scary things

       You know those things you know that you should not do, and yet you keep doing them?? Well, one of my biggest "shouldn't do's" is watch scary/suspenseful shows and movies.  God has designed me to be a very imaginative woman, I think in stories, scenarios and pictures, and so scary and suspenseful things do not work well with my personality. 


      I am currently in bed wishing I did not watch Castle. A GREAT show, but its kinda suspenseful and scary. Psalm 101:3  states : I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me... AKA Do not put any bad thing in front of you so that you will not have that image hinder and follow you. And I find that the thoughts follow me in my dreams, then I wake up exhausted, scared and needing someone I love to sit with me and rub my back until I go back to sleep again. That verse has SO much meaning and purpose in it. 

     Right now, I wish I had not watched Castle, BUT I take comfort in Psalm 27:1 " The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of whom shall I be afraid?"

Thank you Lord for loving me so much and protecting me in the darkness.

Homeless Project

      Hope High Schoolers are making a difference in the world. That's right the WORLD, and we are starting in our own backyard. We are going to feed and Clothe the homeless of Richmond on November 20th!! But we cannot do it alone.
      Lately the sermons at Hope have been about grace and the "I AM HOPE" campaign, and we are putting those lessons into action. Everyone needs a pocket of grace and we are hoping to be the people that God uses to show the homeless of Richmond that grace. There are always reservations about the homeless, like : " Some people are just trying to scam us.", " They are just out there because they are lazy and do not want to hold a job.", AND " The homeless are a bunch of drunks and drug addicts."... and you may be right on some accounts, but isn't GRACE about nonjudgmental, sacrificial, and undeserving LOVE?
      Cody Buchan, Andrew Parham and I ( Jessica VanFossen ) went down to Richmond last Friday to talk to the homeless and get to know their needs a little better. We met Jared, a man with no legs and a wheelchair, who has been homeless for 20 years, whose friends and family will not help ( we are guessing he is a vet). Omar who has been homeless since October 12, 2010 because his mom pasted away and he could not afford the house and payments. All he wants is a job, he sleeps at the VCU police station because he says he fear for his life. He loves Steven Seagal, the 49ers and is allergic to onions ( interesting huh? ). And Linda who came here to work with horses at Colonial Downs, but ended up with Kidney failure and lost her job. She has been homeless for 5 years. These are all REAL people, with names, a story, family, issues, loves, passions, and personality, CHILDREN OF GOD who need OUR help.
     These men and women are coming up to a brutal winter and in order to survive need clothes and food. So please when you clean out your closets and switch your summer/fall clothes in for winter ones, consider donating your old/unwanted clothes to our special project. If you think about it, your old winter coat could save someones life this winter.
      SO how can you help us?? Well you can drop off the following items in the first closet on the right in the Hope office....

FOOD:

- 10 packages of Egg Drop Noodles

- 4 containers of Chicken BASE or 5 -8 boxes of Chicken Broth

- Package of Carrots ( Big bag )

- 2 bags of FROZEN chicken

- 4 Jars of Peanut Butter

- 3 Jars of Jelly

- 2 -3 lbs of Coffee ( ground up )

- 4-5 cases of water
- 300 disposable bowls
- 300 disposable spoons
- 300 disposable cups ( FOR COFFEE )
- Napkins
- 300 ziploc sandwich bags

OLD CLOTHES: 

- Jeans

- Sweatshirts/pants

- Coats/ Jackets

- Shirts

- NEW underwear and socks

- Shoes

- Scarves

- Gloves

- Hats

- Blankets

ANYTHING ELSE:

- tooth brush

- tooth paste

- brushes

- soaps

- etc.

Thank you so much in advance. If you have any further questions or want to help in a bigger way please e-mail me at: Vanfossenjm@vcu.edu.

In the making...

      Well, a lot has been going on this past week, nothing really noteworthy, but there is something from this week that has come about that I am beyond stoked about. It is the Hope Youth Group HOMELESS project that I have the great pleasure of heading up!!
      I will kick off the announcement about our project Next Monday in Hope for the Week, but I am too excited not to write about it now. We are headed off to Monroe Park on November 20th to feed and clothe the homeless of downtown Richmond. I have decided on Chicken Noodle soup, Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and coffee...I know not the BEST mix of foods, BUT I think we need to start off with a variety and see what works best. And plus since it is the first time doing this we need to see how people will react.        
      I am stoked on feeding the men and women of Richmond, but more stoked on clothing them for the winter. I am going to ask all of Hope to go through their old winter clothes and donate them to our project instead of directly to Goodwill. We will be handing out clothes and blankets to keep the men and women warm during the harsh winter so they have a better chance of survival. And with all of the left over clothes we may have, we will donate to a shelter or another amazing cause.
     Something else that gets me so pumped about this project is the Youth involvement. We have a few girls who are going to capture the day with their awesome photography skills and we are putting everyones strong points up to good use. And the fact that Hope will be marching out of the Suburbs to be a part of this project is even more exciting.
     I am hoping and praying that God will use this experience to open up our hearts and minds to GRACE. SOOO many people think that helping the homeless is hopeless because they will only use us or take our money and use it on drugs and alcohol,  and they may be right. But grace is about giving UNDESERVING love and compassion, and that is what I hope to accomplish with this project.
    So please help us to make this project the best it can be. If you want more information on how to help or be a part of this comment on this blog and I will get back to you!!!

