“Many of the difficulties we experience as Christians can be traced to a lack of Bible study and reading. We should not be content to skim through a chapter merely to satisfy our conscience. Hide the Word of God in your heart! A little portion well digested is of greater value to the soul than […]

Important moments of life are often overrun with busyness, planning, stress, and “must-dos.” And the big “goodbyes” of life are often overshadowed by sorrow, a busy schedule, and stresses like packing, funeral planning, or travel plans. The expression of genuine emotion gets overlooked, stuffed down, or put off for a “later” that never arrives. Here […]

The angels announced the coming of Christ to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” Christmas lyrics echo the cry of the angels: In despair, I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the […]

10 non-sexual touches a day. It’s one assignment my husband gives to married couples who are struggling. 10 non-sexual touches a day. For some couples, it’s a steep challenge that takes hard work, like rusted-over gears that haven’t cranked in years. For others, after a few days or a week of practice, it starts an avalanche […]

We all hit those moments. You know the ones. The ones where you have NO idea what you’re supposed to do. Here’s a sampling from my own mom experiences: My oldest, at 2 years old, (who I was convinced was practically perfect in every way) reared back and hit me in the face–hard– in the middle of […]

Have you heard the message? Every Valentine’s Day, our culture screams that romance is: teddy bears chocolates a pink-and-red-and-white card flowers a date night written on a particular calendar square Not that there’s anything wrong with any of these, but it does make me wonder. How many women and men are being held hostage to a […]

Happy New Year! This time of year, goal-setting gurus and exercise hounds browbeat us into putting forth measurable, specific goals or resolutions. But the far more challenging question for me is this: WHO WILL I BE IN 2014? If I was a yelling shrew throughout 2013, what will change my heart? Can a simple goal, that […]

First I asked myself, What is the most essential thing for me to be doing right now? Then I reminded myself of the reasons why I want to DO those essential things. I’m not under the illusions that mere DOING is going to change my heart, my home, or my family. So I wanted to remind […]

“I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:11-12)  Driving down the highway, I voiced my frustrations to the Lord about a friend. I listed out criticisms and hurts, […]

When faced with the hard things, we often want to avoid them,  and excuse ourselves. Let’s talk about two places where Paul did the hard, loving thing (toward the Corinthians): 1 Cor 2:1-5 — Power of God v. persuasion through human will Paul was willing to purposefully forgo the use of his skills and talents in order […]

If you are one who: loves Christ, desires to see people come to worship and know Him, and longs to find her purpose in the world, Let me commend to you the role of mother. If you are a young woman who: has been told all the horrors and sob stories of colic and tantrums […]

What do our kids want from us? Of course there are different possible answers to this question: time energy loving affection Or, as my five-year-old just said when I asked him, “candy.” Good grief, I love him. If you’ve been a parent for almost any length of time, you know that kids reveal things about you that weren’t […]

WELCOME to JessConnell.com! I am so excited to see you here! With a change in my writing habits and goals, it was time for a change. From 2006-2013, I blogged at a different place. I started writing novels (which are still unreleased and sitting on my hard drive), and so in Jan 2015, I started writing under […]

As a mom of seven kids, you might imagine that I have some strong opinions about what makes a good toy. You’d be right. In fact, let’s just call them my personal rules for choosing toys that stand the test of time. As a family one of our guiding principles is to be good stewards of […]