Jen Russum

Ten

Ten

Today I'm supposed to "sell" myself in ten words. I really hate selling anything, but I happen to be really good at it for some reason. From top cookie sales in my Girl Scout troop to my time spent as a sales associate at Nordstrom, I have always been really good at getting people to buy {or buy into} things. I think it's because I hate selling, so I have a helpful, but no pressure attitude that puts people at ease. Anyway, today I am supposed to talk about myself, which seems lame and arrogant. But then I think about how God has given me a unique personality and specific gifts to use for His glory, so here it goes... Communicator Polished Relational Encouraging Inquisitive Persuasive Rational Organized Busy Determined Friends, do you agree? Would you add to or change any of the traits on this list? How would you describe yourself? ... Read more

My Favorite Moment

My Favorite Moment

Oops. On May 8th, I never found time to blog. Oh well! It just so happens I was very busy yesterday doing other things like... putting in offers on houses to buy {!!!} and building our baby registry. Funny story: Micah called and emailed me at 8:06am - six minutes after his work day started - to tell me he needed a link to our baby registry for his co-worker by 11am. Why the deadline? I have no idea. Our baby is not due for another four months, and my baby shower is six weeks away. Earlier this week I started a tentative registry on Amazon, but that was it. Suddenly I had this strange deadline, and I had a feeling I needed to send a list from a store you can actually walk inside of, so I frantically built Target and Babies R Us registries over the next two hours and sent the links to Micah's work before 11am. If you are interested, you can see the registries here {Amazon, Target, Babies 'R' Us}. They are still a work in progress and we haven't figured out which stroller we want yet, but I like the way they are turning out so far. They are basically a compilation of many different bloggers "top ten" baby item lists... because who would I trust for registry advice more than a mommy blogger, right? :) Thankfully, I can easily combine yesterday's and today's posts into one... My number one piece of advice is always the same... read the Bible {in the morning} every day. Nothing will change your life more. A snapshot of my favorite time of day... If you are a believer, but you don't read the Word of God daily, you are missing out on so much. You are neglecting a gift wrapped and waiting for you. God has promised us that His Word is active, powerful, and good {Hebrews 4:12}. He has so much to teach us and so much encouragement for us... if we will only open up those pages and read. If you read your Bible every now and then, I urge you to try reading every day, even if it's just for five minutes {or even two minutes if that's all you can manage}. You will start to yearn for more, I promise. And if you can, read in the morning. No matter how tired you are or how much you have to adjust your schedule to make it work, you will never regret rising early to be in the Word. There is no sweeter start to the day, and you will find God's Spirit dwells with you more richly throughout the day, long after you are done reading. The Spirit will make you more sensitive to the needs of others, give you hope when you are discouraged, give you the strength to deny temptation, and tell you when to speak boldly and when to be silent obediently. And if  you aren't a believer, but are wondering about God... Who is He? Is He real? Is He trustworthy? Is He worth your time? I urge you, also, to read the Word. Pick up a Bible and turn to the book of Matthew, John, or Philippians and start reading. Read for a minute or five or ten each day, and take a good long look at who Jesus is and what He has done for mankind. And if you have questions about what you read, find a Christian friend to talk to. And, if in doubt, you can always email me. I love talking about the Bible, in case you haven't noticed... A quick disclaimer: Please don't think I'm just some freak-of-nature righteous person who came out of the womb reading the Bible {although if my own child does that, I wouldn't be mad about it}. My own journey with reading the Word is messy too. I used to read inconsistently and when I did it was usually in bed at night as I was {literally} falling asleep. When we were dating, Micah challenged me to start reading the Bible in the morning, and I responded with, "I can't." I had a list of excuses about being a teacher and having to get up before dawn, and being a night owl who reads, writes, and thinks better in the PM, etc. etc. But I finally I buckled and said I would try it... and I promised to read the Bible for a minute each morning before work {I literally agreed to one minute... as in sixty seconds}. But I was faithful to that minute and before I knew it a minute turned into five and now I get sad if I don't have a full 20-30 minutes to sit down and be in the Word  each morning. If you are interested, you can read more about my journey in learning to LOVE God's Word here. Or you can just start the journey yourself... ... Read more

