Thoughts from my "Seasons of Life" book...

This entire book is based on a prophetic statement that our associate pastor Kris Vallotton said in his message one Sunday morning -

"There is enough grace today to get done, everything that needs to be done".

(deep breath) Just let that soak in.

"Father we ask that in our daily lives that we would not be anxious or overwhelmed by anything. But that we would find you in our season of life that we are in at the moment and align ourselves with the grace of that season."

I apply that statement over myself every single day.

CHAPTER 1 -
It was the first night of one of our big church conferences, and I was home with a sleeping baby, frantically cleaning up and getting ready to go to worship practice. I had so much to do it was ridiculous. As I'm running around the house, I pass by the piano in our living room and felt like I needed to sit down and worship. "Ya right!" , I thought - "Do you know what I have to do!?!" So I ignored the thought and continued my whirlwind. But I knew it was Him. So, frustrated, I sat down at the piano and began to play/sing in a minor key, "what can I do for you? What can I bring to you?". It was real and it was honest - which I think personally, is the ONLY way to come to Him. And as I sat there with my frustrated scowl on my face, the Lord spoke to me, "I didn't want anything, I just wanted to be with you." My heart sank. And through snot and tears, I wrote this song:

What can I do for you
What can I give to you
What kind of song would you like me to sing
I'll dance a dance for you
I'll pour out my love to you
What can I give to you beautiful King
Cause I can't thank you enough
I can't thank you enough

Then I hear you sing to me
You don't have to do a thing
Just simply be with me and let the housework go
Those things can wait another minute
Wait this moment is to sweet please stay here with me
And love on me a little longer
'Cause I'm in love with you

I heard a little cry from the back room - the baby was awake and it was time to go. I raced to the church, handed the baby off to the nanny and with red eyes and tear stained face took the stage and started the conference off with that song. The room became a "kleenex snot and tears" conference as the Lord showed us that His priorities look a little different than ours.

We get so caught up in time - quantity instead of quality. My amazing father in law, Bill Johnson, once said "if I have five minutes to pray, I take four of those to just my affection to Him and worship and one to pray." As a mom I VERY rarely get an hour or even thirty minutes to spend in "solitude prayer", but I do get a few minutes here or there - driving in the car or stirring dinner, to just love on Him.

We get so busy with/in our lives just keeping up with life....work, cleaning, errands, projects, that we feel like our ministries are "on pause". And that is one of the main reasons I wanted to write this book - to release over you the reader that -
"No matter what season of life that you are in - you're calling/ministry is NEVER on pause - you daily release the Kingdom into the season"

A mom of three kids who can hardly keep up on the laundry and wonders if she'll ever be "active" in the things of God again, doesn't see that the child on her hip and around her leg are little revivalists that will change the world due to how she's raising them. As she looks out the window while washing the dishes, she prophesy's over the seemingly impossible situation in her family and changes that very situation. Yeah baby!!!!!

We have got to start looking at our seasons differently!! In looking for what we aren't doing we miss what we are doing!

Chapter 2-

I went through a season when I was in high school where the Lord was teaching me to hear him and obey...without a thought process. (Help us Jesus.) I was about sixteen and woke up feeling like I was supposed to put my running shoes on and go for a run. Sounds like no big deal, but... I don't run. I hate running. lol
So, frustrated, I put my running shoes on and ran (barely) 2 miles around our neighborhood. When I got back I told the Lord, sarcastically "Well, that was fun." The next morning I woke up..."go run". sigh... Shoes on and went. For the next 9 months every morning I put those shoes on and went, hating it everyday. Then, one morning I put the shoes on as usual, and the Lord said "you don't have to run anymore...Thank you for obeying me". Now, what great spiritual relevance did those nine months have?? Only God knows! And I think He likes it that way. Sometimes we think we have to have an explanation or reason for something, and God had to teach me that... I didn't. I had to trust and obey without understanding. If he can trust that you will do that he can trust you with anything. Because you follow his voice, because you know Him, not because of any rule reason or "logic".

Chapter 3 -
We can't be constantly looking ahead to "what season is next?" anxiety. We're never satisfied as people "Are you dating anyone? then when you are, "are you going to get married? then when you are "when are you going to get pregnant ? then when you are "when are you having another one? We need to learn to be at peace in the season we're in.

Not edited.. just writing. More to come...

4 comments

 
stacey wrote 29 weeks 5 days ago

Oh, Jenn, I love seeing life

Oh, Jenn, I love seeing life through your eyes!! So encouraging. Looking forward to your future post :)

 
Andy wrote 30 weeks 2 days ago

thanks

I just wanted to post a thank you note and say- i really enjoyed that and it was the word i needed for today- so thanks alot.

I love that with the running shoes- thats just brilliant :)

Cool how you can affect someone half way around the world through a post eah?!

Bless you,

andy

 
tahna wrote 33 weeks 6 hours ago

Renewed Vision

Thank you so much for being real! Every day I have wondered "How meaningful is what I'm doing today... I'm JUST this or I'm JUST doing that." As of today I'm changing the way I SEE things. Being a mother of 5 IS significant. Hidden behind the scenes in children’s ministry IS significant. A quiet day at home with the LORD, seemingly accomplishing nothing, IS significant. I can hardly wait for more thoughts from your "Seasons of Life".

 
Harriet Stevenson wrote 33 weeks 3 days ago

Wow!!!

Your book is absolutely amazing and encouraging.............

Please register or login to post a comment.