Jennifer Gross is a women’s ministry leader in her local church and a stay-at-home mom to two teenage daughters. She’s passionate about digging into Scripture, telling and listening to stories about God’s work in our lives, and encouraging others to go deeper with God. As a former copy editor, she has surprisingly strong opinions about commas, semicolons, and idioms.

Recent Posts by Jennifer Gross

Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness Perseveres in Love

My husband’s family gathered at our house one summer for a Fourth of July cookout. When it got dark, we went outside for sparklers and fireworks in the driveway. As we lit some sparklers for the kids, my father-in-law’s phone beeped and he said, “I have a phone call. Go ahead—I’ll be right back.”

Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness Grows

When I taught an English as a Second Language class at my church, I often ran into a challenge. A student would ask me what a particular word meant, and even though I knew the word, I struggled to describe its meaning without using the same word. The word itself embodied the meaning for me; I could feel and know the meaning but could not put it into different words. It was just … itself. (Luckily for my students, online dictionaries came to my rescue!)

Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness Gets Its Hands Dirty

The air pressure in my car’s tires was running low, so I pulled up to the gas station’s air compressor to top it off. But when I connected the air hose to one of the tires, I saw that it had gone nearly flat. Putting more air into it didn’t help. I would have to change the tire.

Fruit of the Spirit: Patience Trusts

The famous marshmallow tests were first conducted in the 1970s at Stanford University. Researchers presented preschool-aged children with a marshmallow and a choice: eat one marshmallow right away or wait until the researcher returned to the room and get two marshmallows. Follow-up studies on the children showed that the ability to delay gratification—to be patient enough to receive a second marshmallow—was linked to higher competence and SAT scores in adolescence. 

Fruit of the Spirit: Peace Lets Go

Peace is an intrinsic part of the Christian life. Believers receive peace with God. We, in turn, seek peace with others as we forgive and love them. We also experience peace in our hearts and minds when we let go of our sins and our fear to trust in God. In fact, letting go is a key aspect of peace.

Fruit of the Spirit: Joy Overflows

The organ notes sounded like dancing. I already knew that the guest organist for the noon Lenten service was one of the best around, but I was unprepared for the sheer joy that shone through a relatively short introduction to the closing hymn. The organist wasn’t just accompanying a hymn. He was living out his gift, his purpose, and his delight in making music for the glory of God. The organist’s joy overflowed to the entire congregation.

Fruit of the Spirit: Love Comes First

At youth group, the teens in attendance were engaged in a very lively discussion, during which, my daughter said something slightly off the mark theologically. I immediately corrected and expanded on her words—matter-of-factly, I thought. I was one of the youth leaders, after all. It was my duty to make sure the kids understood everything correctly. The discussion continued, but without my daughter. Her head went down, and she said nothing else.

When we got home, she turned to me, “You made fun of me!”

Heavenly Peace During Advent and Christmas

During Advent and Christmas, we hear about peace. We read Isaiah’s names for the Messiah, including “Prince of Peace.” In Jesus’ birth story, recorded in Luke, the heavenly hosts say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). We sing, “Sleep in heavenly peace” in the hymn “Silent Night, Holy Night” (LSB 363:1).

Holding On to God’s Word and God’s People

In Exodus 32:15, Moses descends from Mount Sinai after spending forty days in God’s presence. In his hands are two “tablets of the testimony” (Exodus 32:15) with the words of God written on the front and back. Verse 16 emphasizes how holy the tablets are: “The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:16).

From Clueless to Fearless: Learning from Peter

After reading Mark’s account of the transfiguration, I asked the teenagers in Sunday School if they had any comments or questions. A fifteen-year-old girl hesitantly raised her hand. “Um, I don’t know how to say this, but the disciples were . . . not smart.” The other kids laughed and agreed, and we spent a few minutes talking about the clueless disciples.

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