Fullfilled promises

I wrote yhis poem in 2003. Todays message at Church inspired me to read it again. I want to share it with you.

MARY

She was a young girl
With a heart of purity
She lived in Bethlehem
Her name was Mary

She was a poor girl
From a poor part of town
But in the Lord's eyes
She wore a robe and a crown

The Angel Gabriel brought her the news that day
And she said yes
And through her reputation away

Heavy, burdened
With a child in her womb
They searched and searched
But could find no room

So this Princess
Bore the King of Heaven
In a stable
With sheep, hay, and oxen

What she saw
Was so amazing that night
She saw her Saviour
Filled with majesty and light
Being worshiped, by Shepherds and Kings
How amazing, to be the Mother to THE KING

The barn was filled with God's presence
A mark of this young girls life
This lowly, hurting, young women
Witnessed, the birth of JESUS CHRIST

Today the message preached at City Central was about Christmas, but Jerry Fry ended the message with a profound statement. "Christmas isn't just about Jesus being born. It's about fullfilled promises."  How many of you are waiting on fullfilled promises?  I am. My ministry, a HUSBAND!  Ha ha ha.  I love this verse.  It is spoken by Elizabeth, when she sees Mary and John the Baptist leaps in her womb.  Luke 1:45 "Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"  This is a total woman power moment!! Two annointed sisters, sharing a Holy encouragement moment. How empowering!! I say to all my sistas out there, including me,  "Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"  God will answer our hearts desires, and bring to fruition our desires, gifting, talents and callings. He fullfills His promises!!

Perfect love cast out fear

I experienced perfect love that casts out fear this past weekend. I am an artist, and I had the wonderful opportunity to display my art by Pollie and Paul at Mousai Studios downtown Tacoma.  This past weekend they hosted a gala in my honor, to show of my art from the past 10 years.  It was a beautiful evening that I will never forget. My family and friends were all in the same place, at the same time. Everyone had fun and danced. I felt so beautiful and honored.  The perefect love that I experienced that night changed me.  I pray that everyone will press into God's good, pleasing, and perfect will, for when you experience it, there is no joy you can find elsewhere.  Perfect love comes from a pure heart, a sincere faith, and a good conscience. 

"The Power of Words"

My friend Laurie put together this amazing video to help me promote my anti-bullying campaign "The Power of Words." I am so excited to launch this campaign in a new way!!! The next step is to get this video in front of school counselors in Tacoma. My passion is that this would go state wide, then nationwide!!!

Jump off the merry-go-round

Lately I have been recognizing some deep seeded issues of rejection in my life. I know every human struggles with rejection, but for a long time, I've been letting it win. There came a point recently where I realized "this is holding me back, from eveything God has for me."  The pain of actual past rejection and the fear of anticipated rejection is keeping me stuck. Rejection is a wall that seperates you from true community.  It takes humility, forgiveness and bravery to push through it and love your fellow man.  I see rejection as a merry-go-round, at first it seems comforting, the round and round and round motion, but after a while you just want to either jump off, or barf .Also, the longer you stay on a merry-go-round, the faster it starts to spin.  It takes guts to jump off a fast spinning merry-go-round, and who can rescue someone from one.  So you have a choice, stay where there is no risk and spin round and round, or JUMP! My choice is to jump. I am going to do and say, all the things I have been holding back that have kept me from being an effective member of my community! I can't wait to see what will happen! Will you jump?

Wind in the sails

I was talking to my roommate tonight about the struggle of asking for help.  Asking for help is one of the most humbling things we have to do as humans. The fact that I have partial arms and legs means that asking for help comes with the territory. The truth is, we all have needs. The truth is God desires to meet our needs.  He does not desire that we would have a deficit in any area of our life, but so often we ask for help as though He wont answer. When we believe this, the only option is to meet our needs on our own, which leads to burn out.  It's like being in a sail boat and instead of turning the sails at full mast towards the wind, we grab oars and row like a maniac towards our destination. The truth is, the wind is there, and if you trust in the wind and turn your sail towards the wind, it will fill your sails and propell you forward to your destiny.  The point is you must turn toward Him and admit your need. He will answer, He will fill every part of your life, every area that you invite Him in.  Let Him fill your sails and rest in His will.

