A Closer Look at Proverbs 31

Let’s take a little bit closer look at Proverbs 31, The Wife of Noble Character. I was reading it this morning and found myself saying “Yes!” and “Amen!!!” more times then I have before while reading this passage. Open your bible and read Proverbs 31: 10-31. When you’re done, come back and continue reading, let’s have a closer look together.

According to these verses, this is what an honest, loving wife is (in a glimpse, and my own words):

• She is far more valuable than any material thing.

• Her husband respects her and believes in her.

• She loves her husband, bringing him good.

• She wants to work hard at things that matter.

• She works day and night providing food for her family.

• She buys fields with her earnings.

• She is strong and able.

• She is smart.

• She opens her home, heart and hands to the needy and hurting.

• She takes care of her family to the best of her ability and does not fear.

• She is clothed in purple (signifying she is royal, a Daughter of the one True King).

• Her husband is blessed in his work.

• She makes things with her hands and sells them.

• She if full of joy and wisdom, not afraid of the future.

• She protects her household.

• Her husband and children love her deeply.

• Her love for the Lord is radiant, making her beautiful.

As I was reading this passage, I pictured a loving mother (my loving mama, my friends who are moms, all the mother-like figures in my life) bustling around the house, cleaning up messes, stirring food on the stove, cleaning and sorting laundry, hugging their littles, opening their home to a hurting friend, coming home from work after a long day, creating clothing, creating art, creating a home with her hands. Not only does this honest, loving wife do all these things to create a beautiful home and family, she also gracefully steps into the marketplace. She creates things with her hands and sells them. She buys fields with her earnings. She purchases the best material to create things, to keep her family warm + also to sell and provide for them.

She does not sit idle. She works with her hands. She wakes up before the rest of her family.

She works hard and she is filled with joy.

I think our world is in a weird place right now (well, for many reasons) when it comes to the “role of a woman”. Everyone has their opinion of this (doesn’t mean you need to listen to them). Ultimately, what you do with your days comes down to what you feel the Lord is telling you and what you and your husband decide is best for your family.

What I felt on my heart this morning to share was I think there are some women feeling guilty that they want to do it all: be a loving wife, a mother, a homemaker, a creative, and help provide for their family financially. You don’t need my permission, sis, but look at this passage if that’s the tug of your heart. This is your permission to follow your heart and all the dreams God has given you.

A lie I fight is that I am not enough, yet I am always too much. Satan is the king of deception. That lie does not even make logical sense and most lies don’t. Do you ever feel that way? That you’re too much for people? That you’re not enough for them, either?

God created us to work hard, love the people he gave us and to not sit idle in our giftings.

Is there something you believe God has put in your heart that you’ve been scared to pursue? Is there a lie you’ve been believing that being a stay at home mama isn’t enough? Do you love working but feel guilty for loving it?

Sis, be free. Satan, in the name of Jesus we command these lies to leave. You are not welcome here, we are covered by the blood of the Lamb.

Grab God’s hand, seek His heart and run after it!

My little fam, my loving and supportive husband.

I’m a homemaker.

I’m a business builder.

My loving mama.

Death Is Defeated

The pain of losing someone you love never goes away. Sometimes it’s a dull pain and sometimes it feels like someone stabbed you right in the gut. But here’s the thing, DEATH HAS BEEN DEFEATED! I have been thinking about this the last few days and letting it sink deep into my soul…allowing it to seep all the way down into my bones for me to deeply believe it. My worst fear — gone.

Jesus took the worst thing that could ever happen to us and made it the BEST thing that is going to happen to us. Life after death. Heaven. Eternally with Him and with all the ones we love.

I’ve been allowing myself to day dream sitting around a huge table with Him, my brother, my grandma and grandpa….and with everyone I love right next to me. Allowing myself to daydream about what it’s going to be like in complete glory. Could you allow yourself that same freedom? Go sit at your table, close your eyes, and picture Jesus sitting right in front of you. Reaching across the table from you, gently touching your hand. Jesus looking into your eyes, the same look that someone gives you when they know you are in pain, the look that says I love you so much, sometimes without even saying a word. Picture Jesus laughing with you…he is full of JOY. Sitting in front of Him you’d feel this: completely known, completely loved, completely understood, no pain, only joy.

That’s why He came for us. He came to gave us his Holy Spirit. We can sit with Him now and share in this glory. Giving us glimpses of Heaven until He completely restores us all.

