The final stretch!

Hello all!

I am happy to announce that on May 25th of this year, I will graduate the Redwood Emerging Leadership Network internship, and complete my studies at the North Coast Bible Institute. Although I am sad to leave, I am so overjoyed to stand at the finish line and see the fruit of God’s work. I am very blessed to say that God has made a tremendous impact on my life and on the lives of so many people around me through this program.   
Over the past two years I have served on staff at Eureka Faith Center church as a full time intern.  I served in a variety of areas for the first year, and was able to “bloom” where I was planted. During the first year, I held a Youth Worship night for all of the youth groups in Humbodlt, started a bible study at a local convalescent hospital, organized an interactive prayer seminar for a woman’s conference. During the second year I was able to specialize in the youth department and served as what might be considered an “Assistant youth pastor”. I spoke on Sundays about half of the time, and at least once a month on Tuesday nights. However, speaking was just a small part of my working with the youth. I also learned how to organize events, fundraisers, student retreats and filing cabinets. I learned how to function on absolutely no sleep, how to clean week-old soda spills and how to love a group of kids powerfully and unconditionally. But most of all, I learned that I am just a small piece of the transforming work that God desires to do in every youth group, every church and every community. 
As an intern, I have had the blessed opportunity to not only cultivate my skills as a minister, but to shape and form relationships that will last a life time.! I have worked alongside a staff that become more like a family, and ministered to a group of youth kids that I adopted as my own children. 
Looking back, I can say that I could not have done this without YOU.  I am tremendously blessed to have such a supportive environment. Your support enabled me to experience and be a part of a lasting, life changing impact . The purpose of this letter is to thank you for your support, and to ask for your continual support as I complete the program.   As my time as an intern comes to a close, I am needing more prayer and support than ever. I embark on a new adventure! And though it is exciting, it is unknown. Please pray for vision, encouragement and direction.
 In addition to prayer, I need financial support. I am  raising the last 1,000 dollars to pay for the final expenses of my internship.  God has been so faithful to provide the finances throughout these years, and I know that he will continue to make a way, if you can support in any way (even in exchange for work!) 

Thank you again for your love and encouragement.  I am now equipped to continue on in the service that God has set in front of me. I am no longer afraid of the unknown or the unpredictable. One of the coolest things about completing this internship, is that I am prepared to take a position as a full-time youth pastor, today. Two years ago, that would have definitely not been the case!   I am  SO excited to see what God has planned next, and I am thankful that this internship has prepared me for the successes and the failures, the triumphs and the challenges.  To contact me in anyway, for any reason, please send me an email!

With Love, Jasmine Jennings
jasminerenejennings@gmail.com

Financial Support Information

For Financial Donations, please mail a 

Check to Eureka Faith Center

 1032 Bay Street Eureka, CA 95503

Be sure to specify  in the memo “intern Jasmine”

For easy online giving, visit eurekafaithcenter.org And click on the “Online Giving Link” on the bottom right of the page. In “intern scholarship fund” input the amount you desire to give,  and specify “intern Jasmine”.

 All donations are tax deductible!

If you are looking for an extra hand around the house or babysitting please contact me via cell phone. 707-845-9969

Women's tea devotional

Women’s tea devotional

It is very apparent that we do not see ourselves the way that God see’s us. That we cannot not fully comprehend the level our true beauty. And like these women most of us, probably all of  us see ourselves through a distorted lense. A lense that has been dirtied by unkind words and an unkind world. A lense that zooms in a little too much at the imperfection and flaws  and somehow decides to overlook our unique and beautiful attributes.  

We’ve  read the verses about being “wonderfully and fearfully made”, we know that we are “made in God’s image” and yet, we still battle with the notion that we will never be good enough, thin enough, tall enough, tan enough, zit free enough.  It’s exhausting. And like this video said, it can be crippling. 

It is important to understand that the way be view our outer being, is a direct reflection of the lies that be believe in the dephs of our soul. One of the woman in this video said that her mother told her that she had a large jaw and as a result she believed it. For who knows how long. It became a part of her identity. 

