FEARLESS.

Friends!
How was your weekend?!
I hope it was wonderful. I'm looking forward to reading your posts this week.
This weekend was a learning experience for sure. I presented my paper at my University's first communication conference, and I am so happy I did it. I was SO nervous, and honestly was making up any excuse I could to get out of going to it.

Here is a pic of one of my best friends Julia and I, who also spoke at the conference and presented her paper!

 My momma and I on mothers day! Love her.

I woke up on Friday morning and prayed to God would give me some kind of sign about the conference to comfort me and give me hope that He was there with me. My nerves were getting the best of me and my mind was all over the place.

Well, he sure answered that prayer right away! I opened up my “Jesus calling” devotional that morning, and the first sentence of it literally read:

"Do not resist or run from the difficulties of your life."

Then the second sentence read:

"These problems are not random mistakes, they are hand tailored blessings designed for your benefit and growth."

That was JUST what I needed to hear. I was so thankful God provided those words for me that day in my devotional. He knew that I needed to read that.

You see, running away was exactly what I had been doing. I was letting my fear of giving my speech keep me from having the confidence to believe that I could actually do it. God is teaching me that even though my life a lot of the time gets pretty crazy, no matter what He is there with me.

“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you."
Deuteronomy 31:8

this week, I am going to focus on being more COURAGEOUS. I am going to choose bravery over fear. I am so over letting fear get in the way of how I live my life. It is such a waste of time, and God never intended me to live that way.


Love yall! Hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening :)

I am a Young Life leader

Hello friends!
Yesterday I was asked by my head leader in Young Life to write a 1-2 paragraph story about me and one of my Young Life girls that I mentor. It is going to be placed out in the Young Life news letter that we send out and the title of it is called "On the Frontlines with Kids." I thought I'd share with ya'll the story I wrote for the news letter. Ever since I have became a Young Life leader, my life has been changed tremendously. The relationships I have developed with these girls have had such a huge impact on my faith, and my girls are each so passionate and bold in their devotion to Christ. What a blessing this experience has been so far. Now, onto my story...Enjoy!


"I'll never forget the first time I met Georgia. A bright smile and a shy laugh, I could tell she was excited to be at Campaigners for the first time. I would have never imagined that almost two years later I would still be her Young Life leader, and that we would become as close of friends as we are today. I love how open we are always able to be around each other, and how she always makes me laugh for a long time. I never feel that I have to hold anything back whenever I'm sharing my heart with her, and I think a big reason for that is because Jesus is the center of our friendship.
     As I have watched Georgia grow in her walk with The Lord over the past couple of years, I am both humbled and filled with joy. She has continuously taken new leaps of faith, and I admire how she always trusts The Lord to take care of her heart. We have experienced many joyful moments together, as well as some tough ones. As I look back on all that we have been through with our friendship, I am so thankful to have had her by my side. I'm blessed to be her Young Life leader and I look forward to the journey ahead we have together in Christ."

thankful heart today.

Hey guys!
    
Wow, what a day today yesterday was! SO much happened.

I woke up at 6:00 am ready for Bible study with my Young Life girls. We had a blast as we do every Wednesday morning. I love talking with my girls about Jesus and what He is doing in each of our lives. We always arrive to Bible study with a smile on our faces, ready to dive into the word. Young Life camp is right around the corner, and I am so thrilled! A little over a month away, God is good!

Next, I had coffee with one of my close friends Erica. She is awesome, another one of the wonderful friendships that God has blessed me with this year. She is so encouraging in my faith. We started off this year not really knowing each other at all, and now we are the closest of friends. It's crazy to think how different things were with her at the beginning of this year. Each time we are together, we share our joys, struggles, hopes, and fears in walking with Christ. It's comforting to have another Christian to talk with about these things, because it reassures me that I am not in this alone.

 
Meanwhile, at coffee with Erica, I received an email letting me know that I HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED INTO GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!!!!!

I am SO happy.
Its official, and now I don't have to be so darn stressed out about it anymore. It wasn't a burden or anything, but it was definitely a stretching of my faith in waiting on the Lord. Through that long period of waiting for an answer about graduate school, I become so much closer to Him. I learned to lean on His peace whole heartedly and trust Him even when I so badly just wanted a yes or no answer about my future.

“Wait on the LORD. Be courageous, and he will strengthen your heart. Wait on the LORD!”
Psalm 27:14

The Lord also strengthened my heart a lot during my period of waiting on an answer from Him. There were times where I became frustrated, overwhelmed, sorrowful, and stressed. But at the end of each day I heard my father whisper into my soul: "Wait."

I am learning more and more each day that my walk with God entitles a life full of continuous blessings, but in the midst of EACH blessing, there are trials. Whether they are big trials or little trials, they are there, and the Lord has a purpose for them. What is the purpose you ask? Well, I believe that without problems, we wouldn't have any need to depend on God. God teaches us to lean on Him like a child does to their earthly father when life gets hard.

"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."
Romans 8:15

It's one of my favorite characteristics of my heavenly father, and I am forever thankful. I am happy that in the midst of my crazy life, I can still look to my God and say: "I trust you. I may not always understand, but I trust you."

