Summer Adventures & Fall Desires

Hi friends!

I know it’s been like crickets here on the blog this summer but I have an excuse! – my husband has been home ALL summer!!!  He’s a PE & Health teacher at a private K-8 school so we LOVE love love summers and having daddy around 24/7!  I think I might like it the best though!! – mama gets to go grocery shopping all by herself and gets to have coffee with girlfriends a little more often!!  Ahhhhh!

That being said, every day is like Saturday around here in the summer.  There’s no schedule, we can sleep in, stay up late, go random places and do random things at any random time during the day.  I can stay in my PJ’s until noon, leave out the breakfast dishes, watch a movie in the middle of the day with the family and crazy fun things like that!  Therefore, it’s really really hard for me to do anything online cuz I’d rather be on the couch or on a bike with my kids.  So, I’m not!

But, now that school has just begun, I get to play catch up!  Phew…and there’s a lot of it!  But, it’s good…it keeps me from getting depressed that everyone is back to school, that I have to be on a schedule again, and I’m all alone a few days a week.  Haha!!  – but honestly, I’m loving EVERY minute of it!

Summer was amazing!  So many fun adventures, memories and even “lessons learned”.  I’ve been storing them in my heart and in my journals so I can share with you this fall what the Lord has been showing me through His word.  Stay tuned for more writing and more reflections this next year.  I’m super excited about that!

So what were we doing you might ask?!?  Well, we of course got lots of daddy time in!  We rented an RV for a family camp out.  We took a 13 day road trip to San Diego to spend some time with my brother and his family at the beach.  Along the way we visited TONS of friends and family we hadn’t seen in years!

And all in our minivan!!!  I was actually really scared!!  We’d never gone anywhere more than 4 hours and the thought of so much driving with a very busy 4-year old had me worried.  But she ROCKED it! – basically listened to music on her head phones the whole time while singing and staring out the window!!  It was hilarious!

My son got some baby teeth pulled.  My oldest daughter started writing another book (hopefully someday she’ll finish it and we can publish it!!  It’s amazing!).  My littlest became a crazy good swimmer with all the pools and beaches we were in this summer.  My husband and I got a new living room because we pulled out our huge fireplace that divided the living room and dining room! Yay!  Lots of popsicles were eaten thanks to the extremely hot summer we had.

My kids got some great tan lines.  We got family photos taken (by my incredibly talented cousin Jamie).  And most importantly I realized how special it is to be with my family whole-heartedly, without distraction.

 

Of course there were distractions, but wow…these three precious gifts I’ve been given and the amazing man I’ve been blessed with were a source of joy, laughter, fun and memories this summer.  How thankful I am to be offline a lot more and done with Facebook (at least for a season).  It’s freeing in a weird way!  And, it’s shown me how easy it is to slip into patterns that can tear down, bring separation, steal moments of love and miss opportunities to invest in the lives of those around us without even knowing it.  We are either building up or tearing down.  There’s not a middle ground.

So, this fall I’m purposing to live a peaceful and quiet life.  To live in a way that creates a haven of peace, love and joy in my home.  To bring Christ and His Word into every area of our lives which means saying no to quite a few things.  But I’m so excited!  Because my eyes are more open than ever to the joy of sacrifice.

We can’t be everything to everyone.  We can’t say yes to things without sacrificing other things.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
Philippians 3:7-8

This world is all about what we can gain.  What we “need” to have.  What we “deserve”.  What we “want”.

But we are not of this world.  We are sons and daughter’s of the King of Kings.  There is something of “surpassing worth” that this world will never know and that cannot be known in this world.  It is heavenly.  It is Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior.  Compared to knowing Him, this world and all it’s distractions are as “rubbish”/”dung”/”garbage” (depending on the translation you have).

And I’m realizing that’s true more and more, day by day as I disconnect from it.

When my daughter is struggling with issues that bring her to tears of sadness and anger, what do I say?  What can I offer her that will sooth her, bless her, give her hope,truth, peace and strength?  What can I say that will reconcile our relationship back to a place of closeness and trust?

Nothing from this world.  This world is full of darkness.

But as I sit and hold her and the Spirit brings forth scriptures to my mind that flow off my tongue over and over again, there is power!  There is light.  And, as we pray, confess, and press into Christ and the surpassing worth that comes from knowing Him and His word, she walks away sure-footed, blessed, confident, full of joy, repentant, full of peace and at rest.  Our relationship is restored and deeper than it was before!

I can tell you as a parent, there is NOTHING in this world that I desire more than that.  Nothing.  That moment where I can feel the power of the Holy Spirit flow through me, the truth of His words on my tongue, and to see it transform the life of someone I love, is worth more than all the riches of this world.  That is what Paul means when he says “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.

So what keeps me from experiencing that power and knowledge all the time?  Distraction.  Busyness.  Sin.  I sacrifice excellent treasures that are eternal because my to-do list or my phone screams a little louder.  My mind can’t be still to hear when it’s full of things that “need” to be done.  My spirit can’t connect with Christ when there is sin of pride and selfishness consuming it.

I want to know Christ so that I can give an answer to my kids at any moment that will bless them, cover them with truth and root them deeper in the love of Christ.  I want to know Christ more so that I can give hope, love and truth to my friends or a stranger I might meet today.  I want to know Christ so that I can live with power, with love beyond what I’m capable of, and with a sound mind that’s not easily swayed.  I want to know Christ so that when I fall into sin, I’ll remember He’s right there waiting for me to repent so He can wash me, hold me close and give me a fresh start…so that condemnation will never have a foothold in my life and grace will abound.

For me to live is Christ and to allow everything else to die is gain.

This fall, I choose to know Christ deeper and deeper.

I hope to share with you truth, love and the surpassing greatness of growing closer to Him so His life, His love and His glory will be so evident in our lives that others will hunger and thirst more for Him than anything else in this world.

In His grace,
Jessica