God gave me a blessing this morning. He woke me up a whole 2 hours before I was supposed to be awake. I've been able to shower and rest in silence. I woke up thinking about what that Easter morning may have been like. The weight of mourning hanging heavy over the women heading to the tomb. But man, God changes things...
I was reading the Resurrection story this morning in Mark 24. It's nothing new for me. Every verse was familiar. Every detail. But something jumped off the page at me and I wanted to share it with you. Because, in truth, it's the point of Easter. It's the point of Jesus death on the cross, it's the point of the resurrection. The morning that Jesus rose from the dead, some women were going to clean and anoint his body in the tomb. When they got there, an angel was waiting for them. This is what he asked them... Mark 24:5b- Why do you look for the living among the dead? If there is something I can tell you from my own life, it's that I constantly run after things that are dead. Are they physically dead, no, not necessarily, but when it relates to giving me hope and a future, they are absolutely dead. I think I mentioned on Friday in my post, apart from God we have nothing. Yeah, you could have the nicest house on the block, the best cars, a great family, and an awesome job, but the truth is, none of those BRING life. They can absolutely enhance your life, but they don't give you life. Only God can do that. Man, my heart for you guys today is that you could have life. I wish you could feel my heart reaching through this computer screen giving you a big hug and trying to communicate this. My heart actually aches with it. Stop looking for life in things that are dead. You will run, you will chase, you will come up empty in the end. There is only one that offers real, true life- and that is Jesus. It's pretty easy actually. There are no magic words. There's no bug scavenger hunt. God is waiting for you. He has been waiting for you your whole life. If you want that real true life, all you have to do is ask for it. God won't fail you. If that's something you want today, you can pray this prayer or just talk to God yourself. Ask him for that life, tell him what you want. He's faithful! Dear God, I don't want to live in death any more. I don't want to chase things that bring me nothing. I want real life. I want Jesus living in me and with me. Thank You for loving me enough to give your life on the cross, and thank you for being powerful enough to defeat sin and death and come alive again. Please forgive me for chasing everything but you. Amen. Jesus is alive friend. He's alive, He's real, and He's waiting for you. Take the gift of life He's offering you today. Happy Easter!
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I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a Saturday blog post. Plus, I feel like all the sudden the Lord has given me words, they are tumbling out, and if I don't put them down now, I might just miss them so I'm going to get straight to the point. I've been thinking a lot about what that Saturday after Jesus death might have been like for the disciples and the followers that loved him. They were really thinkin' they got the short end of the stick. Man, we committed our lives to this man, followed him around, left our jobs and our families, we've been made to look like fools... all for what? Death. Nothingness. Little did they know exactly what was happening that day when they were in deep sorrow, mourning the loss of a man they loved, and questioning their very lives. If you're familiar with the Easter story, you know that after taking our sins upon himself, Jesus is laid in the grave. There is much debate about exactly where Jesus goes during this time, whether he goes to hell or to heaven. But, the truth is, it doesn't matter. The fact is that on that day when those disciples felt so lost and probably betrayed by Jesus, what they didn't know is that he was doing a great work. He was preparing a way for them. He was getting ready to come alive again. How often are we like the disciples? Something terrible has happened in our life and we feel lost and betrayed by God. We think... if He really loved me then he would have (fill in the blank).... This is so unfair. I committed myself to him and he's left me.... or just a plain and simple God's not there. What we might not realize, friend, is that when it seems silent and cold, and we're left in confusion and grief and we hear nothing from God, he's working things out for us. He's making a way for us. Hold fast to the Truth that Jesus spoke " I will never leave you or forsake you". Even when He's silent. Even when he seems absent. Even when you're mourning, or frustrated, or feeling betrayed or left behind. He is there. Just be patient. God is preparing to do something great in your life! In the Church we have a phrase we use often, especially around Easter, but it speaks to holding fast during trials... It's Friday, but Sunday's coming! This basically means, hold on! Just wait! It seems that there is no hope and death has won. But that's not true! A miracle is about to happen! Hold tight, friend. Just wait! God has not left you. Just wait and see what He's about to do in your life!
