I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Jennifer Mlycenski. Jennifer is one of our new bloggers to the Women’s Ministry. I hope you will enjoy her writing as much as I do! We’re very pleased to have her here with us at GCH! <3 Christi
____________
Hi ladies! I am thrilled to be joining you here at Girlfriends Coffee Hour! So, grab your beverage of choice, sit back, and take a peek into my journey to GCH!
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see.
I was raised to believe in God, but I did not understand what it meant to have a relationship with Him until two years ago. At 24 years of age, my doctor informed me that I would not be able to have a biological child. For a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, I was dumbfounded. Every dream of my future always included a husband and children. What had I done that was so awful that God would take this from me? My world shattered and crumbled around me. I entered a depression that consumed me for eight long years, which also included panic attacks and severe anxiety. I became a shell of my former happy-go-lucky self. Why did God hate me?
But God, in His Amazing Grace, found me right where I was. And He brought me home. He whispered the sweet words that I longed to hear. “I love you, my child. I have a plan and a purpose for your life. Trust in me.” He planted me in a church family with people who surrounded me with love. He countered every negative thought the enemy planted in my mind with positive biblical truth. He turned a woman who felt like a failure as a woman into a woman who stands tall, without fear or hopelessness; a woman who fully trusts in the Lord to fulfill His plan for her life.
The Lord helped me to see that I have a plan and a purpose to fulfill on this Earth. I may not understand the Lord’s plan this side of Heaven, but I trust His plan above any vision I could have for myself. He promises in Jeremiah 29:11 that His plans are for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.
So I grabbed on to Him and haven’t let go.
You might think my story ends there, but it is only just beginning (and honestly, just that part of my story could be a twelve part series!). The Lord placed me in women’s ministry and for a while I thought we must have gotten our signals crossed. Although my heart aches for women and I want them to experience the joy, peace, and love of our mighty God – I am a writer! What do women’s ministry and writing have to do with each other?
Well, as God politely told me – a lot. As a blogger for several years, I was tasked with starting a blog for our women’s ministry. I learned that words, filtered through God’s truth, could do something – they wield power to impact lives. So, I began blogging, albeit a bit sporadically. My own fears got in my way – the self-confidence regarding my ability, the thought that these women actually know me and are reading what I write, and my own stubbornness to fully submit to God’s will for me. I mean, can writing actually be a ministry? (Yes, I actually asked my women’s ministry leader this question at one point and she point blank laughed at me!). I started a personal, anonymous faith blog so I could pour my heart out there, without anyone knowing it was me. I loved the anonymity of it! It was freeing! It was comfortable. I was safe.
But God isn’t in the business of keeping us comfortable.
As it is written:
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9, NLT)
As I continued in my writing ministry, I began to feel restless. I felt a bit lost with my writing. I wasn’t sure if I should be blogging. God had been quietly whispering for me to write my story, so I was pondering the writing of a book, too. I was very unsure where to step next. I took my questions to God.
And He knew, of course. He is always faithful to answer our prayers. And He spoke very clearly into my life on this.
He brought me to the Winning Him Without Words bible study. I was waiting for an online study for this book for a very long time, so I was very excited to find it offered here at GCH. A couple of days after I signed up for the study, I saw a request for a blogger to join Girlfriends Coffee Hour Women’s Ministry team.
Now, I am someone who likes it when God is very explicit and clear. If He would write things in the sky, that would be even better. But, this was very clear to me. I needed to pursue this and see where the Lord took me.
The Lord worked it all out and here I am – a blogger for GCH Women’s Ministry. I feel an unbelievable sense of peace and happiness about where He has placed me, although I am not so anonymous anymore! I am excited to begin this study with all of you. I look forward to learning with you and from you. I know that we will gain much from this study.
May you be blessed abundantly today,
Jennifer
_____________________
We are thrilled to have Jennifer on our Leadership Blogging Team!!
Jennifer lives in upstate New York with her husband, Shawn, and three dogs. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology and is currently employed full-time as an Educational Grants Specialist. She is actively involved with her local church, serving on the women’s ministry leadership team and maintaining her church’s website.
Jennifer grew up believing in God and attending church, but fully gave her life to Christ in 2010 after nine long years of walking in darkness after an infertility diagnosis shattered her sense of self-worth and identity as a woman. She is happy to say that God rescued her and showed her that her sense of worth can be found in Him alone!
Jennifer loves to read, write, blog, watch movies, and play board games. She has also recently discovered a love of running through the completion of the Couch-to-5K program. She looks forward to continuing to run the race God has set before her, with endurance, eyes fixed solely on Jesus! (Hebrews 12:1-2)
___________________
If you are interested in joining us for our upcoming Women’s Online Bible Study
“Winning Him Without Words” by Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller
Beginning October 1, 2012
Please send us an email at
Womens@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com
and we will send you all the details you need to get registered!