We are not battling against a mirror, we are battling against the lies that we have been told, the lies that we tell ourselves about who we are and what we are worth.

From a very young age we are bombarded  with lies from the media about what it means to be beautiful, lies from the world about what it means to be loved, and worst of all- lies from those who were supposed to love us the most about what it means to be worthy. 

My question for you today is, what lie are you allowing to shape or distort your identity, your worth?  What lie is stopping you from realizing your true beauty?  Are you finding identity in this World, or in Christ? Are you being shaped by who you have been, what you would want to be, by what the world tells you you should be, or  by who the spirit is recreating you to become? Start thinking of what lies you might believe about youself and start asking God to reveal to you the truth about your worth and your beauty. 

In order to understand your  beauty on the outside you need to understand your worth on the inside, and in order to understand your worth on the inside, you need to know how God values you. 

Jesus says that you are “Worth more than silver and Gold” worth the life and death of the son of God.  God gave the most precious thing in the universe for you. 

He thinks you are ravishing, lovely, delicate, strong, worthy. 

Some of you might be thinking “what does this have to do with a fashion show and tea”

Well, in this video, the truth was revealed through a relationship. Another person coming in and offering their perspective. It is vital, that we speak truth into one another’s lives. 

This morning I want you all to feel beautiful, ravishing, like the  royalty you are.  This morning we will be surrounded by good food, good friends, cute clothes, and beautiful women.  So laugh, eat a a scone without thinking about the calories and speak truth and we are going to leave here knowing a little bit more about who we are and what we are worth. 

The start of a new year!

     The past three weeks have been very restorative. I have had a chance to sit  and rest with my creator, to dance with Him, to run with Him, to laugh with Him, to be so very blessed by Him.  I fall more in love with God every day. It's sort of like a whirlwind romance. Needless to say, it has been a really sweet break.
     Tomorrow I go back to finish off my internship with the Uturn youth group. Next fall, I will be transferring to Life Pacific in San Dimas to finish off my degree and seek a job in full-time ministry. I am not sure what it will look like yet, but I know it will be good! God has already done so many amazing things in my heart, and in the heart of our kids. He is teaching me how to love them, and lead them into a loving relationship with Jesus.  He is teaching me how to be a pastor, a servant, a leader and a friend. I am blessed to be here. It is awesome watching the kids grow, watching them want to know God more. 
    Knowing that I will be leaving this summer leaves a sadness in my heart. But it also gives me a drive to accomplish a lot of things these next four months. I am not going to simply "sail" through the rest of my internship. I am going to grab a hold of the Lord and let Him take me full force, to finish the work that He has begun. At the beginning of this year, I made a list of the things I want to do in my internship before I leave. I am going to share it with you so you can be praying for and with me.


1. Start small groups/ a bible study and leave it with people to lead it.
2. Revive and nurture the Student Leadership Team
3. Speak on the Holy Spirit
4. Worship Night
5. Do an outreach with some students
6. Have another student testimony
7. Repaint the Uturn arcade sign!
8. Get A's in all of my classes ;)
9. Make a video of student testimonies
10. Leave knowing I accomplished everything the Lord set out for me.


Please be praying with me!
On another note, thank you to everyone who has supported me during this internship! I still need to raise about 1,500 to pay for the program, and I know that God is so faithful to provide! I have been doing Photoshoots to pay for my internship, and if you know of anyone who would be interested in booking a session, please contact me! Otherwise, donations and support are available through the "Help" link above. Blessings! I will keep everyone updated on what God is doing these next few months.

-Jasmine

On "Captivating" Learning about Beauty.