If You Say Go

The Rita Spinger song "If You Say Go" has spoken so deeply to my soul lately.

If you say go
We will go
If you say wait
We will wait
If you say step out on the water
And they say it can't be done
We will fix our eyes on you and we will come

This pretty much sums up where I am right now. I am in a season of change and transition, and with that comes a brutal war. When ever we step out to walk on water, fear, doubt and not to mention a big squal, comes against us.  But that doesn't mean it's not worth it. I say it is!  I desire God's full will for my life. I am stepping out on the water. I have a whole weeks vacation next week, which I had to fight very hard for.  I am using it to move my motivational speaking business forward. This is awesome and scary. I know that God will meet me.  Please pray for doors of opportunity to open wide!!

Heavenly Father

My Church had a 12 hour prayer and worship time. I went for a couple hours. This poem came to me.


HEAVENLY FATHER

Heavenly Father you are good
You know when I am tired and I need to rest
You know when I am hungry and need to eat
You know when I am thirsty and need to drink
You know when I am happy and need to dance
You know when I am sad and need to cry
You know the plans you have for me and how to fullfill them
Heavenly father you are good


By: Jenny Adams

Happy Birthday too me!

Hebrews 11:1   Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
I want to write about faith because lately mine has really been tested. I know that I'm not the only one. You may feel the same way right now.  I am about to turn 33 and every year since I turned 29 I freak out right before my birthday.  I start looking at all things I've been waiting to happen in my life. All the promises that I know God has whispered in my ear that have not been fullfilled yet.  The angst of this tension brings me to feel the need to hurry God's plan along. This leads to a lot of anxiety and rediculousness. This began to come upon me this year all over again, so one of my friends called me out on it.  She was like, "Jenny, you have this circular pattern in your life, why don't you just try something different this year? See what it's like to not freak out, but instead look at how far you HAVE come and celebrate who you are and where you are going." This sounds like a no duh, but it's really quite a revelation for me to absorb.  I'm heeding her advice.   I am learning that there is a begining, middle, and fullfillment of God's promises. The middle season is the hardest part to endure. The middle is where doubt and fear creep in. And questions like, is this really ever going to happen? When this fear and doubt creeps in we start to feel the need to make our hearts desires happen "MY WAY." Something I've noticed when I make things happen "my way", I end up on the dark side. Not fun. And then I make my way back to the light where I belong.  The truth is the middle season is what prepares us for the promise. The middle season is where we become a person who can handle God's best plan for us. We don't just passively wait, we actively wait. Participating in the process that leads to all the good stuff of life.  I have made a strong choice to wait on God's best, to stay in the light and to celebrate how far I've come!!

Treaure

Today has been a hard day.  I feel like I have colided into darkness.  I feel like I can't trust my feelings right now.  Right now the things that I treasure are being challenged. The Word says where are heart is, there our treasure lies. I feel that I treaure mans opinion of me over God's sometimes. I am such a diva, I crave attention and sometimes I'm willing to get it unhealthily.  I know that I love Jesus with all my heart and I want to be the woman He has called me too be. I am so thankful for grace. I need it in abundance now.  My desire is that God would resolve this tension.  I choose Him, above all else.  Where are your treasures? What is God challenging in your life?

