Being challenged and strecthed

Sometimes the closer you grow to the Lord the more you get tested, challenged and strecthed to do more and become more.

This has been happening to me since Jan of 2007 when I moved out here. John F. Kennedy said Challenge is the law of life.

All I can say is I am capable of doing SO much more now that I moved out here and I thank the good Lord above that I can pray to him openly and honestly about what I am going through.

To much is given much is required and that is what I have been learning. Our church prepares us for the misson field and the mission field is not far away it is who ever the Lord puts in our path sometimes the ones we know and love the most are the toughest nuts to crack and hardest to minister. Harvesting is work and not easy.

Be encouraged to know that God knows what he is doing and He knows what is best and more often than not what we want in life and what we actually receive are two totally different things -e4g

A very speical date night:)

You know when you have been married a long time, it is very easy to take your spouse for granted and it is easy to let days be ordinary and not push as hard to do speical things like when we were courting.

Our care group did not meet tonight and our leader said as our assignement for spouses to go out on a date night, so Shawn took me out and it was so wonderful. We went to Riparian park and walked around and saw the ducks and took pictures with our cell phones of the ducks and the sunset nature is so beautiful and speical a gift from God. Then we went to the library and we read some poetry to each other from Maya Angelou and then I look at some of Shawn's astronomy books with him.

We then went to McDonalds and got a small sundae each for dessert, I got mine with chocolate syrup and Shawn got his with strawberry syrup.

Then we came home and spend time together and I have to say I am very blessed to be married. Being married is a privilege not a right. It is hard to believe that we will be married 15 years in the fall. the Lord has blessed us as we have grown closer to Him and also to each other.

I want to dedicate this post to my husband my beloved Shawn Richard because you have blessed with with your love, romance, kindness, sense of humor and the way you lead our household in the Lord and the way you live for Jesus each day. I love you so much and I have nothing but the highest respect for you. All my love forever Jennifer

Waiting on the Lord Gods plan

Waiting on the Lord is not always easy, but oh so worth it. I knew my husband 4 years before we got married. It was not in Gods timing to marry right away both of us needed jobs and one of us needed benefits and it was a time of testing and trial for us.
Our parents and pastor had asked us to wait until things were a little more settled, plus there were other factors that we could not "sweep under the rug" like our finanacial needs and other needs that we had.

By Gods grace we were able to be sustained and we did not have relations until we were married. We will be married 15 years this fall. And we will know eachother 19 years in September. I was 24 years old and Shawn was 30 two months later he turned 31 when we married.

The waiting taught me a lot even though at times I was resentful. I treasure each day I have with Shawn because it took a long time for God to unite us and We desire not only to have romantic love which is wonderful but to bless and help and encourage and edify those around us.

Are you going through a tough time of waiting God will sustain you and through the trials make you mature, complete, not lacking anything. see James 1:4

I also learned the best things in life are worth waiting for and nothing worth having ever comes easy or cheap.

Be encouraged and God bless you

Jennifer

Ephesians 4:29 What I have learned

God has been convicting me and lovingly by His grace and mercy teaching me what to say and what not to say.

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to thier needs, and that it may benefit those who listen

I am loud and I will be the first to admit this. I love attention and I like to make people laugh and sometimes I like to shock people with what I say. I lived in New York for over 37 years and because of my culture I tend to speak what is on my mind and say things "like it is" and can be very "in your face" and passionate about the things I beleive in.

The bible verse listed above says the talk that should be spoken are to be helpful and edifying and building others up and to benefit those who will listen.

I also write better than I actually speak, but I am asking the Lord that I would be more encouraging less overly talkative, more edifying and less gossip for me this means idle talk and poking fun about people and things, to process things before saying them not just be overly impulsive and blurt things out, to have times of quiet and meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ not to always be continually talking. More time in prayer and caring for people in intercessory prayer and writing letters to people when I can and less time on the computer.

