lyssssss-deactivated20110413-de asked: hey lady :) i'm assuming that you want ones that denote their gender? i may be wrong lol one umm well one of my favorite verses (and the one that i have up at school) is psalm 45:10-15, i like this version best; "Oh my darling, you are intimately selected, divinely beautiful, intricately woven, destined, ordained, and understood. My jealousy for you is resolute and you are still the object of My pursuit. O daughter, consider and giver ear; forget your people and your father's house. The King is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him for He is your Lord." that may be too...wordy and intense though lol One i have at home is 1 peter 3:4, which i also love. or you could always use something from proverbs 31 about a woman of character being more valuable than rubies orrrrrrr the one about how a woman who fears the Lord should be praised. haha umm i cant think of anymore but if i do i'll let you know.

and for owen :) hmm the first that popped into my mind was joshua 1:9. there are ones about how the righteous are as bold as a lion, i forget where (psalms?), umm isaiah 40 or 41 has some candidates, haha umm i can't think of anything else. haha i'm no help, sowwe.

oh and the one that will go in my home someday will be acts 20:24... "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."

long message, sorry. miss you! :)

Not long at all, and confirmed exactly what I was thinking! How awesome is that!  Owen: Joshua 1;9, or prov 3:5-7 or Phil 4:13,

And Sadie- 1 peter 3;4

http://www.agreatimpression.com/category_6/Christian-Inspirational.htm

Check out this website, her stuff is pretty awesome, but I’m having Christie Stebs actually paint on our walls, bc their old and horse hair plaster and nothing sticks to them!

One she’s doing for the living room; Eucharisteo…

“After He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to them…”

In the original language, “gave thanks” is written eucharisteo. He gave thanks. He broke apart. He gave. The bread. Himself. Eucharisteo.

The root word of eucharisteo in the Greek is charis meaning gift or grace. He took the bread and saw it as a gift. He held it and gave thanks. Is not all we have been given us by the Giver of all? Do we see the common like bread and drink as pure grace, unmerited gifts from He who can do nothing but give? Do we take up each moment of life in this way, both the mundane and the trials of life?

Charis also forms the root of the Greek word chara, meaning joy. Those three words…grace, thanksgiving, joy…come together. In all circumstances, even in our greatest trial, we can receive from Him this sustenance. Now served to us with nail-scarred hands, first we taste of grace—that He delights in us in His generous benevolence. Then we savor it with thanksgiving that both springs up from our spirit and nourishes us right down to our souls. And our dessert? Joy! Joy…from thanksgiving…from grace, freely bestowed on us, His beloved.

With the taking, with the thanking, comes the breaking. As we feast upon His eucharisteo, so we then take our lives…our time, our talents, our treasure…and in the power of grace and in the spirit of thanksgiving, “break” them to share them with a hungry world around us—our spouse, our children, our extended family, our community, our world. It is our gift…not waiting until we think they deserve it or have earned it, but because freely we have received; therefore, freely we give.

Eucharisteo…pretty life changing and amazing! I have a book, when you’re not busy being a college student that I think you would like but would also challenge you as well, as it challenged me. “One THousand Gifts”.

Thanks for you input. I’m missing you, especially today!  Have a good chapel tomorrow:)

Love you!
always,

Jenn

ps. THIS was a long message!

"Spend the whole of your one wild and beautiful life investing in many lives, and God simply will not be outdone. God extravagantly pays back everything we give away and exactly in the currency that is not of this world but of the one we yearn for: Joy in Him."

Ann Voskamp “One Thousand Gifts”

"There is so much to want- healed bodies, restored relationships, changed circumstances. But asking, seeking and knocking aren’t secret formulas for getting what we want from God; they’re ways to get more of God. As I listen to God speak to me through His word, He gives me more of Himself, in fuller, newer ways. Then if the healing doesn’t come, if the relationship remains broken, or if the pressures increase, I have the opportunity to discover for myself, He is enough. His presence is enough. His purpose is enough."

“Prayers that Move the Heart of God” Nancy Guthrie

"Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief. Faith is believing in an unshakable God when everything in my trembles and shakes."

Beth Moore, “Praying God’s word”

"Why does God allow us to spend so much of life in the heat of battle? Because He never meant for us to sip His Spirit like a proper cup of tea. He meant for us to hold our sweating heads over the fountain and lap up His life with unquenchable thirst."

Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word

(Source: becomingone)

"Risk is woven into the fabric of our finite lives. We cannot avoid risk even if we want to. Ignorance and uncertainty about tomorrow is our native air. All of our plans for tomorrow’s activities can be shattered by a thousand unknowns whether we stay an home under the covers or ride the freeways. One of my aims is to explode the myth of safety and to somehow deliver you from the enchantment of security. Because its a mirage. It doesn’t exist. Every direction you turn there are unknowns and things beyond your control.
The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks every day for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love. We are deluded and think that it may jeopardize a security that in fact does not exist. The way I hope to explode the myth of safety and to disenchant you with the mirage of security is to simply to go to the Bible and that it is right to risk for the cause of Christ, and not to is to waste your life."