(Day 9)

Earlier this year I picked up a handful of books in a quest to discover what it really means to be a woman. My selection was limited to titles like "Woman of the Scriptures"  "Proverbs 31" and  "Hidden Treasure of the Female Heart"
     Needless to say, I ended up putting most of these down within the first few pages. I'm pretty sure all of them had a chapter titled "Created with Care". Bleh.
     You know, one of the books actually sounded very promising. It was titled  "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul".
I thought,
 "Neat. I'm a woman. I have a soul. Unveiling is a pretty word. Mystery is generally good. I'll give it a shot"
 Within the first few pages I was convinced I would never finish or enjoy this book. I'm not sure if it was the cliche language or endless Disney Princess references. Whatever it was, the text seemed to be coated in glitter and silk, screaming (or rather respectfully whispering) "You are pretty, and long to be desired" I thought to myself "Blah blah blah, heard it all before" Closed the book, put it on my shelf and forgot about it, entirely.

      So, Once Upon a Time,  last night I had the word "Captivating" stuck in  my head.
 It echoed over and over again, I heard it, tasted it, visualized it. Captivating. While I was eating dinner,  "Captivating". Washing the dishes, "Captivating", brushing my teeth "Captivating". I thought,
 "Are you being sarcastic, God?". Captivating.
    It didn't hit me until I was standing in my room staring at my book shelf, looking for a new read. Tolstoy was too heavy and Oswald Chambers was too reformed. I wanted something lovely and light and, hah how ironic, captivating. And there it was, staring at me as if to say "Give me one more shot". I sighed, picked it up and started reading. Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of  Woman's Soul. Take two.


      The first few chapters are all about beauty and the desire to be sought after.  While my initial response was once again "Heard it all before" I continued reading. My curiosity was sparked when Eldredge proposed that creation  reached its zenith in Eve.  "She wasn't just an addition or an accessory to creation, the universe was incomplete without her." Amazing.
The universe is incomplete without me.  Maybe this book is actually a little deeper than Cinderella stories.
 I got past the point where I had stopped prior and read something that I thought to be rather unique. Eldredge explains that a woman desires to be beautiful,  from the inside out. It is in a woman's essence to be sought after, to be captivating. Stasi suggests that this is actually a reflection of God's heart. The desire to be desired. (Mind blown)
     "After years of hearing the heart-cry of women, I am convinced beyond a doubt of this: God wants to be loved. He wants to be a priority to someone. How could we have missed this? From cover to cover, from beginning to end, the cry of God's heart is, "Why wont you choose me?" It is amazing to me how humble, how vulnerable God is on this point. "You will find me," says the Lord, "When you seek for me with all your heart". In other words,"Look for me, pursue me-- I want you to pursue me." Amazing. As Tozer says, "God waits to be wanted."

Eldredge(s) gets bonus points for quoting Tozer.

After reading this simple but enlightening text,  I decided I could dust off the glitter.
    John Eldredge describing the sanctity in a women's beauty was actually quite moving. You can nearly reach out and grab his sincerity, his desperation. "Don't you understand? You- Women, you are beautiful. And it is not only because of your body- though this may be the most beautiful of all creation- it is your soul, it is your spirit" You are captivating.  "God gave Eve a beautiful form and a beautiful spirit. She expresses her beauty in both. Better, she expresses beauty,  simply in who she is. Like God, in her essence"
A year ago I would have torn this idea apart and hung it out to dry. This morning, it resounded well with my soul.
Again,
"This is what it is like to be with a woman at rest, a woman comfortable with her feminine beauty She is enjoyable to be with. She is lovely. In her presence your heart stops holding its breath. You relax and believe once again that all will be well. And this is also why a woman who is striving is disturbing, for a woman who is not at rest in her heart says to the world "All is not well. Things are not going to turn out all right" "Like a fountain troubled", as Shakespeare said, "Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of a beauty". We need what Beauty speaks. What is says is hard to put into words but part of it's message is all is well. All will be well"
Again, a year ago, I would have called Eldredge a chauvinistic idiot, and say something like "What? So I'm just supposed to sit here and look pretty?" But that is not it. Oh how Naive and stubborn I can be.
    Being beautiful is a lovely and cherished thing. Our beauty is a reflection of the Creator's romance.

It is not something to be despised. I am done despising my beauty, for to despise my own beauty would be to despise the Creator's love.