Now, here’s the deal. I don’t fully understand any of it. None of us besides God can fully comprehend it. BUT this is what we do know:

God loved us SO MUCH that he put on flesh to come down and live life the way we do. He slept on the ground, built fires, had a job, made friends, was betrayed by friends, cooked food to sustain Him…He came and fully experienced life like we do. Because that’s what love does.

When you love someone, you step into their pain with them. When you have a relationship with someone, you sit around the table with them and listen to what’s on their hearts. When you love someone, you do everything you can to step into what life looks and feels like to them.

This odd-season of not being able to gather around the table with our loved ones maybe the best opportunity to come back and sit at the table with the One who gave it all for us. Because one day, we will all be feasting around His table. Oh. What a glorious day.

“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body, given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new convent in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:19-20

Prayer Map

This past weekend, DJ and I watched the movie War Room. It is a movie about prayer that was made years ago, but I had just recently heard about it. You know how it goes, for some reason Christian movies are most oftentimes a little cheesy. Which is crazy by the way, because the ultimate creator of the universe created us to be creators, we should be making the most beautiful creations! Right? Anyway, that’s not the point here.

I watched the movie and it stirred something inside of me, lit a fire in my soul and made me want to pray more than I had been. I wanted to pray with power, consistency and surrender. The movie was primarily about how the prayers and grace of a wife helped her husband surrender to God and ultimately, God brought their family back together. It was such a beautiful display showing how when we pray, things change and God moves. The wife took out all of her clothes in her closet and turned it into her prayer closet. On the wall she put prayers, verses and all the ways she wanted God’s help, learning how to surrender everything into His hands.

I started to get this picture in my mind — a Prayer Map. I had seen people make these kind of maps for goals they wish to accomplish, but I had not ever seen something like that to put your prayers down on paper and keep track of how God moves. I have always been someone who journals, so when I take the time to go back and look at my prayer journals, I see how God has moved in my life over the years. But I had never written in down my prayers in such a way that it was something I looked at daily and prayed over continually, making a point to write down and remember when and what He answered about my prayers.

I thought back to a time when I had been praying in circles—inspired by the book The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. I had been praying for a few specific things in my life, such as: starting our second location for Mighty Missouri Coffee Co., a house to buy and community to surround us, among other things. What was so cool is this: I was literally walking in a circle, from our old house, around a path by our house, and back home. In the circle, in under a year, we opened our second location for the coffee shop inside the Bismarck YMCA along that path, we bought a house that I walked by daily and we have a beautiful community of friends, most who live very close to the circle…GOD MOVED. In huge ways. I may not have noticed it and been so aware the way I was if I wasn’t keeping track of the circles I was praying.

The next day after watching the movie I went to my office and typed out all the prayers that I say over and over again in my head and my heart. I found verses to support what I was praying for, truth to drown out the lies and prayed about what God wanted to speak to me about through His Word. I taped them all up on a wall in my office and every morning I stand in front of my prayer wall and surrender to Him. Throughout the day, when I feel my anxiety rising up, I go to my prayer wall and pray the prayers out loud, speak the verses out loud until my soul and spirit believe it. Friends, His Peace always comes rushing in. It’s often said that prayer isn’t about what God can do for you, but what God does in you and through you when you surrender to him. It’s not about our power, but His power working in us. Some of the prayers on my prayer wall may not be answered for years, some may be answered tomorrow, some may not get answered in the way I expect them to. But I can promise you this, God will move in your heart and in your life. He is always moving. Think of the things that He can do through us, if we start paying attention!

I designed these to be printed out in poster size—so you can hang them on your wall, write big and bold prayers in them, tape verses all around and see your prayers in a tangible, beautiful way. The whole popped into my mind when I read this verse:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

THE PRAYER MAP

• Center—the center is Jesus and our relationship with Him. When we first come to him, we ask for forgiveness and repent before Him because in repentance we receive His refreshing. (Acts 3:19) Then, we thank him for all that he is doing in our lives (we rejoice always). Rejoice how He died for us! Rejoice how He loves us and made a way for us to talk to him! We give thanks in all circumstances, because this is His will for us. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

• Requests # (1, 2, 3, etc.) — This is the format for how I lay out my requests, per the Philippians verse. I really want to make clear here, this format of prayer brought peace to my mind and helped me make prayer more tangible. I do not in anyway think there is a “right” or a “wrong” way to pray. He is always interceding for us and He hears us no matter how we speak to Him! This helps MY brain and helps me see how he has been working in my life — it doesn’t make the prayer “more powerful”. My prayer is that it would help others feel God and see God move in their lives in more tangible ways.