Have a beautiful day!

ps- I am loving getting to know the each of you better. I love your encouraging posts, they are such a blessing to my days. You guys are wonderful!

xoxo

The phases in our lives

Hello friends!

I hope your all having a lovely day today. Goodness, I won't lie to you guys, lately I have been a stressful mess. I am waiting to receive some paperwork from graduate school. It is the "official" paperwork as you may call it, and it has honestly been driving me crazy. I have already been notified that I have received the graduate teaching assistantship position, but I haven't received my official notice from the actual Masters program. I have the personality where if every single bit of the official paperwork is not in my hands, then I cannot be 100% sure. I know, I'm slightly crazy. I am praying that I get my official notice this week. Like really, really, praying. PLEASE Lord. If you could be praying for me for that, that would be wonderful! :)

Last night we had a Young Life meeting for all of the middle school leaders, and we talked about how as Christians we go through different seasons during our lives. Some seasons are spent slowly reaching a goal, some are spent slowly waiting on an answer from the Lord, some are spent gaining a whole new perspective on life, the list goes on. The bottom line is that sometimes these seasons God puts in our lives can turn out to be quite the challenge that we never expected them to be.

Let me tell you friends, God has placed me in a season of waiting these past couple of months. I am at a time in my life where I have finally given Jesus full control, and being the control freak that I am I will honestly tell you it has been hard for me. I am going through a serious transition just in general  in my life right now. I am getting ready to graduate college, move into the world of graduate school, and walk down a path where I have no idea what will happen next. Despite being uncomfortable about not being in the driver's seat, I am starting to get the hang of things. I like how every single day is a surprise. I have no control over any of it, and I truly do not know what will happen at any moment. As stressful as that may sound, it is actually a huge blessing. (When I'm not trying to be a control freak...;)

So I guess right now the Lord has me in this season of waiting for a reason. Actually I don't guess that, I know. I know that it is for my own good. I know something wonderful is just right around the corner, and I just have to be patient and wait. Sometimes He gives me hints of whats next, and I get really excited. But for now, I must continue to trust in His timing and wait. As much as I wish things would happen on my agenda, I know deep down that the Lord is working for my own good. If I were actually in control of my day-to-day life, my life would be a disaster.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."
Romans 8:28

Keep persevering friends. Whatever your going through, trust the LORD.  Don't give up. It may seem confusing and you may question some things, but just because things don't match up 100% doesn't mean God isn't there. Pray that God will give you perseverance to endure whatever you are going through.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" 

Galatians 6:9

Another thing that I am struggling with in my period of waiting is understanding that overnight success isn't a reality. I sometimes have such a hard time with being patient and realizing that I truly do have to work hard at something every day and be persistent with it in order to succeed. Sounds crazy, right? I think that God is just trying to teach me to live in the moment. I think I struggle with that a lot of the time. I'm thankful He is working on me with that.

"Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near."
James 5:7-8

This blog is a perfect example of my struggle with being patient. I want to instantly connect with a million amazing bloggers and instantly have a million followers . Yeah, not exactly reality Jess. It is especially hard to be patient with something that you are passionate about. You know good things are coming, but God tells you at the same time: "Wait." That is not exactly an easy answer from God to respond too, but you have to trust Him. I am, and as hard as it has been, I am learning that is is way more fun to enjoy the process of reaching a goal instead of constantly wishing things were different. I know He knows what is best for me personally. Above everything else, I have been blessed with so many things in my life that I pray God will always give me a thankful heart for every day.

What season of life are you guys currently in? What has God directed you to do? I'd love for you to share with me! Hope you all are having a lovely day! 
 
ps....you know who I would LOVE to see in concert? these guys :)

xoxo

Living by the spirit

Today, I have had a lot on my mind in living for the spirit.
When the spirit of God calls you to do something, you have to do it. Well, technically you don't HAVE too, but you really should.
Why should you do it? Well, because the spirit of God only seeks to make us GREATER. The spirit desires for us to OVERCOME whatever we are going through in our lives.
The work that the spirit calls us to do in our lives doesn’t exactly always come wrapped up in a silver platter, and a lot of the time what God calls us to do isn’t what we want to do. Sometimes we think that we only know best, and we choose to ignore whatever God is calling us to do. Whether what He is telling us to act on is big or small, it is important that we follow it. God begins to help us with the little choices of our lives so we can eventually trust Him enough to help us with the BIG CHOICES.

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”
Isaiah 11:2

 
Today, the spirit called me to do something very specific, and it couldn't have been more obvious that it was what the spirit was calling to do.
No, it wasn't something I would classify as a "major decision" in my life. In fact, it really was something quite small. But that's how God works, He loves us so much that he cares enough to address us about every single little detail of our lives. He saw how much that little thing was hurting me, and it had to stop.
God said to me very plainly: "Do it now Jessica."
God may as well have hung a banner across my living room wall telling me to what He wanted me to do, that's how clear His words were to me.
Was it something that I wanted to do? Not really. Did I know deep down that it was what was best for me? Yes. Could I have believed this without the holy spirit working in me? No.
......So I did it. As scared as I was, I'm feeling alright. There are still some things that I am hesitant about, but I trust Him that it will be okay.

