From WordPress to The World Race

Hey, followers and friends!

For now, my one and only blog is going to be jesseischens.theworldrace.org.

I would encourage you to click the link on the right side of the page, check it out, and sign up for email updates so you can stay up-to-date with all of the latest as I begin this process of preparation and fundraising and step out onto the field in September 2012.

If you would like to, I would also love any amount of support and prayers you can give. I appreciate all of you and am so grateful for you!

May God richly bless you in this next year and a half of life. See ya on the flipside 🙂

Where to begin?

Woooooow! How do you begin to describe the plethora of feelings one has when they are rocked, first by God and what He wants them to do, and dealing with all of the crazy emotions and stress of taking steps toward that, then adding to it the incredible, unbelievable, overwhelming amount of support by their family and friends?

I mean seriously, come on. Who am I to have such amazing friends and family? Who am I to have a workplace jump behind me immediately upon hearing about the World Race? Who am I? Nobody. But that’s not true, is it? And I’m talking to YOU, my blog reader, right now too, because you’re amazing and don’t ever let any single person in your life tell you that you don’t matter, that you don’t have a purpose, that God doesn’t love you as much as He loves everyone else around you. Do not believe it.

God has created you for a distinct purpose. He loves you with an everlasting love! Sure, He’s called me to the World Race for this season of my life. And I’m getting pretty darn excited for it too! I’m still processing this past weekend and the past month and how this has all played out. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever come down from this high I’ve been on…because I’ve realized without a doubt that none of this could have happened with Jesus. Plain and simple. Done. Just walk away. No more words needed. JESUS! Woooow. He deserves ALL of the praise! He draws us close to Him, whispers to us, drenches us in His love. Sit and soak Him in, ask Him to come, and He WILL. He loves YOU. You are precious to Him. I wish I could say that in a stronger way so you could actually tangibly feel His love the way I’m feeling it right now. It’s the love He has for everyone.

Keep after Him. Keep seeking Him. DO NOT give up. Seek His face, and He will come to you. There’s no formula…it’s just humbleness before God. I am nothing Lord, I realize that so obviously…but I can’t help but yearn for You every minute. You are everything my soul desires! I want to feel Your arms around me, holding me tight. I want to trust You more. To not be so wrapped up in this world. Help me to know what it’s like to be truly FREE in You. To let go of my insecurities, my fears and anxieties, and just simply trust in You. To walk forward in what You have placed me in right now, and to keep walking toward the dreams and desires that You have placed in me. I am made for more, for greater, and especially to worship You. Help me to do that! I love You!

This is my prayer for me and you. Thank you for reading my blog, for your promises of support for the World Race, for following me and encouraging me and being such amazing friends to me. I can’t ever express how much it has meant to me and will mean to have you all by my side as I go through this next adventure the Lord has placed before me. Ultimately, this is ALL for Him! To God be the Glory and ALL praise through this and all future generations in ALL nations! Amen and amen (as Pastor Rob would say :D)

Be blessed today. Just soak in Jesus. He IS with you, I promise. Yearning to be close to you. Let Him love on you today 🙂

I need to start fundraising soon. If you would like to support me, click on the link to my World Race blog now on the right side and go to the “Support Me! :)” link. Or just click here. And while you’re at it, sign up for e-mail updates on my WR blog 🙂 I would love to have you follow me on my journey as I prepare and process everything along the way.

Excitement is building

I’m so happy to have my excitement back! I’ve been going through a period of an emotion lull…where I know I should react this way or that to whatever is happening around me…so I give people the responses I know I’m supposed to give, but I just didn’t feel anything.

I’m sure we all go through this to some extent, but it’s very frustrating when there just seems to be no end to it! (Then God shows up in ways that can only be from Him, and all of a sudden it’s like BAM…you’re awake again…you’re actually feeling things again. Only He can do that!) I’m sure I sound crazy, but oh well!

God’s doing some things in my life—big things—that I’ve been dreaming about for a while. I can’t talk about it yet because it’s too soon…sorry…but bear with me ☺ Through all the ups and downs of normal, everyday life lately, despite full-to-the-brim emotions or none at all…I’ve had to keep reminding myself of what God has promised multiple times. That He will never leave me or forsake me, no matter what. (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 31:8).

Our God is a good God. He has life-giving, cup-overflowing plans for us.