(Learning to embrace my beauty, inside and out)

 This is my prayer today:

 Oh Lord, I want to be a fountain of Love and Beauty. Take this reckless river of a woman and make me into the ocean, whose waves ebb and flow in the tides sway,
whose waters calm and cure and stir violently,
at the command of the moon, and you, oh Lord,
you are the moon.
I am the sea and I am deep and vast,
and carefully measured.
 I am an ocean in your Palm.
I am the essence of your Love and Beauty.
I am your creation.
Oh Lord, I want to be a fountain of love and beauty, that the world may come to me and know that "All will be well". I want to be a well spring of your Life, of your Love, of your Beauty.
Amen.

Day Six

Well, tonight marks the end of day 6.

I am seeing more and more everyday that true beauty is found in the passionate love of a vulnerable, sacrificial heart.

     This journey began as a sacrifice, an act of obedience tinted with hopes of feeling more confident with my natural beauty. I thought that God wanted me to fast makeup so I would realize that I was beautiful without it.
Well,  It would be just like Christ to prove me very, very wrong.
Yes, it is true, I do feel more confident every day.
 But surprisingly, it has absolutely nothing to do with my face.
   
     I am starting to realize just how deep my roots of security were planted in my own outward beauty. A few weeks ago, I would wake up, do my hair and makeup,  look in the mirror and feel pretty.
I would leave the house confident in my outward appearance. I looked "good" and I knew it.
 I spent my mornings preparing my heart but probably spend an equal amount of time preparing my face.
I was finding my identity in the outward.


This morning I woke up, spent the entire morning with my creator and left the house, hair pinned back and bare skinned, feeling confident and beautiful. And it had absolutely nothing to do with my appearance. I felt beautiful because of the love which dwells so richly inside of me. The love of my creator, displayed in the beauty of His beloved creation. I have set aside my mirror and have begun asking the question
"Lord, what does my heart look like this morning? Please, fix it. Expose the blemishes of my heart so they may be healed. "
 I am beautiful because of  His Love.
 I was made in Love, to Love.
I rejoice! I love! I cannot explain this feeling. I am crazy!
For the first time in my entire life, I do not care, the slightest bit about my outward appearance. (Not to say that I am letting go and turning into a dirty sweat pants girl) I am just realizing that the only thing that really matters is love. (Duh)
What began as a journey to find confidence in myself, has led me to find confidence in Christ and in Christ alone. The theme of these past few weeks has been "Let go."
I know that the next thirty days will not be easy.
 I am battling a world that tells me to use my beauty for control.
I am battling a mind that tells me to conform to the ways of this world.
But, I am filled with a spirit of Love and Truth.
It's time to shine.

Alright, now that you know how I feel, here is a little side note.


I wanted to say how proud I am, and how very blessed I have been by all the women who have been inspired to embrace their natural beauty. Perhaps I have a sensitive spirit, but every-time I encounter somebody who says that I inspired them  and I see their beautiful bare skin, I am reduced to tears. I really cannot explain how it makes me feel. I am overjoyed with all of the women who have gone bare-faced, in confidence. You are all so beautiful, inside and out. Please continue to seek the Lord and root yourself in His love. You are not defined by your eyes or lips or skin, you are defined by His Love. Yes, you are a beautiful creation, and it is because He made you to Love you.

-Jasmine

Forty Days with a Fresh Face.