Cool testimony of God's leading! I love Jer. 29:11. I'm a NY-er too (born in Niagara area!) Thanks for blogging!
Thanks Martha! I'm a couple of hours from Buffalo/Niagara, but my SIL family is from up that way! Thanks so much for reading this morning! 🙂
Great post Jennifer. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to getting to know you more.
Thank you, Jackie! Same to you!
I so can relate to the annonimity thing! God worked it out for you and you are a testimony of what God can do with brokeness! Love your story and I am looking forward to hearing more from you!! God Bless!!
Isn't He amazing? I just think about what He has done in my life in just two years and I am amazed. I can't wait to see what the next years bring!
What an inspiring story! Continue to follow God's dream for you! You are gifted!
Thank you, sweet Sarah! It is so easy to look back and see God's pursuit and His leading; it is so much harder to see it when you are in the midst of a struggle, though! I'm looking forward to chasing after this new dream He's led me on!!
I LOVE what God is doing in your life!!! You are an amazing woman, and I know that God has some awesome things in store for you!!! <3 U
Thank you, Christi!! 🙂 Right back 'atcha!!! Looking forward to the journey!
Jennifer, I just loved reading your journey to writing for God. My passion is for writing too and still have to pinch myself at times when I become undone by God's goodness to use this gift He gave me to serve Him. It's an amazing journey, an adventure to be sure. God is going to bless your socks off, girl, so get ready! 🙂
I love what you wrote "when I become undone by God's goodness to use this gift He gave me to serve Him". Wow! That is so true! There are so many times I think, "What am I doing?!" It amazes me how He leads me into things that may seem scary (to me) and I would not normally go after on my own, but with His leading and his prompting, He makes it known that I can. Because HE makes the way for me. I'm looking forward to the journey ahead! Thanks for commenting, Dineen (loved Soul Saver, btw!).
I'm so glad, Jennifer. Thank you for letting me know. That book is near and dear to my heart, as is WHWW. 🙂
You're welcome! 🙂
So glad to have you here. I, too, always wanted to be a mother, but it was not to be for me either. I will admit as I was reading your story, I kept thinking that any moment I would read about your miracle of becoming pregnant or someone practically giving you a child. Not that I begrudge anyone else in having their miracles, it just always makes me wonder why I wasn't loved enough to be granted one too or if I did something to prevent it. I've pretty much come to terms with it, but there are times it still bothers me. This study of Winning Him Without Words is already bringing me comfort before it begins just to know there are other women out there with the same struggles as me. Thank you so much for sharing.
Oh, sweet Becky. Your comment really tugged at my heart. Because I think the same things when I read through other peoples' stories. Then I feel like a terrible person. But, it always makes me wonder – why not me? Like you, I have come to a place of acceptance, but it doesn't make it any less hard some days. Just know that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. Continue to follow His leading. We don't know His ways, but we know that His ways are good and will give us a future beyond anything we could have ever imagined for ourselves. Sending you a big virtual hug and I'm looking forward to getting to know you as we do this study together!
As someone who knows this very precious woman personally, I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of Jen. In writing she shines. It is where God uses her best and I am thrilled beyond words to see how He has directed her path to this ministry. You all will be greatly blessed by her writing. And Jen, I wish you could see the smile on my face right now! SHINE girlfriend! (Oh, and I'm the one who laughed, or maybe just giggled a little, at her question about writing as a ministry. Silly Jennifer.)
Thank you, dear friend. You have been a huge part of my journey and I cannot thank you enough for that! Love you bunches! <3
Thanks for sharing your heart and life with us Jennifer…and I look forward to hearing how God leads you in this study!
Thanks, Beverly! I'm looking forward to blogging through this study with you!
Jennifer, I loved getting to know you thank you for sharing this with us!!!!! I love the part where God found you, so thankful that he always does, and when he does we find HE is what we were searching for all along too! I am thankful that you are here, and I look forward to getting to know you more!
Thank you, Diane! Yes, it is so true that we realize it is HIM we are seeking, even if we don't understand it during our time of struggle! I'm so glad He doesn't give up on us!! I look forward to getting to know you, too!
Jen- I always love reading your blogs and am excited to hear more about the incredible journey you are walking with God. Sounds like He has spoken to you loud and clear on this one (even louder then Melissa's "God voice"). He is always amazing and eternally awesome!
Yes, He sure has Tammie! Right after our last meeting, He spoke loud and clear (although I do enjoy Melissa's "God voice" – LOL!!) Thanks for your support and encouragement – it means so much to me!