Heads Up! Part 2

Hey everyone what a week it has been! In 2 weeks I will be venturing to Gran Canaria with Kieran (boyfriend) and I am super excited to get away and escape the day to day pressures and stress. Recently I have been letting things get on top of me and my self-confidence has been like a rollercoaster, some days I’m great, and my inner dialogue is I’m a daughter of the king I can do anything. But some days I’m not so good and my inner thoughts are maybe I shouldn’t do that because of other people’s opinions. Well today I’m here to talk you through my situation and hope it helps you overcome yours.

My situation is work based, we all know the main pressures in daily life is our jobs, maybe because you might be the only Christian or maybe because your life is totally different to people around you, or maybe you just don’t get along with the people you work with. And I’m here to tell you I understand! I understand because I am the only Christian girl in my work place and sometimes it is quite negative the comments from people around you. You know the problems, gossip and lies, just trouble.

The past few weeks I have had to develop a positive mind set, because if I didn’t I would not be working in the job I am right now. I have needed strength and courage. And lots of it.

Firstly I’m here to tell you to be bold! Get that heavy head of yours which might be filled with negative thoughts and shake the negativity away, you don’t have to live like that. When I was thinking about this blog these lyrics came into my head

‘Now my debt is paid in full by the precious blood that my Jesus spilt, the curse of sin has no hold on me, whom the sun sets free, is free’ from Man of Sorrows by Hillsong. Give it a listen, it is uplifting.

You are reading this because you want a stronger relationship with the Lord and you are wanting to follow his word… His word says this…

Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

That is his truth! Be STRONG, COURAGEOUS, NOT AFRAID, and NOT DISCOURAGED. Listen to the word, and do something about it. I have noticed the more I read the word the more I become stronger and less inclined to listen to negativity. I now have a filter in my head and heart and when people speak to me I know in the first few words if what they are speaking is truth or trash.

(I did a study a few weeks ago and loved the idea of filtering your thoughts therefore I gave it a go and 2 months on I am finding it very easy now to decide if I am going to listen or ignore it.)

Sometimes we all have a bad day, a dark season, a challenge but we are all made in the image of the Lord and he knows what you’re capable of and he would not give you opportunities like this if they weren’t important or to be used in the future maybe in a testimony to help others.

Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

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Psalm 18:2 - The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

And that's just it isn't it? It all comes down the Lord who is your rock, stick with him and he will help you to keep positive and guide you in the right place.

Try to find at least 3 positive scriptures to read each day and meditate on them and just live through them. Live positively, live courageously and live strongly with God at the centre.

Thanks for reading the second part of the series Heads Up!

Have a blessed week!

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo

Standing Together / Steady Your Boat

As many of you know I have a great friend called Brittany Nicole and she is the founder of Stepping on dandelions. She is a young girl who dedicates her time to God and helping others by sharing her life experiences and journeys with her followers. And the other today she emailed me, which we do quite often, and it got me thinking and made me reevaluate my friendships because the bible says we are children of God. And personally I believe we all need to stand together in doing good on this planet. And it doesn't matter how far away your friends are (my friend Brittany is 4,119 miles away but I can honestly say she is one of my closest friends and she is full of faith and supports me on my journey) so when your talking to your friends just be Christlike and others with see that and want to be like you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11- Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

I love having friends who are fellow Christians because it's what we need it's good for our minds, and souls and spiritually it's great for our faith as it challenges us and explores our boundaries. We need to stand together in the storm and throughout our difficulties in life and keep our friends close by and just talk to your friends about experiences with the Lord and you will grow in confidence and faith. I know this is hard but it is so rewarding in the long term.

Recently I had a vision while worshiping and it simply was a boat with my church family inside, and we were all balancing the boat, working together to keep the boat, the vessel afloat and while the rocky shores and waves hit the boat we stayed afloat because of us joining and standing together. We worked as a team, as a family and when difficulties and darkness struck we were safe and when we reached the sandy beaches we danced in the sunlight, the light flowed from the people and surroundings because we steadied the boat and came through the other side, the boat represented the family of church and the waves and rocky shores represented the challenges but the sand represented a free place to worship the Lord, a free place of expression where know one is judged or mocked for what and who they believe in. 

