Most Recent Blog Posts
4 Key Elements of Faith-Based Goal Planning + My Winter Goals
4 Key Elements of Faith-Based Goal Planning + My Winter Goals
Advent Study: Wonderful Counselor
Advent Study: Wonderful Counselor
The Last Minute Advent Study
The Last Minute Advent Study
My Perfectionism Strikes Again
My Perfectionism Strikes Again
 
 

Hi there! I’m Jena. I’m so glad you’re here!

i’m passionate about living my

one beautiful life to the glory god.

 
 
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I like to hang out on instagram.

I’d love for you to come and join me there!

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether they are pro or anti-February 14th, I have something for you! I woke up excited for today which isn't like me. I was reflecting on what it looks like for Jesus to love us. One of the ways he loves us is that he seeks us. In the same way, we seek the ones we love. In the Bible we see in Matthew 12:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." What are the things he is mentioning? It’s all the worries we have in regards to what to eat, drink or wear. We may worry about different things today, but when applying this to today in light of love, I can help people seek Him by helping them seek first the kingdom of God. How do I do this? By FIRST seeking them to know their worries and what they are struggling with because this is causing them to not seek first his kingdom. No matter what you feel about the day, we are still bombarded by feelings that are hard to avoid. The expectations are there regardless of the day, but for some, if not most, as we begin to look around, it opens the door for disappointment. So let’s use today to be on mission for Jesus. Better yet, let’s use every day. To be excited about our love for others and as a result seek out their hearts. To get to know them at a deeper level that is aware of their worries, so that we can speak the truth their hearts need so they instead seek first Jesus. To encourage them to expect the things of God, because he desires us to expect ALL of his promises for they are sure and true and will never disappoint. And if your loved ones don’t know Jesus, this day provides so much opportunity so let’s not waste it! Don’t disengage but instead see the world, even if they are excited about the day, still missing the key that changes everything which is the mission God has called us to. If you share encouraging words, love someone in a specific way, or just have a great story, I'd love you to share so we can be encouraged!
After three days of being snowed in and managing our fire, God helped me see how starting a fire relates to living out our faith and daily devotion to Christ. To start building a fire you start with paper. Crumple it up and create a good base, you layer in some small pieces of wood, and stack them up just so. Maybe add a few more pieces of paper and then light it up and watch it go. While in the perfect world, it may be that easy, but there are often variables that don't make it that easy, for example this morning it took me almost an hour to get it going because the wood still had some moisture in it. What God helped me to see was that going to church on Sunday or some other form of getting together where there is a bunch of hype for Jesus is like the paper. It lights quickly and ignites quite a bit really quickly. This makes me think how on fire I can be after leaving a Church service on Sunday. But the type of fuel I have for the fire God has for my life is a different story. It made me think how when starting out in faith, you most likely are going to be a small piece of wood, but how vital and necessary is this type of kindling. That being around other people who are on fire for God will ignite you more, and a new believe ignited for Christ has great power and ability to ignite those who may be further along in their faith. That we should hope to desire to grow our faith so we can be the big log that keeps our life warm and provides greats heat. But it doesn't happen overnight. It also doesn't happen by only tending to it once a week. It requires intention, monitoring, strategy and desire to keep it going. That you might think you can coast because you're a big log and you've got a good amount of heat, but it's easy to burn out just as quickly. While there is more metaphor then I have space for, I wanted to share that and would love to get your thoughts on what God might speak to you though this analogy. 💕
It snowed last night and our view becomes the most glorious sight. God has been working on my heart in regards to how I view where we live. I often don’t believe I deserve our home, and that I’m arrogant to even enjoy it because very few people get to enjoy something like what we have. We just happened to come across our property and they didn’t even know there was a view on the other side of the trees. I’ve been digging deep to see what God has to say about how I appreciate his good and gracious gift He’s given us. For me, I fear the other shoe is going to drop scenario. Since this is so good, something bad must be around the corner. I don’t rest and trust that my God is good always, and is working all things together for my good always. Do I deserve the generous gift of our home? Definitely not. But does God want me to look at it and appreciate it as a good gift from above or dismiss it and not even acknowledge the gift in fear of being considered arrogant and selfish because I’m misunderstood. It’s a battle for God’s way over mine and one I’m still trying to fight for. How do you handle God’s good gifts in your life? Do you struggle to enjoy the good because you fear the bad or what other people might think or say about your good?