Psalm 23 is amazing…I’ve found myself repeating it day after day. Because it’s truth. God is always with me. He’s always with you. He loves you so deeply that He would lead you beside the freshest, cleanest, purest streams of living water for you to drink; He guides us in paths of righteousness for the glory of His name; He blesses us in front of our enemies; He anoints us, He cleanses us, He loves us. Wow—we are blessed!

Psalm 23
[A psalm of David.]

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

It’s just so exciting, and encouraging, and I hope this encourages you today to be strong in the Lord, be courageous, do not lose heart, because He is with you and will never leave you.

God heart

God is Lord of your heart. He knows your deepest wishes, your biggest dreams, those parts of you that you never show the world because if you did it might call you crazy, or psycho, or just lame. God is a God of the small and the big. Those little dreams you have, however insignificant, are important to Him. He knows the desires of your heart. Wait for Him. Draw near to Him and He’ll draw near to You. Let Him surprise you with how big He is. Enjoy being HIS. Don’t let the world tell you that you have to read your Bible for so many minutes or pray for so many hours a day for Him to hear you and draw near. Those things are good. In fact, they’re necessary and incredible and should be practiced daily, yet…wow…we all mess up. We go for weeks, perhaps months without truly digging into the Word, without spending passionate time in prayer, instead glancing at a verse here and there and praying tiny little prayers about needs and wants, sometimes for others, but if you’d admit it, mostly about you and your struggles and pain and frustrations. That’s a frustrating place to be. Because you know you can be better. And you want to be. But your flesh gets in the way and you give in to it too much, you know this, yet you still do it because it’s comfortable. It is a war against our flesh. But we can let the frustrations and feelings of unworthiness bog us down. Keep fighting. Keep praying.

Let the King of the Universe love you for who you are, not what you do.

Because He’s calling out to you to see Him every day and to hear His voice. He loves you with endless passion. I wonder if we could see the heavenly realm, if we’d be horrified by the extent of the battle fought for us every day. Satan is sneaky. Those feelings that you’re never going to make it, you’ll never be good enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re insignificant and no one really truly loves you…those are LIES. I am talking to myself just as much as anyone here. Seriously, it’s a battle.

One thing I have really been impressed upon doing lately is just to let myself enjoy being with God.

I don’t have to do anything. Just simply be. Rest. Soak Him in. I don’t think we give Him enough chance to really get through to us in our days. We’re always going, going, going, off to the next thing. Ignoring, truthfully, because we don’t want to have to take the time to focus on Him. It’s such a battle!!!!! But remember, Jesus wins. Truth, love, grace–it triumphs. God is good. He loves you so much. Let Him simply love on you today. Listen to Him. Talk with Him. Rest in Him. He’s waiting.

“Blow through the caverns of my soul”

Wow. There is something about these lyrics that leaves me breathless, wanting more and more and more of the Holy Spirit. Just had to share this song by Jeremy Riddle with you, because it has been soaking into me like crazy these past couple days, and I can’t get enough of it!

Awaken my soul, come awake
To hunger, to seek, to thirst
Awaken first love, come awake
And do as You did at first
Spirit of the Living God come fall afresh on me
Come wake me from my sleep
Blow through the caverns of my soul
Pour in me to overflow, to overflow
Spirit come and fill this place
Let Your glory now invade
Spirit come and fill this place
Let Your glory now invade

Hawaii Tales: The Beginning

I just got home this morning from a mother-daughter trip to O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Amazing. We looooooved it! First, we really just needed to get away and indulge in a vacation. I felt guilty about it for a while, since it wasn’t a mission trip, but I also felt God speak to me that I was in need of some rest, as well. Okay, I knew He was right, because the past couple months have been incredibly busy, incredibly stressful, incredibly awesome, so I simply just needed a break, and I needed to get away from everything familiar. Well…Hawai‘i is definitely the place to do it! I didn’t do a whole lot of thinking about anything except just enjoying God’s creation, exploring, spending good quality time with my awesome Mom…it was so well needed.

