plan

I love it when a plan comes together!  I have been looking forward to tonight's youth group for several weeks. I had to postpone it last week due to the weather. So I had an extra long wait.
But,  tonight I had a new volunteer and I was glad she was there to be a part of it. It's exciting when people come up  to me and ask to volunteer!  And,  that's what happened with my new volunteer.  We started the evening with a breathing exercise and meditation.  While checking out YouTube,  I had come across a video that went right along with the meditation I read. So, it really had a lot more impact by putting that all together.  What amazed me was I didn't hear a sound from any of them!  They were all fully engrossed in their own thoughts and meditation.  Throughout the rest of the evening, they went through prayer stations,  which I noticed they took seriously and wrote some really raw feelings.  They also spent time looking through the Bible and choosing a scripture passage to focus on this year. The volunteer leading that station said he was struck by the fact that they were all very comfortable searching for scripture and easily found their passages.  That's awesome to me considering a year ago I know that would not have been the case. The finalsstation was a discussion of questions from an article written by our pastor.  The questions were based on things that would make this year the best year for ourselves,  the church,  our community,  etc. They wrote the answers down so that we can create aa prayer list from it.
I am amazed at how seriously they took each part of our evening and I look forward to 2014, where we can focus on these things.
So, where was God today?  I started out by saying I love it when a plan comes together.  The reason I love it is that when it comes together this well, I know I didn't plan it. And I am grateful that God planned our evening.
Blessings,
Jennifer

dinner

Today was a pretty quiet day. I had nowhere I had to be all day. So, it was nice to have some time to relax.
This evening,  I went to dinner with my son. We had a great time chatting and eating at a local restaurant.  Sometimes I am blown away by the fact that he is almost 20! Tonight,  as we talked,  several times he talked of instances when he had to have adult conversations with people,  where he had to be the grown-up and set the moral example.  And, I am so proud of him for that.  Of course,  being almost 20, he still has a lot to learn, but I think he's starting to grow up enough to know he doesn't quite know everything. But,  I am grateful that the years of being surrounded by church,  a God loving family,  and friends that were mainly from church,  I think some of it sunk in.
So,, where was God today?  He was in my son,, in our conversation,  and in the gift God gave me almost 20 years ago when he was born.
Blessings
Jennifer

Bible

For Christmas there is never anything I reallywant-it's more about spending time with people I love.   But,  when I had been asked several times,  I finally told my husband about something I'd been wanting for awhile-a Bible.  I had several,  but never had a special one I read over and over,  with notes in the margins and something I looked to sentimentally as well as for guidance.
 But,  I didn't think I was actually going to get it, so I was really surprised on Christmas morning when my husband handed me a gift.  We had stopped exchanging gifts years ago. It was the one I wanted,  a parallel Bible.  I quickly got a cover for it to protect it.
 And, then I got an idea. After thinking about how cool it has been to watch my youth talk about scripture verses they like, and knowing the verse my mom taught me that has influenced me so much,  I thought about how interesting and inspiring it is to hear and know the words that speak to someone. So, I decided to ask the people around me to highlight their favorite scripture and put their name by it. I can't wait to read my Bible years from now and still be able to look come across special verses from my loved ones.
So, tonight as I met with several youth and college students,  I asked them to highlight theirffavorite verses. They were really excited and I was really excited that they knew right away what and where the verses were. Earlier in the day, I had been at the hospital waiting with one of my youth as she nervously awaited surgery. She often looks to scripture so I asked her to pick some and highlight them. It was a  great way to get her  to relax and focus on scripture that could help give her some peace.
So, where was God today?  He was speaking to me and also to everyone who wrote in my Bible as they thought about His  special words to them.
Blessings,
Jennifer

new

As a new year begins,  I thought it would be a good time to freshen up the look of my blog.  I haven't updated it since I started it about 2 years ago. So, it was definitely time.
I've spent the last 2 months absorbed in the joy of the holidays. The last few years thanksgiving has been much more meaningful as I spent the month before focused daily on things I am thankful for. The blessings that God has given me are endless and I find this is a great time for me to reflect on that.
When advent came, I was ready to begin the joy of the season. This year,  I decided to create my own sort of advent calendar. Each day I posted a way we could experience or share with others the advent focus for the week, hope,  peace,  joy,  and love. Each year as I lead my youth through this 4 week journey through advent,  I find myself becoming more and more absorbed in advent and less absorbed in Christmas itself.  And, before I knew it, Christmas was here! Then,  it was time to celebrate!  And, besides a few glitches (otherwiseknown as ssickneses) it was a wonderful time. And, it went on until yesterday,  epiphany.  Now, I guess it's time to take the decorations down,  but I'm still enjoying them.
So, now the calendar has turned to a new year.  We rang in the new year with family,  friends,  and youth. I really enjoyed our traditional new year's eve party for whoever wants to be there.
As I look ahead,  I don't have a new year's resolution in mind. I guess I stopped making those a few years ago. There are a lot of things I started this past year and am hoping to continue.  I want to continue getting healthy,  I want to continue reading my Bible,  which I will hopefully finish midyear, I want to continue working towards the goals I set with my youth and keeping myself disciplined to do all of these things. I guess for me, the new year was more like a reminder of what I did this past year and where I want to go this year. A few of those things I was starting to slack in so it was like a new year fresh start.
As the new year approached and I thought about that, I thought of how refreshing that seemed.  And, then I thought of how God can make all things new whenever we ask Him to! How awesome!  We all make mistakes,  we all slack a little at times, and no matter what we do, God gives us another chance to start over.  For that,  I am grateful.
So, where was God today? Giving second chances,  making things new for all of us.
Blessings,
Jennifer