It’s New Year’s Eve– the time for self-evaluation, promises, and resolutions. The problem? Most of those goals go unmet & forgotten. 25% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned within a WEEK. I’m convinced that a large part of that “failure” rate is that we aren’t honest with ourselves about our real life limitations BEFORE we set…
Category: Grow as a Woman
My Weekend “Mental Food” Diary (And What I Learned)
When I did Weight Watchers and lost 30+ pounds (between babies #5 & #6), one of the most beneficial and necessary things of the program for me was keeping the food diary. It keeps you honest. I had friends who would say, “yes, I do Weight Watchers too,” but then would have an extra serving of pasta,…
Most Popular Articles of 2014: Year In Review
2014 was my first year of writing at JessConnell.com. Since we’ve nearly reached the year’s end, I thought I’d do a quick “year in review,” to give you the opportunity to read any articles of interest that you may have missed. In January, I released my first book, One Thing: Top Tip (From a Mom of 6). It’s…
A Willing, Yielded Heart
One of the surprising things, to me, about the Christmas story, is the way Joseph & Mary’s hearts yield themselves to God. Mary submits… despite her age despite her singleness despite the challenges it would mean for her despite the judgment of her community Joseph submits… despite the way things would look despite the “cost”…
Convictions & Choices, part 2: What to Do When We Hold Opposite Perspectives?
In this series about convictions, we’ve talked about: Not doing something to prove people wrong, and Not doing something because other people do it. And in that last article, we left off at that pesky place where we come to a different conviction than someone else in the Body of Christ. So what do we…
Convictions & Choices, part 1: Don’t Do It Because “They” Do
We recently talked about not doing something “just to prove them wrong.” Today I want to talk about the flip side: Don’t embrace a conviction just because others do. Just as the world often goes along with lifestyle decisions because of the people around them, Christians sometimes take on the convictions of others around us without…
Don’t Do It To Prove Them Wrong
Over the years, I’ve heard something offered occasionally that I think is a terrible motivation for living life and making choices for yourself or your family, and it is this: “You get out there and show ’em. Do it well and prove them wrong.” It can play out in a wide variety of ways in our…
I Am Just a White Mom
I am just a white mom. This is what goes through my head as I think about the recent race-centered wounds in our country. I am just a white mom. I’m scared to even write about this. I feel inadequate and not strong enough. What can I do? I don’t have the soul strength to “lift” the…
Is Your Child Getting Enough Sleep? Are You?
At a counseling conference my husband and I attended in October, one of the trainers made an interesting statement: “If one of my counselees comes in with general depression-like symptoms, one of my first questions is how much sleep they’re getting.” He shared that his personal policy is to tell them to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep…
Are You Doing Too Much?
A few Saturdays ago, I sprained my ankle while coming down our stairs toward the garden. Moving too fast, I misjudged where the sidewalk ended, and the grass deceived me into believing the ground was taller than it was. My ankle rolled. HARD. I *HEARD* cracking noises, y’all. Yikes! But you know what? By Monday morning I…