Welcome to my blog. I live to be inspired, so that I can inspire others. The lessons I’ve learned through walking through the valley of the shadow of death have taught me 3 things:
Love redeems.
Joy comes.
Resurrection exists.
These are the themes I write about.
All in Grief
Today, I received an award that is deeply personal to me: the Spirit of Ruth award from Sigma Alpha. As I reflected on her life and my story, I realized that there were some fundamental virtues Ruth must have cultivated in her “first act” to allow her to be the woman of worth, she is recognized for in her second act. Identifying these core virtues as faith, hope and love, I share their importance for a young person’s first act.
I love that our Savior is someone who sees our broken heart and COMES TO US. He doesn’t watch us weeping and walk away – to follow up with his buddies. No, he comes to Mary. He heals her. She encounters the Living God, the Resurrection – and her heart is healed. She is transformed powerfully through the encounter with the God who loves us – again. This time, she is sent out. Her first transformation led her to follow Jesus and never leave his side. Now, He sends her out – fully transformed, fully equipped with a message.
That’s what I felt in my heart as it sank…realizing this week is prep for the Passion.
I didn’t want to go through all that again, Lord. Please. Not now. I’m barely keeping it all together —I have so much to do — not this, too. …not this, too.
For me, I sensed that God wants me to think about this related to how I work and how I interact with my students. They don’t need me to recede into myself. They don’t need me to disappear. They don’t need me to come up with a thousand new ways of doing things. They also don’t need me to KNOW ALL THE THINGS - which sometimes I think they do, and that is my greatest source of insecurity as an advisor or teacher when I feel like I’m letting them down because I’m not ‘all the things’ for them…. However, they do need ME.
So, let me say it again for the people in the back: Marriage is a gift for this life only - as long as we have it. Our marriage vows reach fulfillment when our spouse attains full union with Jesus.
Balancing your love for your deceased spouse…with the new love…these are hard things to do, you guys. …because either way, feels a little like betrayal. Like you’re leaving behind your first love to embrace the second.
As we look on the timeline of our life: where are your pivot points? Those times where your life changed dramatically - what was the event? Who played an instrumental role during that pivot?
As I have been learning to embrace my strengths (talent themes) as gifts instilled by my loving Father, this division I have felt for most of the past 25 years slowly is dissipating. My true self doesn’t lie entirely in “loud Jessica” nor is it solely in a deep pondering soul Jessica. I am both.