Life and Death

Life and Death

Apparently, Blog Every Day in May means I share my thoughts on God every single day... And I'm okay with that. In fact, I really like it. Today I am supposed to talk about my greatest fear, but I honestly cannot think of anything that I am seriously afraid of. I have my normal, quirky fears... spiders, bees, and most bugs, eye and neck injuries, getting my blood drawn {but I'm getting really good at it thanks to pregnancy}, and probably my weirdest fear.... the feel of polyester... but only the wispy semi-transparent kind that about 75% of today's trendy clothing for women is made out of. Ick! It makes me cringe. I guess I should admit that I have a tiny bit of anxiety over pregnancy and caring for a newborn - you know... those fleeting thoughts about stillbirth, birth defects and SIDS.... or even the pain of breastfeeding. But, honestly, they are really fleeting thoughts. Mostly, I trust the Lord and thank Him for an amazing pregnancy thus far. But I used to be afraid of something. I used to be afraid of death... even after I became a Christian and believed I was going to heaven. My brain knew, "You believe in Jesus. You will live with Him in heaven forever. Heaven is better than earth, so you have nothing to fear." But my heart didn't really, really believe it. Death seemed scary and unknown and eternity with God seemed uncertain. But about five years ago something happened that removed my fear of death forever. And that something was the GOSPEL. Up until age 25, I always considered myself a Christian, and, in fact, I think I was. I had faith in Christ. I believed only He could save me from my sin. And I tried, though often failed, to obey God. That's what my life looked like on paper at least, but my heart was a big mess of trampling on God's grace while not really understanding His endless love for me or the true beauty of His Son's sacrifice on my behalf. The result was constantly working to earn God's favor {which is impossible, by the way}, sweeping my ugliest sins under the rug, and feeling so much confusion over life and death and God's love. But then I was freed from all of it. The futile striving to earn God's love, the need to hide my sin, and the fear of death. It was all gone. Because on one beautiful July day {actually it was cloudy and rainy and gross, but it was the most beautiful day of my life for sure}, Christ made his love so abundantly clear to me. The truth of the Gospel penetrated me so deeply that my mind and my heart could understand in unison who God is and how much He loves me in Christ. Although the moment itself was instantaneous,  it actually occurred at the end of one of the hardest years of my life - a year spent in loneliness and confusion and humility while I wrestled with God and cried a lot and spent time in His Word before dawn every day, not having any idea what He was trying to teach me. But in July, the lesson was finally learned. Christ loves me. Unconditionally. Always. And my whole life is a response to that love. I don't obey because I have to; I obey because I love Christ {because He loved me first}. I don't share my faith because I have to; I share because I know how good Jesus is and I want everybody to know Him like I do. My sins, while horrendous {horrendous enough for someone to have to die on my behalf}, are gone. They are taken away and I am washed clean. I can draw near to a holy God every single day without punishing myself or groveling beforehand. He loves me. I am His daughter. And because of this I am no longer afraid to die. Not at all. Sometimes I even imagine getting in a car accident or having an aneurysm, and I don't even flinch. Not one bit. Don't get me wrong... I don't want either of those things to happen. I would like to live a long life on earth for God's glory, but if my time is cut short, I know it's God's perfect will for me. And heaven awaits whether I die tomorrow or when I'm 90. And that's when the most beautiful part of my life will begin. And this is what I want for everyone - for my family, for my friends, for my blog readers... Faith in Christ. Certainty in God's goodness. Trust in His plan. Assurance of His promises. No fear in death. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those  who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. -Hebrews 2:14-15- In Christ Alone by Passion on Grooveshark ... Read more