Leave your Mother and Father

Genesis 1:24 "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

God says this, in the book of Genesis, right after the description of taking Adam's rib and forming Eve.  The reason why we should leave our Father and Mother, is to become whole. This blog entry is not about singleness and marriage, but about wholeness.  There are countless examples in the Bible of people leaving their family and discovering greatness. Joseph was abandoned by his brothers and rose to be Pharoah's right hand man.  Jacob stopped lieing and cheating when he finally cut the ambilical cord and he became Isreal.  Samuel was seperated from his mother at the age of 2 and became a powerful judge. Ruth was noticed and commended by Boaz, her future husband, for leaving her mother and father and coming to a foreign land.  Even Jesus himself left His parents to live out His ministry.  Jesus said, that His mother and father and brothers and sisters were the ones who do the will of God.  He also said that a prophet is without honor among his family and friends.  You see there is a greatness in all of us that cannot be un-earthed around people who are familiar with us.  For some it is a challenge to leave their parents due to circumstances; disability, financial hardship or GUILT.  I understand these challenges well. I have a disability and had every reason to think that staying with my family would be easier for me.  But from an early age I had a thirst for independence and adventure, and that is what drove me to leave my mother and father.  Now I am not saying you should completely abandon your family, but if you want to pursue greatness leave home.  I left home at 18 and I live a full life.  I have gone through so many challenges to get to where I am today. Some of these challenges were down right hellish, but I am thankful for every experience I've had because they have formed me into a strong woman.  I know who I am first, because God found me and breathed life into my soul, and second because I left home.  I left all that was comfortable and familiar and I found myself. I hope you will be inspired now to leave your comfort zone and become whole too. I have no arms and legs. What's your excuse?

Honor goes a long way

I am so blessed!! Something happened with my job recently that helped me realize how far honor and favor will take you.  I have been working for an Ad company for almost 1 year now. It is a job I get to do from home, which is a huge blessing!  It comes with its stresses though. I have to make Ad sales with my Co-worker and Rep, Daniel. If we don't make sales, we don't make money, which pays our bills. This job keeps me on my toes, but I'm so thankful for it! I am good at what I do and God's favor is on this job.  Now, as most of you know, I am a spit fire, and Daniel has put up with some of my craziness, and does so with great patients and tolerance and vice versa.  But at the end of the day, what makes our team work so well, is honor. There is a mutual trust and respect  that I have not experienced among co-workers thus far in my life. Recently, new management took over our team and was beginning to impliment a lot of contraints that involved us being micromanaged.  I HATE being micromanaged!! Daniel could tell it was distracting me, so he went to bat for me. He approached the company director and told him about our team work and how well we work together, and  requested that I would no longer be managed seperately from him. His request was granted because the director could see that we were trust worthy and productive on our own.  I am so thankful!!!  I know that it is honor and God's favor that has opened this door of blessings!!! I have peace and stability.  Honor goes a long way.

keep doing good

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 1st Peter 3:17    For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.


Tonight I had a realization.  I was feeling discouraged because I struggle with anxiety. I'm sure you can relate. But I just thought to myself, "why do I still feel so anxious when I believe in God? Shouldn't I be anxiety free because of my faith?" I think many of us think  when we turn our lives over to God, then suddenly our life will just be good with no suffering, otherwise whats the difference whether or not we do good, if we don't reap the benefits of  the good we are doing? The truth is, we do reap the benefits. Even though we suffer in life, whether we do good or evil. If we do good, and continue to steadfastly do good, we reap a harvest.  A harvest of good fruit; changed lives, better communities, healthy families, a healthy sense of self.... the list goes on.  So even though there is no remedy for suffering, continue to do good. It's worth it!!

By the waters edge

Tonight I went to the waterfront, which is something I do often during the summer. Accept this time, I had a new experience! A very envigorating one. Normally, I go and sit on the edge of a cement dock in the middle of the water front, but every once and a while a strange man in spandex will be at that particular dock. He plays 80's and 90's dance music and spins around a self-made obsticle course on roller skates. STRANGE! I always get a bit proturbed when I see him at my favorite spot. He was there tonight. So, I had to go elsewhere to find my peace and quiet, which ended up being spectacular!! I found this little inlet with sand and rocks, and I actually scooted through the sand on my bottom and climbed down a few rocks to the waters edge. (with partial limbs mind you. Yeah I'm cool like that ; ) I was literally sitting inches from the water. The tide was high and the water kept playfully splashing me. I sat there for a looooong time. I have seen the fish jump at dusk, but this time I saw fish jumping inches from my face!  AND!!! I saw a seal inches from my face. But dag nab it!! As soon as the seal showed up, so did this couple with small children, the Dad has a cigarette in his mouth and started yelling at his kids which scared the seal away. Oh if looks could kill! I'm a good Christian gal, but please don't EVER be "that guy." Anyway..... moral of the story, sometimes circumstances push you outside of your comfort zone, but if you embrace change, you may find yourself amazed and looking at the same thing in your life, but with a closer, more intimate vantage point. Oh and don't mess with what is sacred by being inconciderate.