I also learned some more about God and how He speaks to me. He was teaching me to trust Him. You see, I get some pretty cool travel perks through my current job, so I get to fly standby (which means seat availability: if there’s an open seat on the plane, I might be able to get on, depending on how many other people are “standing by” for the flight (thus the term standby) and there are different priorities that people have to beat others onto the plane). It’s very competitive, and the flights are fuller than ever this year, so I knew we could be in for a bit of an adventure. Through it all, I felt very strongly that we were going to get onto our flights, and not to worry about it. I know, I know, it’s just a small thing, and there are so many variables, but to be honest, I don’t need to know the why or the how behind it all…because at the end of the day, God has my back and already knows everything and has it all planned out. Even though I was taking a vacation, He approved of it, chose to bless it, and I believe He made a way for us, since for each flight it always looked impossible to get on, yet somehow we made it. There’s more to the story, and it’s full of time in airports, but it was one of those things where I wasn’t worried about it, because I knew I was in God’s hands. That even though we were taking personal time and I felt slightly guilty about it and “leaving behind” the rest of my friends and family to go to Hawaii, that it really was okay. 🙂

Needless to say, I will write more later to recap our trip, but it was super fun, nice and relaxing yet full of exploring O‘ahu and finally experiencing what Hawai‘i is all about. It’s a totally different change of pace, which was refreshing!

Coming home was a little bit more adventurous, involving a red eye flight and us arriving home an hour before I needed to be at work again…but it was so worth it. God is good, and He has GOOD things in store for us! Believe in that today!

More later. 🙂

Just peaceful

You know those days when it’s just a peaceful, quiet day? You have time to just sit and soak in God’s presence…to blog and journal and spend time with Him…and enjoy some alone time? This time is so sweet for me. I need it. It’s been a long week. A good, fun-filled week. But very full and I can definitely say I’m in need of some rest. This week has been filled with fun family time, little-league football games, girls nights, birthday celebrations, and lots and lots of church and some serious seeking God time. But it is at the same time stressful and draining. Trying to make it all, enjoy it all, and be myself and find time for myself in the middle of it all. I really enjoy my friends and family…they rejuvenate me…but I think I tend to run myself dry and I don’t just let myself relax and take it easy. I usually end up needing some alone time to truly recharge my battery 🙂 I am constantly distracted and while I want to rest, it’s almost like I can’t, because I keep wanting to do things. I need to learn how to sit. JUST sit. And let God COME. I want it desperately. I yearn to be filled with more and more of Him, His Holy Spirit, His love, His peace, His joy so I can spread it to everyone I’m around. It’s a constant work-in-progress, I suppose!

AND, I’m working on not worrying about being perfect. Especially when it comes to my writing and blogging and just doing life…I am a perfectionist in many ways. It’s just normal for a first born 🙂 God’s helped me along my life journey to become much more easy-going and uber-flexible with most things, but I think when it comes to my writing it is much harder for me, since I want everything to be perfect right away. That will flow into my words and thoughts, too. And so…I think in some ways that hinders my communication with the Holy Spirit, because I over-think and second-guess a ton of things that I shouldn’t. Hearing God’s voice, following His leading, trusting Him right away and not after a long time of testing Him, etc etc. I hope that makes sense. These are just some of my musings…I really process things so much better when I write them down.

Lucky you, you get to read these rambling thoughts. I bet you’re SO unbelievably excited, huh? Haha! I DO appreciate you reading this though. I appreciate ALL of you…you make my life amazing!

Look for my next blog in a couple weeks…after I get back from my trip to Hawaii! 🙂

Do you KNOW how BIG God is?

Have you ever thought about it? I mean, REALLY thought about it? Try to envision all the layers. Start with yourself here on earth, then look at the sky, then envision the atmosphere, the stars, the galaxies, the space that goes on and on and on and on…then look back and see if you can still see the Earth. Yeah, it’s pretty big, our world, but it sure is small in comparison to the scope of grandeur that is the universe God created. I mean, think about it…we’re really pretty teeny-weentsy-tiny. And then THINK. GOD…who created ALL of that…LOVES you and me. I mean, WHOA, right? If I’m so tiny and He created me and EVERYTHING around me, then who am I? How can I begin to even comprehend Him? And then it all zooms back into focus. This God loves me so much that He sent his SON to DIE for ME. Oh my goodness. I can’t even comprehend it. It’s too much for me.

I’m going to share with you the message from Louie Giglio at the Desiring God conference I attended last month. It rocked my world majorly. I had heard him do things like this before, giving us the magnitude and scope of our universe and how big it is, how small we are, and how huge God is…but THIS…what’s in this video is something I had never even THOUGHT of before. It is unbelievably awesome. I had to pick my jaw up and off the floor quite a few times. And you know that feeling when your soul just wells up inside of you in response to something that’s too much for it to bear? Yeah…that was me. Jaw-dropped…soul lept…hands raised in response to a King and a Creator who is so incredible, so huge, so magnificent, that no words or description or act of worship seems close to anything He deserves.

