I 'INTENTIONALLY' Love You

My journey to falling back in love with Jesus...

New love isn't always intentional, it just happens, but love isn't always an emotion, it takes work. Too many times people give up on love when it gets too hard and they look for it elsewhere, somewhere that maybe 'feels' easier...that's crap…and that's definitely NOT love.  One thing I'm learning in this journey to falling back in love with Jesus, is that I have to be intentional.  There are plenty of things and people that will make me 'feel' good or distract me from my purpose, but true love takes work and I've already started to see the payoff of that work in tiny little ways, which gets me so excited when I realize it has only been 2 weeks.  

So what does love look like?  When you get past the initial feelings of being ‘twitterpated’ as we learned about in the movie “Bambi” – how do you make sure to keep your love alive and relevant in your life?  I know when I started this journey 2 weeks ago, I was so stoked on it.  I definitely was ‘twitterpated’ in my love for Jesus.  As the days went on, it got harder and harder to remember that initial feeling.  I definitely had to be intentional about my journey to fall back in love with Jesus. 

Every morning I would wake up and know that I had committed to declaring my love and thankfulness to God on Facebook.  But as the normal struggles of life hit, and some not so normal struggles, it became apparent that I would have to stretch outside of myself to come up with things to say.  It didn't mean I didn't love God or wasn't thankful for him in my life, but I had to remind myself that when things were tough that God was still there and still worthy of my faith and my trust.  It was truly amazing how it really did get me through the hard days!  

Psalm 119:36 – “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain”

Lately, I have seen so many relationships and marriages around me crumbling because one or both of the people involved decided that their own personal ‘happiness’ was more important than choosing to love the person that God had in their lives.  I have watched so much hurt and suffering that has come from broken promises all in the name of ‘happiness’.  Really it is all in the name of selfishness.  It is tragic and it breaks my heart to see people give up on love, because they weren't ‘feeling’ it anymore.  

Phillipians 2:3 -   “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourself.”

It gives me a lot to think about as I daily choose to love, not only God, but the people in my life who are difficult.  If I truly love them, it should be all about what I can do to be there for them and their happiness above my own.  It isn't always easy, but I am finding that it is always rewarding!  

Matthew 5:43-45 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

I really am just excited about this journey I am on and I know that if God is doing this much in my life in the little time I have been obedient to him, he has to have so much more in store as this becomes not just a project but a life change of love and obedience to him.

By the way – if you are not on FB but you want to read my daily FB posts, I have been posting them as comments at the end of my first blog!  Otherwise you can follow them on FB at:  https://www.facebook.com/jessica.springer.5

Make-Up Won't Make You Pretty On The Inside Unless, Maybe You Eat It?

That title is actually stolen from a quote from Audrey Hepburn.  I love her, she seems so classy and lived such a seemingly charmed life.  Notice I just said a version of the word 'seem' twice in one sentence.  Audrey Hepburn was an actress, she lived a pretty public life, but actually didn't really like publicity.  Who knows if all of the things that made her the idol of so many truly made her as happy on the inside as she 'seemed' on the outside.

So why this blog?  Because I am turning 37 in exactly 37 days tomorrow and I am tired of dreading and being depressed by my birthdays!  I am tired of living by what 'the world' tells me is normal.  I am 36 and 11 months old and I am proud of the person who God has created me to be and I am ready to start living like it! haha  (make sure to read to the end or you'll miss my announcement about my Facebook 37th bday campaign ;), haha)

I recently read a book written by a Godly woman by the name of Marian Jordan.  It is entitled, "The List - Figuring Out Prince Charming, The Corner Office, And Happily Ever After".  I actually came across the book by accident and ended up reading it all in one sitting.  Reading Marian's story, was like reading about my own.  She talks about how all of us grow up with a list of things we want to accomplish in life.  For example, getting your drivers license at 16, graduating high school at 18, going to college, getting a good job, getting married, having children, having grandchildren, retiring, etc...

But what happens when things in life don't happen according to that list?  A lot of people, in fact I would say, most, live their lives out exactly or pretty darn close to what they thought they would.  They might have a few bumps a long the way, they might have a bit of a later start, but it happens.  But what happens if it doesn't.  What happens, if you wait, and wait, and wait and keep waiting...

That's me...I am waiting...I finally finished the college part, but I am still waiting for the amazing career and prince charming and the perfect children and the ... perfect life.

I guess I have always known that I had pretty high expectations for all of these things, but what I guess I forgot among all of MY planning and list making, was that somewhere a long the way I started more often than not leaving God out of the equation.  I stopped trusting him to have it figured out and started trying to make it happen for myself.  I guess i thought that if I left it up for him he was probably going to wait until he thought I was 'ready' and who knew how long that was going to take and I didn't want to wait that long, because what if he made me wait until it was too late for me to have kids to get married, or what if he wanted me to give up my career plans and make me teach math or something?

Long story short, I didn't trust God.  I had lost my faith.  I knew I loved him, God had been a part of my life from before I could remember, but he had become more like an accessory to my life, instead of the vital part of my life that I needed him to be.

That.  Stops.  Today.

I am dedicating this 37th year of my life to falling back in love with my savior, Jesus Christ.  I am going to learn how to love and trust him with my life again!

To kick this off I am going to take the next 37 days before I turn 37 and post on FB (https://www.facebook.com/jessica.springer.5) -and I am also copying my FB posts as a comment to this blog post- every morning until my 37th birthday, a reason why I love Jesus and why I am thankful to be alive no matter how old I am and no matter what the future holds, because I trust Him and have faith that my future is going to kick ASsteroids!

Seriously though!  Most of you know the verse, in fact, it's pretty popular:  Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

God said it!  I believe it!  Now I am going to live it!  And I am going to blog about it!  If you want to read about it, follow my blog!  I will post a link to my blog occasionally on Facebook, I may send a link to this out to my original DC blog e-mail list, just to let you all know what is going on in my life, but otherwise I won't be e-mailing it out regularly like I did with my DC blog, so if you want to follow, you will need to actually subscribe to the blog to receive notices when it is updated, or just check back occasionally.  It won't be anything exciting, just my journey with Jesus, but maybe my journey can help someone on their journey and THAT would be awesome!

I am actually a little nervous about putting all of this out there, - but hey, it's like putting a Christian bumper sticker on your car, if you put it out there you have to live it, because people will be watching how you act...God gives us two pretty important directives, to love him and to loves others, and how can I love others if I am not living up to the example of loving him?  So here I go...