be done. It looms over your head like a dark cloud that goes with you every where you go. Putting a damper on all of the fun that you are trying to have while procrastinating on your school work. With work, there is no cloud. Just sunny skies when you're not working.
I'm a creature of habit and with school you must change your routine every few months.
In my opinion work wins for the last two reasons.
School has lots of breaks and time off. There is no winter or summer break with work. Even when schools are closed for a snow day, you must still work because the roads are never bad enough to make it so you can't work from home.
The good thing about work is that as long as you are low enough on the totem at work, once you leave work, work is done. School is not like that; once you leave school , homework must be done. It looms over your head like a dark cloud that goes with you every where you go. Putting a damper on all of the fun that you are trying to have while procrastinating on your school work. With work, there is no cloud. Just sunny skies when you're not working.
I'm a creature of habit and with school you must change your routine every few months.
In my opinion work wins for the last two reasons.
Engaged!!!!!!!!!
I know this post is very late, but better late than never right?
I had been praying for a long time that when Sean and I did get engaged I would be surprised and not any weird unrealistic expectations. God totally had my back. Sean couldn't have done a better job! I was so surprised and the way he purposed was more amazing than anything I could have ever come up with.
What I thought was going to be a great birthday present turned out to be a weekend that changed my life. Sean and I had talked about rent a couple of hotel rooms in VA beach ever since the summer, but I thought it was one of those pipe dreams that would never come true. Sean had other plans and rented us two rooms at the Holiday Inn on the ocean for what I thought was going to be just a birthday present. (On a side note, Sean has been one-upping himself each time he gives me a present, so next time my b-day rolls around we may have to go to the moon to surpass this birthday) We met at the hotel and Sean had already checked us in. The room was amazing, I even had a balcony! Sean suggested that we go for a walk along the beach before we went to dinner. As we were walking the sun was setting and the ocean was reflecting all of the beautiful colors in the sky. At some point we stopped walking and Sean got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. I was in total shock! It was the most perfect moment ever!
Ever since then, it has kind of been surreal. I can't believe that we are going to be married. God has blessed us so much and I'm so thankful that He put Sean in my life. I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future. If it's anything like the past couple of years, I know it will be awesome!
I had been praying for a long time that when Sean and I did get engaged I would be surprised and not any weird unrealistic expectations. God totally had my back. Sean couldn't have done a better job! I was so surprised and the way he purposed was more amazing than anything I could have ever come up with.
What I thought was going to be a great birthday present turned out to be a weekend that changed my life. Sean and I had talked about rent a couple of hotel rooms in VA beach ever since the summer, but I thought it was one of those pipe dreams that would never come true. Sean had other plans and rented us two rooms at the Holiday Inn on the ocean for what I thought was going to be just a birthday present. (On a side note, Sean has been one-upping himself each time he gives me a present, so next time my b-day rolls around we may have to go to the moon to surpass this birthday) We met at the hotel and Sean had already checked us in. The room was amazing, I even had a balcony! Sean suggested that we go for a walk along the beach before we went to dinner. As we were walking the sun was setting and the ocean was reflecting all of the beautiful colors in the sky. At some point we stopped walking and Sean got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. I was in total shock! It was the most perfect moment ever!
Ever since then, it has kind of been surreal. I can't believe that we are going to be married. God has blessed us so much and I'm so thankful that He put Sean in my life. I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future. If it's anything like the past couple of years, I know it will be awesome!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thankful
Today I was getting bored and going a bit stir crazy, so I decided to go to Starbucks. My plan was to read a book and just enjoy being around people. God had another plan though. I ended up sitting next to an old man that was sketching. I asked if I could sit in the seat next him (he was sitting in the comfortable arm chairs and I didn't want to sit in one of the hard wooden chairs to read). He told me that would love for me to sit there. For the next hour or so I got to learn about his life and he told me the life stories of almost everyone who walked in the door. I learned that when he was younger his teachers thought he had a learning disability, but as it turned out he had a hearing problem. He went on to get his PhD in Special Education, teach at a high school and several universities. He also served in the air-force doing rescue diving from helicopters, just like the coast guard. Even more impressing, he worked in a psychiatric hospital helping children. He's lived all over the world and even plowed the field that used to be where the Starbucks sits now. I learned about his family and the paintings that he sells.
I never got his name, but I know that conversation we had this afternoon was just what God had in mind for me to do today. God knew that I needed to be around people and to have a chance to just have a conversation face to face. Praise God because He knows what you need and provides it even when you don't ask.
