Knowing Him

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die

{Knowing you}

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

(Philippians 3:8-11}

Preparing to say ”I Do” 57 days left

Sunday marked exactly 2 months until Nathan and I will tie the knot. I am so excited! And definitely ready =) Right now it seems like the time is moving like a “Turtle in molasses going uphill in the wintertime”… People keep telling me it will fly by and our wedding will be here before we know it; I’m trying to believe them, because I know they’re right, it’s just easy to get impatient. 

Anyway, that was mostly my rambling thoughts =) Here’s to trying to enjoy the next 2 months as we look forward to marriage =)

With that said, its time for another ‘Preparing to say ”I Do”’! I really am enjoying writing this series - I learn way better when I can put my thoughts on “paper.” I pray that as I learn you all enjoy it as well.

This one will be the continuation of another one I wrote, which you can read here.

The book, Feminine Appeal, has been one of the best I have read on being a godly wife. Below are quotes from the chapter on loving your husband. This chapter really spoke to my heart of the importance of not just servant-love, but tender, affectionate love. 

“…We must settle this issue in our hearts. We married a sinner, and so did they.

But this is the hope for our marriage:

God forgives sinners and helps us grow to be like Him…”

“…We frequently face situations where we are tempted to think harsh and critical thoughts. Sometimes as wives we are more inclined to concentrate on what our husbands are doing wrong than what they are doing right. We are more aware of their deficiencies than areas where they excel. But if we submit to these temptations, they will only lead to the demise of warm affection.

Rather, we must choose to focus on our husbands commendable qualities…”

“…The apostle Paul understood the influence of people’s thoughts on their feelings and behavior. He exhorted the Philippians this way: 

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’ (Phil 4:8)

If we make it our aim to think these kinds of thoughts about our husbands,

we will experience tender feelings for them…”

“Let’s humbly ask our heavenly Father to help us change our thought patterns and then watch what He will do. As we begin to replace sinful thoughts with biblical thinking, the Lord will ignite passionate feelings for our husbands once again.”

Until next time…

Bridal shower, #2!

The first weekend in July, I was so blessed by Nathan’s family and his church by having a second bridal shower at his parents house. 

His mom and sisters did so much work and planning; it was absolutely perfect and I enjoyed it so much. The decorations were so cute and the games were fun! Also, Nathan’s Grandmother shared with me from her heart - it was the sweetest thing and I will definitely remember her wise words! I really am blessed to be joining this sweet family.

Many women from Nathan’s church family also came out and it was a fun time of getting to know them a little better (I’ll be a part of their church soon!) and they made it a point to get to know me and my family; that meant a lot.

The other great thing is that my dear friend Charissa stayed the thursday and Friday (Fourth of July) beforehand with me! God has blessed me with her friendship and it was just what I needed.

And if that wasn’t enough, I also got to stay for the sunday after with my Fiancés sister, so I got to spend lots of time with Nathan!

So excited to become the next generation’s, Mrs. Frook!

This was probably my favorite part! =D

I loved the mason jar cups and those straws back there were the cutest! I should have gotten a closer picture…

I didn’t get a picture of the table after all the food was set out - everything was delicious though!

My mother-to-be and me! 

Graham wasn’t sure what to think with all the new people around ;) That face!

The best friend and sister I could ask for!

The perfect ending…

Until next time…

Three years - 7.9.14

Dearest Nathan,

Today marks three years that we have been officially courting - may I just say? These three years have been the best of my life. They haven’t been perfect, but every up and every down has only brought us closer to each other, so they have been amazing!

Doesn’t God write the best love stories? I never could have dreamed one up that was better! He truly wove our lives and hearts together in a beautiful way and I am so excited to get to serve and glorify Him by your side. 

I love the way you love me and take care of me. You are always doing your best to understand me and what I need. You are always looking out for my happiness and well being even above your own. You are always seeking my best, even when I might fight against it. You point me toward our Savior and you aren’t afraid to tell me when I’m wrong.

I love your desire to provide for me and our future. I love the way you support my desire to be a stay-at-home wife and one day mother. And I know whatever we end up doing, that you will always be supportive of that goal. Thank you for working so hard at work, and at the moment school, so you can be the provider God has called you to be. Thank you for striving to provide for me spiritually and emotionally.

I love the way you love your family and mine. How you care for them and want to be with them. How important they are to you, shows me how important ours will be to you. And watching you with Benjamin and little Graham makes my heart so full! I know you will be the best Daddy when (Prayerfully) God blesses us with children.

I love your servant’s heart, your sense of humor, your silliness, and yes, your teasing ;) 

I love your voice and the way my heart leaps when it hears it. I love your smile and your laugh. I love your nerdiness about comics and coins and (though I don’t always act like it) guns. I love when you wear your hat backwards and look so cute. It reminds me of our camp days when I would swoon over you doing that ;) I still might ;) 

I love your beard and your glasses and your freshly cut hair. I love that I get to hold your hand and be your one and only. I love when you wear polos, jeans and converses. I love how you can make pretty much anything. I love how you support me and go along with my crazy ideas, even when it’s not really your thing. I love how you encourage me when I make things and tell me how impressed you are with my talent. I love when you tell me you’re proud of me. I love how you’re willing to lead us. 

I love how well you know and understand me. Sometimes even more than I understand myself. I love how you notice things about me that I wouldn’t even think of. I love how you know how I feel about things and that even when my feelings are silly, you try to understand. I love how you understand my heart and how I think about life. I love how you love God and serve Him through ministry and life. I love how you teach the word and enjoy teaching children.

I am so thankful that you are mine and that I am yours. And I can’t wait for when we say  “I do” in 73 (Woohoo!!) days. 

Happy 3 years, my darling - Here’s to 100 more!

Forever yours, Jessica

June Goals Recap

I was actually pretty please at what I was able to accomplish last month (Hello July!) and am kind of excited to share it with you all! Most likely I won’t set many goals for July =) I’ll probably be out of town for some of it, so…

June Goals

• Deep clean the house with the family (Yep, did a lot of cleaning!)
• Have my Bridal Shower (It turned out so well and I really enjoyed it! Read about it here)
• Get wedding invites ready to pass out/mail for July (Completed and I went ahead handed/mailed them out so invites are done! Well, except for a few stragglers)
• Review wedding to-do list and pick some things to get done (Ended up getting some of my shopping done. Only a few more things to get)
• Continue to experiment with wedding hair/makeup (I am in love with my dress and hair! We did some makeup but still some work to do on it)
• Send two people happy mail (So sad… Didn’t end up getting this goal completed…)
• blog at least 4 posts  (Woohoo! I wasn’t holding out any high hopes to get this done, but I did and I enjoyed all of them =) Read them here, here, here, and here)
• Finish up the SheReadsTruth Nehemiah study and start the new Titus one (Nehemiah was such a great study and I did indeed complete it =) Instead of starting the titus one, though, I started a new marriage book I recieved from my shower =) Some thoughts from it here)
• Write Thank You cards for the Shower (I knew I just had to make myself sit down and do it or it would never get done - so that’s just what I did!)
• (Hopefully) Help Nathan get the apartment painted (This goal was completed, but I didn’t end up helping =) Read more about it in one of my four posts from the month of July)

There you have it, folks! Thankful I was able to complete a lot of these =) I hope July is great for you all!

Until next time…