Wretched radio listenings.

"Is what Jesus sees inside of us....none of us would want to have our heart photographed, and the picture held up to the eyes of our neighbors. We wouldn't even want our best friends to see a full transcript of our secret life. What goes on within us, the jealousy's, the envying, the bitter feelings...got any? The impure thoughts, the "meanness," the selfishness, the suspicions, the anger, the filth. Your inner life, photographed, held up for all the world to see. You would not have a friend in the world...they would RUN from you if they saw what was going on in your heart. Now fancy this. God sees it. Imagine how He feels about YOU. Now fancy this. He's NOT disgusted...he's not repulsed. He's bigger, He's grander, and He's greater, and while your best friend would see the photograph of your heart and high tale it away from you, and tell everybody he never knew you, Jesus says *I* am a friend of sinners. *I* will say you're not too dirty for me. --J.R. Miller, one quality of true friendship is trust. -- What could be more sacred than feeling safe with a person? THAT is the kind of friend Jesus is." -Todd Friel


If y'all ever have time, or want to hear some good teachings, and outspoken Christian talk....go to http://www.wretchedradio.com/ and listen to Todd talk. It's VERY interesting, funny, and just good, strong Christian people saying what others are afraid to say.

So, my friend made a very good point about my stuff being published in prisons. My name going around....is not such a good idea. So we had to sit and come up with a pen name. :) 'Twas very fun. I had all my friends on Facebook give their ideas, and my mom helped some, and we finally kind of put everything all together, and got "Reflections by Jessalyn Singer." Pretty good, I thought! I like it a lot...It's almost my first and middle name mixed. The "Singer" part. More complicated. lol My mom said since "Hoover" is a vacuum cleaner brand, we'd change it so "Singer" since they made vacuum's as well as sewing machines...plus, I LOVE to sing. haha It's sort of like a play on words for the whole thing. :)

Some hard times

So....I was thinking about something, as I often do. When we are depressed about hardships in our life...do we ever stop to think about other reasons why they are happening, besides being "punished?" See, I think this is our automatic reaction. Not only can our relationship with God be strengthened in these times, because we have to rely on Him and not ourselves anymore, but we're able to reach people we wouldn't normally have been able to get to, because of our situation. Whether it's being able to relate with others about some hard time, or just going through a rough patch and having others with the same problem there with you. We take "opportunities" as "punishment" a lot. Someone gets put in prison for something they didn't do, they can take it as a punishment, or a chance to REACH the people there where they are. Maybe it's God putting them in a place they can make a difference.

Most of this is coming from thoughts regarding a friend I'm writing in prison. He was so very depressed for awhile about being there, when he really didn't do anything "wrong." I told him that God can use anything that happens in our lives to glorify Him, to bring others to Him.

I actually have a prayer request that goes along with this, too. He wanted to read a lot of things, so I printed out some of my blog posts I wrote having to do with sermons and spiritual thoughts I've had. I sent them to him, and he read them to his "bible study group" and some of them wanted to borrow them. I'd never thought much about my writing, simply because it all comes so easily for me to write, I didn't think it was that big of an impact thing to others who've read it. Anyways, this past letter I received, he said he'd passed the pages around all over the place, and I've been getting "amazing reviews and comments back from the people who read them." (his words) He wanted to know if it would be ok for him to submit my blog print outs to the prison paper...and said it would reach 10-15 thousand prisoners. I was just in complete shock. So, if you will, pray God will use anything I can do to reach some of these people. I couldn't do anything without God's help and guidance, just pray this small thing I do will reach many people for the Lord.

I pray everyone is having a fantastic New Year...'tis another year to work for God, don't waste it. :)

God bless,
~ Jessie ~

Self-worth

I truly believe the worst lies we ever face are the ones we tell ourselves. The times we tell ourselves we're not worth loving. The times we tell ourselves nobody would want to be our friend. The times we tell ourselves we aren't very bright, creative, talented, we can't do anything right...the list goes on and on. At least, for me it does. All my life I've had problems with accepting myself for who I am. It's as if my brain (yes, I have one) thinks, if I can't do everything, it's as though I can't do anything. "All or nothing." So, basically, all my life I've thought I was junk. Not worth even knowing. If someone complimented me, I got upset, because to me they were simply saying it so they wouldn't seem rude.

In other words, I'm telling God...the creator of all, heaven and earth...He made me a piece of junk. In a round about sort of way, God says He does NOT make junk. Things we might consider "thorns in our side" God gave us for a reason. Nobody can be good at EVERYTHING. God made each of us for a specific purpose. Each a SPECIAL design. A UNIQUE creation. That is, if we are who He made us to be, otherwise we're following after someone else, and won't ever feel like we're special because we're like...well, everyone else. Yet another problem with the world. Trends. People make you feel you have to dress, talk, own certain things, and BE a certain way to be "good enough" to be liked or loved. 'Tis a lie, and unfortunately I have been telling myself these lies for all my life. I've always thought I was junk. Thought I was the ugly duckling...the one God didn't make right. So, why would ANYONE want to even be around such an awful person. Aye, but I wasn't a mistake. If I am who God made me to be, I WILL be special. I will let Christ shine through me, and not other people's lives or my self-hate. I guess for SO long, I haven't been able to get it through this head of mine, that when Christ died for all, that meant ME, too...I mean, I KNOW that, but to accept being worth dying for... that takes a lot. It means I have to accept myself. Who God made me to be. Accept that I am worth something besides nothing.