  • THANKSGIVING — By prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. Postering our heart in thankfulness before anything else. If you are praying for your husband, for example, thank him for the gift of marriage, for giving us such a beautiful display for His love for us, for getting someone experience this life with, etc.

  • REQUEST — present your request to God. God knows the desires of your heart, he knows every hair on your head and every breath that you take, but more than this, He wants relationship with you. Think of it as cuddling up into your loving Fathers lap and telling him about your day, all that you hope will happen, all that you are thinking and dreaming about, God loves just spending time with us and hearing from us. He loves when we ask him. (Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives….Matthew 7:7-8)

  • REBUKE — Ephesians 6: 10-18 tells us that our battle is not again flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms. There is a battle going on for our minds until we are fully restored. Satan cannot have us once we have declared Christ as our Savior, however, we are still in a battle. Ephesians also talks about putting on the full armor of God. In this, I always tell Satan that He is not welcome here in this space, in my heart, in my home or in my life—I tell him that I am onto him and I won’t fall for his schemes because I know Who my strength comes from. I like reminding him that he doesn’t have control over me or my loved ones. ;)

  • LAY IT DOWN — In Luke 10: 41-42 is the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was frustrated because she was working really hard and asked if the Lord even cared that her sister wasn’t helping her, instead, Mary was sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to what he said (v. 39). Jesus reminded Martha that she is worried about many things but there is only one thing needed—to sit at His feet. Lay your requests down before the Lord, entrusting your life into His loving care. Sit at His feet. Listen for His whispers.

Here is visual example of what the Prayer Map looks like. See above for a more detailed description. A digital download can be printed by clicking the link below!

ANSWERED PRAYERS

When we pray, God answers. Hallelujah, right?! Like I said before, it may take longer than expected or be answered in ways that we didn’t expect—but if we aren’t keeping track, how will we know? I designed this to be printed out and hung somewhere in your home that you see often. Add to it whenever God answered one of your prayers, big or small, and remind yourself of his faithfulness!

This was designed to be printed out and filled in with your answered prayers! A digital download can be printed by clicking the link below!

These designed were hand drawn by me—if you would like to have your own prayer map printed and hanging in your home, I would be honored! Click the link above to shop on my Etsy account and get your own DIGITAL DOWNLOAD to print out and get started right now!

I can’t wait to hear all the stories from how the Lord is blessing your requests as you lay them down at His feet.

xo,

JamieLee

Work from Rest not Work to Rest

A theme + truth that has been stewing around in my mind and heart lately is how we work from rest not working to rest.

Have you thought of it that way before? In our culture it is really easy to work until we drop. Actually, we get praised for it. If you work 40 hours a week or less, somehow that has turned into the abnormal thing. It has become a habit of many to work 50+ hours a week all in the name of “hustle”. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I am preaching to myself and am currently in the middle of figuring this out. I think people can take this to an extreme either way, working way too little or working way too much. But just like the rest of our life, it’s about balance. And everyones scale for balance is different.

Ultimately it us up to you and God to choose was is best for your daily, weekly and monthly rhythms. God created us and wired each of us differently. It is only you and Him who can decide what looks right for you. But I am here to give you permission to ask the questions. To do your research. To allow yourself to rest. To say you can allow yourself time to “be” in your life and now always just “do”.

Let’s chat about some of the big themes that have been stewing around my mind with this concept.

Adam + Eve’s first full day of life was a day of rest. God created Adam and Eve on the 6th day and on the 7th day God rested (Genesis 1). God created the universe, the animals, the plants, the day, the night…he created and then he rested in His creation. We are all creators, we were made to create. But there is only One who is able to work and then rest.

God created the beginning of the day, our middle of the night, we start each day out of rest. I was listening to The Real Life Podcast by Jeff and Alyssa Bethke the other day and they talked about this. I had never thought about it that way! A new day starts at midnight, when I am fast asleep (and hopefully have been for hours). The day starts in the middle of the dark and we were created to rise as the sun is rising, bringing light as we join the day. How beautiful.