If there was ever a day that I would hope and pray that I could express the love God has for you, today would be the day. But, the truth is I can't. I can't even begin to understand how much God loves me or you. Our minds physically can't figure it out or understand it. It's beyond our physical limitations. But, I can share with you what I do know... God loves you more. As much as you love your husband, your kids, your parents, your family, your friends- God loves you more. Infinitely more. God never wants to be apart from you. Not ever. But, the truth is that our sin creates a lonely hopeless distance between God and us. God thinks you're worth it. So worth it in fact, that he decided that he was willing to give up his son so that he wouldn't ever have to be apart from you. If you are ever tempted to feel that you're not good enough because someone does it better, or someone looks better, or someone (fill in the blank) better- remember this- God let his son die a horrible death because you're worth that much to him. Apart from God, we have nothing. Things are going along great. Or, things could be terrible. But I want you to know more than anything that on this day 2000 years ago, an innocent man WILLINGLY allowed himself to be nailed to a cross so that he could take on the punishment of all that sin that separates us from God. He chose to die FOR YOU. Because he loves you, he never wants to be apart from you, and you're so worth it. Please Please Please don't take that for granted. Please don't walk away from Him. The great news is that after dying for your sins that day, he was put in a tomb and it was as if all hope was lost. But 3 days later, in all his power and might, he rose. He came alive again so that he could live in us. He wants you to accept that love, and that worth, and His presence in your life. There is hope! He is hope!! If you want that love and hope and His presence in your life, pray this prayer below. You are worth dying for. Don't waste your life chasing things that will never bring you exactly what you need. God, I realize that apart from you I have nothing but pain and punishment. Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross and take on that punishment for me. I don't want to be separated from you any longer. Please come into my life and give me your love and peace. Amen. If you just prayed that prayer send me a message, talk to a family member or friend that is a Christian, find a pastor, something. Tell somebody! Because this is a big day! Yes, it's a day that we remember the death of Jesus, but it will be a day that we celebrate your new life in God! Jesus, Thank you for dying for me those 2000 years ago. Thank you for taking on all the guilt and shame of my sin. Thank you for going before me and making a way for my life. Thank you for loving me. Amen.
Just a simple question for you today....
How do you take care of yourself without catering to yourself or becoming self focused? I would love to hear your input! Just leave a comment below. Thanks! Ok, so I'm really excited about this! My friend Andrea has FINALLY started blogging. I've mentioned to her a few times that she'd be an excellent blogger, and I know others have shared the same sentiment. She finally gave in and decided to do it! Andrea has a way with words that pulls you in and makes you feel like you're experiencing things exactly how she is. I've known Andrea for oh... 15 or so years? Maybe a little longer. We went to school together and reconnected on Facebook after our graduations. She's got 2 beautiful daughters and a loving husband. She's had an amazing weight loss journey, she cooks and bakes like nobody's business, and she's currently tackling going back to school (quite successfully I might add) while being an awesome stay at home mom! I can't wait to see the way God uses her and her blog! I'm excited to be one of her readers! Share some blog love and head over and check her blog out at My Beautiful Ordinary! Alright, onto the not so much fun stuff. For me at least. Next week I'm going to be doing my spring cleaning. I know that most of the time it's a pretty straight forward process. But, if you know me, you know that I'm a list person. I write everything down. It makes me feel less stressed and helps me not forget my arm or leg in the process. So, I've done a little research and I wanted to share some of the ideas I found with you so that maybe they'll help you along in your spring cleaning process as well. I scoured Pinterest, the blogosphere, and pretty much everywhere else and found some of the best things that will work for me. Ok, so this Spring Cleaning Checklist seems to be the most comprehensive. Plus, it's pretty cute. I found it over at First Home... Love Life. You can head there and download it for free! Thankfully, I don't have to do the outside stuff. At least not all of it. The perks of not owning a home. Ok, so secondly, I came across this cool list about decluttering. My hope is to not only clean but to organize all our junk as well. The downside of not being a homeowner- no where to have a garage sale! Anyways, back to decluttering. I found this list at Home Your Way. It's 10 Questions To Help You Declutter: Now, the key is to be honest when answering those questions! Recently I've starting being a little more aware/conscious of what chemicals I'm using in my home. I don't know how much "green" cleaning I will do for Spring Cleaning, but for those that are interested, on Smart Mom Picks, I found recipe upon recipe for homemade green cleaners! Alright, there ya have a few of my ideas to help with Spring Cleaning. I have a lot of goals for spring cleaning week next week, we'll see how much of it actually gets done! If you have a special plan, extra ideas, or are willing to provide cleaning childcare please share it with me!! I could use it!
