Towards a Joyful Soul

Mid-January, we had mid-year evaluations due for YAV. This included answering a series of questions and then reading them aloud to our housemates. One specific question asked us to speak about our house community, one of the core tenets of the YAV program. In my answers, I was raw, honest, and incredibly vulnerable. I spoke my truth. The follow is an excerpt of that answer: I’m extremely grateful that my small group from Elon visited last week to remind me how loving and caring intentional Christian community should be. They are constantly encouraging and supporting each other with all five of the love languages. One simple question can lead to very deep conversations with incredibly vulnerability. They fill my life with so much joy, but not superficial happiness because we know the deepest, most painful parts of each other’s lives too. In one conversation we can switch from fun to deep, personal sharing to analysis of structural injustice. Nothing is off the table. I don’t fee...

"I understand that I might need to stay home for y'all's health, but I'm worried about the residents of Eden House." That's what I told my housemates when we were considering whether to start self-isolation before it was mandated by the city.  The physical and mental wellbeing of my residents was on the forefront of my mind as I made decisions regarding my own health. While a coworker shared an article with us about how COVID-19 affects survivors of human trafficking in particular, I didn't need to read that article to understand the impact that this pandemic would have on them. After working at Eden House for 7 months, I knew that losing control over their physical health and bodily autonomy (i.e. where they were allowed to go) would parallel what our residents felt as they were being trafficked. I knew that feeling isolated would be reminiscent of the physical and emotional isolation enforced by traffickers. I knew that having only one staff me...

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:4-8 ~~ I went back to Richmond, Virginia for Christmas. I'm not gonna lie and I'm not gonna go into it, but the time I spent there was ROUGH. I left feeling exhausted and a bit defeated. I was so relieved to be back in New Orleans. I was relieved to be back with my friends here. The day after I came back, I had a wonderful outing with Emily where she ran out of gas and I had to go to the g...

I remember telling my kindergarten teacher that everyone in the class hated me and no one wanted to be my friend. I remember telling my 1st grade teacher the same thing, with a vague memory of my parents being called to talk about it. I remember at the end of 5th grade calling a high school student in my theatre company in tears because I had no friends. I remember being so nervous the month before going to high school that I could only eat jello. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 As a person who has struggled with depression and anxiety, for the last decade I have been developing coping mechanisms for a life that felt constantly stressful, chaotic, and out of my control. Sound familiar? This pandemic is turning people's lives upside-down. There is added stress of possible infection every time you need to get groceries. There is chaos is many households as children are home from school or people are fi...

One theoretical purpose of Mardi Gras is to get all your sins and desires out before you have to give it up during the Lenten season. After Mardi Gras this year, I remember joking to my housemates, "After all these parades, I'm tired of people. I'm giving up people for Lent." Little did I know that there would be a global pandemic that required me to stay at home and see as few people as possible. You would think that after about a month of self-isolation, as an introvert, I would be rejuvenated. I haven't gone to any big events. My interactions are limited. I get to stay in my house all day. I don't even have to go in to work! Yet, somehow, I find myself more and more exhausted. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:2-3 Before this pandemic, Sundays were very actively a day of rest. After church, I would go to the park by myself and sit and pray and maybe call my family. ...

Mardi Gras. I can't comprehensively describe all I experienced during Mardi Gras: parades, glitter, king cake, tailgating, daiquiris, music, costumes, traffic, and more! It's like a combination of Christmas season and football season and the 4th of July and Halloween and Thanksgiving, but with a New Orleanian twist. It is such a huge part of New Orleans. The entire city stops for about a week to celebrate. Because it's such an identifying aspect of the city I live in, I figured I had to write a blog post about it to share with y'all. But what can I say? It was so overwhelming that my brain hasn't even begun to process the experience. Nothing that I can say will fully describe my Mardi Gras experience, simply because there was so much going on! As I reflected, though, I thought through how Mardi Gras relates to every single one of the YAV core tenets. So, that will be my way of sharing with y'all! Simple Living: Mardi Gras felt like the o...

About a week after I started working at Eden House, a coworker came up to me and said, "I know I haven't known you very long, but I'm going on vacation. My roommate said he would look after my cats, but I'd like someone else to have a key just in case he screws something up. Would you mind helping me?" My first thought was, "Do you not have any other friends in this city that you can ask?" I was shocked that someone who had known me for a week would trust me with her house key and fur-babies. But, of course, I said yes. About a week after she got back from vacation, she came up to me and said, "I have a weird question and you'll probably say no, but do you want to go to a burlesque show with me?" Us at the burlesque show Who was this woman who so quickly trusted me and so boldly invited me into her life? Her name is Emily and she and I have quickly become close friends. The first time I went to her house was because she was ...