Jen Russum

Godly Wife.

January 7, 2013

A long, long time ago, my friend Jac contacted me about a vision she had for 2013. Seriously, y'all, God has been at work on this vision for months and months and I love to see it finally coming to fruition. Jac has decided to do a year-long Godly Wife series on her blog, focusing on a different characteristic each month. I am honored to help her launch the series, along with our friend Jess. This month, we are talking about faith because it's essential to any healthy, Godly marriage. Of course, we need to be faithful to our spouse in all things - how we talk, what we think, what we do, and especially in the boundaries we set in our relationships with other men. But before we can even reflect on the way we treat our own husbands, our faith in Christ must be the foundation of all we do - in marriage, at work, in all our relationships and activities. If our faith isn't in Christ, then the trials of marriage are going to rock us. Because in marriage, we are going to mess up. I mess up. Daily. For as much as I love my husband, I fail constantly. I slip in one more nagging comment, I mediate on a bitter thought, I spend more than I should, and the list goes on and one. I mess up all the time. But my faith, ultimately, is not in my ability to be a good wife. If it were, I would be a failure. My faith is in Christ, who is always there, strengthening me, convicting me to repent, and covering my sin, always. Without Christ, my striving to be a Godly wife would be in vain. It would look good most days... some times... some days... but in the end, I would fail. My selfishness, pride and anxiety would mark me forever as a failure of a wife. But not in Christ... In Christ, I am a Godly wife. His holiness covers me. In Him, I can strive, and mess up, and repent, and forgive and be forgiven. When my faith is in Christ, my marriage can flourish, even though we are just two messed up people in a messed up world. I invite you to reflect on your own faith in Christ this month. What are you doing to grow it? And how might that make a difference in your marriage? Come back here on the last Monday of the month {January 28th} and link-up to tell us what God has been teaching you! To read more about the Godly Wife series, visit Jac's blog and Jess's blog. ... Read more

Flowers Fade Friday: Faith on a Gym Mat

January 4, 2013

I was at the gym today, post three mile run, in the middle of an intense ab workout, when I suddenly thought "What if I have an aneurysm and die right here on this germ-infested gym mat?" And then I thought... "that would be great." I'm sorry that I insist on giving you a glimpse into my strange daydreams from time to time, especially when they involve dying at L.A. Fitness, but it's during these moments when I am reminded of the beauty of the Gospel. You see, a few years ago I actually had a student whose mom died suddenly at the gym. I never knew her personally, but apparently she was a relatively young, healthy woman who died of an aneurysm while working out, leaving behind a husband and teenage children who were obviously stunned by her death. So maybe my daydream was not so strange after all... Five years ago, the thought of dying at the gym... or anywhere... would scare me. I did not have my full confidence and hope in Christ, though I thought I did, and the thought of death was pretty terrifying, even though I knew it wasn't supposed to be if I was a Christian. Now when I think of death, I feel no fear. Instead, I think of seeing Jesus face to face. I think about slipping free from the grasp of sin and shaking off a lifetime of burdens and trading them all in for a holy, joyful and painless life with God. Death, in a way, sounds good. That's not to say that I am perfectly comfortable around a lifeless corpse, but when I think about a soul ascending to paradise with the Father, a corpse doesn't seem as intimidating anymore. This week I've been reading through James - a book that begins its first chapter with the command to "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds" {v.2}. Count it all joy. But how? The idea of counting trials as joy used to seem impossible. I knew I was supposed to be joyful in all circumstances, in theory, but I often found myself asking: "Really God? In pain? In confusion? In discomfort? In injustice? Count is as joy?" But now I do count it all joy. When I look back on some of the trials that have gotten me to the place where I would be happy to die on gym mat with onlookers from the cardio machines, I count it as joy. Thank you, God, for any and every trial that has increased my faith in YOU. Because the command comes with a promise: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness... James 1:2-3 Trial produces a steadfast faith. Trial produces a faith that says "I don't really want to die in an L.A. Fitness, Lord, but I would be filled with joy if I do, because then I would get to see the object of my faith, Jesus, and there is no greater joy than that. A faith that says, "This burden is heavy, but that means I will be filled with even more thanks and praise when I heave it off my shoulders in the Kingdom come." A faith that says "Even when material possessions or my health are stripped away, I can praise You, Father, because of the sweet reminder that my imperishable inheritance can never be stripped away, stolen or destroyed." This is faith. Found at the gym on a sweaty mat. |Linking up with Casey| ... Read more

