Dream Big ~~ Work Hard.

"Dream Big Work Hard" ~ JJ Watt- Defensive End for the Houston Texans.  This week I have questioned this journey several times and found myself wondering if it was worth it.  I have a fantastic group of friends who reminded me that if I quit now that no one gets help.  I sat and thought about that and Mr. Watt's quote came to mind and I began to feel like the burden of this journey to lift and my eyes on the "prize"  Mr. Watt is right I need to Dream Big and Work Hard.  That is the only way that Love's Journey will get off the dream and burden in my mind.  As I dream about the Who, the What, the When, the Where and the How I begin to see how BIG this dream of mine is.  I'm reminded that God doesn't call the equipped He equips the Called.  Well with that I'm ready to Dream Big and Work Hard so that soon I can see the fruits of my hours of labors. 

We'll that's a lot of blogs this week from me but I've just felt like it's something that needed said more for a reminder for myself. 

Names Mean Something

Love's Journey 

When I was burdened by God to start Love’s Journey -in June of 2013- I had no idea what would happen with it or what it would mean.  Every name has a meaning –Parents spend 9 months thinking about what to name their child because a name means everything.  While I’m dealing with a cause, not a baby this name also has a meaning.  If God gave me this name it obviously has a meaning and a Bible verses that go off of the name.   I think this is a perfect time to explain what Love’s Journey means and how the verses it uses to derive its name are the perfect ones for what Love’s Journey is all about. 

First off we need to do a little defining of terms J when I used http://www.merriam-webster.com to define love and journey I got a lot of definitions which is good but I as the CEO/Founder of this organization, I had to really think and pray over which definition I wanted to use.  I did the same thing with the verses.  When it comes to this organization I will never move or make a decision until I have prayed about it, talked it over with people I trust and respect, which have a heart for seeing this organization move forward, reaching its mission.  I spent some serious time in this “battle” because I am God’s servant and that is a job I don’t take lightly – I want the perfect things for this organization as much as the next person but this is a God breathed and God ordained Journey –which means I won’t move until I feel that the move I want to make is something God agrees with.  Ok, back to the definitions of Love and Journey.  http://www.merriam-webster.com gives the following definitions for Love:

A: a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person

B: attraction that includes sexual desire : the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship

C: a person you love in a romantic way

When I think of Love and Love’s Journey I think about how B and C are such a worldly view point and how A just seems to be the right way to use the word.  So this organization is using Love as a “feeling of strong or constant affection for a person (in our case young women and girls, and women and girls in human trafficking and modern day slavery.)” I say this because as a young women ( as I write this I’m 23) I find that I being raised in the church and knowing I’m loved means I’m still on a journey searching for Godly love and love from people- which I know thousands of young women who are doing the same thing- on a journey for true, authentic, love- a unconditional love- which exist – but it’s often times hard for young women an especially hard for women and children in human trafficking and modern day slavery to believe that no matter what they do or don’t do that God still loves them. 

Let me say this right now – if you are one of them stop that type of thinking and know this : the maker of the stars, the maker of the skies, the maker of everything, the maker of you- breathed life into you – LOVES YOU no matter what you have done or ever will do!  This is hard for me at 23 to remember and believe but once we grasp this as women and become confident in that we are loved by the maker of the universe we begin to see that we are worth so much more than what the world says we are.  You are God’s beloved child – rest in that truth that GOD LOVES YOU.   If you haven’t figured out by now that Love’s Journey exist to simply love on girls and young women (who are in human trafficking/modern day slavery and girls who aren't in human trafficking/ modern day slavery) who are having a rough time in their lives and need someone to remind them that they are loved, accepted and known by the maker of the universe no matter what they have done or will do.  

I have heard it put this way- “To be loved is to be known and to be known is to be loved.”  This is so true and as I sit in my church’s lobby writing this I and reminded of that.  When I was looking up love on www.biblegateway.com I fell in love with psalms 136:23-26 in the Message version which states “God remembered us when we were down, His love never quits. Rescued us from the trampling boot, His love never quits.  Takes care of everyone in time of need. His love never quits. Thank God, who did it all! His love never quits!” This is why Love’s Journey exists to remind girls and young women that God’s love never quits! Ever no matter what happens.  This verse also reminds us that God works in his timing; God will rescue us and fulfill His plan on His good and perfect time.  Just rest in knowing that GOD’S LOVE NEVER QUITS. 

Ok so I feel like I've said enough on love so next up on the defining list the word Journey. When I used http://www.merriam-webster.com to define Journey this is what came up

1: act or instance of traveling from one place to another 

2:chiefly dialect :  a day's travel

3:  something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another <the journey from youth to maturity

I once again spent time in prayer about the right definition (I know I bet you can see that I do nothing without praying over it and for it) I fell in love with #3. Because that is exactly what Love’s Journey is we are traveling from a place of hopelessness, a place that’s empty, a place that is godless to a place that is HOPEFUL, ACCEPTING, and always drawing us CLOSER to a God that LOVES US NO MATTER WHAT!  So as I spent time looking at www.biblegateway.com for a verse on journey I found this and of course I prayed over it – it came from an unlikely book I think – it’s from exodus 33:14 the Message version which states “My presence will go with you I’ll see the journey to the end”  this verse makes me so excited as I dream of the journey’s I’ll get to go on with the girls and young women who walk into the doors of Love’s Journey.  The hardest step these lovely girls and women will make is to walk into our doors and right into the arms of a LOVING GOD who doesn't care how messed up, and torn apart they are.  I dream of sitting on a porch in swings with girls just talking about their stories and how God just loves them no matter what they have been told or what they believe.  Love’s Journey will be a place of healing, a place of truth, and place where girls and women are real with each other and themselves and a place where the God of the universe does what he does best – Loves on his daughters.

Girls- please please please listen to me when I say GOD LOVES YOU NO MATTER WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!! I know that truth first hand.  Do I believe it with all my heart? Yes I do!  Does that mean I don’t have days where I feel like I've messed up so much that there’s no way God could love me?  I of course have those days but I’m blessed with a church home that reminds me that THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, THE VERY PERSON WHO MADE ME LOVES ME NO MATTER WHAT I’VE DONE OR HOW I'VE ACTED.  I have friends who love on me and remind me of how beautiful I am and how much I am loved.  Girls please listen when I say God can and will redeem our past if we let him.  My favorite author and speaker of all time Beth Moore says this “we have to let TRUTH scream louder to our souls than the lies that have infected us” please girls believe this!!! I’ll share my story later on but right now is not the time J  I promise I will. 

So this blog has been super long and I feel like I should apologize but I’m not going to because God had a message that needed to get out to you all today so I will do what He has called me to do which is to be his messenger and servant. 

Much Love

Jessica