There are some things I can’t say without first referring you to this passage (Ephesians 5:17-33). Please read it in its entirety: Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. …be filled with the Spirit, …giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting […]
contemporvant – Jess Connell
“Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.” (2 Tim. 4:2-3) The…
goal-setting – Jess Connell
It’s New Year’s Eve– the time for self-evaluation, promises, and resolutions. The problem? Most of those goals go unmet & forgotten. 25% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned within a WEEK. I’m convinced that a large part of that “failure” rate is that we aren’t honest with ourselves about our real life limitations BEFORE we set… […]
bossy kids – Jess Connell
Q: I am amazed by how I am noticing *already* eye rolling, sighing, attitude in general from my 5 and 3 year olds. We have zero tolerance at our house for disrespectful attitudes, and we also require obedience (“you obey Mommy the first time, with no sass.”). I am starting to notice especially with my…
Mental “Food” Diary – Jess Connell
As wives and mothers, our thinking doesn’t only affect us- it directly impacts our husband and any children God gives. What’s happening inside our minds matters a great deal! In 2011, I took my first biblical counseling class, and one session focused on the “Anti-Psalm.” The goal was to better understand what a text is saying by carefully… […]
What This Homeschool Mom Does When I Get Burned Out – Jess Connell
Last week it hit at once, unexpectedly. The wearying combination of both physical and emotional tiredness. We’ve had a busy couple months with life and ministry. I’d been schooling faithfully since our daughter was in the hospital, and that probably contributed, too. But the thing that had given the biggest gut-punch was that one of those […]
Sample Page – Jess Connell
This is an example page. It’s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this: Hi there! I’m a bike messenger […]
Become a Better Writer: RISK – Jess Connell
NON-FICTION RISK: SAY IT Say the things– write the things– that you are afraid to say. I recently shared about my fear of, “Who would ever want to buy my book?” And earlier this week, I confessed not just a past sin that I’ve conquered (which would feel safer) but a current area where God is […]
clothing – Jess Connell
{This is the 4th article in a series about modesty. We started with what the word/idea of “modesty” even means. Then we talked through 8 questions we should consider to discern our heart. Next we talked about deference as an act of submission to the Brothers and Sisters in our local Body of Christ.} But… […]
texting – Jess Connell
Pastor Matt Chandler says, “I would contend, no one has lied to you more than you have.” One of the biggest lies I think we tell ourselves, is, “I don’t have time for that.” We haul this whopper out whenever we hit something that we know would be beneficial but we aren’t actually doing it….
killing sin – Jess Connell
Parenting can be such a challenge. Sin outside our home… sin inside our hearts… the stresses and strains of life in a family… These things swirl together and threaten to knock us off-kilter. As my husband and I go about life with our seven children (currently, ages 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 2, and 7 months),… […]
Contentment – Jess Connell
“To glorify someone is to praise, enjoy, and delight in them.” ~Tim Keller This short tweet stopped me in my tracks. It’s not that I hadn’t heard these ideas before, or didn’t know the definition of glorify. But, simply, this little definition provides such a practical litmus test for us as believers. Sometimes “glorify God” can… […]
essentialism – Jess Connell
In parenting, not everything can be in bold print. We can’t emphasize EVERYTHING and have our children “get it” all. We just can’t. IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN SOMEONE WHO TYPES EVERY MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK IN ALL CAPS, you know it’s true. After a few sentences, your eyes glaze over. It’s too much to take in. It’s… […]
laundry – Jess Connell
This is the mismatched shoe bin at our house right now. WHAT????! (As I told my husband… “SOCKS are explainable. They get wedged behind dressers and slip under beds. But SHOES?????!”) WHY do I have this many mismatched blue flip-flops and mismatched black dress shoes???! The struggle is real. CLICK TO SEE A 30-second VIDEO of…