      On November 15, 2012, I woke up and looked in the mirror, long and hard. I didn't like what I saw. I sat and stared into my reflection, trying to validate myself. Trying to find something to hold on to. "Well, my skin is uneven, but I have pretty eyes" or "A little concealer will cover up those dark circles..." And I heard God whisper, quite clearly "Let go." "You are beautiful, not because of anything you put on your skin, but because of who I am and who I have made you to become"
Let go.
My identity is not found in my face.
I picked up all my makeup, put it in a bag, zipped it up and shoved it under the chair. "Today is the day" I thought. Today is the day. I felt an overwhelming joy, looking into the mirror, seeing myself beautiful. From the inside, out. Not because of anything that I have done, but because of who my creator made me to be. 
I have wanted to give up makeup for nearly two years.
 I have started the forty day  fast many times before, only to break it when the first zit popped up, or when somebody asked if I was feeling sick. I would gradually add a little mascara or lipgloss, and then forget about my fast all-together. A compromise would turn into a failure, and a failure would be forgotten. When I realized that forty days from the 15th was Christmas, I knew that it was finally time to let go. Completely. It has been four days, and this morning I woke up with a large pimple underneath my nose. My instant reaction was "A little concealer doesn't hurt..." Instantly I felt something inside of me, "Let go." It's just a pimple. Nobody is perfect. You are blessed.
Sure it was easy when the weather was clear. But how will I respond in the storm?
Let go. 
Over the past four days I have received a mixed response. From "Wow! You look so pretty today" to "Something is different" to "Are you feeling okay?" I admit, it has not been easy. Every morning I strip myself of the desire to be "perfect". I am forced to focus on my heart, to focus on what God is doing to make me truly beautiful. Not by the worlds standards. I look in the mirror and ask God "What do you have to say to me today" Every morning it is the same "I love you, I created you, I have a purpose for you, let go."

I am learning so much about myself. Again, it has not been easy. I have dealt with things in my life that have left me damaged and insecure. As a teenager I suffered from anorexia, bulimia and self harm. It has been five years since these struggles, but I am still healing. I know that at the end of these forty days I will have a more secure grasp as to who God has really made me to be. I will no longer find any of my identity in my "beauty" but I will find my identity in Christ, my creator. The Husband of my heart and keeper of my mind. It is amazing, the joy I have in this "letting go". This morning I woke up and felt beautiful, before and after I looked in the mirror.

How Thomas Edison ruined my life.

       From the time that I could comprehend the idea of family relation, I understood that I had the priveledge of being related to the infamous inventor, Sir Thomas Alva Edison.

 If I close my eyes and focus my ears, I can still hear my grandmother Susan boasting to me from behind the yellowed pages of our Family Genealogy. “You know, Jasmine , Thomas Edison is your Uncle. By blood, not just marriage"

She would explain that because we were related by blood and not just marriage,  I was destined to be a genius, or at the very least,  a bright shining light.  

I have a distinct memory of  the first failure I experienced as an inventor, the day that I realized that Thomas Edison ruined my life.

      I had the simple assignment of turning a potato into an energy producing battery. To an aspiring eight year old inventor, this was just about the coolest thing since push-pops. I remembered my Uncle Thomas and worked extra hard to make this small light bulb turn on.  After all, I was destined to be a genius, it was in my blood.

         It is interesting to me how clearly I can recall holding that potato in my hand, amazed by the fact that this,  thing which had come out from the ground covered in dirt, would harvest and produce energy. Light from dirt. I remember smelling the dirt and wrinkling my nose.

(I had no idea that I would one day become this potato.)

      I secured the probes and twisted the wires around my tiny light-bulb, awaiting the excitement of  first light. I would have made my uncle proud.

 But it would’t turn on.

      I watched as my classmates cheered and rushed to the teacher’s desk, beaming with pride. I tried to twist the wires tightly and went back to my instructions, but nothing. I had done everything right, it just wasn’t working.

 I slowly walked to my teacher’s desk,  hot tears welling in my eyes. “It’s broken! It’s broken!” ( I was a bit dramatic as a child.)

She took my invention into her hands and made some adjustments, frowning. “Oh Jasmine, I’m sorry. It must be your bulb.”“ You did do it right though, so just imagine that it is working”  I returned to my desk with my broken bulb and sat quietly, looking out over the classroom of small, bright lights. Thanks uncle Thomas. Thanks a lot.

     From that day on, I was no longer proud of my relation to Thomas Alva Edison.

 Not shortly after this experience, the Public Broadcasting Station taught me the truth about good old uncle Thomas. The truth about his failures, his fraud.  

In my understanding of the PBS special, Thomas Edison did not even invent the light bulb. He merely perfected it, taking note of other’s failure.

I grew to hate this relative of mine.

And more importantly, I grew to despise the light bulb.

