Jen Russum

Flowers Fade Friday: Love is Obedience

Flowers Fade Friday: Love is Obedience

I just finished reading John 15, which just has to be one of the most beautiful passages of the whole Bible. Jesus is the vine. We are His branches. We are to spend our lives on this earth bearing fruit for God's glory, and in that we will find joy and our "joy will be full" (John 15:11). But to abide in Christ, the vine, means we must love Him, and there is a little twist to loving Christ; it means we must obey Him. There is really no getting around this in Scripture. I can't love Christ and disobey Him. I can't love Christ and obey Him most of the time or when it's conveninent or easy to do so. In John 14, Jesus says "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (v.15), and then again is John 15, He says "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (v.14). Sometimes this obedience "if" is a big "IF" for me. My pathetic, selfish heart does not always want to obey God. Now that I am married, my biggest tester of obedience is Micah (whether he knows it or not), because I see him so much more than anyone else. Micah is an amazing husband, but he's not perfect. There are times when Micah is legitimately sinful toward me (and, of course, I sin against him as well), and it's in these moments when I look at Micah's sin that I feel myself not wanting to obey Christ. What I want to do is point out Micah's sin, at least once, maybe twice, get angry, then give him the silent treatment and resent him for the next couple of days. Then I remember that the Bible tells women to win over their husbands with their "respectful and pure conduct" (I Peter 3:1)... even if their husbands are unbelievers! How much more should I respect my husband who is a believer? And that's when I have to stomp out my pride and show God my love by obeying Him, which means forgiving my husband and talking about things patiently when I am hurt or mad. It's not always fun, but I can say that it leads to so much more joy in my marriage than harboring bitterness or erupting in anger. And I will leave you with one my all time favorite C.S. Lewis quotes: ... Read more

Haboob?

Haboob?

Really? A Haboob? That's what it's called? I call it a disgusting dust storm that made my throat hurt and got dirt all over my car and my house. I think the keyboard feels a bit gritty as I write this... So on Tuesday night, Micah and I experienced our first true desert dust storm. Supposedly, this was the worst storm the Valley has seen in decades. I have heard about these storms before from my mom, but I never paid much attention to the details. Randomly enough, I overhead a conversation about dust storms a day or two before ours happened. I can't really recall anything from the conversation, but when I walked outside two nights ago to take out the garbage and hop in my car to head to the coffee shop, I instantly thought, "so THIS is a dust storm." Lets's just say the garbage bag got left at the bottom of our apartment stairs and I quickly decided against a trip to the coffee shop as I ran back into the house while choking on dirt... But even though my throat was full of dust all last night, my living room/car/patio need a good cleaning, and the ground outside looks worse than old dirty snow at the end of winter... I must say this dust storm was quite fascinating. Micah was actually driving my car to the car wash of all places when he saw the storm rolling in. He said it was crazy looking, but since he didn't know what it was, he proceeded through the car wash and came out into the middle of a dust storm... let's the say the water from the car wash combined with the dust has ironically put me in competition for the dirtiest car in Phoenix right now. Here are some pictures I took last night during the storm. A blogger isn't afraid of some dust (actually I had to rescue my bread that I left to rise out on our patio - bread making Arizona style - so I figured I would snap a few pics). Sorry, these photos are not edited, but I just couldn't bring myself to take the time to edit pictures of dirt. I'm sure you understand... By the way, we got a new hummingbird feeder. I wonder if the birds will still like it now that it's covered in filth. My bread. I saved it!  And here are some pics of the aftermath... See? Dirtiest car in Phoenix. This is what happens when your car door gets opened during a dust storm. Ewwww. How do you get this cleaned up? I tried to get my car washed today, but everybody had the same idea. The line at the car wash must have had at least 20 cars in it at 11am on a workday! I decided the wash could wait, but I almost could not escape the parking lot because there were so many cars wrapped around the whole lot and practically spilling out into the road. Just a glimpse of the car wash line... maybe tomorrow? Oh well, I'm pretty sure there is still a little dust in the air anyway that would probably make it dirty again instantly... Well, haboob (that's really it's scientific name!), it was nice (interesting?) to meet you, but I wouldn't care if you never came around again.... This is what it looked like from above. Oh. My. Gosh. ... Read more

Summer Goals: An Update

Summer Goals: An Update

Well, my summer is just about halfway done (boo hoo! - when I was little I would get anxious to get back to school around this point in July... I still love school today, but NOT that much), so I thought it was time to check in on my summer goals. I feel a little behind on my list due to my adventures at real estate school for the past month or so, but I've been plugging away bit by bit. We leave for Seattle on Friday for two weeks of fun with family and friends, so I don't anticipate getting much done on the list during that time, but when we return I will be a crazy woman, just checking goals off left and right in those final weeks of summer. At least, that's my plan - we'll see how it goes... First of all, you will notice I have reorganized my list since my first post. I removed a couple of items I decided were not too important and added a few more that are important. Mostly though, I just organized everything into categories to help me think about my list more efficiently... Reading:-Finish Future Grace by John Piper-Finish Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins FINALLY!-My Name's Not Susie by Sharon Hamilton-Catch up on reading recent additions of Real Simple that are sitting in a box next to my couch (almost done!)-Read remaining issues of Domino (R.I.P.) that have been sitting around my house for a couple years now Computer:-Upload old pics onto facebook (you know, Erin's wedding, my wedding week, etc. Basically, all the pictures I've taken in the past year)-Blog (approximately) five days a week-Tweak blog designs/functions Crafts/Design:-Get basic sewing supplies and fix/update a few articles of clothing in our closet-Sew Pillows with Anne (no sewing yet, but we did buy the supplies)-Make "R" plaque for shelf (have the supplies; need to put it together)-Frame wedding pics-Make a modpodge bird Kitchen:-Make deviled eggs for Micah-Make homemade moonpies-Organize my recipe binder-Start my herb garden (so far I have basil, but I need cilantro and sage and/or parsley) Misc:-FINISH WEDDING THANK YOUS!!! (praise Jesus, we finished last weekend!)-Go to Last Chance-Print and frame a picture for Micah's desk at work-Find a free or cheap TV-Get my free facial from placing in a 5K last fall-Make a jeopardy study quiz for Kristin Hines-Return our busted, disappointing espresso machine-Get my busted, disappointing i-pod shuffle replaced (Thank you, Apple, for your one year warranty)-Add weights and abs back into my workouts-Begin a Scripture memorization plan Here is proof that our thank yous are finally done (and if you haven't gotten yours it's in the mail!)... Here are the moonpies... Here I am finishing the last chapters of My Name's Not Susie while lounging on the beach in California... And here is a sneak peak of a fabric store adventure, which will hopefully result in cute throw pillows and new buttons on some of my clothes... How are your summer goals going??? ... Read more