This week's menu was super easy because I did't have to do anything! I planned this week along with last week when I did my major grocery shop. I did go grocery shopping again to pick up a few things that we go through in a week. Bananas seem to last about 2 days in our house, so I find that I buy them sometimes twice a week! We're having pizza twice this week, and both time's are Church fundraisers. Yes, our church loves pizza I guess. HA! Anyways, here's the menu... Monday- Monical's Pizza. Our Church does fundraisers called "Dine to Donate". We work with certain restaurants who are willing to donate a percentage of the money we spend there to our Church. Tonight a group of us will meet at 6:30 and eat together. We get to eat good food, fellowship, and raise money! Tuesday- French Onion Burgers. My favorite burgers. They are so good. Wednesday- Pierogi Casserole. This is just pretty much straight up unhealthy comfort food, but it's oh so good! Thursday- Breakfast. Thursday is going to be pretty busy and my kids love breakfast for dinner. I figured what better way to end a busy day then with a good meal! Friday- Pizza. The teens from our Church are doing a ready to bake pizza delivery fundraiser. We ordered 2 homemade pizzas and they'll deliver them to us ready to bake. This weekend is the 2nd weekend they'll be doing it and we've heard nothing but good things. Last weekend they sold 40 pizzas! (Not to shabby for a church of 70 people!) Saturday- Saturday is a date night for Aaron and I so the girls will probably have something quick. Not sure what we'll be doing for our date night yet. Sunday- EASTER!!! We'll be heading to celebrate with Aaron's family. It's always the traditional meal- ham, about 3 types of potatoes, and food as far as the eye can see! It's Holy Week. If you've never heard that, that means that this is the week that leads up to Jesus crucifixion and ultimately to his resurrection! I love the joy of the Christmas season, but the older I get and the more I understand a fraction of God's love for me, Easter is quickly taking over as my favorite holiday. When I started thinking about what a good verse for this week would be, I immediately thought of Isaiah 53:5. It's one verse that speaks the truth of the crucifixion... But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.- Isaiah 53:5 Thank You, Jesus, for loving me this much... If this is the only thing you ever take away from what you read on this blog, please let this be it... Jesus loves you so much, that he willing took all the junk, pain, frustration, anger, bitterness, mistakes, screw ups, guilt and shame from YOUR life. He took all that stuff as his own and totally away from you, because He loves you more than you can ever imagine. If you want to know a little bit more about this, please send me a message because I'd LOVE to talk with you about it! Happy Monday! Photo Credit, Here.
We're heading into the first of the 2 busiest weeks of March here at the Wainscott house. I don't mind though, I enjoy being (productively) busy. I decided to go a head and try and grocery shop for 2 weeks of meals. I got everything I needed with exception of produce. I kept some of our budgeted grocery money and laid it aside so I can go next week and possibly pick up whatever we need plus some fresh fruits and veggies. I was able to get 2 weeks worth of groceries for around $110. I decided to add a few new meals to our menu the next 2 weeks- a new meal tonight and one next week. Ok, let's get to it.... Monday- Chicken and Stuffing. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it sounded really good and something my family would eat up. I'm excited to try it. PLUS! It's a crock pot meal. Can't go wrong there! Tuesday- Sloppy Joes. This is one of Aaron's favorite meals. I never really had it growing up, but I found a really good recipe so we have it at least once a month. You can use ground beef or ground Turkey for this recipe. Wednesday- Chicken Parmesan. I found this recipe on Pinterest as well. It's from Skinny Taste. I've had hit and miss with their recipes but this one was right on. So good! I'm excited about this one! Thursday- Taco's. A typical weeknight meal at our house. Everyone eats it! One of our favorites. Friday- White Chicken Chili. Love this meal. Also a plus because it's a crock pot meal. Saturday- Biscuit Pizza. This is one of the girls favorites, they ask for it often. We'll be going to an Easter egg hunt and then coming home and dying our own Easter eggs, so I figured I'd make one of their favorites! Sunday- We'll being eating out. Emmy has her Spring program at school right after we get out of church, so we'll be on the run! My goal this week is to stick to this menu exactly! We'll see if it really happens! Verse of the WeekThis week's verse of the week may be a familiar one. I have seen it on wall hangings, hand towels, pictures, pillows - basically anything than can have a bible verse on it. I decided to do this verse this week because I feel like it's appropriate for where I seem to be this week. So many people I know (and even people I don't) have so much going on in their lives. Good things and bad. And I want to be able to pray for them appropriately this week. So, I chose this verse as a reminder.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.- Hebrews 4:16 If you have something to pray about this week (and for real- who doesn't?) keep this verse at the forefront of your mind as you bring it to God! Have a great Monday! So I haven't been avoiding the blog. I just don't really feel like the Lord has laid anything specific on my heart to write about. I've said this before and I'll say it again- I will NOT just fill space on this blog. I won't publish fluff just to increase my page hits or my reads. I know God didn't call me to fill the world wide web with random stuff. There are people he did call to do that, and they do it very well and they are serving the purpose he set out before them. I am not one of those people.
