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Truly Yours, Jen

grief

To My Friend Who Would Rather Not Do Christmas This Holiday Season

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Hi there! I’m Jen, and I am so glad you are here. I write about faith, family, parenting, friendship, forgiveness, and my own struggles and joys in life (with a few recipes and decorating tips thrown in for fun). I hope my writing is like reading a letter from a friend, and that it brings you encouragement. Life is messy. We are all a little messy. Thankfully, God loves us through it all. Thank you for being here!
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Truly Yours, Jen – Jennifer Thompson, Writer

Truly Yours, Jen – Jennifer Thompson, Writer

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Some people just get you. They support you and und

Some people just get you. They support you and understand you and encourage you and ask the right questions and say the right things and bring out the best in you. You know they will be in your life forever and when you leave their presence, your soul feels refreshed and joyful and full of so many good things. When you find these people you know they are your people.

These are our people.
Love you, Sproulls. Until we meet again……

🤣🤣 (Thanks for the laugh @themomatlaw )

🤣🤣

(Thanks for the laugh @themomatlaw )

Those are the keepers 💗 #friendship #truefrien

Those are the keepers 💗

#friendship #truefriends #forevergrateful

I donated all my skirts. My beautiful, colorful pa

I donated all my skirts. My beautiful, colorful patchwork skirts.

All of them.
Even though I loved them.

I had rededicated my life to Christ and was in the process of purging all the things that reminded me of my life before.

The skirts.
The tie-dye shirts.
The jewelry.
The music.

It all had to go.

Not because they were bad, or because God would love me more if I got it rid of these things, but because I needed to make space.

I needed to let go of what was to make room
for all the goodness God was bringing into my life. The purging was necessary for me at that time. Out with the old. In with the new.

It was part of my healing.

And over the years, as my relationship with God has strengthened and grown, and as I’ve come to better understand who He is and who I am and how incredibly much He loves His children and that my faith isn’t about checking off boxes or earning God’s love or lists of dos and dont’s. Once I began to understand that it’s not all so black and white but so many vivid hues, I have been able to add the things that were once removed.

I have the space to hold both now.

But for whatever reason, I never bought another patchwork skirt. Even though I love them. I love the way they look. The way they swish back and forth and hit my ankles when I walk. The way you can wear any shirt with them because they hold all the colors.

I never bought another one.
Never thought about it really.

And then, a couple of weeks ago, when we were celebrating a very belated Christmas with my stepmom, I opened my gift - and there it was.

At first, I couldn’t quite make out what I was seeing. A tapestry? A tablecloth? And as I pulled it out of the bag, I exclaimed, “A skirt! Could it be? Is it a skirt?!”

I held it up and twirled it around and immediately pulled it up over my pants.

The colors. The feel. The swish. The pattern.
There it was.

My heart could burst.

I had space for both. For God and my skirt. This gift held my past and my present. My pain and my healing.

(Continued in the comments)

When your nephew sleeps over and you start your da

When your nephew sleeps over and you start your day off with toddler snuggles, blocks, and a walk with sticks - and then you get to hold your newborn niece - well, you know it’s bound to be a good day. 💗💗

Yes! So. Much. This. 💗🙌👏👏 Thank you @

Yes! So. Much. This. 💗🙌👏👏

Thank you @faithinthemessbymelissaneeb for these beautiful words

Monday musings: 1. I’m still trying to process

Monday musings:

1. I’m still trying to process what in the world that was I saw on the Oscar’s last night. At first I thought it had to be fake and quickly realized - nope. That happened. And then I was reminded of something my husband and I have talked a lot about this year. People are stressed. People are worked up. That Level 10 that may have taken someone a really long time to get to before could be lying just under the surface. So, let’s be kind. And offer heaping amounts of grace. And most definitely not hit people in the face.

2. I love coffee. Like so much. I’m on my third cup mid-afternoon and feel zero shame.

3. I have a super busy week, like I’m sure most of us do, but I still took a little break from the busyness to meet a couple friends for lunch to eat a ginormous cheeseburger covered in bacon and caramelized onions and jalapeños that was dripping in grease and again feel zero shame.

4. My daughter has a softball game tonight and I’m so excited to watch her, but know it’s going to be so cold on the bleachers - which has created a beautifully complex mixture of excitement and dread.

5. I love Mondays. I know that might sound weird, but I really, really do. They feel like fresh starts and possibility and that just makes me happy.

Truly Yours,
Jen 💗

Sometimes, church hurts. We don’t mean for it

Sometimes, church hurts.

We don’t mean for it to hurt. We don’t want for it to hurt. But it does.

When we gather on Sundays, we are imperfect people worshipping our perfect God.

When we post on social media, we are imperfect people sometimes misrepresenting our perfect God.

When we unintentionally shame others with the things we say and do, we are imperfect people hurting others in the name of our perfect God.

And this is what we need to remember. This is what we need to hold on to. People may hurt us. They may let us down. We may hear a sermon on Sunday that just doesn’t sit well. We may see a post on social media from someone who loves Jesus just as we do, but what they are saying doesn’t feel right.

We will mess up, friends. We will fall down.

But God won’t.

We won’t always represent Him as well as we should.

But He loves us anyways and always.

In the moments when we feel wounded. Rejected. Pushed away. Ostracized. Shamed. Less than. Unwelcome. We have to remember that we all fall short. All of us.

And that all are welcome.

All.

We need to return time and time and time and time again to the beautiful, justice-seeking, oppression-lifting, for the women and the lepers and the outcasts and the prostitutes and the marginalized, radically loving and inclusive ministry of our Savior, Jesus.

Institutions may hurt us sometimes, friends. But don’t give up. Keep pressing forward. Keep seeking Jesus with all your heart and soul and mind and know. Know. Know. Know. How much He loves you.

Radically.
Beautifully.
Sacrificially.
Completely.
Totally.

You.

#jesuslovesmethisiknow

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