I love my dad. I wish that all of you could meet him. We could both tell the same story separately and it would come across as funny enough, but when we tell a story together it somehow gets to the next level.
At times, it feels like we are scripted even though we (obviously) are not. We get each other.
For as long as I can remember, he has made this noise to get my attention. It's a little "psstpsst" noise that most people wouldn't think twice about it.
Because my dad has done this since I was a baby, I don't even think about it. When I hear that noise I immediately look in the direction it came from. I can't help it. It's muscle memory. My dad came to church on Christmas. And I do production for a pretty big and VERY loud church. Electrical guitars--the whole nine yards. He's not a regular at church, but he came to support me on one of the biggest days of the year (Go, old man!) In the middle of a huge chorus, I have a production headset on. Game time. Focused. The congregation is singing along. And sure enough, my dad says, "Psst. Psst." All my focus shatters. And immediately I find myself looking directly at him. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up and I went right back to working. A proud papa moment. How is it that I could hear him in one of the loudest environments? There's a million other noises happening and I hear the faint, "psstpsst." It's because I've become so familiar with that "psstpsst" in private. PsstPsst... Jacq do the laundry. PsstPsst... hand me that remote. PsstPsst... great job today. PsstPsst.. Love you, Jacq. I had heard that thousands of times. Even in the midst of noise, I was so familiar with his voice that I could pick up on it in chaos. It was still muscle memory. Isn't that just like our relationship with Our Father in Heaven? The more that we become familiar with His voice in private the more easily we will be able to pick up on it in the chaos. I didn't think to look for my dad when I heard him, I just did. I was trained to. I hope this story encourages you. Pushes you to become that familiar with our Father's voice. I hope that you ask yourself the same question that I had to ask myself--is my muscle memory to look to Jesus? To deeply respond to His voice.
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness.
About Jacque
Jacque is the Missional Women Intern and a college student in Denver, CO who balances her time between trying to go to class and learning about His saving grace and perfect love as much as she can. She is a twenty something, DIY attempting, Jesus loving, Denver living, small town rooted, Colorado sports fan. She loves black coffee, long conversations and watching people do what God created them for. You can find her Christian Twenty Somethings blog at Desperately Dependent.
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Hello & Welcome, Bloggers!
Think back on the conversations that you've had in the last week. They probably went something like this,
Acquaintance: "Hello! How are you?"
You: "I'm fine. Really busy this week. Working on (insert big task here)."
Busy.
I remember when I was a kid listening to my mom have conversations. Her answer was always, "I'm good. How about you?" It was almost automatic. Muscle memory. Why is our new automatic... busy? Probably, the answer is so quick to spill out of our mouths because we are just BUSY. But will you join me for a moment in reading Galatians 5?
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."
Galatians 5: 22-26 (HCSB)
Our God gives us peace through His Holy Spirit. When we surrender our lives to the Lord these are the fruitful outcomes of doing so. The cause and effect. So, friends, an effect our surrendering our lives to Christ is the feeling and trueness of peace.
So, why then is our automatic response busy? Isn't busy the opposite of peace? I'm in school full time, I work 30 hours a week at church and I have a full time job. I am busy, but I don't have to live like it. I can surrender my to do list and schedule to the Lord and reflect outwardly the peace. Just the other day, the girl I sit next to in class said "How do you do it all? I see you write your to do list every morning. And how? How do you do it and stay so calm?" "Honestly," I said, "I don't always stay clam. I've been known to get overwhelmed and cry. But the peace that I feel in my busy schedule comes from God. He gives me peace. There's really nothing like it. Between LinkUps, editing, graphics and all the other things that life hands us outside of our blogs our lives can get crazy. Press in. Love Jesus ferociously. Surrender every step of your day. Let the peace that our Father is waiting to give you not only change your current situation, but point others towards His never ending love. Happy Blogging, Friends! See you next Friday.
