Sharing My Jennarocity

The outpouring of love and encouragement I've received today has been overwhelming. Thank you all for your kind words! I wanted to share a little more of my journey here today, for those interested. I'm never going to publicly talk about the details of what happened, because I know that what happens on the internet stays on the internet, and there are things that my kids just don't need to see. So, I write everything, picturing them reading my posts as adults and how they would feel about what I said. It's been incredibly important to me, during this journey, that I understood who the true enemy is, and that's Satan. And as much as Satan wanted my marriage, he also wanted me to crumble into a ball, be unproductive, cry everyday, be distraught, doubt my faith, be bitter and never trust again. Anyone who knows even a small inkling of who I am knows that is not who I am, nor who I will ever be. And I was never going to give that horrible being the satisfaction...

November 11 - The day our lives changed forever.  It was the day my husband decided he was not willing to continue in this marriage with me.  I will never forget that day as long as I live. It was the day my future was taken from me, the day I found out my husband wasn't who I thought he was and the day I had to start the inevitable journey that God was going to allow my marriage to fail.  As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a confirmed believer in the covenant of marriage, I don't know that I can accurately describe the feeling of being left by a husband whom you thought felt the same way you did. Over our 9 years together, divorce was never an option, as far as I knew. We talked about marriage extensively, even teaching marriage Bible studies at our church. I watched as my husband counselled other husbands who were pondering divorce, and told them it wasn't worth it - stick it out, find out what's wrong and fix it, he would tell them. In my mind, ...

Today is the day we celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ - that he died on the cross for our sins, then arose from death three days later to ascend into heaven next to God's side.  Jesus changed everything. When he came down to Earth, and took on the form of man, he became the most important man to have ever lived. His ministry changed religion forever, as God had intended. His presence on this earth changed time, as our history is marked before he was born, and after he ascended. But most importantly - it changed our entire relationship to God and showed us what God would do to reconcile us with Him. That even though we are his creation and made beautifully in his image, we are filled with sin that separates us from God. Separation from God means spending an eternity without his presence. It means death, forever. But God so loved the world that He sent His one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  Sin is an ugly thing. S...

Aside from the Bible, there is one book that changed my life more than any other, How To Win Friends and Influence People   by Dale Carnegie. When I read this book, I was 25 years old, had moved to Plano to start a new chapter of my life, and was having trouble finding my place. This book resonated with me in so many ways, the main reason because I was already living my life by many of the principles, I just didn't realize it.  As many of you know, I was Service Manager at the Texas Roadhouse for several years. Guys, by the standards of the job description, I was a terrible service manager. I hated doing schedules for employees, managing people, doing liquor inventory and any other housekeeping part of the job. What I was the best at, and what I loved about the job, were the guests. No one, and I repeat  no one , was better than me with our guests. I think my gift of hospitality shined bright, even then. When you came into my restaurant, you were treated as friends....

I am going to write on something I feel pretty passionate about. Struggling. As a Christian, I hear this term a lot, in Bible studies and in conversations. I see it on Facebook and hear it from people on TV.  "I struggle with being bossy." "I struggle with cleaning."  "I struggle in controlling people." "I struggle with being nice."  "I struggle with yelling."  Any of these sound familiar? Do you have a "struggle" that you deal with on a daily basis and have had your whole life? I know I do. The term struggle is defined as the following: 1) make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or construction (physical bondage) 2) Strive to achieve or attain something in the face of difficulty or resistance (Such as a goal) 3) Have difficulty handling or coping with (possibly the death of a loved one). Struggling has become a term, used mostly by women, that tells the world of a problem they have. ...

I think I'm probably in good company when it comes to dealing with failure. We've all felt like we've failed in life, probably several times. And let's not forget the ever popular hashtags #momfail #pinterestfail #decoratingfail....and on and on.  What is failure? The dictionary defines failure as "a lack of success."  I would say this sums it up pretty well.  A lack of success is how I would describe the store I opened. That, somehow, has a much better ring to it than failure , don't you think? I'm not a person afraid of failure and I never have been. I do not mind trying something and taking the risk that it might not go as I would have hoped. I know there are people out there who would not take a step forward unless they had a guarantee of how it would work out. That is not in my nature. I am a risk taker in many ways and have confidence in my abilities, so taking a step forward is not difficult for me to do. When I quit my salaried job to ...

My poor blog has been sorely neglected. Sharing My Jennarocity was the name I gave my blog 6 years ago. When I started my businesses, the name Jennaocity took on a whole new meaning. It was the identification of who I was, or rather, who I thought I was. This busy entrepreneur, this driven "business woman," who could "do it all." This last year, my life has been through a lot of changes, failures and learning experiences. God has been very painfully, but mercifully, shaping me into who He wants me to be, instead of who I thought I wanted to be. In the process, I have found my renewed purpose in Him. I have reconnected with my strengths and been shown my weaknesses, and in that, have learned some life-changing lessons.  February is my birthday month. I want to invite you to join me this month in my journey, so that maybe my experiences and what I've learned can be of help to you in your life. One of my strengths is my resilience and God has told me that ...