And my church family is the church we don't need a building to worship and pray! We need each other and the support and help and guidance from each other, and praying and encouraging one another, well that's all their is, we all joined together for one cause for one creator for one author. Visions are a gift from God, if you ever experience an image or a word or a song or anything which God has given you, do not be afraid, express it , share it, speak about it, and do something about it. Gifts are not to taken granted for, we should be thankful and we should praise him every day for the gifts he has given and gifts he will give us in the future. 

Thank you for reading today's blog on standing together and I urge you to steady your boats because the waves and rocky shores are in the near distance, steady your boat and passengers, and the end result and the view will be spectacular and so worth the challenges. Gods light will flow from you and your surroundings. Stead your boat and get ready for brilliant but bumpy journey ahead.
Thank you & God Bless
Love Jessica Louise Xoxo

Broken

Hey everyone today I want to share with you a little advice and a little testimony.  

Basically I've had depression, I've had panic anxiety attacks I've been through it all, triggered by loss and grief. But after I recovered from the dark times, I had a great few years, I found Christ! It wasn't easy I still had sad lonely days but doesn't everyone?
But today I am here to tell you that even though I am healed by the Lord, I still have days where I feel broken, where I feel like nothing and know one can help me, I feel hopeless and alone. And I'm here to tell you instead of saying I'm broken say I'm okay! Because you are! We are! We were not created to be broken in our faith, therefore we have to plant ourselves deeper in the Lord and just reply on him and his word. 

To be broken is not your calling and it's definitely not your status in life. 
We are called for so much more and trust me when I say this, it's not easy to defeat depression, I know because I recovered 2 years ago and I know it's trying to make a comeback, but I am strong in my faith and I know it's the devil knocking on my door but he has already stirred my relationships up and I'm loosing important people to me, and I say no more! I rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus. Today rebuke him! Tell him I am child of the Lord and you can't steal that relationship from me, you aren't stealing anything from me, my joy, my peace, my security, my life. No it's not going to happen! 

I woke up today feeling low and had an argument with someone very close to me and I honestly felt so alone and so broken but I went out tried to keep my head up and when I got home I slumped back down and while crying I realised and asked myself why am I crying? This is a lesson Jesus is going to use in the future for others, he will use my sad and dark days to help others so here I am aiming to give you guidance and help on standing firm in your faith through the depression, through the anxiety, through the failed relationships, whatever happens in your life, remember the one who loves you so much he sacrificed his one and only son for you. 

Remember to be grateful were far to blessed to be stressed and trust me I know how hard it is to not be stressed, stress is a huge part of my life I literally stress at everything until I remember I'm far to blessed for this to even bother me. 
Thanks for reading girls if you want to speak more to me about this topic email me on jessica@bibleforwomen.co.uk  

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo  

Under Attack

Hey everyone, this week has been very busy, I feel like I am constantly busy, and that's great we all should be busy with whatever life throws at us but sometimes I sometimes feel like I would like to just escape from it all. And today I would like to ask you all, are you suffering? are you alone? do you feel like theirs no hope? Do you feel like ending it all? If you answered yes to any of these I would like to just take a moment to tell you that I pray over these blogs and I pray for the reader to receive whatever healing you are in need of.

I'm going to break this blog into parts to make it easier to process and dissect. 

Part 1 // When we are going through a dark place and you feel you need to escape from your circumstances and you feel like theirs nothing you can do. Well your wrong. When you feel alone in your circumstances whatever they may be turn to The Lord. 

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.

When you feel like things are getting on top of your, and you can't cope anymore and you need to escape from it all. Escape by running into the arms of your loving and protective Lord and Savior. 

