Jennifer Kostick– Jennifer has been married for twenty-three years to her high school sweetheart, Paul. She is the mother of three children, Paul IV (22), Samuel (6), and Grace (6). She also has six babies residing in heaven. It is those six tiny souls who have propelled her into women’s ministry. She is a conference speaker and author of the book Nothing to Hold but Hope (one woman's journey through miscarriage, stillbirth, and infertility). Jennifer blogs at www.Jenniferkostick.com and is passionate about encouraging women through a godly message of mercy and hope.
This morning, I reached for my phone and immediately went to my Bible App looking for the verse of the day. I have to say I’m not big on electronic Bibles. I don’t necessarily like using my phone or any other device. There’s something about tangibly turning pages that connects me to the written words. But, sometimes, one just needs a quick word of encouragement.
You will make known to me the path of life, in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
-Psalm 16:11
Last week, I wrote to you about digging into the word of God more and how as a community of believers, I want us to do this together. I talked about October being the beginning of a series relating to purpose, and communicated that I want to know if you have questions or study suggestions relating to that theme as we move closer to that time. The response overwhelmed me.
I heard from some of you in the comment section of the blog, and received some beautiful heartfelt emails from others of you who are struggling with questions and difficult life situations. I’ve been praying for all of you and preparing to address your thoughts in October.
I found it very timely for the above scripture to be today’s verse of the day. “You will make known to me the path of life…” As a body of believers, we must hold tightly to this. With everything we are we need to find hope in those words, refusing to give up when we feel lost. We often find ourselves searching for answers in the midst of hard battles and usually don’t know which way to go. That’s when the word of God takes over and breathes life into desolate circumstances.
Today, I want to encourage you with Psalm 16: 11 and remind you that the word of God is infallible. What is written in that book is truth in its purest form. God will make His path known to us when we seek Him with our whole hearts. It’s possible that we may not see with complete clarity along the way, but when we’ve arrived at our destination, and we will, His fingerprints will be all over the map of our land.
Friend, regardless of how you’re feeling today, seek His presence. You will find fullness of joy in that place. Seek His hand of direction over your life, there are pleasures there forevermore. The Psalms aren’t just sweet sayings meant to tickle your ears; they are words of life from the Father of love, light, and wholeness. Your path of purpose has been forged long before you arrived on this earth. Together, we will discover what this means throughout our October series.
Be encouraged today!
If you missed my post last week, you can find it here. If you have any questions or study topics to suggest, please leave a comment either here or on last week’s blog post. You can also email me at [email protected]
Be confident in His word. He will make your path known!
Love,
Jennifer
http://www.jenniferkostick.com
As of 7:30 this morning, summer at the Kostick home officially came to an end. The kids entered their little, yellow school bus carrying new backpacks heavy with classroom supplies. This is true evidence of fall, and it’s already nagging me to burn candles, and decorate with auburn colored leaves and pumpkins.
It’s hard for me to comprehend the movement of time. I often don’t realize how fast it’s ticking until my children’s pants are too short or new laugh lines on my face beg me to purchase a more effective night cream. Those are bitter-sweet truths I can count on. And speaking of the ever persistent tick of the clock, on September 19th, my blogging journey will hit the four year mark.
Over the last four years, we’ve talked aging, miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, and grief on so many different levels. I’ve shared what God speaks to me and how I’m working out my own salvation with fear and trembling. I’ve given you glimpses into my marriage, children, seminary journey, and book writing process. I’ve allowed walls of embarrassment to crumble and have been baptized in newfound freedom, which has come from exposing the tender pieces of who I am. And, even better, I’ve been able to learn about your tender pieces, too. Those of you who email, send messages, and leave comments in this space have blessed me with your very own stories. I pray for you regularly.
God made us to be relational; we need each other. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed all over the great, big blogosphere, talk about community and benches. We’ve been encouraged to sit with each other and talk openly from one heart to another. We’ve been told we’re enough because God is enough. I’ve spoken that truth myself. However, there’s something else I think we all need to recognize: we must do more than listen to each other. We need to listen to God. We have to start opening our ears to the God who wants to speak from His Spirit to our own. How do we do that? Through His word.
As we move forward together, more than anything, I want this space to be a place to rediscover the word of God. I want us to seek Him with determination. With my whole heart I believe that the only way to fight battles in this life is to learn who our God is, intimately. We can’t do that if we don’t know His word.
The word of God will change everything about who we are and how we determine our circumstances.
I’m preparing for an October series based on finding purpose through the word of God. Friend, I don’t want to do this by myself. I want to hear from you. What questions do you have concerning purpose? What passages of scripture do you want to study? What do you want to know about who God is? I’m not saying I have all the answers. There’s very big wisdom in three little words: I don’t know. BUT, I believe we can dig inside the Bible, together, and do our best to discover what we are seeking to find. I believe we can learn to listen to a God who wants to speak peace in areas of anxiety.
I would love it if you would leave a comment on this post with questions you’re hoping to find answers to, as well as biblical topics you would like us to study. What do you want to know about God? And, what are you longing to find out about yourself? If you don’t want to leave a comment, you can email me at [email protected], or message me on Facebook.
We are going to work on uncovering spiritual truths. Through it, I believe we will learn who God is, and in turn, learn who we are.
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
-Psalm 119:11
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Love,
Jennifer
Can we talk surrender? I know that deep inside this culture it seems like a bad thing when the white flag is raised high, or the sweaty towel is thrown in the ring. Surrender is usually declared when it’s time to end a hard fought battle. It comes after we’ve trained hard, taken painful punches, and even thrown a few of our own. That is why surrendering hurts so much. It means a painful loss. However, in Christianity, it is impossible to be victorious without, first, surrendering everything to the living God. Every dream, every hope, every desire must be given freely into the hands of the Almighty. Surrender means humility, and humility translates to grace.
We all need grace.
There isn’t a person breathing that doesn’t need the beautiful gift of grace.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
-Ephesians 2:8
When our faith skyrockets, His grace falls, and when the two collide there is nothing impossible. All things are possible with God. (See Mark 10:27) And, friend, it takes faith to surrender. It takes faith to tell God that you want what He wants. It takes faith to be able to handle answers from Him such as, no, or not now. It takes faith to be willing to lay aside your own heart and feelings for the sake of the way someone else feels. It’s only through His pouring grace that our souls can welcome surrender.
Humility and surrender are key in our walk with God. We can’t move forward until we’re ready to surrender everything it is we’re carrying. We tend to hold tightly to what we think we want or need, and sometimes we even hold tight to justification of our feelings. All of these things only end up making our arms heavy and succeed in nothing other than holding us back.
Today, I want to encourage you to surrender to God now. When you feel a dream well up or a desire form, surrender it. Surrender your marriages, children, and friendships to whatever it is God wants to do inside them. Say yes to the call of surrender in moments when your flesh rises up and you want to prove you’re right. Ouch, I know.
When we surrender every part of us to God, then grace falls from God.
Before the battle begins, there is something we can do. We can surrender to the will of God, let our faith rise, and watch His grace flow down.
Love,
