If you’ve followed along on my blog for a little bit, you know that this has been a year of change for us.
Last April the Lord proved Himself mighty, providing mind-boggling resources and connections that created an opportunity for me to record my first full-length album at Shane & Shane’s studio in Texas.
Last summer, we were expecting our third child, but the Lord’s will was to bring that little life to heaven sooner than we’d anticipated.
Then last fall, just months after my CD released, the Lord shifted our circumstances (gave Jason a new job) and lead our family of four out of state…out of the only place we’d ever called home, with a broad yet sure sense of His mission.
There are parts of a tapestry where the small details are being woven and it’s difficult to distinguish what is about to take shape, and then there are those parts where you begin to see the larger image emerge. I feel like we are coming into the latter part, bearing witness to God’s skillful hand in the tapestry of our lives.
I’m in awe of the way the Lord weaves the hearts of His people together. In our move to this new piece of geography, the Lord has connected Jason and I to amazing brethren, who, not-so-ironically, share our hearts for Jesus and His cause. But even cooler and more in God-fashion, these new friends share in our specific calling and vision as well. The Lord has placed the same burdens on our hearts, and we stand a bit wide-eyed as we listen to each other talk about His similar leadings in our lives.
“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” Psalm 133:1
We are beholding this very thing. And in the midst of it, another connection came out of [seemingly] nowhere…
A few mornings ago, I woke up to an e-mail from a sister in the Lord named Tessa. I’ve never met Tessa before and we live hundreds of miles from each other, but the Lord, in His unsearchable goodness has chosen this season to take threads of His work in each of our lives and weave them together.
Tessa shared with me that she’d heard my podcast interview with Kat Lee at InspiredtoAction.com back in January, and subsequently had been introduced to my music. During my interview with Kat, the Lord spoke to Tessa, gently leading her to write a bible study sharing His messages of love from the book of Hosea. Her e-mail to me was simply to ask if she could include God’s work in my life and music in her study.
I clicked over to her blog and got teary-eyed as I read all that the Lord had ministered to her. I was amazed to find that we are in similar places on our journeys with Jesus, and humbled that He used me in His crazy and mysterious ways to speak life into her soul.
I want to invite you to join me in going through Tessa’s study of Hosea.
It is so much more than a “study.” It’s like a key that unlocks the box we put God in, perhaps even a key that unlocks the box that WE live in culturally or religiously…maybe both. Reading her Hosea posts feels like breathing fresh air, stopping to rest, to listen, to ‘delight’ (Psalm 37:4) to be filled…
Here is a small excerpt from Tessa’s post introducing her Hosea study:
“He has shown me through the book of Hosea that I am well-pleasing to Him, that I am dearly loved and accepted, and that He desires my heart and not the things I can do for Him. He has shown me the meaning of faithfulness, kindness, and walking in a true knowledge of Him. He has shown me that right now my main job is to sit, abide, stay in His presence and to only act out of His Spirit’s leading.”
I’m incredibly blessed, honored, grateful to be a part of Tessa’s ministry in some small way. I believe Tessa’s hope (and mine as well) is that you would draw nigh to our Father God, and realize deeper the fullness of His presence and the wonder of His love.
Tessa’s first few Hosea Study posts are below:
Please feel free to share your experiences during the study in the comments below, or with Tessa directly. I’m sure she would be encouraged! Maybe God will do some more weaving amongst us yet.
Have a Spirit-rich day in Jesus!
Jen