Recently I've started new and exciting journeys within my church and when things where starting to pile up and get on top of me, I ran to him. I sprinted and didn't look back. I know my place is with him and surrounded by the Holy Spirit. 

A few weeks ago I felt like I wasn't coping very well at all with anything, just walking down the street would bring anxiety and dread. I honestly felt alone and down in my faith, but while I down and saddened God came to me in a thought and gave me his idea. This idea was a mad idea and something that I took from a simple but wild idea and turned it into an action. Sometimes God places ideas and thoughts in you and it will help you escape from the darkness into the light. 

I feel much better now for running to him, and just giving him all my worries and burdens. 

Part 2 // God doesn't just provide us with ideas and thoughts on how to escape when were under attack from the devil. He can provide physical and literal ways to escape. 

I was thinking about ways God uses to help us escape from our situations and Noah came to mind. I love Noah! What a Godly man! #RelationshipGoals. 

Genesis 7:6-10 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwater covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.

11-12 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

13-16 That’s the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.

I love this scripture - My interpretation of this relating to escaping is that when your in a bad situation God will send you help whether it be instructions to build a boat or a thought on how to get out of the situation maybe strength and courage to help you along the way. And when your out of the situation and your safe away from your situation - the floods, God shuts the door he stops the floods from harming you. God guides you, if you simply just ask him. Pray to him. Talk to him, speak aloud, speak in your heart, just communicate with him and he will always be their for you. 

So next time you are lost and don't have any idea on how to escape your problems, just think of Noah and how brave he was trusting in the Lord and how amazing God is for guiding Noah away from the terror of the world, he gave him and his family a fresh start. A new beginning of life. 

Part 3 // Temptation is a huge topic for this blog. Because when you are tempted in whatever way God helps you escape from temptation so you can live a free and pleasing life. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 

Next time you are tempted, just tell yourself, God knows your limits and he knows how strong you are and whatever attempts to tempt you you are stronger that this and you can just simply walk away from it in because God wouldn't let anything you couldn't handle come your way. You are his children and you are protected. 

People think because your a Christian or Christ follower you life is easy and you live in happy land and we don't sin. Which is all false!! Life is never easy! We struggle, we have hopeless days, but you know one thing, Gods love lasts forever and whatever problem we face we can turn to him for guidance and he will help us escape from whatever situation we have gotten in. We need to face reality just because we are Christians doesn't mean we are happy every single day, our twitters and instagram might show us smiling and posing with out friends but only God knows our hearts and he knows how we truly feel inside, we might be frightened we might be thinking about ending it all, but God sees that and he will put in place an escape route you just need to turn to him and trust him, he is a faithful God.

So today girls I pray that you will escape from your floods and keep safe and just pray for an escape route because God has one for everyone and every situation all you need to do is ask. 

Thank you for reading, have a blessed week everyone. 

Love Jessica Louise xoxo 

Bored?

Bored?

Hey everyone this is a short blog on boredom… because today, I have come home from work and just lazed around the house and just recuperating but I felt bored. And I remember when I was at school everyone would say ‘This is boring’ or ‘I’m bored’ and it got me thinking why do people suffer from boredom? Seriously? Sometimes I think I’m bored and the next I think wait a second… I have so much going on in my mind and heart right now I’m not bored, I’m just having a lazy day, and yes sometimes we need a little rest but there is a difference between lazy and resting.

Make sure you know the difference. I know that I need rest and that it’s important to rest when I can because I am so busy doing God’s work all day and sometimes all night too. I love Gods work he has placed on my heart but sometimes I need a little reminder to keep determined and not be lazy and bored because being bored is an excuse to be lazy. I know it seems like a silly thing to think about but I found this scripture when reading earlier…

Ephesians 5: 2-2 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do… Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

Also if you read Jeremiah 29:11 you will realise God has a plan for you and when you recognise your purpose in life you won’t be bored. What I have found is that when you follow Christ’s example you can’t be bored because when god is using you as his vessel to do his work and his good, you are being used to the best of your ability and you will never be bored.