God is amazing in the way he makes connections. I was listening to the @thebiblebinge podcast earlier this week on Adam & Eve and then this morning studied Proverbs 7 when God made this connection I never imagined. Reading in Proverbs, there is countless reminders to pursue wisdom. To keep it front & center. To be AWARE of what I'm focusing on. In Proverbs, Solomon often gives the opposite of what wisdom looks like. In this case it would be living UNAWARE & unfocused. As I read those words, I felt a little sting of being called out from my ways. My default is to go to a place that is distracted. My brain likes to go too many different directions at once. I don't choose different because to be honest I don't really want it to be different. I like the hype of too much at once. I like the distraction and the chaos that comes with striving and having my life too full. This is what God has been revealing as I dig deep into my tendency to strive and what is at the root of it. While the implications are deep and wide, in summary, I believe my worth comes from what I do, so to me, more is always better. Add in the desire to work hard and be financial stable and you've got a perfect storm of a distracted life. While studying this morning, God helped me see that I need to apply wisdom and awareness at the beginning of my day and really anything I set out to do. That I need to be aware to avoid a distracted and divided life. I was able to see that I choose distraction because I don't want to do something. Get out of bed, make the hard choise, do the hard work, or feel something I don't want to feel. My desire to avoid leads only to my destruction as the unaware and unfocused life is a dangerous life. So when I start any day or really path, these words of God should be a reminder to ask, "Where are you?". Am I living in an unfocused & distracted way or am I submitting myself to say, “let me live aware to what's in front of me so I can partner with you in my today!” How does this battle for focus play out in your life?
It's the last day of the month! I know for some January feels like the longest month ever. Why is that? The fact it's winter and we're forced to hunker down, or with more intention we become more aware? For me, the last day of the month often holds some element of remorse. I always have more desire than capacity. It's one reason I just stopped goal planning for a while. I put pressure on myself to perform making the end of the month like a performance report. I would then have to find the energy (and time) to sit down, reset my heart and my life, and get the motivation and restoration to pick the pieces up to start again. Doing this month after month was exhausting. If you think about it, the calendar that we know today was created by humanity to make sense of time. To be able to be aware of where we are at as each day goes by. There is something that we didn't create that also makes sense of time. Our seasons. They were designed by God for a specific plan and purpose. In regards to goal planning, this has been the shift I've taken. As I reach the last day of January, I'm in a much different place than I traditionally have been. I started my winter planning in December, which meant that when January arrived, I wasn’t falsely propped up on ambition and fleeting desire. Instead, I had already reflected on my prior year before the 1st arrived, and was ready to continue on in the things God had for me. There was no hype or pressure to do anything different but instead to say I've got two months left of winter, what does that look like for me. It takes the pressure of 30 days, and gives me 90. Maybe I get it done sooner, but if I don't I'm not disappointed. I accounted for it. It also helps me to not always be focused on what's next or if there is something new I should be doing next month. For me, my February is going to look a lot like my January. A few things will change, but overall, I'm going to just keep on keeping on as I finish out my winter and start shifting gears for what is to come in Spring. How are you feeling as we approach the last day of the month?
I’ve been in a place of unraveling for a little while. Which might sound scary but for me it’s been good. Crazy hard at times but examining everything I know to be true has only produced good fruit. My curious mind helps lead the way. However, my type A personality struggles when things aren’t black and white. I think we all want black and white faith so that we can be the ones in control, yet God shows up and calls us to obedience and dependence on him which can look very gray in the middle of it! I’m learning I was looking at my faith as so matter of fact, which isn’t a direct reflection of my reality. I’ve lived with the pressure of perfection because that’s what has been modeled for me believing that’s what my faith needs to look like. This shows up in many ways, and one is my theology. I know those who also live with this perfection will want to reject me, feel