Queen Jen's Gems

 Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you." Three words. All involve action. Something we should do often and daily. Ask. Seek. Knock. Let's look more closely at each word. Ask is our first word. We ask a lot of questions about a lot of different situations that range from a particular topic or belief, situations going on in our personal lives, and events happening in the world around us. The only way to find out more about something is to ask questions to others. We could miss out on something important if we don't ask questions because it could be helpful and change our whole perspective. Let's ask questions when reading the Scriptures, such as what a word means, why it was written a certain way, and how we can use it in our daily lives. Let's ask God questions because we can know He will give us what we need when we need it. We all need help and shouldn't be afraid to ask. I've...

 When it comes to life, you may have heard this question before: "Do you see the glass half empty or half full?" Now I have heard the question before and I have always wondered what it meant. When I first heard the question, I thought that I'm a positive person and try to look on the bright side of things so I see the glass half full. But then I saw a quote not long ago that challenged my thinking. The quote talked about how it doesn't matter if you see the glass as half empty or half full, but that the glass is refillable. I thought, "Wow! I never thought of it that way before!" It changed my whole perspective on that question. I see the glass representing our body. The Bible talks about in I Corinthians 6:19-20 how our body is a temple and that we should honor God with our body. We honor God with our body by taking care of it. We watch what we put in it. We watch what we do with it. We make sure that it doesn't break down. Burnout can happen quickly to...

 2020. A year that took us out of what we considered to be "normal." What we thought was going to be one or two weeks of working from home turned into a year (or more for many!) of working at home. What we thought was going to be a few weeks away from gathering inside the church building turned into over a year of connecting on Zoom, conference calls, social media, and drive in services. Schools have changed the way instruction takes place with either virtual, in person or both. For those of us who work in education, we had no idea that day in March  would be the last day we would see students in person for months to a year. Businesses changed hours and shut down temporarily and had to adjust the way they reached their clients and customers. Time spent with family and friends looked different (and still does!). The way we connect with people in general has changed. We have had to meet new people in different and creative ways by virtual or safely and social distancing in pers...

 But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 In reading the verse above, there are two words I want to examine more closely. Those words are soar and eagles. To soar means to fly and rise above. Eagles are powerful birds that can be spotted flying in the sky as well as sitting high on the tree branch. We'll talk a little later about different characteristics of eagles. Eagles do soar, but so can we as humans. When we soar, it means we go above and beyond to help others or complete a task at hand. We can soar above whatever challenging situation comes our way. Soaring requires us to be different and usually do something we've never done before. Soaring will require us to step out of the box. Doing something new and different can be scary, but the only way we can begin to soar is to step out and try. Think about the first time you rode your bike, spoke ...

 We've all done it. We're all supposed to do it. We should do it every single day. We should do it before and after exercise. You may be wondering what it is I'm talking about. I'm talking about stretching! Stretching is good to do when you've been sitting down for a long time. You can wake up those muscles so they don't get stiff. Stretching is also good before and after exercise because it warms up the muscles and prevents injury from happening. In today's Bible story found in Matthew 12:9-13, we see stretching had to take place. At the time, Jesus was at the church. While at the church, He saw a man with a shriveled hand (v.9-10). The word shriveled means to shrink. In other words, the man's hand was small in size. But I love how Jesus handled the situation! He didn't ask the man questions or judge him because of his abnormalities. Instead, He showed compassion to him and wanted him to be healed. Now at the time this was going on, there were churc...

 Does this phrase sound familiar? Perhaps it came from a boss, coach, Mom or Dad or someone else in authority. Perhaps you were dreading the talk and thinking the worst. Maybe you weren't thinking the worst and knew it was going to be good. You were looking forward to the talk! In any case, talking can be good. It's good for getting out feelings, concerns, questions, desires, needs. Talking can also be healthy. It's not good to keep everything bottled up inside. Talking it out isn't always comfortable, but it's necessary. Now we can't talk to everybody about everything. We have to know what to say, when to say it, and who to say it to. Proverbs 13:3 says, "The one who guards his mouth protects his life; the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin." Based on the talks, actions can be taken for growth, change, and improvement. When certain talks don't happen, it can lead to disastrous results. Assumptions happen when there's no talk. Relation...

 Noises. They're everywhere! We hear it in music, television news, videos, traffic, conversations, nature. All of these noises share a common factor: sound. Some sounds are louder and some are softer. No matter the volume, the sound grabs our attention. When hearing the sound, we turn in the direction of it. Different sounds play a different role. Some sounds alert us to danger while others are calming. They can have short-term or long-term effects. Depending on the environment, we can't always control the sounds we hear (like birds chirping outside), but we can choose how long we listen to it and our attitude towards it. Sometimes we can hear too much noise and it blocks out what's really important. Silence is okay - I'm learning  that more and more! In general in society, silence is rarely valued, especially in conversations. In college, I took a communication class and we talked about how many people don't like to pause in conversation and that it is seen as awkw...