Queen Jen's Gems

Hi everyone! I'm back! I've missed you all! Before I share today's message with you, I need to share something with you. Since my last blog post about "Love," I've been going through one of the hardest seasons of my life. After a brief illness, my Mom passed away and went to be with the Lord on January 18. Continue to keep my family and I in your prayers. God continues to give us strength and joy in the midst of it all. For today's message...it's all about saying no. "No." It's a two letter word, yet it has so much power. "No" is a complete sentence all by itself. When someone says no, that means he or she is not accepting something, not agreeing with someone or something, or choosing not to do something. Saying no will cause different responses from different people. Some will be okay with it. Some will be confused by it, but then let it go. Some will question your "no" and want you to explain why you answered the w...

Valentine's Day, hearts, roses, and weddings are a few things that may come to mind when you think of love. All of those are related to love, but there's more. Love is something that should be shown every day and to all people. I Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us the perfect description of what love should look like. Before we take a closer look at these verses, let's talk about the greatest love that was shown. The greatest love shown was when God sent His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and wrongdoing (John 3:16). It didn't end there though because Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives! Can you imagine giving up your only son for everyone in the world?! That's exactly what God did. Now that's love! I'm so grateful for His love! Now let's get back to I Corinthians 13:4-8 where love is described in actions and attitudes. Love is an action word. Love is being kind to ourselves and others. Love needs to be shown in what we say and how we say ...

Places to go. People to see. Things to do. It seems like there's always something going on and not enough time to get everything done. Busy becomes your middle name! By the time you finally catch your breath, it seems like you have to get ready for the next day. 24 hours seem to go by real quick! We're all given the same amount of time. As busy as our lives are, it is so important that we take time to rest. I am constantly working on this and reminding myself of this all the time! Rest means being still and not doing anything. Rest is something we need every day. Our physical bodies needs rest. Our minds need rest. We can do so much that we are physically and mentally exhausted and our thoughts are running all over the place. When we're tired, we can't give and do our best. No matter what age we are, we all need our rest. I know we sometimes feel like we need to be doing something every minute of the day, but I've learned that this is not so. We can rest and it'...

Popularity? How many likes and follows you get on social media? Having lots of friends? Peace? Doing what's right and pleasing God? What really matters to you? It's a personal question that each of us has to ask ourselves daily. Looking at our priorities will help us see our answer pretty quickly. Priorities are what is important to us and what we pay attention to. When something is important to us, we make time for it. When someone is important to us, we check on them and spend time with them. In other words, we make time for them. It's our priorities that show what really matters to us. As Christians, our number one priority should be to live and please God. We should want to make Him proud in all that we do and say. Now, there's nothing wrong with being on social media, having nice possessions and hanging out with your friends. All of those can be nice! But, when they or the means to get them cause you to compromise your faith and not please God, then you need to loo...

Our mind is constantly in motion. Our thoughts are very powerful. We're always thinking about something! What we think about is what we tend to focus on. Every word and action starts as a thought. The more we think about something, the more likely the thought will lead to words and actions. However, it's up to us as to how long we let a thought stay in our mind. Our thoughts are good when they line up with the Word of God. Philippians 4:8 tells us exactly what we should be thinking about. The verse tells us that our thoughts should be true, noble, just, pure, lovely, things that are of a good report and things that are praiseworthy. Our thoughts should please God at all times. Now I know...there are times that we're going about our day and all of a sudden a wrong thought comes into our mind. We might think where did that come from. While we can't control all the thoughts that come in our mind, we can make a choice of how long it stays in our mind. Knowing the Word of Go...

Release means to let go, to be free. Release means no longer being bound or held down by something. When something or someone is released, they experience freedom. Have you ever seen doves be released into the sky before? Well, I have had the opportunity to see it before and it was a beautiful scene! The white doves were confined at first, but as soon as the person opened the cage, the white doves flew out and were all over the place in the sky. The doves were free to fly wherever they wanted. They were no longer bound to the cage they were in. We too have to learn to release in our lives. I have to constantly work on this every day! We have to let go of people that mean us no good. If the person is not helping us, we need to release them. We can still love them, but they don't have to be in our circle or in our crew. All connections are not healthy and God will show us what's healthy and what's not healthy. If the connections are one-sided and not helping us moving forward...

A moment is a specific point in time. It's right here, right now. Now, I know there is a lot that goes on in our day and around us. I know there can be a lot of distractions and noise that surround us. Even with all of that, we still have to make the best of each moment we're given. Life is made up of moments and we need to cherish every moment we have. Once the moment passes, we will never get it again. That's why it's so important to cherish every moment of life. I've learned that it's not only important to cherish moments, but we should cherish the people that share those moments with us. As I've lost many loved ones along the way, I can look back and realize how important those moments were. I miss my loved ones a lot who are no longer here. When I think about the moments I had with them, they make me smile, laugh and cry. Through it all, I am so grateful for every moment I had with them! So you know how you can take pictures with a camera and moments ca...