bad for me, or feel the need to rebuke because that is what you do to anything that isn’t perfect. And that’s what my self-righteousness what’s to do to me. But when I look at the life of Jesus, I see him encouraging us to be raw and real and look to his perfection. If Jesus thought I could be perfect in any area of life, he wouldn’t have had to choose the path of being murdered. This verse stood out to me the other day and motivation for where I seem to keep finding myself. To go and tell those closest to me the work God is doing. I continue to wrestle with the implications of this call in the day and age of social media, but I want to be one who does this well. Knowing that I’m broken and flawed and perfection won’t be achieved this side of reality but in spite of my reality to go and tell of HIS goodness. #goandtell (I also share in my most recent IGTVs about how perfection on my theology paralyzed me in my faith)
In light of the NY ruling, I have some words to share. These are words I never imagined sharing as I thought they were only for me. But as one who has never been in the position to hold life inside of me, God has given me these words to speak to my soul. I wanted to share them in hopes they speak to you no matter where you find yourself in this. These words are actually lyrics from the song Reckless Love. They are words you wouldn’t expect to resonate with as they are the first words of the song and don’t seem carry as much power. Or so I had thought. These are the lyrics: “Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me You have been so, so good to me. Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me. You have been so, so kind to me. While we may make rules and carry our opinions loudly, it will never stop God from being kind to those in the womb. It will never stop God breathing life into the bodies of women. And while there is so much brokenness tied to the women’s body, we have the ability to partner with God to bring restoration and life. He is a God who takes the deepest darkest circumstances and brings new life and new hope. If you’re someone who is in that darkness, and death feels like your best option, please reach out and talk with someone. It may seem minor to you but you’re partnered with God to create life and he wants to meet you in very real way. Let these words be the start of that. And if you’ve already chosen death, Hope is not lost for you. In fact, God so passionately loves you he desires restoration for your soul in-spite of the darkness. He is so for redemption that he will use your darkness in a way that can bring light to not only you but others. The enemy wants us frozen in fear feeling broken and afraid. The enemy wants us to be so at war with each other that we never listen. We need to see the issue at hand goes deeper than the messages on picket signs. Let us go deeper with one another. Including those we may not agree with. To step into the call of loving our enemies. And Christians, pray hard for ears to hear and hearts to become soft so that the world no longer sees it as a procedure but murder.
If you know me, you know I’m a HUGE fan of goals! I geek out hard when it comes to planning for life. But if you know me, you’ll also know I hold my goals so loosely because I want to do what God has for me, not what I want to push forward in my selfish ambition. As I was editing a session and watching YouTube, one of my favorite past times, I was hit with some real truth when it comes to our goals. That if it isn’t a priority, we won’t do it. That was a bitter pill for me to swallow! 💊💊💊 Why is this the case? Because I have some big goals for this year, that I see as what God is calling me to, yet I don’t make the time for it. And to see that I don’t make the time because it’s a not a priority. Dang. Conviction! I want what God has for me to be my priority. And if I don’t stop long enough to get clear on what those things are, I won’t make them a priority. I’ll let my emotions or the demands of life dictate my agenda. And I see that first hand as I live frozen in fear of putting my words down. My desire to write blog posts, IG posts and other content are high but they still aren’t a priority. Yet, I can make scrolling on social a priority as it gets all my time. Such heavy truth but it’s what my heart needed. It’s what got me out of the frozen place into typing these words because I for some reason believe posting at 8 AM is the only worthwhile time to post, and if I miss that time I’m out of luck. I put so many qualifiers on my content instead of stopping long enough to say what would you like me to say Lord that would please you. To stop chasing after the pleasures of the world and start chasing after God given goals because I’ve made them a priority in my life. Whose with me!? 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ @hopewriters #hopewriterlife
Current Mood 😁😁😁 Share an emoji below with your current mood!! ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ :::::::::::::::::::::: Why would I be so happy on a Thursday morning?! Because I have a zero agenda day ahead of me! As I step into less striving, rest is becoming a true priority. Because we don’t work a typical 9-5 and have a rotating schedule, weekends aren’t usually our best days of rest. I thankfully have the next four days off with my husband! 😍🎉💕 However, he just got off work at 8 AM so sleeps until noon to try and convert back to being awake during the day. I now have a few hours to be cozy on the couch to read and write and do all the things that make my heart so very happy!! 💕💕 @hopewriters #mood #hopewriterlife