People are rough, I'll tell you. They beat up on you, tear all of your walls down, and then trample on all of the debris until you're lost inside. There's a quote, "If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise the price." You walk around defeated, everyone around you will treat you like you are. This battle of life, these struggles we face every day, these worldly people who beat down on us....God has already won the battle against them. The battle of good and evil is won. Why worry about the future when it's already been decided? I won't ever be "perfect" in myself, but THROUGH Christ's blood, and gift of life, I have been made perfect. Only through Him, and what He's done, not through anything I could have ever done or will ever be able to do.

I write this now, but I know I will continue to struggle with these things. Breaking a habit is not easy, it takes work. But the thing is TO work, and not just accept defeat.....defeat by yourself, AGAINST yourself. Life will never be easy, this I know. But with some work, I think I will have the self confidence I've longed for, for so long, and if you face any of these, you can overcome it as well.

"A persons worth in this world is estimated according to the value they put on themselves." How much are you worth? To God, you're priceless.

The power of prayer

We often underestimate the power of prayer; we simply do it without expecting any results. Do you know God still works today, still does miracles? Remember what Jesus said when he arose from the grave? John 20:29 "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." We often believe something because we have seen it, but as Christians we should know that having faith in God and what He says, enough to trust that He will answer prayers. No, He may not always answer them according to WE think needs to be done, but God knows all things, we don't, He will do what is best even though we may not understand why He did it a certain way.
I can't imagine NOT living in a Christian home, sometimes I wish I just knew how people felt so I could help them through certain things, but I don't know how they feel or how they deal with it. God does, and through us He can show how wonderful HE is to others, show how mighty, powerful, loving and understanding He is, people just need to trust and have faith in Him! 'Tis harder for some and not so hard for others. Some people may realize they need Jesus as soon as they hear God's word spoken, others it may take YEARS to hear God's word for them to FINALLY realize they need Him. For those, they need to throw out anything that tells them negative or untrue thoughts of God, because they may not have a few years to think over everything! Nobody is promised tomorrow, the next hour or even minute. We are to live our lives like there is no tomorrow!

All that to say, the power of prayer is greater than anyone knows. Praying for one person, may turn into a domino affect and help many others to Christ, or through hard times just by our one act of faithful praying. Don't ever doubt it.

When we go to do a job, most of the time we'll do it half heartedly or groan the entire time about our dislike of the job given to us. We'll get the job done as fast as we can so we can get back to what WE wanted to do and by the time the job is finished, it isn't completed to the best of our abilities. Do you think God has EVER complained about having to create/do something? Even when He made all of the animals, trees, flowers and such He didn't slack up on the quality of the job or complain about doing so much! Whatever God does he puts His best into it. We're told to do so also..."And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord." (Colossians 3:23) We should do every job, chore and task as if it were given to us by God as a special assignment. Everything we do in life matters one way or another to God. My dad said that when we sin, then repent, yes God will forgive us of that sin, but we will have to face whatever consequences came from sinning. Christians (children of God) and humans on this earth have the same law aspect. If we break the law of the land, we get punished by going to jail or paying for what we did... big time! 'Tis also true with God, we break His law, we MUST be punished.

Busy days!

Well, I went to the chiropractor for the first time on Thursday. You know, it doesn't feel very good afterwords. I had to work on Friday, and then was immobile that night. 'Twasn't just TOO fun, but I lived. lol Then I worked on the house all day, and am going to have to do the same thing, only in RECORD time tomorrow morning. The Bernhard's are all out of town, so Daddy and Mama are doing the music at church. Hence, they have to l eave early to set everything up and practice. I'm going to have to clean, get lunch ready....etc....etc. All that fun stuff. :) So, I'm down in my back, in other words. haha

Being busy is nice, because I always just DROP at the end of the day, with a sigh of relief.

Here's my quotes for the day...

"The key to winning any battle is to identify the enemy."
~ Dave Ramsey ~

"God tends to pour blessings on the people going in the direction He wants them to go."
~ Dave Ramsey ~

~ Quotes of the day ~

"Smile. Because every 10 seconds of frowning is a minute of happiness that you'll never get back"

"Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than trying to solve them."

Quote of the day-


"Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of the children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves."

Boring day....thoughtful night.

Well, not much to report today.

After church yesterday, all of us kids came home and packed to head out for Sara's. The roads were quiet, thank goodness, and we got there safe and sound. Sara and I just laid around watching a few movies, and were eventually joined by Joshie. I slept really well for the first time in awhile! It was great. :)

Today, basically all I did, was clean and work on school. lol So yeah. quite productive. I fell asleep while reading again. I thought for sure if I read in a chair I'd stay awake! Yeah, what a lot that did!

I've started a book filled with awesome quotes I've found. My friend was telling me finding good quotes was like collecting seashells, and when I told him about my notebook I'd started, he suggested I call it "My seashells" so, I did. It's encouraging things...there are some very wise people out there....many who get overlooked. For example, here's two that I just loved (among MANY more mind you.)

"I've come to believe that all my past failures and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy."

Or...

"A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown."

There's a lot to learn with just those two quotes. Failures build you. And you have only TRULY "failed" if, when you fall, you don't get back up. Failures we encounter every day are more like, "trips" and not "falls." Life will keep going, whether you do or not, is your choice.
The second quote...people often forget their dreams or passions because they seem unreachable, yet, they won't try because it's "new territory" and they're too scared. :/ What is everyone did that? We wouldn't have cars, light bulbs, stoves, heating and cooling, computers.....everything took someone taking the initiative to start an idea, or a dream. Dreams are pretty important....no matter what people say. God doesn't give us passions for nothing. He doesn't give us GIFTS to simply throw them away.

What have you done with your dreams?