I've tried blogging before...pretty half-heartedly but I've been wanting to get back to it. I don't know why it's such a task even coming up with a blog title. I mean who really cares? But that's just it...we're all so quick to judge everyone else that I was scared to put something too boring or too heady and heaven forbid I put something "super spiritual"!! So here it is...One Me...I am Jennifer Stiverson with so many flaws but loving that my sweet Savior is truly captured by me. I'm an imperfect wife to Bryan and mother to my amazing kiddos, Ellie and Jason. But they love and accept me. I teach third grade and I'm probably mediocre, but I try to love and teach them. I struggle with pride and apathy, but I'm working on it. The whole point is that we are all a work in process.
I read an article today about how your kids want just you as their mom. They don't care how you dress, how you decorate the house, who your friends are, if you can carry a tune, what your job is...they just want you to be their mommy and love them. It was so simple but what I needed to hear. I love all of those crafty Pinterest kind of people out there...truly...and some are even my best friends but I use to look at some of those pictures and think, "Does anyone expect me to be doing that??" I was pretty sure the answer was no, but still!
So I'm going to do the one thing I do love to do. I love to write and I love to share my story and hear (or see) others share theirs. I love my kids and husband quite a bit so I'm sure you'll get to hear plenty about them too, but really, I just want to share my heart. Too many women...and men for that matter....never really get to the heart of the matter. We find it so hard or uncomfortable to REALLY get to know someone. Or we just don't want to be hurt...again.
I'm going to close this one out with some of my favorite reminders from the Author of us all that reminds me of who I am....
I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29:11
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.
Psalm 139:13 -16
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
I am my beloveds and His desire is for me. Song of Solomon 7:10
Because I can never resist a good lyric in a song -- one of my favorite lyrics from Christ Tomlin's "Our God is Great" is this: "And if our God is for us than who could ever stop us and if our God is with us than what can stand against?"
My God is greater than _________________. What is it for you?? I know mine's a big, long list...
my fear of failing as a mother, my pride, my fear of failing as a wife, my disdain for my own body, my fear of what others might say about me, what others really do say about me, my apathy, my complaining, my inability to get up in the morning and spend time with Him, my fear of trusting others, my failed relationships with family or friends.
Spend some time with me this week praying that God would help remind you that He's bigger than all of that junk that we carry around. Be YOU....don't be who everyone else thinks you should be, or better yet, what you think everyone else says you should be. God made you, He bought you with a price, and you are HIS!