I just Praise the Lord and thank Him that he loves me enough to convict me of my sins, faults and shortcomings so I can concentrate on being a godly woman see Proverbs 31:10-31 and Titus 2:3-5

My prayer for all of you that read this blog is that you would be edified and encouraged and I thank all of you my family, friends, care group, and church family and my beloved Shawn Richard for all the love and prayers you have blessed me with. May God reward you and bless you.

Be encouraged, be blessed and celebrate life Jennifer a.k.a encourager4god

A special night and turning 39 today

Yesterday on Friday I went out with my sister and we celebrated our brithdays hers was two weeks ago today and my birthday is today and I am 39. Honestly I did not feel like going out and would have rather slept but she wanted some company so I went.

We treated eachother to Red Lobster and had soft drinks,motzerlla sticks, salad, bread, breaded shrimp and mashed potatoes which was awesome we also went to the book store and had coffee as well acutally it was iced coffee but if we had a choice we would have had starbucks:)

I read a book chicken soup for the workings moms soul and Kathy brought books, aftewards we went to Walmart for a bit and I did not get home until 11:45 pm. My huband was so good about it and knew we needed sister time.

Today I slept until about 10:00 just call me spoiled:) took a walk with Shawn and talked with him at our park where we live, we are washing clothers and doing laundy,I had leftover dinner for lunch, Shawn is so cute he tells me today I am going to suprise me with a card and a flower:) Tonight we will be with our church family for a BBQ.

I was very blessed this year but my biggest blessing is the Lord Jesus Christ who I want to get closer and more intimate with each passing day. Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Have a wonderful weekend and a Wonderful Memorial day. Remember we are the land of the free because of the home of the brave. Pray for our soldiers. e4g

Dinner at the McCraws

Tonight was a special time at the dinner table. I have been going through depression and still am batteling this and many times more than I could count I would eat standing up eating fast so I could get back on the computer and Shawn would take his meal into the living room and eat and watch TV. Tonight I was feeling exspeically lazy dealing with chronic minegrianes since last week but I said No tonight would be special and I am going to be more intentional to make meal times speical and something to look forward to.

So....................What I did was this I set the table with our fine china and new glasses I made a nice pasta I had mine with butter Shawn likes tomato sauce (Ragu) and we had vegetables green beans. I got the nicest candle I could find and lit the candle at dinner. Shawn blesses us by going to the soda machine and we shared a coke which was a special treat and I put ice into the glasses and Shawn poured the soda.

We actually sat and had eye contact and talked and talked and talked (for me that is not an issue:) We discussed Gods will for our life and we discussed the possibility of us going into more ministry as the Lord plans, Shawn lovingly pointed out to me I cant do things by myself or always get my way about everything, but to lean on Jesus who gives us strength to do the tasks we do and to do everything because apart from Christ we can do nothing see Philippians 4:13 and John 15:5. We had instrumental music playing in the back round as well as praise music.

It was a very enjoyable night being in fellowship with my husband as well as enjoying our meal and not taking meal time for granted. Dinner at the McCraws is going to be more of a celebration and less of a ritual from now on Be encouraged e4g

Life is NOT fair

When we were children when things would go wrong we would sniffle and cry Life is NOT fair:( As we grow up and face challenges and hurts we tend to think life's not fair, shouldn't we be over this by now and move forward) We are not like roast beef in an oven when you come out from the heat we are "all done" not so! We are a work in progress and we are "never done" until Jesus takes us home.

Life has not been fair lately in certain areas not should I expect it to be. Where is my focus, where are my priorities, who am I centering my life around? If you guessed circumstances you are right. Jesus needs to be the center, my hearts desire is to make him first.

I want to be like the Proverbs 31 woman see Proverbs 31:10-31. She was a godly woman who was intelligent yet humble business savvy yet worked both inside and outside the home. Her husband praised her at the gates he was esteemed because of her love to God her husband her family and those around her. I have not been acting in that fashion. I have been a pain in the booty and I fully admit it. Shawn is wonderful and asks that I pray for him and spend time with him. I want to be a godly wife to Shawn I want him to say thank God not "oh my God". I will be 39 May 24Th and I want to grow as a woman and a wife and wanting to have Jesus be the biggest treasure and love in my life. Be encouraged Jennifer e4g