You learned it in Sunday School: “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” ❤ Though many of us can quote the song lyrics and the John 3:16 (“for God so loved the world that He sent His Son….”) and we can give mental assent to the idea that God is love and He loves everyone, it’s difficult for some of us to really get this truth from our head to our hearts.  I really think it would change everything to know that we know that we know that God loves us just the way we are.

“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen” (1 Corinthians 13:7-8 Phillips)

Lots of reasons why Jesus loves you without limits.  Some reasons we can understand, some reasons that are way beyond us.  Here’s something I think is significant: one reason that God can love you in spite of you (mistakes, sins, habits, less-than-desirable qualities – because those are the reasons you think He can’t love you, right? It’s easy to love the lovable qualities in you) one reason He can love you in spite of you is this:

GOD IS NOT HURT BY YOU – HE IS HURT FOR YOU

Let that sink in for a minute.  Can you appreciate the distinction, the difference that changing those little letters makes?

He knows that in His love, there is the possibility for better.  He knows that in His love, you can be free. He knows that in His love, you can be completely satisfied.  Your mistakes don’t hurt Him – your mistakes makes Him hurt FOR you, because He knows you don’t have to live like that.

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest! Put on my yoke and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30 Phillips)

He knows that if you could get to that place – where we understand His love and enjoy all the benefits of His love – then you could honestly receive the love of Jesus in its full measure.   You may think, “I’ve gone too far, I’ve been too wrong….” You may have even been told that you have broken the Father’s heart. None of that is true, my friend.  His heart is not broken by you – His heart may be broken for you, but that is a different feeling. He has offered such a gift – He knows you don’t have to live bound by your sin.

And it goes even further, really, if we let it: If we could take the example of Jesus and live without offense, we could recognize the hurts of people around us. We wouldn’t take everything as a personal attack, because it’s not all about us. We have to think of others, we have to prefer our brother, we shouldn’t think more highly of ourselves than we ought…. Maybe we could grow into recognizing that we don’t have to be hurt BY people, we could hurt FOR people, too.  

If we can get to that place – where we understand that the love of Jesus is without limit and we aren’t stuck in some kind of scarcity mentality and He has plenty for all of His children, than we can move into the place where His love can flow from us uninhibited, without reservation.  Flowing from His heart to our heart to their hearts (the people within our sphere of influence), until they start to experience for themselves firsthand the love of Jesus – and then guess what? Uninhibited, the love flows from His heart to their hearts to the hearts of the people within their sphere of influence, and like ripples in a pond, they keep going out and out and out and on and on and on…. 

“Above everything else be sure that you have real deep love for each other, remembering how ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’ ” (1 Peter 4:8 Phillips)

Jesus always pointed people forward to the Father, motivated by love, because He knew that’s where their healing and help would spring from.  If we can get ahold of how much the Father loves us, how we could be healed in His love, wouldn’t we want to pass it along?  Love people enough to lead them to God?

Maybe it’s about living in such a way that people who don’t know God might come to God because they know you.  

And then it’s His love –

Flowing from His heart to our heart to the hearts of the people within our sphere of influence, until they start to experience for themselves firsthand the love of Jesus – and then the love flows from His heart to their hearts to the hearts of the people within their sphere of influence, and the ripples keep going out and out and out and on and on and on….

To live like that – heart open like we talked about last week, and then moving on to passing along the blessing of living heart open to the people within our sphere of influence – that would be a treasure . I’m praying the Lord will help us get to that place ❤

Jennifer 🙂

Many summers ago now, I visited a friend in my hometown.  We snapped beans with her grandmother, on the front porch, in the afternoon sun, sitting on the wooden rockers or in the swing.  Simple, we enjoyed and we chatted. A face-to-face about the green beans and the garden turned into a heart-to-heart about children and marriage and life and joy and sorrow – events that had made our year, growing us like the earth had grown these green beans.  In a little while, we’d start the process of jarring the green beans, sealing them up to enjoy again on another day, in another season.

When the summer season turned to winter season, we’d go to our pantries and pull out a mason jar.  All lines up in rows – and there weren’t only green beans (they’re just my favorite): there was chow-chow, scupperdine jelly, peppers, pickles.  In different cities, in different states, we’d pop the seals.  The scent and taste would carry us back to this common day together.  We’d remember the chat and the sunshine and be blessed again by the love shared on that day.  It wasn’t so common after all, and we would be glad we saved it in our mason jars.  Maybe that’s why I love a mason jar – it’s a little southern treasure chest. 🙂

A treasure chest in its simplest definition is anything that holds treasures, wouldn’t you say? If that is true, I have treasure chests all over my house, and I imagine you do too: frames holding baby pictures and senior pictures and family pictures – those are treasure chests.  Shoeboxes with old birthday cards and souvenirs from trips – those are treasure chests too.  The china cabinet in my dining room with my grandmother’s china displayed inside – I never looked at it and thought “that is a treasure chest”, but now that I look again, it surely is, holding treasures precious to me.

