Carry me, Lord

This morning after getting ready for the day, I began to read my devotional and talk to the Lord about what is going on in my life lately. To put things plain and simple, I feel overwhelmed. So much is going on with every area of my life. It's not that I don't like being so busy, because I do, but sometimes its just too much to take on. Sometimes, I find myself becoming anxious and depleted, and wanting to give up. 
It's in these depleting moments that I am reminded that I am not supposed to be doing any of this on my own. This life is not about me, and it never will be. It is about living for Jesus, and learning more about His unconditional love for me more and more every day. This year, I have one very specific goal that I hope to accomplish. I want to become closer to Jesus than I have ever been in my life, and I want to know completely how wide, deep, and never-ending His love is for me. Jesus, in your name, I pray that you would make that goal happen. Help me to know you like that Lord.
Teaching two college freshman public speaking classes, graduate school, new friends, scary new circumstances that make me comfortable yet excited, new challenges, being out of my comfort zone, 15 page papers, nights without a lot of sleep, worshipping Jesus on a Friday night with over 20 people...I think that about sums up my life lately. It has been exciting, scary, fun, overwhelming, and honestly a lot of the time too much for me to take on my own. I feel Jesus asking me every morning: "Jessica, will you let me carry you today? Because You can't make it without me."
My favorite song right now is a song called "Carry me" by Josh Wilson. It is my favorite song right now mainly because this is exactly the phase of life that I am in. I desperately need the Lord to carry my burdens, every minute of the day. Sure this something that I will need the Lord to do for my entire life, but right now especially, I need it more than I ever have. So much is going on in my life, and theres no way I can do any of it without my savior carrying me every step of the way. 
"Carry me, Carry me now, From my sinking sand, to your solid ground, The only way your ever going to make it out Is if you carry me, carry me, now, God carry me, carry me now."
"Search for the Lord and for His strength; continually seek Him." 1 Chronicles 16:11

How God healed me.

Hi friends! How are the each of you doing?

Lately, I can't help but overflow with joy as I think about God as my personal healer. The Lord has healed me from so much, and He continues to do so every day. Every scar, every wound, every painful memory...God has healed me from it all and has blessed me with a beautiful life. 

As I was thinking about all of this though, I realized to myself that God could never be my healer if I didn't give Him the opportunity to come into my heart and bind up the broken pieces. The beautiful thing about a relationship with Jesus is that it is that God gives us free will. God loves us enough to give the each of us the opportunity to make our own personal decision if we want to let Him heal our hearts or not.

This summer God healed my heart in a very big way. He revealed to me that a large portion of my heart was still in pain due to the fact that I hadn't forgiven an old friend from my past. I remember one day in the summer specifically, when I was volunteering at the humane society, throwing a ball for one of the dogs there to chase after. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, God spoke silently into my heart: "It's been over 5 years Jessica, and you still haven't forgiven this old friend from your past. Please, let me inside this door in your heart that has been locked up for far too long. I will heal you."

"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds."

Psalm 147:3

I was hesitant at first when the Lord first spoke this into my heart, but at the same time I knew it had to be done so that I could be set free. As I watched God work through my brokenness through the rest of the summer, I was amazed at how He was able to restore my heart and heal my brokenness in such a short period of time. 

Today my friends,  I encourage you to lay down every area of your heart to the Lord. No matter how long you have been holding onto your pain, just give it all up to Him. There is no limit to what God can do. He loves you and cares for you so much, and He wants nothing but the best for you in your life. Jesus is always greater than anything we have gone through, and because of Him, we can hope for a better tomorrow.

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you."

1 Peter 5:7

Update: What Jesus is doing in my life!

Hi blog friends! How are the each of you doing? I have really been enjoying graduate school, and I am thankful for how much of a blessing that the entire program has been. It has been such an out of body experience teaching a classroom with my own students, it honestly doesn't feel real a lot of the time! Thankfully it is, and thankfully I have been blessed with a group of students who I truly enjoy spending several hours with throughout the week. 
The first couple of weeks of my teaching experience were pretty crazy. I was a nervous wreck, and I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully one of my best friends Julia who blogs over at Living Through His Lens is in her second year of graduate school, and has been a huge help in giving me advice as a new teacher. I remember the first day of teaching, just a few weeks ago. I prayed to the Lord right as I was about to walk into my classroom: "Lord, give me the wisdom and the strength to do this right now, because I really have no idea what to expect as soon as I walk through the door in front of me." & guess what? The Lord provided that day and everyday forward! He has guided me throughout my entire teaching process, and demonstrated His love for me in many different ways. 
I still can't believe that I am already in week four of my Fall term as a graduate student, and I often find myself asking God how it is possible for time to flying by so quickly. There have been several moments lately in the past couple of weeks where the Lord has made it clear to me that I am exactly where He wants me to be. I felt this overwhelming sense of peace that filled my soul with joy and comfort, and I knew that it was the Lord speaking into my heart. There is no better feeling than living out God's will for our lives, my friends.
A picture that I posted on my Instagram account the other day. I love to encourage others in my walk with Jesus! Click here to follow me on Instagram :)