Just watch. Please watch the whole thing. And don’t stop until the end. It just gets better and better and better.

You’ll have to click the link below…it won’t let me embed it on my blog 😦 but it’s soooo worth it. Thanks for watching!

The Global God Who Gives the Great Commission

Sorry about the lull…

…life sure has gotten the best of my blogging lately. I’m guessing you want to know all about the Desiring God conference! In fact, I think I’ll be posting a few of the sessions on my blog for you to enjoy through the next couple weeks when I can find the time. There were some that I couldn’t get enough of — especially Louie Giglio. If you’ve ever heard him speak, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Seriously amazing! What He shows us about God and who He really is is absolutely staggering!

There’s been a lot going on in the life of Jess lately. The weekend of the conference was also the same weekend we said goodbye to one of my brothers who is off to Air Force basic training. Pretty cool, as he’s been working toward this for a long time and is super dedicated to it — we know this is God’s call on his life — but it is still weird to have him gone!

Oh, and we had our first Mission Talk lifegroup last night. The one where we bring in missionaries to tell us their stories, their calling, how they got on the mission field, what it has been like, what their vision is for the future, etc. It’s amazing. This is something I feel is 100% necessary for followers of Jesus to do. To gather around our missionaries to support them and listen to them and be inspired by them to go (or at least to send!) as well — and especially to pray for them! It’s such a GOOD time. God’s doing amazing things around the world, and I don’t know about you, but I definitely want to be a part of it!

So anyway, definitely processing things from the conference and seeking God. It’s hard for me to gather my thoughts on it, because there are so many. But I will try. Later, though! 🙂

A little rawness

[I’m feeling a little raw today. So I thought I’d be real with you.]

I am fully human. I go through periods of anxiety, of wondering what’s next, of always waiting for something. These times of waiting are usually (eventually) followed by a period of peace, of being okay with the “right now,” being fully in the moment, realizing that life is too precious to waste a second of it. But other times it seems like it all goes together and I don’t know what I think anymore—all these things get muddled up/mixed together in my brain and I’m left wondering if I really have the ability to think straight, or if this happens to everyone (because no one talks about it!). But through it all, it’s SO good to know I have a God who understands me better than I understand myself! He is my hope! He is fully aware of my feelings and knows exactly where I’m at in this very moment—today—and He has a plan for me. I know it’s better than anything I could dream up. But why, oh why, is it so hard to wait? I’m so sick of waiting.

I’ve realized lately—why do we always wish our lives away? Why are we always, without fail, waiting for something? For what’s next. Why is it so hard to just BE?
You’re a kid and you wish you were a grown up. You can’t wait to turn 12, then it’s 16, then 18, then 21, then 25, then all of the sudden you wonder where the time went.
You can’t wait until you can drive. Then it’s college. Internship. Your first “real” job. The day you finally start dating “the one.” That first kiss. That engagement ring. The wedding day. The honeymoon. That 1^st child. That big vacation. The huge promotion. Retirement. Then you’re left wondering what happened. How did all of that life go by so fast?

Maybe it’s so hard to be content because we know we’re made for something greater than who we are and what we’re doing right now. I know I just want to jump leaps and bounds to be this incredible, selfless, always joyful and happy, hour-long-devo-in-the-morning, glass-is-half-full type of person that I want to be. Key word: want. I might portray that to you every once in a while, by God’s grace, but it is truly Him at work in me and nothing of me, at all, because as a human, my selfishness and cynicism and frustrations and anxieties very often take over before I have time to realize what has happened.

There’s so much more to life! To being fully alive through Christ, because He made me to be ME. He made me to be fully present, right now. I know I will keep failing, but I will keep trying, keep placing my focus back on God, keep surrendering to Him. I can’t do this on my own. None of us can. Only through Him who gives us strength can we truly be all He has called us to be! That takes time. I know it’s natural to wonder. God didn’t make us with brains that know it all. We’re constantly learning and adapting. But God is good. He made us for greater than we could ever see ourselves being. Perhaps that’s why I can sense the calling to be greater, but I have no idea how to get there. Because the only way is through God. He has the PERFECT timing, though. Maybe I need to learn how to be okay with wanting and waiting, and how to sit still and just soak up God’s presence even then. Even if I do feel otherwise. Feelings are not always trustworthy, but God does use them.

[That was a lot of jumbled-up rawness…hope you could make sense some of it!]