Jess Connolly Quotes

Ladies, this is what scares me. When a horse is finally tamed and trained, bearing the burden of saddle and human expectations alike, she is called broken. It is only then that she performs the duties expected of her.

Likewise, how can any dreams or desires God has given us come alive if they’re surrounded by fear and squashed by doubt? Things born into captivity cannot flourish.

The world may tell us we’re too much and never enough. But we can walk wildly in who God created us to be and rest freely in the work Jesus did for us. We do not have to be confined or conformed by cultural expectations. We are unchained from our past and unafraid of our future.

One of the wildest and freest things we can do is to embrace our little personality quirks and believe that we were made that way on purpose, for the glory of God and the good of the kingdom.

How often was I doing this—living on the outside like someone who isn’t thinking about God all the time, when on the inside my heart is solely for Him? Was this how I was leading others? Ignoring the sacred to fit in and seem normal?

Our circumstances and our surroundings do not dictate how wild God can be. The wild and free nature of God does not bat an eyelash at the state we’re in, because He is not bound by the conventional, the typical, or any rules. Our lives can look shattered and bland, broken and poor—and He can bring life and salvation and color, no matter what.

Once upon a time Sister Mary Margaret had answered a loud knocking at the door of the orphanage. It was very early one morning, before the city was awake. All the pigeons had their heads tucked under their wings and all the rats were curled up tight behind the dustbins. All the cars and lorries were asleep in their garages and depots, and all the trains slumbered on their tracks at Connolly Station. All the boats bobbed gently in the harbor, dreaming of the high seas, and all the bicycles slept leaning along the fences. Even the angels were asleep at the foot of the O’Connell Monument, fluttering their wings as they dreamt, quite forgetting to hold still and pretend to be statues.

if by grace we have faith in Jesus, we are already holy. Look down at your feet, look around at your home, and take a long glance at your life as it is now: you’re on holy ground. If you have the identity of Jesus written over your life, you cannot become more holy, you cannot grow to be more holy, you cannot act more holy. You just are. Already.

With all I’ve got, I believe that as much as you want God, He wants to give you Himself even more.

You’re not too much if you’re struggling with depression. You’re seen, held, loved, and treasured by the God of the universe.

Jesus lets her feel the weight of her sin so that she can feel the strength of His grace.

Don’t apologize for your tears or qualify how you feel. God isn’t freaked out by our pain or what we’re really feeling; He just wants us to share it with Him rather than bury it and pretend like it’s not there. He is here to listen and here to love.

I am blessed to meet women around the world, and I believe this wild and free faith is growing in us. It isn’t wild in rebellion; it is wild in obedience. And it isn’t free to do whatever we want; it is free to do whatever He calls us to do. This kind of faith is powerful, and it is beautiful.

If we could see the fullness of our sin and the depth of His grace, we’d dance. If we knew our true identity as holy daughters of God, made right with Him and called to stay set apart for His glory and our abundance, we’d stand firm. And if we fully grasped both of these things, you wouldn’t be able to stop the women of God from running on mission

Show me a woman who knows where God has called her but who holds progress in high regard, and I’ll show you a woman who understands abundance. Show me a woman who knows that vision affords her patience but has patience to see the vision God has given her come to fruit, and I’ll show you a woman who understands abundance. Show me a gal who does not have time to compare the lives of other women because she is furiously busy thanking God for where He has brought her, and I’ll show you a woman who understands abundance.

Another name biblical historians call Mary of Magdala is “the apostle to the apostles.”* She was the first person entrusted with the news that Jesus was who He said He was, that all hope was not lost, and that help and redemption were on the way.

To stand woefully before Him and all the people He’s placed in front of us to serve and mourn that we don’t seem to have any gifts—that’s calling Him a bad giver. That’s the same as calling Him careless or thoughtless or insinuating He has the capacity to skip over one of us, and all that I know to be true of God tells me He can’t forget even one of His kids. He wouldn’t forget one of His kids. The Giver has not forgotten you,

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

The tame and scripted worship of God that gave me warm and fuzzy feelings never came that day, and at the same time, my mental picture of God's glory's blown to bits. Up until then, worship had been about how I felt; on that day, God expanded my viewpoint to see that He is not wildly concerned with how I feel but is wildly out for His own glory. Singing to Him, praying to Him, talking about Him, learning more about His nature and goodness and work in our lives - this all benefits us, but it's not about us. The point of our worship is not our joy or our advancement. God's sole purpose in calling His people to worship Him is allowing them to give Him glory because He wants it.

I see women believing and repeating the lie that motherhood is the highest calling for all women. Did you know that’s nowhere in the Bible? The only reference to a chief call on anyone’s life is found in Matthew 6:33: Seek first the Father’s kingdom and His righteousness.

The Greek word praus is used in 1 Peter 3:4 to describe the characteristic of gentleness or meekness. HELPS Word-studies define this word as “exercising God’s strength under His control—i.e. demonstrating power without undue harshness.”6 The heart of meekness is simply harnessing the Lord’s power under His control.

Biblical meekness is never weakness. Rather, it is a harnessing of God-given strength.

The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10 ESV

We think our responsibility is to tell everyone how they should interact with Jesus, but what is most life-changing is when we interact with Jesus in front of others and let them see the difference He makes in our lives.

You

But when we’re rooted in a desire to serve, help, and love others well, we’ll be set up for mission in a beautiful way.

Living the abundant life God has crafted for you with intention, passion, and willingness to do whatever He’s asked you to with a fine-tuned focus on His glory.

That was essentially God’s assignment: “Hosea, marry an adulterous woman. Pick one you’re fairly certain will not be faithful, and then love her all the way to the end. She’s going to have some children, and you’re going to be pretty certain that one of them is not fathered by you. When she continuously leaves you—for things that are broken and don’t fulfill her—go back and get her.

That wife you love will become so lost that she’ll wind up a slave, and at that point I want you to sell whatever you need to so you can get her back in your home. And speak kindly to her. And love her gently. And show her how she was wrong. And eventually, after lots of years and pain, you’ll live as a devoted married couple. Those children, even the ones whose paternity you question—they’ll be your children.

Yatsar is the word used to describe specifically how God “formed” mankind, and it’s a delicate and specific word. The literal translation refers to a potter fashioning something out of clay, and, goodness gracious, that makes me feel known and seen. The Father, who had only just a little earlier created light without blinking an eye or feeling any stress, created humans intricately and creatively, like an artist.

we are wild and free women who speak life, the native language of our Father,

But I also see the shift in my sisters’ hearts when they put leaders on pedestals they just can’t live on. Not only are they entrapping the leader they’re learning from, ensuring that she’ll let the world down when it turns out she’s also a sinner, but they’re also putting down their belief in God’s wild and holy call on their own lives as daughters and ambassadors.

We hope and we say that community is meant for carrying burdens together, but unfortunately it’s not always that simple or easy. Often our communion with the Father is the only relationship capable of bearing the weight of what’s on our hearts.

God the Father didn’t send His Son to be a beauty pageant judge. God didn’t send Jesus to bind together the tidy and the healthy to build a beautiful church. God sent His Son to heal the brokenhearted, to mercifully tend to the sick, and to establish the church as a gathering place for people to come as they are to receive Him in His fullness.

God is the God who sees, and no matter how few human eyes consider us, God always finds us worthy of care.

Remember—the law didn’t change people, but the gospel of grace changes everything.

Knowing exactly what God wants us to do is not the aim of our life; worship is.