Another morning of chasing substance & not shadows & I'm so overwhelmed by God's abundance and depth! God helped me see that he wants me to quit striving for perfection and I want to invite you into that place! As I’m starting the study of Proverbs with @first5app God revealed that I have HUGE fear of mishandling God’s word. It's why I have so many words on paper, & hundreds of rough drafts on my computer, & so few published posts. While it is good and so right to hold God's word with reverence and accuracy, putting the expectation & pressure of perfection on myself can only result in one thing... nothing. Nothing because if I'm waiting for perfection, it will never come. The greats are only great because they were willing to show up imperfectly, and even they continue to get it wrong. There is only one person has ever achieved perfection, & his name is Jesus. To think I can be perfect, means that I think I’m the one in control, and that I can be God. The thing is I'm not that powerful, & nor do I want to be! It's about being okay to do my best with what I know with where I'm at. To be able to say this is where I'm at in life today and what I understand to be true. To be able to accept the reality that I'm not perfect and there is a good chance I will get it wrong. However, if in my imperfection I can hold onto the desire to point towards the one who is perfect, it's okay if I get it wrong. So while I have so many drafts waiting to be finished because I'm striving for perfection, I'm choosing a new way. A rewiring of sorts. The little way that shows up broken and flawed but willing & humble to have God lead the way and to speak in to correct and guide me. To drop the act of perfection and simply say, this is where I'm at today in hopes to encourage you to show up as who you are today with where God has you. So will you join me in this? To simply say, I'm broken & flawed but I know a God who is rewriting my story into something beautiful and good and HE alone will be the one who brings it to completion. Let's move forward together holding both the desire to get it right and the ability to get it wrong at the same time. #draft @hopewriters #hopewriterlife
I woke up to an alarm today! If you know me this never happens. I live by my biological alarm clock. It's my attempt to truly prioritize my morning routine on the days I work. When it went off at 7 AM, I got up and I left my phone on the charger. (a perk of not having my alarm on my phone!) As I went to my desk to start reading, this thought popped into my head. What if I would have slept in for another hour. If I had woken up at 8 AM, I would have missed all the same things that I'm "missing" out on from not checking my phone first thing when I wake up. When I roll over and go for the light on my phone to help wake me up, its the easier option as I get to dive into what entertains me. But as I'm learning with @revelationwellness’s #thelittlewaychallenge, we chase shadows and not substance in our sin. So instead, I want my mornings to be filled with substance. To put my feet on the floor as I remind myself anything that can be found on my phone can wait. I have nothing to lose by not checking my phone and everything to gain by putting my feet on the floor and listening to Jesus by opening my Bible and putting pen to paper. #morning @hopewriters
Who all has a word of the year!? Or maybe a theme or focus to bring along with you in 2019? This is my fourth year with a word of the year and I have to say each year it’s been a word I don’t want to have. By God’s grace he speaks SO loudly the word I’m to have. It often shows up as a thought to which I instantly think that I don’t want that word. And then he confirms it over and over and over again. This year, on a random day in November, in my car driving to who knows where, God planted the seed for the word Jesus. Seeing that this word is technically a name, I didn’t want it. It didn’t fit my expectations for a word. I LOVE proudly sharing my word of the year, and I didn’t want to be embarrassed or sound arrogant with Jesus being mine. This whole, what’s your word of the year, mine is Jesus so I have the ultra spiritual trump card for the year. And to be honest, with my embarrassment I carry a little shame as I don’t want to be rejected for the name of Jesus. I have a blog where I share the name of Jesus and I’m ashamed... the fact that’s my reality helped prove how good this word would be for me. As with much of life. I have the picture of what I want, and God has something beyond my imagination. I can spend a ton of time and energy trying to figure it out, or I can look to Him and pursue my relationship with Jesus and let Him sort it out! So that’s my #word of the year. It’s unconventional. It’s not going to gain me any popularity. But I don’t want to gain the whole world only to lose my soul. So I share my word with the world and hope you’ll join me in the journey!! #hopewriterlife @hopewriters And I’d LOVE to know your word of the year!! Share it below! 😍😍😍⬇️⬇️⬇️
 
 
 
 
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