Gods promises that if we love each other as long as we live we will not be spiritually dumb.  

You can read Gods promise in Hebrews 6:11-12.

Today I urge you all to imitate God in everything you do, live a life of love, and let God use you as his vessel to do his good work because if you do… You will be busy and fulfilling your purpose, otherwise you'll be being lazy and suffering from boredom. Remember if you are being lazy you will be bored. But if you don’t want to be bored, don’t be lazy.

Have a blessed week!

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo

Imagine - Revelation 21:1-4

 Hello my lovelies! I hope you all have had a fab week! Last week I published a blog on Rest [Find Rest] check it out on the bibleforwomen.co.uk blog directory.

Today I have decided to share my thoughts on Heaven. As Natalie Grant sings In the End she sings about what heaven is and isn't about. And today I want to speak about what heaven is and isn't about. 

There's comin' a day the sun will always shineHe's gonna wipe away every tear from your eyes.Hold on, my brotherThings are gonna get betterYou're gonna smile again'Cause we win in the end
It won't be aboutStreets of Gold, Pearly GatesHarps or wings, Diamond LakesAll I know is that He's gonna hold you, hold me

Let's start with a scripture - Revelation 21:1-4

I love the last part of this scripture... He will wipe every tear from their eyes, lets just meditate on that! Every Tear, Every Eye! That's a lot of tears, and I'm just talking about myself, a sad movie, a powerful song on an advert on TV, and I'm weeping for hours. 

Heaven isn't about the pearly gates, diamond lakes, harps playing and all white, God created colour! He is the creator and artist of everything, so why would he create Heaven and only use white!? Makes no sense to me. 

I like to think of Heaven as a rainbow, every colour used and amazingly beautiful! 

We have all been given the chance to have eternal life, if we give our selves to Christ he has promised this life to be just a segment of whats to come. No disease, poverty,wars and no slavery. Just peace and freedom.

His loves reigns forever over us, and he will show us all his eternal love in the end in the beginning!

So today I urge you all to just think about how amazing heaven is, that feeling you might of experienced before from the Holy Spirit well, when imagining Heaven I see that experience, that glorious experience of warmth and feeling safe and free.

Thank you for reading and enjoy this weeks blogs and stay tuned on the instagram page for news soon.

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo 

E: jessica@bibleforwomen.co.uk

Instagram & Twitter: @BibleBlogWomen

Find Rest

Hello my lovelies! It's been such a crazy week, I'm finally having a rest day, I have been loving my new job but between work and then kids church and church study groups I haven't had chance to breath! And I was reading my bible on my phone the other on my way to work and I found this "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him". 

Psalm 62:5

And I realised I need to have at 

least one day a week where I rest because working 24.7 is making me poorly.

And to me that's God saying if you don't rest, I will make you rest. God is such an amazing and all powerful Father but even he had a day off and took rest on the seventh day // Sunday. And even if we can't be like The Lord and have Sunday a day of rest make Monday your day of rest. It's so important as it renews us, God renews our strength when we give him our hope and just take rest in the Lord. 

Genesis 2: 2-3 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

For some of us it might be really hard for many reasons but just take a little time each week to just relax, and breath, read your bible and find comfort in his word. 

As it's the weekend I usually have Saturday as a day out somewhere then Sunday church but today i don't have church as I've commit to another day out to Liverpool, but Monday and Tuesday are my rest days as I am off work for the first time since starting the job and to me that's God saying "look your full of cold, your head hurts, your throat is week, your tired, and you need to recharge your batteries, let me help" I didn't even have to ask him for his help, but he knows my heart he knows what's best for me. 

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Exodus 33:14 “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

So today I urge you all to take time out of the busyness of our day to day chores and lives and just commit to having a rest, it doesn't make you weak, it makes your human. 

Have a blessed day 

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo

E: jessica@bibleforwomen.co.uk

Instagram & Twitter: @BibleBlogWomen