Queen Jen's Gems

 Memories. Memories can bring smiles, laughs, and cries. Memories can bring moments of hurt, reflection, curiosity, frustration and disappointment. Memories can bring moments of heartache and what-ifs, but also future possibilities and dreams. Memories. They are always with us! I know all memories don't feel good and some we don't even like to think about or talk about. Even in the hurtful memories, we can know God was there with us. Today, I want us to think about all the things God has done for us 💜. Let's have a "remember when" about God. In the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible, there is a whole chapter that is titled "Do Not Forget the Lord." That is in Deuteronomy chapter 8. In this chapter, God is reminding his people the Israelites of how he kept them and brought them out of the wilderness after 40 years. He reminded them of the manna bread he provided for them to eat (v. 2-3). Now, here's the next reminder that blows my mind EVERY single tim...

 In many families, different items are passed down from one generation to the next, such as recipes, jewelry, household items, and clothing. Physical possessions are good to pass down as they can be special and valuable to the family 😊. However, I started thinking about other things that can be passed down to generations after reading a particular Bible verse a while ago. The Bible verse is Judges 2:10 that says, "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Isreal." First of all, that is a very sad and heartbreaking state to be in. That's a whole generation! That's a lot of people that didn't know God! You see, right before this verse, Joshua (a faithful leader of the people of Isreal) had passed away. After that, a whole generation did not know the Lord and did evil and forgot about God. The verse really had me thinking! In addition to passing down material posses...

 Hello everyone! Here we are...halfway through September 💛! September has been moving quickly! As I reflect over my September so far, I want to give you a peek into some moments I have experienced. I've learned in life not to take any moment for granted. Since I last blogged, it seems like so many people have passed away, whether from sickness or unexpected situations. My heart goes out to all as it's a reminder that no moment is promised (James 4:15), so we have to be grateful for the one we're in. My September started with supporting one of my sister friends at a Grieving with Faith workshop session she presented at. It was so powerful! It was also uplifting and helpful! Yes, I still grieve. Yes, I have moments when I cry and think about my loved ones I miss. Yes, I have moments when I smile and laugh thinking about the memories and conversations I had with my loved ones who are no longer here. Yes, grieving is an ongoing process. I learned so much and was reminded at th...

 Life always brings the unexpected. Some things may be good, while others may seem like an inconvenience. When the unexpected occurs, it can be easy sometimes to look at all the things that are going wrong or could be better. However, what about the things that are going right? Since I have last blogged, the unexpected has definitely happened in my life!! For example, the weekend right before school started, my cell phone died. Just out of nowhere as I was using it, the screen went black. When I tried to turn it back on, it only got as far as the start-up screen. Now, I did have the cell phone for 5 years, so it served me well and I loved its camera 💚! So, I'm grateful for that. Now, I love my new phone features and camera. New isn't always bad 😊. My cell phone going out happened right after another household expense had to be taken care. Yet, I still had to remind myself in the midst of a trying end of August, I still had so much to thank God for! There were still things goi...

 Seeing Friday may make you smile because you're thinking that it's your favorite day of the week or it indicates your weekend is about to start. You also might be thinking it's not Friday yet (or it could be when you read this!). I use this phrase as I'm sure many of you have 😊. Some of you may even say Fri- Yay!! Happy Friday has a very special meaning to me and that's what I want to share with you today. I want to share with you about two special people I worked with. One of them is my teacher friend who teaches at another school district now. The other individual has unfortunately passed away as he was the custodian at our school, Mr. Boo. I was a teacher assistant alongside my teacher friend for a while and it was great! We had so many laughs and good memories working with the students, and I learned so much 💚! When I started working with students in a specialized reading program, I moved to a class next door to my teacher friend. We continued to make wonderf...

 Just like any season, we know summer will end soon. For those of us in education, our summer break has ended or will end very soon. When we look back over our summer, we may think about the fun times we had. I am so grateful for the fun times I had this summer💛. You may also look over your summer and think about all the memories you made. Who says the fun has to stop?! It may have to look a little different and can't be at 1pm on a Tuesday because of your work schedule. Yet, we can still make sure we are scheduling time for fun 😊. We can make sure we are still taking time to do things we enjoy and help us to stay healthy in all areas of our life. On my summer break, I started doing my walks first thing in the morning. I loved it- fresh air, sunshine and physical movement to start the day (especially on those hotter days before it got even hotter!). I also loved sitting on my porch in the morning and read my book. One morning, I even read and studied my Bible devotional outside, ...

 When we think about the number three, a few things may come to mind. In sports, three medals are given in competitions when the participants win - gold, silver, and bronze. In basketball, there is a three-point line. In baseball, after three strikes, a player is out. In our country, we have three branches of government- executive, legislative, and judicial. On debit and credit cards, there is a 3-digit number known as Card Verification Value (CVV) that can prove the authenticity of the card. We also can find the number three in the Bible, such as when Jonah had to spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a fish, when Peter denied Jesus 3 times, and when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness 3 times. The number three is often associated with being complete. In thinking about the number 3 in my post today, I want to focus on the three disciples that Jesus took with him to see certain things and went with him in certain situations. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. Durin...

