Java with Jennifer Journal

October 2010 Taste This!

What I Am In To Lately

October began in Franklin, NC at a Fresh Grounded Faith event held at the beautiful Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts. The mountain air was so refreshing and the women we met were delightful!  Lysa Terkeurst and Michael O'Brien added the perfect blend to the event.  Afterward, we enjoyed lunch at Caffe Rel. Not only was the food amazing and interesting, the service was superb. The atmosphere makes you feel like you're in a French cafe somewhere off the Riviera. You definitely don't feel as if you are in a restaurant connected to a gas station.  Seriously!  This classy eatery is in the same building as the Hot Spot gas station! You simply must give it a taste test when you visit.  And hey, you can fill up your car while you're there!  I had the baked salmon with mango chutney...amazing.  And the desserts are unbelievable.  I had the caramel cake and thought of Minnie from The Help with every bite.  Have you read that book yet?

 

The book I dived into this month is My Antonia by Willa Cather.  First published in 1918, this soulful tale about the daughter of a Bohemian immigrant is told from the pen of Jim Burden, her privileged childhood friend.  Ántonia, who struggles with the downside of life, is an independent, strong and happy survivor.  She is a portrait of an American immigrant, a reminder of the female's early struggle, a snapshot of the human heart with all its capacity for forbearance and its desire for love.  I loved how Cather paints such vivid word pictures of nature, the prairie and the vastness of the plains. It was like seeing it, feeling it and living it!  What an interesting novel.  You should give it a taste test. 

 

I must also tell you about a CD that has really blessed me. It's called Hidden in My Heart: A Lullaby Journey Through Scripture.  It may have originally been designed for infants, but I love listening to it.  It is sophisticated, calming, lovely, truthful and really reaches into my soul.  The proceeds from one out of every ten CDs are donated to crisis pregnancy centers around the world! How cool is that?

 

We also went to Pensacola for Fresh Grounded Faith, and my parents were with us.  Again, my dad prayed for the women.  It was wonderful. Stormie Omartian and Abby Rike were so inspiring, and Michael O'Brien sang us into heaven!    My friend Lori and my first piano teacher, Mrs. Rucker, were there, too!  What a soul-enriching time for me.  I'm so grateful for dear friends and family, aren't you?

 

So, give these things a taste test:

1.  Caffe Rel in Franklin, NC
2.  My Antonia by Willa Cather
3.  Hidden in My Heart: A Lullaby Journey Through Scripture
4.  Bring your friends and family with you to A Fresh Grounded Faith event.  It's more fun when you're there!  Read here how my most annoying friend rewrote my Top 10 list for attending a Fresh Grounded Faith event.

October 2010 Fresh Grounded Thoughts

What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately 

Discomforting God

"Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on.  And its cover is too small to wrap up in." (Isaiah 28:20)

That verse makes me think a miserable night of restlessness awaits the tired person who gets that sorry bed!  Doesn't it?

The verse serves as a word picture in this chapter of Isaiah.  God is speaking to His people as a father reproving his child.  Isaiah is prophesying the impending threat of the Assyrian army upon Israel as a form of discipline.  

God's people had become corrupt and prideful, prone to excess and neglectful of God's Word.  Their actions, and even inaction, invited their own ruin. 

God, through Isaiah, was lovingly speaking to them and protecting them from the awful perils of unfettered pride by making them very, very uncomfortable. The love of God sometimes motivates Him to be discomforting toward us. 

Have I ever been uncomfortable and felt it was sanctioned by God?  Have you? I know I have.  The bed and blanket imagery pictures for me my ultimate place of comfort.  I love bedtime.  It's the time and place I rest-at least in theory!  Since menopause, sleep isn't merely a necessity, it's a coveted treat!   A comfy bed is a place of refuge, peace, escape and refreshing.  The older I get, the pickier I have become about bedtime though.  It has to be a cool, dark room.  The mattress can't be too firm and by all means, it can't be too soft.  The covers have to be weighty, but not smothering or hot.  If the blanket is lighter, it can't be too thin.  The blankets have to fall within the perfect weight to promote the perfect temperature for the perfect sleep to occur!  And then there are the pillows!  One memory foam and one feather-filled with Egyptian cotton pillowcases are the optimum place to rest my head!  (I'll spare you the perfect pajama trauma I've endured!)  All these preferences contribute to a night of restful sleep. 