     The idea of electricity never did make any sense to me. As a child,  I absolutely hated waking up when the sun was still down.

 The bright light of a false morning startled my mind to wake, it made no sense that my house should be fully illuminated.

 The warm rays of Saturday morning sun coaxed me out of bed, in love, and that felt much nicer than the flip-switch GOODMORNING! of my mother.

       I hated watching my mother rush to collect her things and leave the house for work before the sun could greet her at the door.

I hated the chaos of unpaid electricity bills.

      But I did always love candle light.

Whenever the electricity was turned off, my family came together.

It was the only time that we looked like a real family. In the dark.

Illuminated only by the light of our candle, huddled together over a game of scrabble.

  This is how I wish to remember my childhood. Things looked much better in the dark.

       So basically, artificial light ruined my life. And you may not know this, but it ruined yours as well.

Artificial light became the spark of the Industrial Revolution. No longer limited by the natural pattern of day and night, we became slaves to the freedom of work.

       I am, at this current moment, sitting in a classroom at nine-thirty at night, under awful head-ache producing flourecesnts.

Granted, I appreciate my education, but is it so wrong to think that right now, my body would benefit more from sleep? 

1 John says that God is light.

God is light, not electricity. God is light, not a light-bulb. 

God is not contained.

God is not some “Aha!" moment that occurs above our heads. The sort of light that God is compared to in the Gospels far surpasses any man produced containment of energy.

     This sort of light is mysterious, uncontrollable, constant. Absolutely unshakeable.

You can’t turn this kind of light off with a switch. You can’t shove it in a light bulb or keep it in your pocket. This kind of light, this kind of life, can better be compared to the sun.

The sun can easily be called by any human, atheist or protestant, a source of life.

Constant, despite the revolution of our inconsistent planet.

Our vision of night, our experience of the dark does not discount the fact that the sun stays fixed at the center of our galaxy.

The sun is massive, inconceivable.

      You cannot stand in the presence of the sun. You cannot capture it in a photograph, nor gaze at it from millions of miles away.

You tried as a child and realized that this, this is the blinding light. 

The sun whispers in speckled reflections of moving water and catches dust like glitter from the window sill.

We gasp at the beauty of light and color as it filters through forest leaves, a thousand shades of green.  We cannot contain this light. We cannot recreate this source of life. We are in awe of this energy.

And yet, even the sun one day will die.

Creator’s Light is everlasting, inconceivable.

I’m still in class and my redvines are all gone. So naturally, I am brought back to the Gospel.

"You are the light of the world" This reference refers not to a light-bulb but to a candle light.

Natural light. A city on a hill in 30 A.D. was not powered by PG & E. 

     We were never called to be flashlights. We were never called flood-lights. We are not even called to be light-freaking-houses like we see in our very own church logo’s.

We are the candlelight, illuminating a way in the dark night. 

Collectively, we represent the light of our Creator. But we ourselves, we are not the sun. 

We are to be a soft, gentle, powerful light in the dark. Do you think a light, because it is soft does not overpower the darkness? Light always, always, always penetrates darkness. Do you think a blind man after not seeing his entire life is ready to get his pupils dilated by your flood light of doom? Does it feel good when somebody shines a flash light in your sleeping eyes?

Can you, yourself stare into the sun? 

     We are not called to be fluorescent, head-ache producing lights.

We are to reflect the light of our father- the mysterious, brilliant, pure light. We are pools of water, dancing, reflecting glimpses of his Glory. 

     We are the bright forest leaves, turned transparent by the power of His golden, outstretched arms. We are the sweet, welcoming sun that wakes a child on Saturday morning.

We are the candle lights that families get out when all has gone dark, we illuminate life in a dead world.

     So, are you turning on your light bulb and calling it Holy,  or are you truly relying on the True source of light?

One last thought, Photosynthesis. Just saying.

Going back to Thomas Edison, sure, it’s neat that he is my uncle. But, you know what? I would much rather boast of my relation to the Creator of real light. 

And that is how Thomas Edison ruined my life.