Most Recent Blog Posts
Moving Forward With A Burning Fire
Moving Forward With A Burning Fire
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
 
 

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!

The season of Lent begins today. Growing up with Christian traditions I was never aware of Lent. It wasn't until the past few years as I began to see Christian friends participate in it, that it began to get my attention. Still not really aware of what it looks like to be faithful in it, the past few years I've picked up some sort of reading plan or guide and do my best to stick with it but always fall short. This year, I didn’t want to start something new as I just don’t have the space for it in my life. However, when I saw @tshoxenreider share about the book 40 Days of Decrease it piqued my interest as I don't have the capacity to do anything more, but intentionally decreasing, tell me more! As I do with every book recommendation I find interesting, I searched for it on Hoopla and the eBook was on there. In most cases, I'd favorite it to come back to later. However, it seems timely so I downloaded it. The fact I can rent it for free with my library card and have instant access makes it an easy decision too! I’m so thankful I did as day one talks about fasting from Lent as a project. This is what I needed as that's been my approach. I look to other IG accounts and see what they are doing which spurs in me a desire to do something too. The problem is when I see it as a project, I already project that I'm going to fail so I don't even want to start. So instead, I’m starting this season knowing I’m going to fail and because I can fast from Lent being a project that’s perfectly okay. I can use this season to enter his presence with intention & bring my focus to Jesus. Not because this season is different than any other time of year, but because this season brings a unique way we can savor Him in light of Easter. So what about you? What’s your experience with Lent? Are you doing anything specific? How does the thought of giving up Lent as a project help you? I’ll have more in my stories about what Day One has to share so be sure to check it out! :)
Hi friends, would you pray for my dear friend Lee. She has battled a myriad of health issues the majority of her life. I’ve been planning to share her story on my blog but she continues to face new health challenges daily and after another night in the hospital, my heart just breaks, and want to ask you to pray. She isn’t on social media but does have a blog that I’ve linked in my profile. She’s been a mentor to me for over ten years and when I met her she had already been battling multiple issues for at least that long. From surgery on her brain stem to being in coma where her family said their goodbyes all while she was awake on the inside. She has modeled the life of Jesus to me and God has used her to help build the faith that I have today. Just last week she was sharing something and my husband leaned over and said, “she sounds a lot like you”. To which I thought, It’s more like I’m the one that sounds like her, which is my greatest honor. While my passion and drive for Jesus may align with her, my experience with suffering doesn’t even come close compare. Even writing this post is hard because it makes me face the pain and reality of my hurting friend, who is still pouring out her life for His glory. I hope to soon share more of her story, but until then I’d love for you to check out her blog and be praying for her. She has an autoimmune disorder that affects her connective tissue which makes everything all the more complicated and dangerous. Yesterday she developed a spreading infection on her hand from the injection site where they had an IV when she was in the hospital the other week for seizures and extremely low blood pressure. She shares more about this on her blog. I encourage you to check her story out and her most recent post on if waiting really is suffering and have your hope & faith in Jesus restored because His strength is on display in her. There truly is no other explanation for it. ❤️
Whether you are ready for your Monday or feeling rather inept, let’s be reminded God orchestrated this day before our existence. God is working things together for his glory whether we participate with him or not. He wants nothing more than for us to join him, but he never forces our hand. He is a Father of freedom. We are free to choose today, and oh how he wants us to choose him. And it is only in our choice of Him that we access this freedom. And if you’re unsure about choosing God today, know He has already chosen you. Before he created the world. We’re part of a bigger story than we can can fathom. We can be so focused on starting our week, that we become uninterested in God’s story. This is why we need to open our bibles daily to be reminded of the story we’re apart of and that God chose me for this day. This very hour. This very place. Let’s submit our hearts in prayer this morning for our hearts to be stirred towards God’s will. To walk in what God has for each and every one of us today to further His Kingdom in Jesus’ name.
✨Moving Forward with a Burning Fire - New Blog Post! Link In Profile ✨ “As we enter March I feel like the proverbial bear coming out of hibernation. Starting last month out with Snowmageddon, I had a lot of days at home. I’ve been trying my best to live in alignment with my current season. My push hard accomplishing self wants life to look like summer 12 months out of the year. While summer weather would be a glorious reality right about now, the pace and demand of that season isn’t one our bodies were created to sustain. God has been helping me see the damage I’ve done from operating from such a place. As I’ve been telling people who things are going, to which I reply, “I think I’m still recovering from August.” I’ve been seeing the ways we are to live out our current season as an act of worship. So while this place of prioritizing rest and what often feels like wasting time has been rather challenging, it is teaching me a new way that is bringing me new life. With this slower pace, I’ve been.. link in profile to continue reading! 💕
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
 
 
 
 
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