 Asking questions helps us to reflect on ourselves and the world around us. Lots of questions can be found in the Bible. Today, I focus on one of the questions found in the Old Testament in the Bible. It's found in I Kings 19 😊. That chapter may sound familiar to some as that's the chapter I preached from when I did my initial sermon. Let me tell you, this chapter won't let me go and that's a good thing! In the chapter, we find God asking Elijah a question. Elijah is a man of God who is a prophet, one who is a messenger from God who shares future events. In this particular chapter, we see Elijah is in a low place because he is the only one of God's prophets left and the king's wife has threatened his life. Therefore, he is on the run for his life and is in a cave at the mountain of Horeb. It's there that God finds him (God knew he was there anyway!) and asked him the question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (v. 9). Elijah gives God an honest a...

 We have lots of ways to hear information about what's happening around us. There's email, text, letters, phone calls, face to face interactions, social media, word of mouth, and the Internet, just to name a few 😊. Sometimes, what we hear is true and reliable, while other times it is questionable and may not be true. We have to check the sources because some sources are more reliable than others. Information that has gone through several people may not be correct by the time it reaches you. That's why it's always important to check the source the minute someone says, "Let me tell you what I heard." I have used this phrase before, so this message is checking me too! Not only do we need to check the source, but we also need to check what we're listening to and why we're listening to it. Is what we're hearing going to help or tear down? Is what we're hearing going to add value or take from it? Is it positive or negative? Is it encouraging or disc...

 At some point in your life, you may have seen a package with these three words: handle with care. The contents inside are fragile and need to be handled gently. The items are not to be thrown around carelessly or be to run with as they could shatter if dropped. The package must be handled with care. Just like the packages we have received, our lives should be handled with care. Others' lives should be handled with care also. Our lives are valuable, precious and very important😊. We need to be careful how we treat ourselves. We should be kind to ourselves always 💖. We should also be careful how we treat others. Our actions and words can hurt, so we have to choose them wisely. We all have been the recipient or giver of words and actions that hurt at one time or another. Therefore, we have to be intentional with our words and handle them with care. We should also handle our faith with care. Our faith in God should never be taken lightly. We should ask God daily to help us in our fai...

 Growing up, I used to love puzzles 😊!! I loved putting together puzzles of different sizes and different scenes. Some evenings, you could find my family and me in our living room working on a puzzle. While doing the puzzle, there would be laughter and conversation 💚. There would also be moments of frustration of not finding the right piece and moments of false hope when we thought we had the right piece, but it was not. I loved the time spent together as we made so many good memories! Seeing the final picture of the puzzle made it even more special. When the pieces are scattered all over the place, it may be difficult to see how it all comes together to form the picture. Sometimes, you may not know where to start putting together the puzzle. Some people look for the corner pieces, while others may just find pieces that look like they go together and go from there. I do more of the latter 😊. Eventually, all of those smaller pieces are going to connect to form a bigger picture. I...

 We have been blessed to see another day of life. Praise God for that 😊! Life itself is a gift and is precious 💝. For that reason alone, every day of the year should be treated as a special occasion. Yes, there are certain holidays that are set aside on the calendar to celebrate. Yes, we have birthdays, weddings, baby showers, anniversaries, retirements, and other momentous occasions to celebrate. Holidays and special moments are a great time to celebrate and enjoy the moment. Yet, what happens to all of the other days? We can celebrate and be grateful for every moment. Every day we have a reason to give thanks to God 💝. Why wait to get your hair and nails done when it's for a special occasion? Of course, you want to look nice for a special day, but you can do that any day, and it can still be special. Why wait to wear your favorite shirt or outfit? Why wait to wear the pop of color? I love to wear my pop of color 😊. Why not wear it now? We don't have to wait until a holida...

 I know...we do a lot of moving in our day! We can get a lot of steps in and that's a good thing 😊. Intentional physical movement throughout our day helps us to move our muscles and body and stretch.  Leading up to summer break, I moved to a new classroom. I'm still teaching 6th grade English, but in a different classroom. There was lots of back and forth movement to take items from my old class to my new class on the back hall. With lots of help, I got moved in! Even in the back and forth between the halls, I reminded myself to sit and stand for a minute. It was okay to be still. God worked everything out! It's the same in our lives. God will work everything out! Yes, there are times and moments that we need to move and be intentional about it. Yet, we also need to have moments of intentional stillness. We need moments where we sit and stand still. This could be in the morning, afternoon, or night or during all three times. Whenever we choose to have that moment, it's...

 We have made it to the month of June 💛! Praise be to God!! He has been with me every step and moment of the way. I am so grateful!! As we enter into this second half of the year, I can take a glance back at the first half of my year and be grateful. God was with me in the ups and downs, hurts and healing, trying times and triumphs. I'm forever grateful for the moments spent with family and friends 😊. I'm forever grateful for the laughs, encouragement, conversation and connections. I'm forever grateful for the memories I have made so far. I'm forever grateful that I was able to start my own little free library in March. Every day, I look out the window at Jen's Little Free Library like a child at Christmas time 😀. Every time I look at it, I think about how God blessed me and allowed me to have it. I'm forever grateful for every book donation and individuals who have stopped by my library. You are very appreciated💚! I'm forever grateful that I was able to...

 Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month. Today 😊.  What's important right now? When we look at the definitions of the word important, it means to have great value, something that is necessary and worthy of special attention. So, let's think about today. What needs our attention now? I know our days get really busy and twenty-four hours seem to go by really quick! We're almost at the end of May. May is flying by! For educators like myself, we are getting close to the end of the school year. For others, you may be getting close to end of a quarter or deadline at your job. For all of us, we will be stepping into the season of summer in mid- June 💛. With that, there are decisions to make, planning to do and things to wrap up. It can be a lot, so it's important to ask ourselves what's needed now. I'm asking myself this question a lot lately! I'm looking at my to-do list and calendar events like where do I start at. I try to look at what is happening first ...

 One of my absolute favorite TV shows of all time is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 💗😊!! That show warms my heart so much!! I love seeing how a team of individuals come together to renovate a house for a family in a week. I love hearing the stories of each family as they are so encouraging. Just thinking about the chant "Move that bus" right before the big house reveal still brings happy tears to my eyes. During the building process, a lot can take place as progress would be right on time, but there could also be delays. I remember watching episodes where storms took place and deliveries were not on time, which pushed the progress back. Through all of that though, the team always managed to finish the renovation 😊. Another construction project comes to my mind that can be found in the Bible in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah got word that the wall of Jerusalem had broken down (Nehemiah 1:3). It weighed on his heart, so he prayed to God about it (Nehemiah 1:5-11). Then, he a...

 Have you ever made plans, and it worked out exactly as you planned it? Have you ever made plans, and it didn't work out like you thought it would? Have you ever made plans that didn't work the way you thought it would, but it turned out even better than you thought?! We may be able to answer yes to one or all of the questions above. Plans can be defined as a set of intended actions designed in advance to achieve a goal. Life has taught me that plans can be made, but they are subject to change. Making plans can be good, but we also have to be open to be flexible and adjust as needed. Today, I want to remind us that God has a plan for each and every one of our lives 😊. He sees and knows everything. He's been with us every step of the way and will continue to be with us 💗. In the Bible, I want to take us to journey through the book of Exodus where we find that God had a plan for a man by the name of Moses. In Exodus 1:22, we see Pharoah (leader of Egypt at the time) giving ...

When something is glowing, we notice it. When something is glowing, it catches our attention. When something is glowing, it cannot be hidden. A glow symbolizes light and warmth 😊. This past weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Women's Tea and be one of the speakers at the tea. The theme of the tea was "Women Who Remarkably Shine." I was so grateful and honored to attend the tea. The tea was an amazing and beautiful gathering of women who uplifted and encouraged one another! It had been a long time since I had attended a tea, so I loved every minute of it 💕! At the tea, I shared a little bit about me being a blogger, author, teacher, newspaper columnist, and little free library owner 😊. I also shared how I currently serve at my church as a Youth Leader and Youth Bible Study and Sunday School teacher. I also shared how I am in the process of a new chapter at my church- Minister in Training. I am so grateful for all God is doing and will do in my life 😊! Go...

 We have made it to spring! I am so grateful 😊!! With the spring season brings warmer temperatures, longer days, flowers blooming, and animals coming out of hibernation. The start of spring also marks Quarter 2 of the year. Can you believe it?! We have already seen three months of the year already! Take a moment and reflect back on January, February, and March. When I look back, I can see how God blessed me with amazing experiences 💗! I also had challenges and trying moments that God brought me through. As I think about a new season, I think about new beginnings and new starts. Seeds that were planted in other seasons may start being visibly seen in growth. Spring is a great reminder to reset and begin again 😊. I had not been doing a lot of decluttering lately, but I got back into it recently. I reminded myself not to get overwhelmed, but do a little each day (5-10 minutes) like I was doing before. We just finished Quarter 3 of school, which is a great milestone! Quarter 4 will ...

 Hello everyone! We have made it to the end of March 😊.  Praise God! This month, I have been highlighting different women in the Bible, and I have been loving it 💗! I started with Esther, who was a voice of hope for her people. Then, I highlighted Elizabeth, who was favored and faithful to God. Next, I highlighted the widow who was a heartfelt giver 💗. Today, I want to highlight a woman in the Old Testament. Today, I want to highlight Miriam 😊. Miriam was Moses and Aaron's sister. Miriam watched baby Moses when he was in a basket on the Nile River (Exodus 2:1-10). Later, when Moses was leading the people out of Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea, Miriam led the people in praising God. Praise is to say something good about someone else. We have a lot we can praise God for as we can start with the fact that we woke up this morning. That's one reason 💗! In Exodus 15:20-21, we see Miriam leading the people with a timbrel (our modern tambourine) and dancing and the women follo...