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Jacque
Jacque is the Missional Women Intern and a college student in Denver, CO who balances her time between trying to go to class and learning about His saving grace and perfect love as much as she can. She is a twenty something, DIY attempting, Jesus loving, Denver living, small town rooted, Colorado sports fan. She loves black coffee, long conversations and watching people do what God created them for. You can find her Christian Twenty Somethings blog at Desperately Dependent.
Hello & Welcome Blogging Friends
Last week we talked about rededicating our blogs to the Lord. Just like Nehemiah did, we can do mini-throne checks with every little project we finish. God taught me something through Nehemiah again this week that I wanted to share with you. In the first few chapters of Nehemiah a lot happens. Nehemiah felt a call to go rebuild a broken wall in Jerusalem. He prayed and then stepped out in faith. And then he led a group of people into starting this huge project. All of this was fine and dandy until there was some opposition. In Nehemiah Four things start to go a little south....
"When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews before his colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria, and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stonesback to life from the mounds of rubble?”
-Nehemiah 4:1-3
I would argue that there is nothing more powerful than a Godly leader stepping out in faith. Because there is nothing more powerful, there is nothing that satan cares to stop more. With Godly leadership comes opposition. But with a right view of God, like Nehemiah had, that opposition shouldn't stop us.
Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from Your sight, because they have provoked the builders.
-Nehemiah 4:4-5
When opposition came, Nehemiah went straight to God instead of straight to strategy. Wow! Do I need to work on that! As I scroll through Pinterest, I see countless blog posts, "5 ways to get more followers," "15 ways to grow your audience," or "7 easy tricks to blog more efficiently." Strategy. If you have a problem with your blog, you could probably find a resource for how to fix it.
But don't do strategy. Do God. Do prayer. I promise that it will be way more fruitful. God can work in anything (including strategy), but if you go to Him for all your strategic needs you'll always get there faster. Happy Blogging, friends. See you next Friday.
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Jacque
Jacque is the Missional Women Intern and a college student in Denver, CO who balances her time between trying to go to class and learning about His saving grace and perfect love as much as she can. She is a twenty something, DIY attempting, Jesus loving, Denver living, small town rooted, Colorado sports fan. She loves black coffee, long conversations and watching people do what God created them for. You can find her Christian Twenty Somethings blog at Desperately Dependent.
Blogging Friends! Hello & Welcome!
I was reading Nehemiah 3 yesterday morning and I wanted to relay how God encouraged me.
Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it. The men of Jericho built next to Eliashib, and next to them Zaccur son of Imri built.
-Nehemiah 3:1-2
The text goes on to list specfic people with specfic jobs all dedicating their time, talent and treasure to the Lord. With every completed repair they took a moment to re-dedicate their work to the Lord.
What if, my blogging friends, we took 2017 in baby steps. And with each new project we finish we re-dedicated it (and ourselves) to the Lord. I'm not sure about you, but I think that blogging can easily become a to-do list. Make this graphic, e-mail these people, create this resource and so-on. But what if we did a throne check with every completed project. We surrendered our will to His. If we do this I would make the leap to say that not only will our to-do lists seem more manageable, but that God will be able to work with our availbility and faithfulness all the more. What do you say? Do you want to join me in rededicating each blog post, graphic, and e-mail back to the Lord?
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory."
-1 Corinthians 10:31
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Jacque
Jacque is the Missional Women Intern and a college student in Denver, CO who balances her time between trying to go to class and learning about His saving grace and perfect love as much as she can. She is a twenty something, DIY attempting, Jesus loving, Denver living, small town rooted, Colorado sports fan. She loves black coffee, long conversations and watching people do what God created them for. You can find her Christian Twenty Somethings blog at Desperately Dependent.