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
~Romans 8:26-27
I never got his name, but I know that conversation we had this afternoon was just what God had in mind for me to do today. God knew that I needed to be around people and to have a chance to just have a conversation face to face. Praise God because He knows what you need and provides it even when you don't ask.
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
~Romans 8:26-27
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Centreville to Chesapeake
A little over a week ago I moved to Chesapeake, VA. The move went better than I could have imagined. Beth, Scott, Thomas and my parents helped me load up my stuff in NoVa and Mike and Josh helped unload it in Chesapeake. Without all of their help, my move would not have gone as smoothly as it did and I can't thank them enough. There was one person that made my whole move possible, my wonderful boyfriend Sean. He really got the raw end of the deal. He drove a truck with a trailer attached and had to help load AND unload. His whole day was spent moving and he didn't complain or grumble once. I still can't believe that God has blessed me with such an amazing man.
When I left Centreville the weather was warm and sunny, then I arrived in Chesapeake and monsoon season hit. I've spent most of this week in my new apartment (pictures to come) watching the rain. Luckily the cable man came last Monday, so I've watched a considerable amount of TV as well. Since then I haven't been super motivated to do much of anything on my to do list.
Most of my unpacking is done. The rest may never get unpacked because I'm tired of unpacking. And let's face it, if I didn't feel the need to unpack it this past week it means that either a) the box is full of useless objects that will just have to repacked when I move in the future or b) at some point I'm going to be looking for something and eventually unpack the box that it's in. I have all the essentials unpacked. That's the most important thing, right?
So far Chesapeake gets a 6 out of 10. Walmart is close, Target is close, a mall is close, and most exciting Sean is close! I know that this is where God wants me and I know that I will grow to enjoy Chesapeake the more I get plugged in and don't spend almost every waking hour in my apartment.
"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:9
When I left Centreville the weather was warm and sunny, then I arrived in Chesapeake and monsoon season hit. I've spent most of this week in my new apartment (pictures to come) watching the rain. Luckily the cable man came last Monday, so I've watched a considerable amount of TV as well. Since then I haven't been super motivated to do much of anything on my to do list.
Most of my unpacking is done. The rest may never get unpacked because I'm tired of unpacking. And let's face it, if I didn't feel the need to unpack it this past week it means that either a) the box is full of useless objects that will just have to repacked when I move in the future or b) at some point I'm going to be looking for something and eventually unpack the box that it's in. I have all the essentials unpacked. That's the most important thing, right?
So far Chesapeake gets a 6 out of 10. Walmart is close, Target is close, a mall is close, and most exciting Sean is close! I know that this is where God wants me and I know that I will grow to enjoy Chesapeake the more I get plugged in and don't spend almost every waking hour in my apartment.
"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:9
Monday, September 13, 2010
When God Calls
In just a few weeks I'm going to be starting work. Not just a part-time job during school, but a real 9-5, this is your career job. I'm kind of nervous about it, but excited as well. I know this is where God wants me to be, because He couldn't have made it any clearer.
I was working as a teaching assistant and the professor I was working for submitted my resume to KPMG. They were looking to fill a full-time position in the DC office and knew that she always had students to recommend. So, she submitted some girls resume along with my own. Telling them that I wanted to work in Norfolk, and asking if they had any openings. Before I knew it I had an on campus interview. Which led to me visiting their Norfolk office and being interviewed by 5 different people. Then I got the job!
I didn't have to do anything to get this job. God just dropped it in my lap and was like "Jen, this is where I want you to work. Love God" He answered my prayers for a good job and He even put me in Norfolk! I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful gift.
Furthermore, He has blessed me with a wonderful apartment (pictures to come). It's in a great location, half way between work and Sean, and is within my budget. One bedroom, one bath, all mine for the next year.
I really like it when God makes it clear what He wants me to do. So many times I just wonder "Am I making the right choice? Is this what God wants me to do?" Usually I'm wishing that God would audibly speak to me. Or if that's not in His plan, maybe an email or even just a text. Something like "Good decision. Love God" or "Don't do that. It's not what I want for you. Love God" He has yet to do any of these, but I still keep hoping :) But not this time. I know where He wants me, and I'm so thankful that I do.
Sometimes I know exactly what God wants me to do and sometimes I just hope and pray that the choices I make are what He wants for my life. I just want to please Him and make Him proud. By following His leading down to Hampton Roads I hope to accomplish just that.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6
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