jess

aesthetics and good vibes

[scatteringhope]

PRONE TO WANDER: WOMEN AND SEXUAL ADDICTION

PRONE TO WANDER: WOMEN AND SEXUAL ADDICTION

I was your typical eight-year-old little girl growing up in the 90s and early 2000s. I played online games at Barbie.com, I downloaded songs from LimeWire and uploaded them (along with a ton of viruses…) to my mp3 player. Like most eight-year-olds, I was far too curious, even about the things that did not benefit me. It took one mistake on a web address for me to end up on the wrong website. I…

View On WordPress

[firstfullmoon]

“She just wants the garden to work. She just wants to build a garden and water it and have everything grow and everything stay alive and she does not want to feel besieged.”

— Gabriel Tallent, from My Absolute Darling

[scatteringhope]

African Slaves + White Jesus

I made a comment on a Facebook post that I want to clarify. Putting these words into a comment or just a simple Facebook post would not have been enough. I want to clarify my statement that saying Jesus on the throne is not very helpful right now. Before we get there, let’s talk a little bit about my ancestors — the ones who were separated from their families, shackled, and brought to America on…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

Finding My Voice

“Because they don’t feel welcome in yours.”

I had just finished a rant on why LGBTQ+ persons shouldn’t have their own churches or theology. There have been very few times where the Holy Spirit has spoken so clearly to me, but this was one of those times. The day I head those words words above was the day that I began to discover my voice. I didn’t begin shouting from the rooftops or blasting…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

The World Stopped But My Mental Illness Didn't

The World Stopped But My Mental Illness Didn’t

Let’s put a few things into perspective: seasonal depression finally begins to let up. The sun finally begins to shine again. Plans are in motion. Goals are being met. But suddenly Spring and all of her new beginnings come to a halt. The isolation I and so many otherspromised ourselves we wouldn’t go back to has now become a nationwide mandate. COVID-19 has caused our leaders in government to…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

A Seat for Black Men

A Seat for Black Men

The Statistics

Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015. If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%.

In fact, there are more African American men incarcerated in the U.S. than thetotal prison populations…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

cul·ti·vate

Growing up I never understood my grandma’s love for gardening and her plants, but I knew that it meant so much to her — it still does. I remember watching bean stalks grow taller than me, and the joy of picking fresh apples and plums from her backyard. She taught me a lot that I didn’t quite understand the value of until now in my 20s. The patience, the precision, the frustrations, and…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

Rest for the Martha's

Rest for the Martha’s

Let me start off by saying this is not a Handmaid’s Tale related post; however, I appreciate anyone who caught the potential reference in the title.

So, I got married 3 months ago (woah). Being a newlywed is messy and wonderful all at the same time. I’m able to live with my best pal, which comes with a combination of his mess and my mess. I say mess in both a literal and figurative sense.…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

A Seat For Friends With Mental Illness

A Seat For Friends With Mental Illness

The Statistics:

In a given year:

Nearly one in five U.S. adults experience some form of mental illness.(Project Semicolon)

One in 24 has a serious mental illness.(Project Semicolon)

One in 12 has a substance use disorder. (Project Semicolon)

 63% of African-Americans believe that a mental health condition is a personal sign of weakness.

22% of pastors agree that they are reluctant to get…

View On WordPress

[artisticlog-deactivated20231213]

May you grow big, strong and invasive 🍃🌿🍀🌺🌸🌼🌱

[scatteringhope]

A Seat for Black Women

A Seat for Black Women

The Statistics:

TW // Miscarriage & Pregnancy complications – “In the United States, black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than white women.” -Alarming Racial Differences in Maternal Mortality . Here is a graphic, but necessary look into the reality of a NOLA Black woman’s story.

TW // sexual assault – The rate of sexual assault among Black womenis…

View On WordPress

[scatteringhope]

Pathway to Joy

Final post of the year! In this post I tell you my "word" for 2019, along with the 2017 journal entry that has gotten me here. What's yours?

Remember when January lasted for like 6 months? Well hello, we are less than 48 hours away from 2019. Usually I am terrified around the end of the year and full of anxiety about what the next one will bring. This year has been hard, and well — you’ve followed my journey (right?), so you know this. Rather than give you a recap of this year, I want to tell you what the Lord has done in my heart…

View On WordPress

[defiant-in-your-name-deactivate]

God has this habit of allowing me to reach my wits end, letting my head convince me that this one thing is enough to make my world fall apart and my foundations crumble, letting me weep on my bedroom floor and cry to Him that everything is wrong and i’m losing it, and then sorting the whole thing out in the quietest, loveliest way possible. Always exactly what I needed, always exactly as He’d planned it. He shows me that my head was wrong and everything is alright, and then whispers “My child, when are you going to trust me?”

[scatteringhope]

The Uninvited

The Uninvited

During my transition to New Orleans, there were several people who asked me to keep them updated on what I was doing next. I chose what I know best — writing. I started this blog with the intention of sharing my story and my faith journey of starting over in New Orleans. As you may have noticed, this has slowly transitioned into sharing deep personal struggles and, through reading,…

View On WordPress

[politijohn]

This is such a big mood. Speaking as a full-time graduate student in the metro DC area, I don’t blame her for waiting. The cost of living here is grotesque.

[incel-waifu]

stfu, this bitch just another LARPing liberal

[politijohn]

Like most models, Ocasio-Cortez did not buy the outfit shown here - she rented it for a photo shoot. Also, the clothes come from an environmentally-conscious fashion line, the designers of which are sensible to her political platform.

I see why you omitted these details - sexism is more catchy when you neglect the whole story

Also:

[cuzthatsmydj]

Period

[brbjellyfishing]

fuck it up Cathleen!!!!!!!

[graceandcaffeine]

Some of God’s greatest work in my life was when I couldn’t feel Him. That’s where He built my faith. He had to hide my faith beneath my feelings. That’s where hope lies; beneath the surface. That’s where hope lies when you get a bad report fro the doctor. But somehow, someway, you still have hope.

- Steven Furtick