Once I gave God the keys in my life, I was able to watch the spirit work in me more evidently. He began to open my mind to His word and I was able to grasp the scriptures more deeply.

“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
Luke 24:45

This is exactly how it was for me. Once God gave me His spirit, my mind was OPENED. I began to understand the scriptures. They came ALIVE to me. They were no longer meaningless verses written throughout the Bible that I casually observed during Sunday school. They didn’t bore me anymore. They become relevant to my life and I could see how God was using my knowledge of them to work in me.

I am thankful for the ways the spirit works in my life, even when I am not too thrilled about what it is calling me to do. I am amazed at how much God has changed me with His spirit, and in awe of His love and care for me!

How is the spirit currently working in your life? What is God calling you to do that your a little on the fence about? Big or small, I would love to hear! God works in both the little parts of our lives and the big parts. I am excited to hear from the each of you!

Favorite quote {challenge day 4}

Hi guys! oh my goodness, sorry I have been so all over the place with blogging lately. My schedule has been crammed pack with figuring out where I'm living next year, helping my parents find a house to buy (they recently sold the house that our family grew up in) and getting ready to graduate from college! I cannot believe I am FINALLY going to graduate. 42 days!!!! The countdown is ON. I'm so thrilled. It honestly doesn't even seem real. It has been 4 years filled with laughter, handwork, tears, FUN, a lot of stress, and a whole load more of emotions. Anyways, onto the challenge, (again, sorry this is so late, I should have posted this morning but I literally didn't have ANY time!) Hectic Hectic life for this gal lately.






Well, first things first, if you know me you know that I LOVE the Lion King! It is one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. I love this quote because it just simply reflects the truth. Rafiki is so loving yet stubborn with getting this point across to Simba in the movie. I too like Simba, used to run away from my past, because I was scared to face all of my mistakes and admit that I was actually unhappy with the person that I had become. I didn't believe I could learn anything by having the courage to FACE the heartache and problems surrounding my life. Once Jesus came into my life and I began to walk with Him, He gave me the courage to face my absolute fear of reflecting on my past. He gave me a completely new perspective on my past, by helping me understand how much it had hurt both me and Him. He gave me this new perspective because He didn't want me to go back to my past, He saw how dark it was and how the enemy had stolen my real identity in Christ.  He wanted to give me LIGHT and JOY. Our pasts can teach us a lot, so don't be afraid to reflect on your mistakes and use them as an opportunity to grow and move forward in a better direction.

Anyways, that about sums up my favorite quote. I have many of them, but this one is definitely a personal favorite of mine. Midterms are on the Horizon for this lady! I'll try to post as much as I can this week but I might be a little inactive. I am in the process of responding to all of your lovely comments, and I can't wait to finish doing that once this week of midterms are over! I am loving the process of getting to know you guys and following your blogging adventures! I love all of your hearts for God. :)

Ps- My parents said I could super-likely-possibly be getting a new camera (like a really nice canon) for my graduation present!!!! AHHHHH!!!! I will die of joy. Okay I won't really die, but I will be so thankful. What a huge blessing that would be. There is just something that is so wonderful to me about photography. Especially now that I am blogging, it makes me want a super nice camera even more.

Have a blessed evening!

Love y'all!

What makes me uncomfortable

Hello lovelies!

Today I am linking up with Jenni from Story of My Life and blogging about things that make me uncomfortable. You can click HERE to check out her May daily challenge. This challenge is called "Blog everyday in May." I'm a few days late on the challenge, but I am really hoping to keep it going throughout the rest of the month because it is already so much fun!

1) People who stare. When people stare at me, I find it sooooo incredibly awkward. Like, why are you staring at me? CREEP! Just kidding, but seriously. It's creepy. Don't stare at people, its awkward and also kind of rude. I feel like your judging me...

2) Not being in control. I know Jesus knows what He's doing and all, but I am the biggest control freak out there! I love having a plan, and Jesus has been teaching me lately that its OKAY to not have it 100% down. It definitely makes me uncomfortable, but He is teaching me to get used to it.

3) Spiders. Spiders TERRIFY me. You thought you were afraid of them? Well think again, I am on a whole different level than you probably are. If the spider is bigger than even a dime then its required that I have male assistance immediately to terminate the little guy. I cannot sit in a room knowing there is a spider above me watching me. It is extremely uncomfortable.

4) Angry people. When people have a bad attitude, it not only makes me uncomfortable, but I also do not want to be around them. Life is short people, make the most of it! Life ain't no pity party, it's a joyful party! :)

5) People who drop the F-bomb every other word. Okay, this drives me crazy. Its like they are doing it too just seek attention or something, because why else would you need to say that word every 5 seconds? Its tacky, and especially unattractive when I see the opposite sex doing it as well.

I think that about sums it up. I'm loving this challenge, and I am really thinking I will I'm going to continue it throughout the rest of the month! So much fun!

Have a beautiful day my lovely friends!

xoxo