The Lord has treasure chests too – all different shapes and sizes.  Here’s one that makes my heart smile and brings a comforting quiet to my spirit every time I come across it: “your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in His treasure pouch!” (1 Samuel 25:29).  His “treasure pouch”, and you know what’s inside?  We are! Your life, safe in the care of the Lord.  My life, safe in the care of the Lord.  Every detail that pertains to life and godliness, safe in the care of the Lord.  How about that?  My mason jar/treasure chest could only save one day: our Father God’s pouch/treasure chest holds all of us, every day, every moment, big and small.

Let’s consider our lives as the very treasure that the Lord holds a treasure pouch close to His chest.  We don’t have to DO anything to be worthy of His attention, we don’t have to BE anything to considered precious enough to be held in a treasure pouch close to His heart, but still – I’m humbled and quieted and get a warm feeling inside when I consider it.  He is so kind to us.  Even though I didn’t deserve His grace, and even though I don’t have to perform to experience His love, I have this feeling inside me….  It’s a desire, really – a desire to live worthy of His calling.  It is a comfort that He considers me a treasure; yet at the same time, it is an invitation to live upward, to be better than I have to be.  SomeOne considers ME to be a TREASURE.  SomeOne considers YOU to be a TREASURE.  Maybe we can take a little “selah” right here, a moment to “pause and think of that”! 🙂

God is so kind and generous to us – He looks at us with great tenderness and love and says, “you are My treasure”.  What a gift that is ❤

Praying that you feel “secure in His treasure pouch” today,

Jennifer

I’m reading Nehemiah, and it’s about rebuilding the temple. Here’s a few things that stood out to me as I read:

In chapter 3, we see that all the people worked “except for their nobles, who wouldn’t work with their master and refused to get their hands dirty with such work” (Nehemiah‬ ‭3:5‬ ‭MSG).‬‬ It’s a blessing to have the strength to work, a blessing that God would allow people to cooperate with Him in restoration or whatever He needs accomplished.  I don’t ever want to be so self-important that I “refuse such work”. If God is involved, I want to be involved!  James 4:17 says, “to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (NKJV).  If you know what needs to be done, be thankful for the opportunity and get it done!

I’ll admit it: I love my lil pup Bea.  If anyone follows me on facebook, you’ve seen her. Bea also has her own instagram, so you might see her there too (@bea.attitudes). It’s completely out of control, for sure!

Just look at her – you have to admit, she’s the sweetest in the world.  Bea follows me around everywhere. Unlike other small dogs I’ve been around, she’s not yippy or snappy – she’s pretty chill and very friendly.  And she only weighs 5 pounds, so she’ll be a tiny thing forever – just the perfect size!

So, the other day I posted a picture of her on social media (of course!) – I’m pretty sure I was at my pool with Bea, a splashproof Bluetooth speaker, a diet coke and a stack of books: all the ingredients I need for a very nearly perfect sunny day!  One comment was, “Jennifer, you need friends.”  LOL!

Well, Facebook and world, please let me explain 🙂 I know lots of people who love to post on social media, (I wrote an earlier blog about social media here) and there is nothing wrong with that! Post away, friends!  No judgment, no complaint from me – to be honest, I like to see your posts!  For me (probably like you), I love being out with friends.  I love going to lunch and I love hanging out and I love the beach and I love shopping and I love all kinds of things – however, I don’t want to take a break from the fun to post on social media.  Occasionally, I’ll post after the fact (kid graduated, I’ll post a few pics later. Kid went to prom, I’ll post a few pics later. My BFF of over 25 years came to spend a long weekend – we took one picture the entire visit, and I posted it later), but it’s pretty unusual for me to post in the moment. If I’m out it’s because I want to be out.