So, when God says the "bed is too short and the covers aren't big enough," I get that!   It suggests real, unrelenting discomfort.   A short bed with inadequate covers brings no escape from life that presses in and wears us out.  Sleep can afford a respite, but not when the bed is uncomfortable and the blanket inadequate.  That kind of discomfort creates even more fatigue and no relief. 

Does God ever allow my whole life to feel like that?  Yes, there have been times it felt quite a lot like that.  Tired.  No rest.  Something always pending.  Something always demanding.   Inner turmoil, relationship stress, emotional weariness.  Not even sleep affords escape.  Daily, dreary, unrelenting discomfort. 

Discomfort can make me feel protected, though, if I see it through the lenses of Isaiah 28.  God allowed severe discomfort, and even pain, in the lives of His people out of severe love. I think He does the same for you and me.  Sometimes it is to discipline-to cut away all that hinders growth.  Sometimes it is to strip away independence and pride.  Sometimes it serves as water to cleanse us. The discomfort can serve to remind us we can't rest in our own righteousness and self-sufficiency.  Those are the ultimate inadequacies.  Sometimes it's just God's severe mercy showing up to protect us from something worse than the actual pain we're experiencing.  I don't know the whole purpose of my times of discomfort, but I know there is a purpose.  There may be many purposes.  I guess one way to look at the discomfort is to see the merciful provision that remains within the discomfort.  God didn't take away the bed itself or even remove the covers.  He just made that provision feel inadequate.   Something about that inadequacy reveals a sufficiency that only God can grant. I can rest in that truth, no matter the discomfort. 

Oh Lord, if my bed feels too small and the covers inadequate may I rest in You alone.  Help me tonight as I get in bed.  If anxiety or pain tries to smother me, help me to remember that You are the God of comfort who allows me to feel Your comfort as You lovingly choose to discomfort me.  May I find my soul's rest and refreshment, my consolation, in You. Thank You for Your merciful, discomforting provision.   

Amen.

Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately.

October 2010 Spill the Beans

You Ask It, I'll Answer It

 

Question:

We are in a Bible study with you on Fingerprints of God, and we are astounded that you quote so many memorized verses.  So here is the question:  One of the gals says you have an earpiece that gives you the scriptures.  So...I thought I would ask the source?

 

Thanks,
Sharon

 

Answer:

 Ha!  Sharon, I love this question!  Tell your friend I don't have an ear piece-those were memorized.  But, here's the deal...I may not be able to recall all those verses right now verbatim without some review, so don't think I am super brain woman!  In fact, the older my brain gets, the harder memorizing becomes...so someday I just may use one of those ear pieces.  But, for now, I still work hard on memorizing Scripture.  Just a hint for memorizing--meditating on the verse you want to memorize really helps!

 

Thanks for studying God's Word with me.  May you really experience His touch. 

 

Blessings,

Jennifer


And, now the beans are officially spilled!

Top Ten Reasons to Attend a Fresh Grounded Faith Event

(According to my annoying friend Chris)

Do you have a friend like Chris?  He always has something smart to say.  He always finds the one thing that annoys me and makes sure he does it consistently.  He always pokes fun.  He always makes jokes.  And, he always makes me laugh! 

So, after correcting his awful grammar and embarrassing spelling, I decided to share his modification of my “Top Ten Reasons for Attending a Fresh Grounded Faith” list that appears on my website.  I did laugh but I think the guy might be onto something…

1. It’s better than staying home and celebrating National Clean-Out Your Refrigerator Day.

2.  It’s the best legal reason to get away from your family for the evening.

3.  It’s more fun than ANYTHING you would be doing at home right now.

4.  It is the ONE PLACE you can sit down for more than 30 seconds and not be bothered by anyone.

5.  Here you will enjoy good friends, good fellowship, good music but be honest you’re really here because NO KIDS OR HUSBANDS ARE ALLOWED.

6.  Face it, you would probably just be watching reruns of The Golden Girls and here you get to hear one of them speak.  (Awesome)

7.  There’s coffee and snacks so really how hard of a decision is it to come?

8.  You may get an opportunity to talk to somebody that will look you in the eyes and give you more than a ONE WORD ANSWER.

9.  It’s the one time a year that you get to do WHAT YOU WANT FOR A CHANGE.

10.  Jennifer Rothschild is going to share spiritual truths that may change your life forever, if not, that’s okay because Tim Hawkins is HILARIOUS!

Okay Friends, if you detected a little sarcasm between us, you were right!  It’s the way we harmlessly and humorously show we’re glad we’re brother and sister in Christ!   Hope it made you laugh too and I hope it gives you even more reasons to come join the fun at a Fresh Grounded Faith event!