Hi friends, I hope to be back soon. Today is hopefully my last day on pain pills and yesterday I had my last surgery to deal with the all the complications from my first surgery! Until then, my wise husband has banned me from the internet before I say something totally loopy. Now I asked Mary Kate to share her 1% change story, but she was way too kind to me with her words, so skip over those parts and just praise the Lord for how He helps shape and shift us.
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When my pastor is on vacation, I get so sad. I love to hear him preach and hearing anyone else is only secondary. So, when you feel that way reading this guest post -- FEEL FREE! We are all ready for Ms. Jessi to get back to writing - especially on pain meds :)
So intro... my name is Mary Kate, married to an absolutely amazing, incredibly sacrificial, gorgeous, godly man, Jayson. We've been married 2 years and I'm still amazed that God would give such a man to me. I'm a public school teacher of preschoolers with autism and love working with families and children with special needs. Jayson and I don't have any children yet and are on the journey to becoming foster parents. We love children and hope to have a house full of adoptive, biological, and foster children one day (dream big right!?!?! said as my husband takes a deep breath :)). We long to honor Jesus and walk down the path to which he has called us.
I found her blog through a friend who tweeted about Glory having seizures. When I read that Jessi had a daughter -- a young precious little girl -- who was having seizures, I began to pray daily for their entire family. God is so good and our Christian family so strong, that it didn't matter that I didn't know Jessi or may never meet her. I knew that my sister in Christ was going through an especially tough time and so I prayed hard. Fast forward a few weeks and I was able to see Jessi's heart through her blog. I was blown away. It is crazy beautiful for the Lord and his glory. She encouraged me so much in my walk with the Lord... and also challenged me - big time.
What I saw in her tweets and blog was her love of mornings -- even EARLY mornings and her love of scripture and coffee. I did my quiet time at night b/c "I'm not a morning person." I began thinking that when I become a mother, I want to have my devotions in the morning to start the day off right (ridiculous that I didn't see the need to start NOW, I know!). This past year the Lord has been teaching me so much about faithfulness and obedience. So, I decided that I'd try NOW - I'd get up in the mornings with scripture and coffee and a crazy love of Jesus. The only problem... I HATED coffee and mornings. But I LOVE JESUS and scripture. So I began to pray for a love coffee and a love of quiet mornings. I bought Peppermint Mocha creamer, Breakfast Blend coffee (b/c it looked the least like coffee) and opened up to one of my favorite books, Romans, and began my day. AND IT CHANGED MY LIFE. It has been over a month. I now love coffee (God can change whatever he wants), and I crave my early morning times before the world awakes. As I struggle with anxiety, it is these mornings that equip me to go to battle against it. Through my mornings with Jesus, I can feel him rejoicing over me with gladness, quieting me with his love, and singing songs over me... all day long. How I long for more of Jesus and less of me... even if that means more coffee and earlier mornings.
- My Morning Sanctuary
So there is my 1% change -- that literally changed my life. I'm thankful for Jessi's honesty, openness, and love of Jesus. I challenge you to begin your mornings before the world awakes with Jesus, coffee, and scripture and see how God reveals himself to you in new and real ways.
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