Heavy Load-UGH!

 

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” |

Matthew 11:28-30

 

 

Dear Jamil,

 

                 I follow a woman named Alyssa Joy. Her and her husband are from Seattle and have a great ministry. They both are very inspring and I LOVE reading her blog posts and their videos they do together. Below is some of her blog post today called "Fumbling Bags." It was kind of perfect for me today. Sometimes I just feel so weighed down by my sins (lack of trust, doubt, feelings of being inadequate, self-worth, not doing enough for His kingdom, Etc.) The fact that I can even make a list should be a red flag! UGH!

 

              I loved reading your entry because it reminded me to call on Jesus. The ONLY one person that can take any of those feelings away. Only in Him should I find my self worth. And you know what? He thinks I am pretty darn special, even in the midst of my struggles of doubt! 

 

            I am so excited to start this journel journey with you! Thank you for the sweet prayer at the beginning as well! :) I hope you found some rest last night and are able to come to Him today and relax :) LOVE YA!   

 

P.S.- I totally thought your title "Waves of Adversity" was a play of Pepperdine, then I realized it was from the devotion that morning. Loved it nonetheless! :)

 

 

 

Bags. Heavy. Inconvenient. Big.

 

Isn’t our sin like that? Heavy? Burdensome? Weighs us down? And yet we like to manage it—keep it under our control because we think we’re better at handling it than Jesus is.

 

Beloved, Jesus wants to free you from your sin. He wants to free you from your heaviness of heart—whatever it is. Your worry, fear, bitterness, unforgiveness, your desire to take control; your job, school, friends, family, trials and circumstances. He is there. He is right with you.

 

He is asking you, “Beloved, let me take your bags. Let me take care of them. I am God Almighty. I am in control. I am able. These bags are weighing you down –let me free you. Trust me. Give it to me.”

 

Whatever is in your heart today, whatever you are struggling with or trying to manage—give it to the LORD. He has called you to freedom, called you to joy and peace. He is full of grace, forgiveness, mercy and tenderness.

 

Don’t do it on your own. Look to Jesus. Call on Jesus. Trust in Jesus.

 

Waves of Adversity

Hi Jenzie, 

I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to be part of something this special - to show and document the journeys we partake and embark on under the Lord. I find it fitting to begin my first blog post with a short prayer:

"Dear Lord, I am thankful for another unpromised day. I pray that these journal entries help Jessie and I continue to grow, lead and serve under your Word. Let us walk by faith and not by sight in this journey towards our purpose driven lives."

I have been overwhelmed with work as of late within these recent weeks. Yesterday, anxiety took complete control of my mindset and I needed to refocus my thoughts. We were preparing for a ESPNU telecast for a men's basketball game and in the mix of it all, I was handling an array of other tasks unrelated to the event.  In that moment of time, when ten things are coming at me at once, stress consumed me and weighed me down. I believe when we are most vulnerable, that is when the devil is trying to pull and lasso me down to defeat. And then I retreated back to my prayers from the morning. I read a daily devotional from "Jesus Calling" in the morning and again in the afternoon. The message and scriptures always hit the "spot". They reel me back up to the Lord and reiterate his word.

"KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME!"

 "Waves of adversity are washing over you, and you feel tempted to give up."

WOW! God had this message planned out before my eyes. When we let our circumstances consume us more and more, we lose sight of of HIM. Yet, HE is right there, promising that HE will not give me more than I can bear. These were the words of encouragement I needed. At the end of the day, everything was going to be okay - and it was. As I drove home, I let positive thoughts rotate in my head. If there is anything I can control, it is my attitude. I cannot, or intend, to carry my life forward without God. My attitude is thankful and joyful to have a Creator that is with us always. 

I am blessed. I am thankful.

Middle of the Road

Jamil,  

 

I know I sent you this through email yesterday but I wanted to share with you the response from my co-worker. He has been a great mentor, encourager and supporter in my life. I know you mentioned you might be feeling the same way so I thought I would share his response.

 

My email:

 

Yes discernment is heavily on my heart! How did you know? J I feel like I am in the middle of the road sometimes. Halfway to where God wants me to be yet, exactly where I should be. The dreams placed in my heart seem to be getting more clearer and I find my joy and passion for serving grows daily and I long for God to open up that opportunity already  for me to dedicate my life to doing just that. I used to only see myself only at SPU! Continuing to work in athletics and events/promotions. I used to be ok with that. In fact, I loved that idea, it made sense to me. Now, sometimes it feels more like the “daily grind”, just a temporary place for me. Then I start to worry that I am not doing a good enough job (time management, organization, planning, etc.) because my mind is almost always elsewhere, dreaming, longing to do something more. Which scares me too because what if I am supposed to be here for 2,3, even 5 more years! Would I be able to do that?!  

 

His response:

 

"And as for you!!!  Reading this stuff makes me quite joyous so I can only imagine God is up there clapping His big loving hands with joy to see you working out your faith.  He loves you so much and He loves your growth and He loves your questions.  He really loves it all, you are His child Jessie!  Look, don’t you just love it when Jace does something new in response to you and your love?  And getting baby spit-up on our shirt is a badge of honor and a token of love right?  Well there it is?  We must struggle to remember that God loves the process of our growth every bit as much as the product. He is the Creator and is creative to the extreme, He absolutely loves to create within our growth and you are no doubt making him quite pleased as He molds you like clay on the wheel. So keep it up, keep up your struggles, doubts, questions, that is you on the wheel!  Just laugh with joy and praise Him at the end of each day. "

 

In The Beginning...

 

...there was Jenzie and Jamil!

 

 

 

 

We love our Savior

We love to live life the way God intended

We know we are human and fall short every.single.day

We know a life worth living to glorify God is the only way to live

We strive every day to seek out His ultimate plan for our lives

 

 

 

We both work in athletic departments for Christian Universities

Each day we strive to use our platform to glorify the Lord

We love working with student-athletes and our student workers

We love the responsibility to set an example for youth

 

We dream

We desire

We seek out a life to ultimately serve Him

 

Jamil and Jenzie Journals was created help us share with eachother our thoughts, daily interactions & inspirations as we continue to fight the good fight, and seek out God's plans for this season of our life and eventually His ultimate plan for us both.