We were created to have a weekly sabbath, starting our week from rest. The seventh is when God rested. The seventh day for him, the first full day for Adam and Eve. Weekly sabbath is something DJ and I are still figuring out. It takes practice and patience and grace for yourself. Everyones sabbath will look differently—no technology, hang with friends, never leave your house, eat dinner in, eat dinner out, sabbath on a Monday, Friday or Sunday….it’s about what makes you feel rested, what works for you and your family, what makes you feel recharged and closer to God.

Last month DJ and I both read To Hell with the Hustle by Jeff Bethke. If any of what I am saying right now is ringing true in your heart, I highly suggest you get that book in your hands. It has sparked conversations and lit a fire in our souls. It is helping us answer the questions our hearts have been asking about what we want to create out life to look like.

My whole adult like has been about hustle. It has been about not ever feeling like “I’ve made it”, but with that confused with what I’m even running after. Can you relate? I believe it’s because we were created for something more. We weren’t created for “the grind”. We are here to work, yes. But for me, somewhere along the line, my life balance scale got skewed and I’m smack dab in the middle of a season of trying to figure out what that looks like for me. When what you DO becomes your identity, that’s when you have a problem (cough, me).

I know I’m not the only one who is feeling the burnout of the hustle life. I know I’m not because of the conversations I have had with many and the wave of books that are coming out of authors feeling the same nudges. But it’s more than a nudge for me right now. It’s a life change. It’s a surrender.

It’s laying it all down at His feet and asking Him what He wants me to do. Asking the questions and allowing myself time, the space and the grace to hear the answer.

Do You Want to Get Well?

Hello, sorry, that is my face all up in your face (I’m not the beeest at technology). BUT this is a photo of pure bliss because it’s one of my first times NOT WEARING MAKE UP out in public!!! If you’ve dealt with acne, you know.

“I honestly don’t care if people think I am pretty.”
I said this to my mom as we were driving to get lunch last week. She had just told me that some of her friends told her how they think I’m pretty and have nice teeth (haha). I blurted it out. She looked at me somewhat surprised…she knows the younger version JamieLee….that JamieLee wanted that deeply to her core.

Or that’s what I thought I wanted.

Growing up, I had zero self-esteem. Like, zero. Someone would tell me they like my outfit or that my hair looked nice and the first thought I would have is…well, they are just saying that because they feel bad for me.

Since around 13 years old I always had acne that I was very self conscious about. As I got older, that acne reared it’s ugly head, along with anxiety and depression that was so heavy it felt like I was drowning. This was the major reason I rarely left my house in 2018.

Honestly, nothing anyone can say about my personality, my looks, my talents…none of those words matter unless I feel it myself.

I truly don’t care if people “think I’m pretty”. What I care about is that I feel beautiful, whole and loved.

And that feeling doesn’t come from an outside source.

When I was dealing with acne (well, I still am but not in this major way) I felt dirty. I felt uncomfortable. I felt like I lived in a sweatshirt that hasn’t been washed in months and I couldn’t take it off.
I felt like I had dirt all over my face, that no matter how much I scrubbed…it wouldn’t come off.

I felt like the leper.

I prayed and prayed and prayed and whenever I prayed I felt God whisper,

“I will heal you.”

For months. For years. Same prayer.
There was something much deeper that needed to be healed. This was more than about my appearance. More than about my comfort. This was about Jesus bringing life into the parts of myself I didn’t even know were dead. This was about true healing.

I prayed and didn’t think I was getting the answer.

When the truth is, He was ready to heal me the whole time. But it wasn’t until I was ready.

“When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?" (John 5)

Truth is, the sin/unresolved grief/sadness….that was a much bigger healing that needed to happen. When Jesus asked me if I wanted to get well, if I wanted to forgive, if I want to move on from that……my mouth may have said yes but my heart said no. My thoughts said no. My actions said no, no, no.

It wasn’t until I fully surrendered all that needed healing until Christ healed my acne.

And I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Could Jesus have taken away my acne it one breath? Yes. He has the ability to change any situation in a moment.

It’s like going to the doctor to ask him to put stitches in your arm when your whole arm isn’t even attached to your body anymore.

He knows what will bring your true healing. He knows what will transform your heart. He knows how deep the pain is. He knows how dark the night is. He knows how heavy the weight is. He knows how long the loneliness is. He knows. He’s listening. He is willing.

Friend, do you want to get well?