On a random side note, there also have been many trials going on in my life lately. I have made mistakes as a new teacher, and also as a graduate student. I am certainly NOT perfect. This gal desperately needs Jesus! Whenever I slip up and make a mistake, it's very tempting to condemn myself and ask myself things like "why couldn't I just get it right the first time God?!," but I know that Jesus wouldn't want me to talk that way to myself. Jesus looks past my sin and my mistakes, and sees me for the woman I can become through Him. As long as I keep seeking Him above everything else, failure will never get the final say in my life and through my walk with Jesus.
Trials are unavoidable my friends. We can choose to allow our trials either to lead us closer to Jesus, or distant us from Him. I know that God has intricately placed the specific trials that I am experiencing in my life right now for a reason, and I have to trust that He is working all things together for my good. Instead of becoming overwhelmed by my trials and feeling sorry for myself, instead I will choose to rejoice through them. God will work out His plans for my life, because He is sovereign and He is GOOD.
"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." James 1:2-4
I love you guys! What has God been doing in the each of your lives lately? Which different trials is the Lord guiding you through right now? Don't give up, God is with you and great things are in store for you future! That is a promise. 
Love always, Jess

Co Hostin' Wildcard Wednesday! :)

 Welcome to Wildcard Wednesday!

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discontentment in my singleness

Hi blog friends! How are the each of you doing? I really am missing this little blog of mine lately. This has been such an exciting season for me in my life, with so many new changes and experiences. 

Today however, I didn't come here to talk to you about my teaching experiences so far or anything like that. I came here to talk with you about why I really don't like being single. In fact, I'm completely open to admitting that If I had to choice given to me by God right now, I would be already married with a family. The closer I get to Jesus, the stronger the desire in my heart becomes to be in a relationship. I read an article the other day from a Christian blogger who I could really relate with on her discussion of singleness. She said, "If the myth were true that God only blesses you with a spouse when you learn to be content in your singleness, than I would have never gotten married, because frankly–I was not okay with a lifetime of singleness. I wanted to be married!"

Thats about how I feel right about now in this stage of my life of being single. The funny thing is too that the closer I get to Jesus, the more opposition I face from the enemy through him trying to do anything he can to make me give up on waiting for God's timing to meet my future spouse. I had the hardest time this week with a situation like this. I'm sure many of you Christian ladies can relate. In one of my classes, there is a very very very attractive guy, who happened to already give me his number and wants to start hanging out right away. I absolutely know without a doubt in my heart that God certainly does not want me hanging out with this guy, because He is not a believer & most importantly is not following Jesus. But it's still down right hard to just say no. There is an overwhelming desire in my heart to just give up and start a relationship with this very attractive guy, but I can't. I know its not what God wants me to do.

I have been in similar situations like this before, but this one honestly is the hardest one yet, and I don't know why. Maybe its because I've become the closest I've ever been to Jesus in my life, and the enemy wants nothing more than to lead me astray. Whatever the reason is for this time around being so hard, I know that I can't give up. I have to stay strong, and trust with my whole heart that God has an amazing, Jesus-loving, attractive husband out there waiting to meet a girl like me.

The author of the article I mentioned previously also said a couple other things about being single that I could really relate with. She said:

"It’s okay to struggle through singleness, but it’s not okay to stop living life because of it." 

"It’s okay to be discontent through singleness, but it’s not okay to let that discontentedness rob us of our very lives."

These are facts that I know to be true. I know that its okay to struggle with being single and to be discontent through this stage in my life, but I also know that I can't allow my discontentment to keep me from living my life.The struggle through my singleness is normal, but its not normal to allow my struggle to become a stronghold.

So my beautiful friends, do you feel the same way I do right now about being single? Let's not give up, and lets keep pressing forward. God has an amazing plan for our lives beyond our imagination, and I can't wait until the very day until I meet my future husband face to face. 

"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. if one person falls, the other can reach out and help."

Ecclesiastes. 4:9

Love always, Jess 

P.S.- For those of you wanting to read the article I referenced throughout this post, click HERE!! I promise you'll be encouraged beyond belief. I was truly blessed through reading this post and many others on her webpage. 

Co-Hostin for Wildcard Wednesday!

We are so excited to have you as co-hosts this week! Below is the HTML for the post; please set it to go live on Tuesday, October 8th at 7:00pm CST. If you have any questions, please just let us know! Oh, also, if you get an error message after entering the HTML, just hit ignore. Marquis, Rebekah and Mallory

 Welcome to Wildcard Wednesday!