I'm learning a big lesson right now. It's kind of two fold. I'm pretty sure there will ALWAYS be opportunity for God to teach me lessons on patience. It's a virtue I lack. I feel as if it's a strand of my DNA that is missing or something. I am just not a patient person. I want to run when I should walk. I want to walk when I should crawl. And standing still is nearly unheard of. Almost impossible. I'm learning about not rushing the Holy Spirit. My parents started attending church when I was 2. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 5. I was in the Church every time the doors were open. I was there even when they weren't because both of my parents had keys to the building. One of my favorite games to play as a child was Church secretary. My parents were both very involved in our Church ministries. They set an example that I started following at an early age. Ministry and being involved in ministries is as much a part of my DNA as patience is not. I have a hard time sitting in a pew. I have a hard time being a spectator. I have a hard time not feeling used in ways that exercise my talents and abilities best. God gave me a calling- a purpose- and when I don't feel like I'm fulfilling that calling, I get restless. When Aaron and I came to the realization that we needed to focus our time and energy on healing our marriage, we stepped back from most of the ministries we were involved in. It was the absolute right decision for us. We were not giving each other, our children, or our ministries the best of us. Something had to give, and if we'd continued in ministry, it would have been our marriage. Now that we're on the road to healing, and God has proven himself faithful to us as we learn to love each other again in a Christlike way, I'm getting to the point where I'm feeling restless. It's time for me to crawl and I just want to walk. Quickly. I know that what Aaron and I have been through is something that God is going to use. When God redeems, He redeems. He will use our story and I pray that other people will hear it and can experience the same redemption that we have- personally and in their marriage. BUT. I can't rush that. I need to turn off my voice that's telling me to run headlong into that and make sure that I'm listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit. God could have created the universe and everything in it with one word, but he took 6 days. God could have created the ark for Noah in a minute, but it took Noah over 100 years of work. David was anointed by Samuel as king years before he actually became king. The world waited for a Messiah for thousands of years. Jesus wasn't born and immediately died for our sins, he waited and grew a ministry. Insert lesson on patience. The point? Even though we know there is a plan and a purpose, we have to be ready to carry out that plan and purpose. Running when we should walk, and even walking when we shouldn't be going anywhere can do more harm than good. Rushing the work of the Holy Spirit in ourselves and trying to force that on others can have the opposite effect of what God intended. As much as I want God to use me and use our story, I want it to be in the way he intended it. Is there something that you're rushing today? Try and figure out if the voice you're hearing is your voice of impatience or actually the leading of the Holy Spirit. Rushing the hand of God in your life and in others lives can do more harm than good! Trust in God's timing even if it means you wait! I just wanted to share something simple with you today.
It's NEVER too late to change a pattern in your life or in your relationships. You don't always have to respond out of anger. You don't always have to hold onto that pain. You don't always have to eat that food to make yourself feel better. You don't always have to live in fear. It might seem impossible. And in truth, it could be. But I can tell you this in truth today because I've lived it out in my own life- nothing is impossible with God. Don't give into the lie that it will always be this way because this is how it's always been. That's not truth. Truth is that God is in the business of making all things new. What are the things in our life that are defeating you today? What are the things you're doing because it seems that it will always be that way and never get any better? Ask God for help. Ask God to lead you to someone who can help you take steps in a different direction. Ask God for strength to do the hard things. Because it is possible. Well, I've been trying to think about what to write about today and I don't have anything exceedingly spiritual to share.
But, I think that may be the point of it. There are lots of highs and lots of lows, but in between those highs and lows is a lot of even middle ground that is the same ole, same ole. You spend time doing the same thing every day. I don't think it's the highs that throw us off course, because we revel in the excitement of it all. And I don't think it's the lows- those are the times we hold tightly to what we know and press on. It's all the in between times when we get bored with doing the same thing day after day. But could I be bold enough to suggest that sometimes it takes more motivation and perseverance to make it through the middle ground than even the low times? I've lost 10 lbs in the last 2 weeks. 10.4 actually. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with having a minor touch of the stomach flu. I've been trying to take each day as it's own, doing what I need to do that day, and moving onto the next. So far, it's working. I'm reminding myself each day of this verse... Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.- Galatians 6:9 If you're plodding through the middle ground- press on. You might be bored, you might be getting a little tired, but keep going. Tomorrow might be the same as today, as well as the day after and the day after that. But each day matters. Each day gets you closer to your goal or to your reward (even if we don't see that reward this side of Heaven). Don't give up on what you are walking towards today! |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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