Who Am I?
Today, I got to wondering about you, dear reader, who are you and what defines you? I’d love to “meet” you here at Getting Down With Jesus, to get to know you a little more — and to share a little of my life with you. Today, I am posting from my “About Me” section in an effort to share my life with you. And, of course, I hope you will consider sharing in return.
So here’s today’s activity: Up at the top of my blog, I’ve listed three adjectives that describe who I am: Heartfelt. Candid. And Slightly Off-The-Wall.
Heartfelt, because I really love to love, and that’s what God calls us to do.
Candid, because that’s my goal — to be real, authentic and vulnerable, even if it breaks my pride.
Slightly Off-The-Wall, because those who know me best see that when my lovin’ side hooks up with my candid side, I’m a little quirky. My Dad calls it “flippety.” Which is sort of like frassy.
Anyhow, can you share with me three adjectives that describe who you are? … It’s kinda hard, isn’t it?
In the meantime, I want to share with you who I am in more detail. It’s been a joy getting to know some of you.
We live in northwest Iowa. Our backyard is a cornfield. Our sunset view includes the steeple of our country church. We’re on a first-name basis with all our neighbors — and their parents and second-cousins and pet chickens. And, to top it all off, God is in the house.
Life is good.
When I’m not playing Polly Pockets or making cakes with the EasyBake oven (which is the extent of my baking talent), I enjoy writing and speaking about God. As I have grown from unbelief to faith in God, I have been pleasantly surprised to see how God shows up where I (naively) least expected Him.
For years, I was a newspaper reporter at The Des Moines Register, and before that, at The Omaha World-Herald. I left the metropolitan news scene in 2002 to move to the family farm in northwest Iowa — a place where pigs outnumber people by a significant margin. I continue to freelance for a variety of publications. During the time of my reporting career, I was not a follower of Christ, even though I grew up in a Christian environment. I wanted badly to believe, but my head wasn’t buying the whole Jesus-walked-out-of-a-tomb-one-Sunday-morning theology.
Somewhere along the line, I came across a verse in Mark 9:24 – “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” I began praying that verse over my own life. I can’t report a single flash-of-light conversion experience. But over the years, God has rewarded that prayer with new faith in His Son.
My faith is still fragile and finicky, but I am learning anew each day that God often appears when and where I least expect to find Him. And that’s where this blog comes in. Here, I share my unexpected encounters with God in sometimes-crazy, sometimes-serious places. Like the altar … or the bathroom. I explore the ways God does His Thing in the ordinary-ness of life.
What’s your story?
Always a pleasure to read your blog & I LOVE the assignments…they make me think and ponder life, also, it is a mini get-a-way for me!
Here are my 3…
soft-hearted…I cry at the drop of a hat and I love to hug, I cry in times of sorrow & in times of happiness!
humorous…all who know me truely, know that I love to laugh!
generous…because I LOVE to give without reason in my private life and in my work life, to me, it is the most gratifying feeling ever!
I have to admit that it is hard to think about "Who am I?" I would rather answer "Who are you?" in reference to describing others 🙂
Hm, okay I’ll bite!
I am…
brave, relatively. I don’t know where the courage comes from, but it has allowed me to travel solo to scary places, to donate half my liver to my brother, to speak up for people who are unable or afraid to speak up for themselves, and to keep on, even when my faith falters.
grateful. endlessly grateful. so so so so so so lucky to have been born to the family I was born into, in the U.S. in this age, with so many gifts and friends and freedoms and opportunities.
intellectual. I love learning more than I love burritos and wine, and that’s saying a lot!
🙂
This is Michelle using Jennifer’s username! Sissy~You are something else! Beautiful Blog~Beautiful You!
I am…….
#1~Frassy~full of craziness in my head~feeding my nephew Pez candy and gumballs for breakfast~rolling down the car window so a “frassy” sissy and I can yell as we drive through a tunnel!
#2~Content~desire no further schooling~”whatever” is fine in almost anything~truly have all I need. I live for contentment and avoid conflict.
#3~Blessed~I use this word about as much as “frassy” and that’s alot! Blessed to be alive~to be born into the family God gave me~to know and have a personal relationship with my Savior~to have the children God gave me~to have “Brothers and Sisters in Christ”~to be married and the list goes on! AMEN!
You’re right…we do sound like quite a pair. =) I will definitely be making more stops around here as I am enjoying your content immensely.
Three blogs? Easy…I type. A lot. If you can’t tell already, it will soon become obvious if you visit more often.
Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to the beginnings of a “beautiful friendship.” =)
Hmmm, this is a wonderful question. I believe the three words would have to be:
1. Dedicated: Once I accepted Christ as the head of my life, I became completely dedicated to doing what I could to live a life that glorifies Him. I am amazed that Christ would choose to love and call someone like me, but so thankful.
2. Life long learner: I love learning new things. I am constantly learning how to do something new or continuing my education. The more I learn the more I realize there is still to know.
3. Open: Since I have accepted Christ, I have been like an open book wanting to share anyone my story if that means they will be helped. I am candid about my mistakes, my lessons learned, and blessings.
I absolutely love the design of your blog. It is quite refreshing.
with blessings,
Minister Mamie
HI! What a great discussion. Thinking of three adjectives…whew, I’ll give it a shot.
1. Loyal: to my God, my soul mate Charlie, and my friends/family.
2. Insecure: in some situations.
3. Hopeful: God provides, so I rest in him with all my writing, what happens will happen.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. Have a great day.
Great question Jennifer. As a 3rd grade teacher we are always trying to get our 9 year olds to be individuals and find their place. It is a big year for these little kids and a very defining time, even if they are still “pups”. However, I haven’t sat and actually looked at my “defining” features for a long time, maybe ever so here goes.
If you would have asked me for these three words a year ago, I can tell you it would have been drastically different. I was a dad, husband, friend and my family was invincible. So maybe those three words would have been, humorous, hard headed and care taker. I consider myself pretty funny and if you don’t agree, you are wrong. I also am the first to jump at helping my friends, family and others when times get tough, so that would be the care taker in me. And, finally hard headed. I have been known to “buck” things at times that weren’t comfortable for me or were not exactly how I wante them to be.
Today, October 2008, my three words are a little different. I would still go with funny, but maybe change it to Really Funny. Next, I would have to say caretaker probably still fits in there as I have the urge to constantly help people, even more so nowadays for good reason. Finally, the number ONE word I want to be known as is DAD. That’s it. No more, no less. I want to be a dad to my boys and protect them with everything I have. They have always been my boys but in the past few months they have become my world. So there you go, funny, caretaker, and DAD!!.
Thanks Jennifer for making me think.
Hmmmmm….
Reserved. Because I like to get to know someone some before I open all the way up to them.
Intense. Because once I do open up I like to really go deep. Whether it’s about Jesus or about getting a pedicure. But not always deep. There’s a time for staying at the surface of the water too. (smile)
Loopy. Did I spell that right? What I mean is that I’m not always ‘there’ when everyone else is. It takes me a bit longer to ‘get the riddle’ and when I finally do I bust out laughing while everyone looks at me like a goon. HA!
Silly. Okay, so I broke the rule of picking just 3 which doens’t mean I’m a rebel. LOL. But I didn’t want the three above to all be so dull. I love to be silly, playful and let my kids dress me in stickers from head to toe. It doesn’t bother me to take my kids grocery shopping while they are dressed in ‘dress up clothes’ or wearing goofy mismatched socks. I think it’s fun!!!
Okay, I’m done….