WHAT IS CHRISTIAN FASTING? Simply put, fasting is choosing (for a set period of time) not to eat food in order to devote yourself more single-mindedly to the pursuit of God through Scripture and prayer. Christian fasting differs from the ritual/scheduled fasting found in other religions, and is not done in order to earn favor. […]
How Our Family Geared Up for the Wonderland Trail – Jess Connell
When our family (with 7 kids ages 14 & under) backpacked the 93-mile Wonderland Trail, one of the biggest considerations we faced was how much, and what, gear to bring. Here’s how we made it work: BACKPACKS Each person carried their own pack: TREKKING POLES Trekking poles make an incredible difference for me, as an adult, for […]
56 Ways the Bible Describes Women – Jess Connell
Ever wondered– What does the Bible say about women? I thought it would be helpful for us to see how women are described in the Bible, positively and negatively, as we strive to be godly women. This is a fairly exhaustive study of the word “woman” in the Bible, with all of its uses and descriptions (from […]
20 Ways Abortion is Like Auschwitz – Jess Connell
“He struck me as a normal person, that was the horrible thing about it. He was cool, objective, matter of fact. ‘This is my war duty. I did my war duty.’ It was like I had to go out and cut down so many trees. So I went out and took my saw and cut […]
The Opposite of the Proverbs 31 Woman – Jess Connell
Several years ago, I was able to take a basic biblical counseling class, and one of the sessions focused in on the “Anti-Psalm.” This exercise was a challenge for us to better understand what a text is saying by carefully thinking through the exact opposite meaning. It can be very insightful to look at the “opposite” of what we […]
The Perfect Homeschool Day – Jess Connell
You know what we had this morning? We had the perfect homeschooling day. Well… …perfect *for us.* Probably not anything close to what you’re imagining in your head right now. You DO know that the “perfect homeschool” doesn’t exist, right? But here’s what our perfect homeschooling day looks like: We make forward progress in areas […]
Don't Let Your Feelings Rule Your Life – Jess Connell
Skip to content Home Grow as Mom Don’t Let Your Feelings Rule Your Life How can we avoid letting feelings rule our lives? 3 minutes of encouragement on that, after having a feelings-heavy day, yesterday: As always, let me know what YOU have to say, in the comments. 🙂
Mama, Are You Willing to Do the Hard, Loving Thing? – Jess Connell
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 […]
Jess Connell – Page 48 of 49 – gracefully growing Heavenward
Feeling exhausted? ME TOO! At this point of motherhood, it seems I should walk around with caution tape. That would give everyone around me a warning before they talked to or interacted with me. Maybe I could wear a sign: WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!!! DO NOT GO INTO THIS CONVERSATION WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS. In fact, DIAL THOSE EXPECTATIONS […]
10 Things I've Said to My Kids in the Last Week That I Need To Hear, Too
Today I got to thinking that, in the last week, I’ve said several things to my children that I should take to heart. Here’s 10 that came to mind. ABOUT HEART ATTITUDE– “That heart attitude will only make you more and more bitter. What can you choose to be cheerful about instead of grumping?” ABOUT […]
Why Have More Kids? – Jess Connell
Home Grow as Mom Why Have More Kids? Recently, on an older post about exhaustion, I received this comment: “I don’t want to offend anyone but why do people keep having more kids if they are already exhausted with the 1 or 2 they do have?” There are so many answers I could give, but […]
Go to Counseling with NO SHAME: Get the Help You Need – Jess Connell
The early part of this summer was a hurricane in our lives. I won’t recount all the details, but we were poised to buy a family business. Instead, the carpet was yanked out from beneath our feet. Had we been on our own, we would’ve gone scrambling, but God placed solid paver stones under our […]
Womanhood & Our Identity Idolatry – Part 1 – Jess Connell
On Twitter, (in April 2016) New York City Pastor Tim Keller was asked: “What are the false gods of our society?” Part of his reply was– “the myth that you can choose your own identity.” He is absolutely right. Sister, this is the one of the great lies of our age: “you get to pick […]
Womanhood & Our Identity Idolatry – Part 3 (of 3) – Jess Connell
In Part 1, we talked about: the unreliability of basing our identity on seasons, or characteristics about us the way we are all geared toward identity idolatry (feeling that what we do/choose is the same as who we are) and the way God – in kindness – seeks to shake us loose of that. And […]