Flowers Fade Friday: Flourish

December 28, 2012

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am in love with God's Word. His Word is so powerful and has changed my heart in more ways than I can express to you. Even on days when I don't feel very eager to read Scripture {yes, those days do happen}, I never regret afterward that I took the time to read the Word of Life for at least a few minutes of my day. What about you? Do you read the Word? And when you do, are you growing as a disciple of Christ? I recently read this article that talks about why many Bible studies leave the heart thirsty for more... My hope is in 2013, we can be women who flourish from reading the Word. It's my prayer that we would study the Bible with diligence covered in grace and watch with joy as God transforms us from the inside out. He has promised it. And His promises never fail. Below is a list of some of my favorite Bible reading plans. I am copying the list I posted last year, but adding a few new ones to it that I've discovered during 2012. If I could ask anything of you, sweet friends, it would be to pick a plan. Choose one. If not from this list, from somewhere else. Dive in to those life-giving waters of Scripture. Commit. Grow. His Word is our very life. His Word became flesh and dwelt among us... * * * * * Two Year Bible Reading Plan - This is nice because you read the whole Bible, but it's spread out over two years instead of crammed into one, which can be overwhelming. There are also "catch up days" built into the schedule in case you get behind because your toddler gets sick or whatnot. :) For the Love of God - I am currently doing this one, but I've spread it out over two years. You read through the whole Bible in a year following the M'Cheyne reading plan {M'Cheyne was a Scottish pastor in the mid 1800s who came up with a Bible reading plan for his congregation that has since become the most-used plan in history.} Basically it's 3-4 chapters a day from different places in the Bible. Then D.A. Carson wrote two devotional books to go along with the plan that have been transferred to the For the Love of God Blog. You do your reading for the M'Cheyne plan each day and then you read a short devotional on the blog that pulls the different texts together and shows how the Gospel works together in all of them. Slackers and Shirkers - This is a super easy Bible reading plan. Basically, it just breaks up the year into days of the week, and then under each day there is check box with a few passages of Scripture next to it. You read for the first Sunday, check it off, and when the next Sunday rolls around, you do the next reading and check it off. Then it does the same for each day of the week. And each day of the week is a specific genre, so Sundays might be the Pentateuch and Mondays might be the Epistles and so on. Here a pastor explains why he likes it. Checklist - This plan basically allows you go at your own pace. You can make up any reading plan you want, and this checklist has every book of the Bible listed with its number of chapters. You just cross them out as you go. My only fear with this is that it's too open-ended and might be hard to stay on track. But then again, the freedom is nice and it will make it easy to honor the Bible instead of idolizing the schedule! ESV Study Bible - Not sure if you have an ESV Study Bible, but here are a bunch of reading plans to go with that. When I read through the Bible in 2010, I also read all the ESV study notes with it and I have never learned so much from God's Word in my life! YouVersion - Do you have YouVersion on your iPhone? This list has all the different reading plans {some with devotionals} that you can do on YouVersion, and you read the Bible right on your phone! Solid Joys - Desiring God came out with a new Bible app a few months ago that has a devotional reading from various John Piper books along with Scripture. This is what I plan to do in 2014 after I finish the Love of God blog. She Reads Truth - What started as a handful of female bloggers holding each other accountable to read Scripture this past summer has turned into an international movement where women are studying the Bible together all over the world. God's grace and goodness have been so evident in the whole ordeal. Now you can follow along with the current She Reads Truth plan through YouVersion on your phone. Chronological Bible - The first time I ever read through the whole Bible, I used the Chronological Bible. It puts all the chapters of the Bible into their {most likely}chronological order instead of the order in which they are traditionally published. For example, when you read about Saul trying to kill David in the wilderness, you also read the Psalms that David most likely wrote, crying out to God, when that trial was occurring. The only difficult thing about this Bible is that you don't get to the New Testament until September! But the awesome thing is that you will read the Old Testament with new eyes and gain so much understanding of the Gospel throughout history. I hope this helps you choose a plan. Clearly, there are many options out there, but these are the ones I have researched. Please let me know if you choose one! And feel free to pass this on if you hear of anyone else looking for a reading plan for next year. Praying that God blesses you through His Word in 2013! ... Read more