It’s pretty “little old lady” of me, I’ll admit, but here’s how I feel about my phone and in the 24-hour-a-day-access-to-everything: it’s there for my convenience, not so I can be reached at any second of any day.  If it dings and it’s convenient, I’ll respond.  If it rings and it’s inconvenient, I’ll let it go to voicemail and get to it later.  Most of the time if I’m out, the phone is either left in my car or put on silent if I carry it.  No one thinks it rude to take time out of a conversation to take a selfie and check in and post, not even me – I just don’t want to do it.  I don’t mind if my friend takes a picture to post – that’s lots of fun! It’s just not where my mind is at the moment. What I do like is a face-to-face time with you across the table sharing a coffee or a meal.   What I like is to disconnect from the world for a while.  When I’m hanging out with my kids or with you, I want to be fully in that moment – and if the facebook community isn’t made aware that we enjoyed a meal at the Oxford Exchange or bought all kinds of treasures at SoHo, well, somehow life will go on!  Graduations and prom preparations and late night chats with my BFF  and Starbucks with the girls, those are mine.  I’ll let facebook know about it, or I won’t, either is fine.  Even though it’s all not on facebook, life is pretty happy and blessed!

The other thing is: I’m completely unable to multi-task while I’m on social media.  Those minutes that I am posting a picture or updating my status? Completely LOST.  I didn’t hear you, I didn’t see you.  I’m able to multi-task on other things, and I know people who can multi-task on facebook, but I just can’t do it!  Probably it’s another little-old-lady-trait!

This was just a silly example, really, and I hope you aren’t taking me too seriously: you do what is best for you. Bea Puppy doesn’t mind if I post, and I don’t mind losing that minute on FB when its just me and the pup 😉 However, there are moments that are intended for wholeheartedness.  There are moments in life that are only for you or only for those closest to you.  There are moments in life that the Lord gives to us and us alone.  Don’t feel guilty about keeping those things in your heart.  Don’t be afraid to disconnect, if only for that moment, and be singular in your purpose. How about these, a couple of treasures for you to hold on to for a little bit:

“Put me together, one heart and mind;
    then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;
    I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to” Psalm 86:12 MSG

or

“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High” Psalm 9:1-2 NKJV

Let your time with the Lord be just that – and as you open His Word, let this noun/treasure become an alive verb/treasure. Keep those few moments to yourself and Jesus – I’m praying as you treasure His Words in your heart, you’ll be blessed. ❤

Jennifer 🙂

p.s. if the Lord does tell you something amazing and you can share, I hope you will  – I love amazing things!  I’ll share too – I’ll just do it later!

“Alice in Wonderland” was a favorite when I was younger – do you remember it? Silly, thoughtful, quotable…. The cover of my current journal has an Alice quote and I pause every time I see it (which is often – my journal a treasure to me, and I’m almost never without it!).  It says, “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then”.

“I was a different person then” – let’s take a selah: pause and calmly think of that 🙂

As Christ-followers, we ought to be different every day.  The Bible has so much to say about being new – here are a few favorites, but you can find lots more:

“Behold I shall do a new thing” ~Isaiah 43:19

“His compassions fail not, they are new every morning” ~Lamentations 3:22-23

“He has put a new song in my mouth” ~Psalm 40:3

“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” ~2 Corinthians 5:17

I’m going off-track for a minute, but hang with me – I’ll circle back!  Sometimes I think about a passage in Ezekiel.  In Ezekiel 46, the Lord gives instructions to the people about their manner of worship.  Verse 9 stands out to me every time, as it explains how the people are to enter and exit the place of worship.  The Lord tells them that is they enter by the south, then they are to exit by the north.  If they enter by the north, they are to exit by the south.  He emphasizes again, “He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate”.  I’m sure that there is a historical and traditional context here, but let’s just make it as simple as possible for today: they were not supposed to leave the same way they came in. When they left, they were supposed to do it differently.

When I think about that, I think to myself: the Lord does not want me to leave His presence the same way I came in either. I came to Him for healing – He wants me to be well. I came to Him for comfort – He wants me to be full of joy.  I came to Him heavy hearted – He wants me to take on His light yoke.  I came to Him broken – He wants me to be whole.  He is able and faithful and trustworthy and kind – He can do all of these things and more.  I am not supposed to leave the same way I came in. Enter sick, leave well. Enter sad, leave joyful. Enter broken, leave whole.  Enter one way, and leave another way.

“Leave” means two things: we can leave a location, and we can also leave an item. When we left healed, we left the sickness behind.  When we left whole, we left the brokenness behind.  Adopt a new mentality: “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then“. Purpose to leave those things which are holding you back or tying you down: you were made new in His presence!  Refuse to return to those things!  You are a new creature – be new!

Be aware: it is a choice.  Once the Lord makes you whole, you can (sadly!) return to the thing that made you broken.  Once the Lord gives you joy, you can (unfortunately!) return to the thing that made you heavy hearted.  Sometimes we allow the broken-ness or sickness or anger or whatever-it-is-holding-you-back-from-abundant-life-fill-in-your-own-blank-here to become part of our self. Setting aside those weights (Hebrews 12:1) leaves an empty spot which the Lord will fill if we let Him.  Refuse to go back, even if it is familiar – push forward. “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then“.

