Jenni’s testimony –
Before moving into Vision of Hope, I struggled with some things with my past. I had a past relationship that had been displeasing to God, and my aunt and uncle decided that counseling would be beneficial for me and my relationship with God.
Vision of Hope was an option and about a month later, I was moving into Vision of Hope.
I didn’t exactly know what counseling would be like and how it would go. I started counseling a week after I moved in and we started simple. We talked about my past all the way to the present.
As we continued counseling, I realized that I had some different idols and issues that I needed to take care. I live in a family full of sinners, including myself, and I wanted a perfect family. I started to work on loving my family the way they were and to be content with the family I had be given. I also worked on playing the role that God had intended for me to. We also talked about how I focused on works and how I did and how I didn’t focus on loving God. I learned that if I am loving God works that please God will come as a result. I also learned about communication. I realized that I hated to communicate and I realized that I need to learn how to communicate even if I didn’t want to.
When I moved into Phase 3, we had to move to Georgia. While I have been in Phase 3, I can see how learning to communicate has helped. I can go talk to Nana and John now and I am still nervous sometimes, but I know communication is needed in order for Nana and John to help me and to take care of me and to keep me safe. I admit that I don’t always communicate the way I should, but I can see how knowing and learning and overcoming the fear of communication as helped me and my family. Learning how to think of my past and my parents has helped me so much. It helps when it comes to trials with my parents or when talking about my past. I am able to look at things different and be thankful what I have now.
Now that I have learned about loving God works and fruit come as a result, I don’t have to worry about doing right. I have to be loving God and obeying Him. It has helped relieve stress in my life. Again, I admit I don’t always do the greatest job at loving God and not worrying about my works. But it is much better than it was.
In all, I think VOH as helped me learn so much pertaining to my relationship with Christ. I am thankful for the person I now can be in Christ. I am very thankful to Tori, Jocelyn, and all interns and other staff. They all helped me learn and helped remind me of truths.