<a href=" http://www.simplyclarke.com/search/label/Wildcard%20Wednesday"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1uGpq1lJPxm3ld_noTdSUin7CGAjMCwCnkFw_SBKHlpn9M6EUCiiBB_3CInrxhSjKPkz2rGFP0VXPFKMRXcWhyphenhyphenw0VrNw6HTv6EVjG6l8pUuMa2UnbHxuVFOP4NbMt8WiBMLKrCqo_IA/s1600/wildcardwed.jpg"/></a> 

The name of the game is #wildcard 

Stakes: A special PRIZE will be up for grabs the last week of each month

 Your link ups each week are your entries

Example: If you link up your blog, bloglovin and twitter you will have 3 entries each week

Disclaimer: You MUST be following your hosts in order to win

Winner of the September #wildcard {Won A $20 Giftcard of Choice}:

Rules of the Game: 

1. Follow all your hosts

Simply Clarke: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

Mal Smiles: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

All That Glitters: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

and co-hosts

Forever Convinced: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

Lyss & Loveliness: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

Endlessly Beloved: Blog / Bloglovin / Twitter

2. Grab our button for your post so that others can join in the fun

3. Link up using your Blog URL, Bloglovin' URL & Twitter

4. Visit at least 3 other blogs

5.  TWEET about Wildcard Wednesday using #wildcard 

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Now make some new friends :) 

Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

Guest post: Tessa Hall from Christ is Write

Hi blog friends! Today I am very excited to welcome new author Tessa Hall from Christ Is Write  onto the blog. Tessa contacted me awhile ago about posting on my blog and I am SO happy she did! Jesus's love shines right through this girl. Be sure to check out my guest post HERE on Tessa's blog that I shared recently about how God changed my life! Welcome to my blog Tessa, and please take it away! :)

-Jess

 Selena's life isn't turning out to be the fairy tale she imagined as a kid. That hope seemed to vanish long ago when her dad kicked her and her mom out of the house. This summer might finally hold the chance of a new beginning for Selena ... but having to live with her snobby cousin in Lake Lure, NC while waiting for her mom to get out of rehab wasn't how Selena was planning on spending her summer. She soon begins to wonder why she committed to give up her "bad habits" for this.

Things don't seem too bad, though. Especially when Selena gains the attention of the cute neighbor next door. But when her best friend back home in Brooklyn desperately needs her, a secret that's been hidden from Selena for years is revealed, and when she becomes a target for one of her cousin's nasty pranks, she finds herself having to face the scars from her past and the memories that come along with them. Will she follow her mom's example in running away, or trust that God still has a fairy tale life written just for her?

Find “Purple Moon” on Amazon

Find “Purple Moon” on Goodreads

Find “Purple Moon” at Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Like “Purple Moon” on Facebook

Tessa Emily Hall is a 19-year-old author of Purple Moon, her YA Christian fiction novel to be published September 2013 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She is also the editor over the faith department for Temperance Magazine, a column writer for Whole Magazine, a contributing writer for More To Be, as well as the PR for God of Moses Entertainment. Other than writing, Tessa enjoys acting, music, Starbucks, and her Teacup Shih Tzu—who is named Brewer after a character in her book, as well as her love for coffee.

Website:  www.tessaemilyhall.com

Blog: www.christiswrite.blogspot.com  Twitter: www.twitter.com/tessaemily  Facebook: www.facebook.com/tessa.h16

Q &A with Tessa!

What inspired you to write “Purple Moon”?

I wanted to write a character-driven story about a teenager who has fallen way from the relationship she once had with God after her dad kicked her and her mom out of the house. In the story, Selena is forced to leave her apartment in NY and stay with her snobby cousin in Lake Lure, NC while waiting for her mom to get out of rehab. It was initially inspired by the song “By Your Side” by Tenth Avenue North, as well as the skit that many churches have performed to the song “Everything” by Lifehouse.

In what ways can you relate to your protagonist, Selena?

Even though Selena has a completely different past and family situation, I did incorporate a little bit of “me” in her.  For example: she’s passionate, a dreamer, an artist, somewhat of an introvert, has the same style as I do, a romantic, and loves coffee a little too much. I've also given her some of my flaws. However, when I wrote “Purple Moon”, I mainly tried crafting Selena in a way that I hoped many teenagers would be able to relate with—whether they share the same backstory as she does, possess many of the same qualities, or are experiencing some of the same struggles that Selena deals with in “Purple Moon”.

When did you start writing Purple Moon, and how long did it take?

I started writing the first version of “Purple Moon” when I was fifteen. When I was sixteen, I completed the first draft and landed a publishing contract with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. It’s difficult to pinpoint how long it took to complete “Purple Moon”—the more I learned about the writing craft, the more I continued wanting to go back and rewrite the story or add a few changes. However, I have finally reached a point where I am happy with the story and can’t wait to get it in the hands of my readers.

What are you working on now?

I just completed my second book, “Unwritten Melody”, which is going to be a stand-alone novel. As of now, I am brainstorming and beginning to write the first draft of “Fallen Leaves”, which will be the second book of the Purple Moon Series and a continuation of Selena’s journey throughout the next season of her life. I am also going on a blog tour this fall and will continue to write the teen column for Whole Magazine.

What do you hope to accomplish in your writing career?

I hope to never stop writing, whether or not that includes having my work published or seeing my name on the best seller list. I hope to never stop encouraging people—especially teenagers—to follow their dreams. But more than anything, I hope that my stories will represent the power of God’s unending love and His transforming grace. That’s my number one goal, my number one reason for wanting to pursue writing for the rest of my life.