In our walk with the Lord, we ought to be ever changing, ever growing, ever evolving. Our own spiritual thought process ought to be “it’s no use going back” – you are a new creature, a new creation!  Embrace change – and wake up tomorrow morning with the new mentality: “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then”.

Of course, now that we’ve spent some time in the presence of the Lord, we’ll say it this way: “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17) and we’ll say it this way: “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?” (Isaiah 43:19). And friend, you shall know it! 🙂 Leave different than the way you came today – purpose to embrace the new and treasure change!

No use going back – let’s press forward!  God’s kindness is a treasure, and I’m praying you find Him kind today!

Jennifer ❤

Last night, my sweet hubby bought me a bookshelf for the family room, and BONUS: he even put it together for me right away!  As soon as I saw the box, I called my twin sons into action. “Fellas, will you follow me around and help me collect my books?” They didn’t ask (mercifully!), they just followed.  First, guest room: empty every drawer in the chest, mirror dresser and night stands. (Now when you come to visit, you’ll have a place to put your clothes while you stay!). Next, my room – no need to empty the entire chest, just the bottom two drawers (now I have more room for clothes – nah, I’d rather have books!).  “Mom, are we done yet? It’s a lot already.” No, not quite yet, let’s go to my closet next, and then I have this small-ish pile next to the sofa in the formal living room – you couldn’t see it because it was kind of tucked in between the sofa and the bookshelf which is already living there.  Ty rolls his eyes a little bit (he’s even more organized than I am generally, and would never cram something into a corner). Jake, however, cheerily offers, “Yeah, mom, I understand tucking things in corners!  In my room, I – “… Stop right there, bud – this is NOT the same kind of thing that has been going on in your room! I’m rambling – let me get back to my new bookshelf!

Of course, a new bookshelf required careful thought.  I had to empty all current bookshelves and reorganize.  I also had to reacquaint myself with these friends who had been tucked places for all these years – oh, THERE you are, Charlie Shedd!  Welcome back to the outside world, Margaret Runbeck!  It’s been too long, Corrie Ten Boom!  Oh, Bruce Wilkinson, my old friend, how are you? Have to consider – who lives in the family room?  Who lives in the formal living room?  Do we categorize by author (yes) or by subject (yes, but only if I have several authors on the same subject) or by genre (this is more complicated than I had anticipated, but I am LOVING the dilemma!). Naturally I couldn’t simply put everyone on a shelf immediately – I needed to read a chapter from each one, remember a few treasured words. As I removed the books from their places, and began to open a few covers, I discovered more than an old favorite character or truth or phrase or friend.  I had more than published words to treasure this morning – much more.

I had forgotten doing this until they started falling out, but for years I had been sticking little notes in between my books.  (Lately, I have been putting these little bits of love in a photo box to savor later).  A thank you note from a student fell out first – oh my goodness, she was in kindergarten when she wrote this and now she’s a freshman in high school!  Next, a letter from my grandmother-  she passed away several years ago and I cried at the treasure her words were, and I laughed at the stories she had shared that day.  A note from my mom – she wrote it after the first ministry event I hosted some 18 years ago.  A picture fell out of another book – the twins were pulling baby sis in the Radio Flyer wagon – remember the one with the wooden rails on the sides?  Oh my goodness – a letter of encouragement from a woman in ministry I had looked up to so very much, especially in those first years when I needed so very much…. My parents’ wedding picture – wow, they were young! The little treasures kept peeking out, oh my goodness, so many, and I laughed and I cried and I remembered and I smiled and I felt as if I had discovered lots of little secrets and my heart was full and I loved the quiet, surrounded by love and books and words and comfort.

I thought about the photo box with my most recent love notes and memories, and looked at the pictures and notes surrounding me on the floor.  Nah, these wouldn’t go into that box.  I organized my books on the new shelves, admired the arrangements, then carefully tucked the notes and cards and pictures in between the books again.

2 Corinthians 4:7 doesn’t really apply here, I know that, but I can’t seem to get it out of my mind: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”.   THIS treasure.  This TREASURE.  I like the idea of opening up, unpacking, and finding something altogether unexpected – and altogether blessed.  Isn’t that what happens with the Lord?  Every time we open His word, every time we open ourselves to His spirit, every time we strive to hear His voice, we find “this treasure” that the “excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”.  It’s what I learned from my bookshelf today, from all these books that had been packed away for so long, each with a little “plus” inside. How very simple, how very sweet.

What a treasure 🙂

God is so kind and generous!  With prayers that you find Him so today,

Jennifer