Pockets of Grace.

    Have you ever had a really bad day and felt really awful about yourself and then someone comes up to you and compliments you.  Or you were really hungry and someone offered you half of their lunch without knowing.  Or someone offered you a piece of gum and didn't know your breath was stinky? Don't those little "pockets of grace" make the WORLD of a difference?

    I have read stories about teenagers who were going to commit suicide on a particular day because they felt worthless and felt like they did not amount to anything. But on that particular day, someone complimented them or asked them to hang out for the first time, and they choose NOT to take their own life. It was all about the pocket of grace, the particular person gave them that day that saved their life.

    I often think about teenage girls who end up pregnant our of wedlock. These girls are scared out of their minds. Wondering what their family and friends, CHURCH, and outsiders will think of them. SO scared to the point of contemplating abortion.  I really feel that if we were to extend grace and love to these girls ( and guys who are involved ) and realize that they made a mistake, but also, realize that YOU make equal too or worse mistakes, that these girls would keep the baby or put it up for adoption. It is all about giving grace and love to people in all kinds of situations.

    The cool thing about grace is that we do not deserve it, but it is given to us anyways. Take a relationship with the Lord for example. NONE of us deserve it, and yet we get it, time and time again. Its a selfLESS love which its worth cannot be measured.

    Remember how you feel when someone give you undeserving grace, and give someone that grace today. You never know what that person is going through.

( IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED AND NEED AN OUTFIT CLEAN FOR AN INTERVIEW WE WILL CLEAN IT FOR FREE)

i'm fine.

This is something to think about...

“The average person tells 4 lies a day, and 1460 a year. A total of 88,000 by the age of 6. And the most common lie is I’m fine.”

Why can't we all be honest with each other and realize that it is totally fine to not be fine??

( p.s. I just really loved this quote, I really AM fine hahah )

To go to class, or not to go to class? THAT is MY question.

     I am about to share with you one of the most common internal battles I have, where do my priorities lie when it comes to school.  First of all, I know that school is a necessary evil. It is something that I have to do, in order to succeed in my generation, but it does not mean that I have to like it, because I don't. I never have. So this creates a lot of turmoil within myself. Case in point this morning. It was raining, I woke up, felt tired, so I went back to sleep and skipped my first class. In my mind, me getting sleep and being well rested ranks higher than my social work class. Good or bad, that is just the way it is. And for 4.5 years that has been my struggle, to go, or not to go to class.

    I find myself in this little pickle quite frequently.  It tends to get worse as the weather gets warmer. The beach with friends is much more appealing than sitting in a class I could care less about. So I tend to lean towards the beach 9 out of 10 times. And when someone wants to catch up and can only do it during my 11 o'clock class, 10 out of 10 times ( unless I have a test ) I will go. I believe that enriching relationships is much more important and valuable than going to class to sit there confused and surf the internet. And that may seem like a cop out answer but it really is the truth. I can think of 100's of more important things I could be doing. 

    I just wanted to let you know that this really is an issue for me. It gets harder too when you throw in the fact that I have never excelled at school. I have never been able to test well, and I write how I talk, so papers are a struggle and reading "scholarly material" is like pulling my own teeth. But as the saying goes " 2.0 and GO" or "2.5 and stay alive"... so, I need to do a little soul searching and get on the ball.

   Here is the other kicker. I TRULY believe with my whole heart that college is a waste of time. My senior seminar professor even told us that it is pointless unless you want to get a masters in something specific, which I don't, so I struggle daily to get to class and do my work. And it kills me that I know that I have to get through this next year, and it killed me even MORE when I found out I can't graduate this December, because BELIEVE ME... I was already checking out, and now I have to check back in for a little while longer.

    All of this to say : If you are struggling in this area as well, Lets hold on together. Because when all of this is over, I am sure we will be happy that we suck with it. But remember it doesn't mean that you have to like it, we just gotta do it friend.

I hear you boys... 

Small group...

Just a peek into what went down tonight. We had more of a creative small group with painting, journaling, and "warm fuzzies"... Here are some pics!!

Sometimes we all just need a break from the norm to have a little more fun and use our imagination. And these girls sure did!! I love you all!!