Hello!! It's long lost me. I hope you had a super Christmas and New Years. I just got home from helping lead our second Rocky Mountain Winter Conference for college students at the ranch our ministry owns. We raised enough money to translate 1 John 1 into 5 languages totalling 2,455,000 people, did the prayer and discipleship mosaics, had a day of outreach to get into spiritual conversations in hopes to share the Gospel and tons of talks, seminars and of course good food and fun! So, since I had major unpacking to do from the last 11 days for a family of 8, I will leave you with the video below and some pictures. God did amazing things in students hearts; drawing them to Himself and deciding to lay thier lives down for Him. And on our day of outreach over 1200 people from all over the world got to hear the Gospel! Only God. And though I am not able to write much, I will be praying for you this week. We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow. Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About LauraLaura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2001 serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site. If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right. Sharing this over at these awesome blogs. Hi favorite bloggers. I am so sorry this month I have not been faithful in getting Faith Filled Friday up. Thank you so much for your grace.
I have made the link up below open through the end of the month and will resume in January. See you then friends! Laura
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness.
Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2001 serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right. Sharing this over at these awesome blogs.
Recently, the Lord has put on my heart to use Facebook Live to glorify Him by helping women grow in their relationship with Him and live on mission. So, here's a couple videos from this past week.
I hope I get to chat with you live sometime! Like Missional Women on Facebook so you'll (hopefully) see the video in your newsfeed. And then when I'm live, I would love to hear from you! The first video I show how to draw out a diagram that explains how to see the fruit of the Spirit come out of our hearts. (Click here to watch on Facebook) Thesecond video is sharing a few stories and talking about doing hard things. (Click here to watch on Facebook)
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Laura
Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2001 serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right. Sharing this over at these awesome blogs.
Happy November friend!
For 5 years now we've been doing Not About Me November. It's a time of bringing everything back to how it's just not about us and really all about Jesus. It's a time of realignment to God's heart. We'd love you tofollow along! And not only follow along but we'd love to have you join us! You can share your thoughts on Facebook, twitter and/or Instagram with the hashtag #notaboutmenovember and I would love if you tagged @missionalwomen and @laurakrokos so we can encourage you.
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Laura
Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2001 serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right. Sharing this over at these awesome blogs.
Every time I get a new Bible I like to get a new version. It helps me avoid glossing over specific verses I have read many times because it brings new wording. And picking Bibles is a pretty adventurous experience for me since every time God has shown Himself pretty awesome.
So, there I was standing in front of a wall of Bibles at the Christian bookstore asking for the Lord to show me what Bible He wanted for me and contemplating what version I should get. I finally decided I liked one with two shades of brown. I picked one up and thumbed through it. That was it! But, I thought the cover didn't quite have enough crinkles on it. So I scanned all the covers until I saw the one on the top shelf on the left hand side. And there it was! I grabbed it down, took it out of the box with the clear cover and sitting at the bottom of the box was a little rectangle handwritten note that read Laura. Here it is. I taped it on the inside of my Bible.
Can you believe it! What a fun and generous God we have that would orchestrate something so exciting... yet seemingly without purpose to the whole world, just a reminder to me that He knows me!
I was wow-ed by Him once again. Names are a big deal. They define us. And God, the One who breathed the stars into place, the One who holds all things together, He knows my name and your name. Take that in. He knows your name, the sum of everything about you. You are known and valued by the most important person in all of history. {Tweet this} Our names are deeply valuable to God but they are not who we are to make famous. The name Jesus is who we are to make famous, He needs to become greater and we need to become less. For we honestly are unfit to even untie His sandals as act His slave, yet He lets us partner with Him in His great agenda, His mission. Not the other way around. God knows our name but His name is what the entire history of mankind is desperate to hear and know. {Tweet this}
We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow.
Here's how it works. 1. Link up as many blog posts as you want below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. (Perhaps think of old posts you want more exposure to as well as new ones.) 2. Let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or paste my button code (found below and on the side bar). 3. Take a minute to visit and comment on another sweet lady or two's post. You're encouragement might be just what she needs to keep pressing on in being a voice in the darkness. About Laura
Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 14 years serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right. Sharing this over at these awesome blogs. |
New here? Head on over to the Home page to see what we're all about.
Welcome!I'm Laura the founder of Missional Women and this is my sweet friend, Lyli. We host a link up for bloggers every Friday and look forward to having you join us. But before you go, look around, we are here to glorify God and be a blessing to you.
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