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

What Happens When Women say Yes to God

“Oh, dear friend, the call to become a woman who says yes to God is the fresh invitation your soul is looking for.  We all feel a tug at our heart and a stirring in our soul for more, but we  are often afraid to venture past our comfort zone.  Outside our comfort zone, though, is where we experience the true awesomeness of God.”

“You see, we have become so familiar with God yet so unaware of Him. We make the mysterious mundane.  We construct careful reasons for our rules and sensible whys for our behavior. All the while our soul is longing for a richer experience- one that allows us to excape the limits of sight, sounds, touch, taste and smell and journey to a place of wild, wonder, and passion.”

“Being a woman who says yes to God means making the choice to trust Him even when you can’t understand why He requires some of the things He does.  It also means that once you’ve said yes to God, you refuse to turn back, even when things get hard.”

“Obedience, however , is more than just “not sinning”. Its having the overwhelming desire to walk in the center of God’s will at every moment. Don’t stumble over fearing you won’t be perfect or that you are sure to mess up.  Saying yes to God isn’t about perfect performance, but rather perfect surrender to the Lord day by day. Your obedience becomes radical the minute this desire turns into real action.  Radical obedience is hearing from God, feeling His nudges, participating in His activity, and experiencing His blessings in ways few people ever do.”

There is but one requirement for this adventure. We have to set our rules and agendas aside - our do’s and don’ts, our social graces and proper places - and follow God’s command. His one requirement is so simple and yet so profound; Whatever God says do, do it. That’s it. That is the entire Bible, Old Testament,  and New, hundreds of pages, thousands of verses, all wrapped up in six words.

It is the call of the radically obedient woman who makes the choice to say yes to God.

Lysa Terkeurst

I don’t want to go to Africa

I used to say that a lot. I was afraid to go to Africa, its hot, really hot, and dry. There is a lack of fresh drinking water. Did I mention bugs and scary animals?  And yet, I feel that as I live this one life I’ve been given, that God is saying, “There are millions of people who don’t know who I am, and you are comfortable in your American life, happy in your routine, and I need you to go and tell them about Me.”

What does that mean? What does that look like?  In reading “Radical” by David Platt I have been challenged to not just live the American dream but to live in such a way that brings the gospel to a world that simply doesn’t know Jesus.

The Radical Experiment is this:

For one year commit to:

1. Pray for the entire world

2. Read through the entire Bible

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose

4. Spend your time in another context

5. Commit your life to a multiplying community

God has been working through me through a series of events: going to Bradford Manor in Canada, Ben and the guys praying in the morning, trying to balance ministry, work, quality time with people I love, and “Date Night”.

Going to Bradford was an amazing trip for so many reasons, some lessons I learned were:

don’t be afraid to love- people need it, even those that seem “ok” need nurturing and quality time

trust God more- stop relying on myself and my resources, God is waiting to revel Himself to us, we just need to rely and ask

Guys praying- it just shows me that these guys love God, love each other and want to further the church and the Kingdom, it just melts my heart

The balance….I tend to run at about 110%, I like to have a full day, i like to be organized-  have projects, Bible Studies prepped with scripture and thought provoking questions, have fun stuff for Owen and Sadie, know what I need to do and get it done. 

That’s not really a balance…as my loving husband pointed out to me.  I’m not so great at slowing down…And what am I spending my time on? 

Date Night- Not necessarily a movie I would recommend, but here is my “take away”, in the movie the couple is portrayed as busy but exhausted and bored with their life/marriage/family, until a little misunderstanding lands them in the middle of an adventure with stolen goods, guns and car chases.

Do I think that a large majority of people feel this same way, busy but exhausted and bored with their life/family/marriage? Yup. 

What if our great adventure was to leave everything and follow where Jesus wants us to go, to tell others about Him, to give food and water in Jesus name?  Dangerous? Yes.  Unknown? Absolutely.  But will we get up and do it, or do we stay comfortable in our boring/exhausting/busy routine?

This is where the experiment comes in. How can we pray for the world, read the Bible, SACRIFICE our money for a specific purpose, spend time in another context and be in community and NOT BE Changed?! 

I hope that God uses me in ways I can’t even fathom. Even if that means going to Africa….yup I said it.  With my heart pounding and palms sweating.  But I know that God has a plan and purpose for me and my family. The question is, am I willing to step outside my comfortable life and really be the hands and feet of Jesus?

Are you?

lyssssss-deactivated20110413-de asked: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. i miss you. come visit me soon, k? i hope you're doing well, tell sadie i say hi!<3

Ot 8am yet?  Dr. Phillips will know your name by the second week, so make sure you go to class, participate and hand in papers on time. She will know:)  So excited for you as you begin this awesome season of life! Love you!