Shedding skin

All of us have done things we are not proud of. All of us have been or currently are a version of ourselves that we don't like. Shame is a part of being human, we all fall short. 6 months ago I was in a very dark place. But just today I was thinking, "I like who I am." Getting to a place where I can say that has taken a lot of wars won by truth and a decision to let God win. Acts 3:19 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."  Repentence is such a gift. It is refreshing. It's like a snake shedding its skin, becoming new. I'm sure snakes never look back on the skin they sloughed off and say, "I want to carry my dead skin around with me." No they leave it behind and shine with newness. So should you!! We are taken from glory, to glory, to glory, with every yes we say to God. Yes, I will face my fears. Yes, I will obey you! Every time we say yes, and repent of an unsavory mindset, or lifestyle, or attitude, we sluff off the grime and filth and "dead skin", and we get shinier and newer. And we then become a version of ourselves that we like very much!!! Shine on!!

Just believe

I think sometimes when we are waiting for something to happen in our lives, it is easy to get caught up in, am I doing enough? I love the verse John 6:29 ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” The context of this verse is that Jesus had just fed the 5,000 the miracle bread and they were coming to ask for more. So He tells them to work for eternal bread, instead of bread that goes moldy. They then ask, "how can we do the work for eternal bread?" and He says,  “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  This strikes me deeply. Often times, with having a physical disability, I can struggle with feeling like I'm not "doing" enough, or "working" enough. But if the work of God is to believe, I can do that. Anyone can do that!!! Believing in Jesus Christ is the wind in our sails to DO great things.

Be still

In life we all have a choice, either to move forward or to stay comfortable.  I have realized, simply by watching others live their lives, that some people breath air, but never really live.  This "life death" can come in 2 forms. One, a person just lives out their daily routine; goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, watches TV and goes to bed. Then one day that wake up in the latter part of their life and realize they never really lived. The second kind of "life death" happens when a person does not love themselves, so they run after approval from others.  They never really sit still long enough to take life in, for fear that their own thoughts will catch up with them and they will lose the rat race for approval. I tend to struggle with the 2nd kind of death, but I am learning more than ever how to really live. I love to skateboard at the waterfront. I sit on the skateboard and push with my left small foot. When I was younger I was so antsy and self consumed that I could not sit still. But through trials in my life; dealing with the stresses of living life as a single woman with a disability with a great drive for life, I have learned the importance of sitting still and just being.  So I go to the park, the waterfront or my room and just read, breath, take in the beauty of life. That is where there is true peace. While I was at the waterfront tonight, I watched fish jump out of the water to catch bugs. I realized that the fish who jump the most, catch the most bugs. I want to jump and jump and jump and catch the most bugs/ opportunities in life. I hope you will too!  Truely living comes through a balance of doing and being.

Offerings

I am entering a season of transition, which I feel happens every Fall. Everything changes! Summer is my favorite time of year. I wish it would never end, but inevitably it will.  As will the seasons of my life which transition into new seasons.  I have very little to complain about. I have a beautiful home and a lovely roommate, a church family, and dear friends. But I struggle with anxiety and change surfaces it. I'm sure many of you can relate.  Right now I can't sleep, it eludes me because I have so much on my mind.  This next step in  life is huge. I am planning on marketing my Motivational Speaking business, SHIFT, and getting a modified van, coming up very soon. These are dreams I have had since middle school, and they are coming true. But not with out a cost. I love the verse at the very end of 1st Samuel. David says of his burnt offering. "I will pay for my burnt offering, for I will not give an offering to the Lord that cost me nothing."  Exactly. Every offering of our life to God has a cost. But it is so worth it!!