HOPE | Lt. Gessica Pierre

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. You're listening to The Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome back to Words of Life.

I'm Bernie Dake. And I'm Cheryl Gillum. Cheryl, this is our fifth week of our series sharing the testimonies of seven people with very different backgrounds and hearing how God has done incredible things in their lives.

And we want to say thank you to Ashley Escobar again for bringing this series together. Yeah, so many different testimonies and stories. I mean, I am so sure that those who are listening are going to really glean something out of their lives and hopefully take something knowing that they're not alone in this journey called life. And hopefully it'll inspire them to share their story as well. I said this in the first week, but we're all created uniquely different. We are created in the image of Christ, but we all are different and our perspectives are different. But we go through similar things.

And if we can learn from someone else's mistakes or opportunities, whatever the advantage is to hearing these stories, it's strength for the journey. And I like how you say we're not alone. We want you to hear that as listeners and as hopefully fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are not alone. You're never alone. And God will never leave you or forsake you. Now Jessica's story is very appealing in a sense that it's another unique perspective.

Now she is married to JP or Jimmy Pierre, who we heard from during this series as well. And I know that if you haven't had a chance to listen to this series on hope, you'll want to go back and check out these episodes. Absolutely. And specifically to Jessica, she shares about her own journey of purpose and calling. And so if you're struggling out there and you don't know what God has for you, you'll want to listen to this and again, get some inspiration from her life to know that God wants to speak to you as well. All my talents, gifts and time, I'd gladly give you all that's mine. Knowing all you have required is my surrender. No gift of mine would be enough to repay this act of love.

So father, let this faithful heart speak ever for me. I have not much to give you, Lord, for that great love which made you mine. I have not much to give you, Lord, but all I have is yours alone. I have not much to give you, Lord, for that great love which made you mine.

I have not much to give you, Lord, but all I have, all I have is yours. I got to a crossroad my senior year deciding, like, what are you going to do with your life? This little chapter is ending, like, what are you going to do?

And I remember making that conscious decision to say, I am surrendering. Thanks for coming and being willing to share your story of hope. We're excited to have you and to hear how God's shown up in your life, how he's been faithful in your life. And yeah, so tell us who you are. I am Jessica Pierre. I am wife to Jimmy Pierre, who is the most patient, loving, handsome man ever. And I am mommy to Giselle Marie. I'm also a lieutenant.

I'm new lieutenant. I am a pastor officer at Burlington, North Carolina. I am loving pastoring the people there.

They're an amazing, amazing group. So thankful that that's my first appointment. And you know, also sister, daughter, friend, wear a lot of hats. That's awesome. So tell us your story, wherever that might start from the day you were born. Wherever you want to start, tell us your story. I feel like I can't begin to share my story of hope without first going back to how I met the Salvation Army. Because the Salvation Army has been this beacon of hope in my life.

It's been a vessel that the Lord has used to steer me to him and he is a source of hope. So I'm a proud Haitian. I was born in Haiti and my uncle was actually an officer in Haiti. And so I was introduced to the Salvation Army there. I remember going to camp with him a couple of times and just even in Haiti, my early experiences of the Salvation Army was always full of hope, full of joy, just full of fruit from the Holy Spirit. And when my mom decided to move us to Raleigh, North Carolina, my uncle accompanied us and he kind of like helped us get settled.

And one of the first things that he did was take us to the Raleigh Corps, Raleigh Salvation Army. And I remember from the day that I stepped foot in that place, I did not want to leave, like it became my safe place. There were women and men that surrounded me and I felt important, like this nine-year-old immigrant, like feeling important in a place. It was just a beautiful experience. Every time the doors were open, I was there. So you got connected, you're connected in the Corps, you're not perfect. We're all there. Some of us are still there. Okay.

But tell us what happens after that. So I consider the college phase of my life, probably one of the darkest times of my life. I went to college about three hours away from home and that's when my faith had become real, had to become mine.

Right. But I struggled, failed miserably. It probably was like the darkest spiritual time of my life.

I was doing everything right on the exterior, on the outside. During college, I joined every group I could. I was in a sorority.

I had three semesters of taking 18 credit hours of classes and getting 4.0 semester after semester after semester. But inside of me was this deep insecurity, like this just feeling lost and my soul was dry, just really honestly dying spiritually on the inside because I just was not connected to Jesus at all. And I didn't have that turnaround until my senior year when it was kind of like, okay, something has got to give. You can't keep living in this space of insecurity and anxiety and just trying my best to succeed and reach and strive and feeding my insecurities, but they're still getting hungry or like nothing is satisfying. And I got to a crossroad my senior year deciding like, what are you going to do with your life?

Like this, this little chapter is ending. Like, what are you going to do? And I remember making that conscious decision to say, I am surrendering. Tell me, after you graduate, what brought you to where you are now? Yeah, I went back home, actually moved back home with my mom. I just grounded myself. I went back to the core I was serving and I remember during that time was the first time in my life that I decided to actually really develop a spiritual discipline of being in God's Word.

Yeah. And I was like, I'm gonna start from the book of Matthew. And I remember reading Matthew and falling in love with Jesus.

And I can actually see myself sitting in my bed in that small room. Yeah, reading and Jesus becoming real to me, like he was mine. And it just kind of like spiraled into just more depth with Jesus and knowing him and my identity started to shift. Yeah. And before you knew it, like, I like that deep insecurity anxiety, the way my mind used to be in college.

It was not like that anymore. Yeah. But the Lord had to take me home.

Yep. And really like plant me and ground me for me to get there. Like he really like saved me from that.

All that head chaos that I used to live in. Now you're an officer. But tell us the journey after saying, Okay, God, like, yes. What did that journey look like for you? Was a quick like, Okay, now I'm in full time ministry.

To be honest, it was. And, um, and I think that's just situationally for me. And I think that that may be, you know, the rule for everybody.

Like what's God calls you? It's happening right. But for me, a place where I was, it's exactly how he worked it. Yeah.

Um, he called me was around May. And by September of that year, I was in full time ministry as a BFI as a youth director. When it's God, there's so much peace in it. Even if it's uncomfortable, and you're like resting with it, but there's a peace that you cannot describe it. Yeah, I knew I was going where I was supposed to go.

Yeah, there's no better version of your life than the one where you're surrendered to Jesus. He is the one who created you. You can't out think a better plan for you than he has. He has all the pieces. He sees the world in full. He lives outside of time.

We we have narrow vision. Yeah. So it's like, you can't you can't out plan him. You can't out grander God. No. So it's it's true.

Seek him first. And I promise you, you will have the best version of your life. Yeah. And won't be without suffering. It won't be without pain. There's nobody that can live a life without either of those two things, right? But when you're surrendered to Jesus, I promise you, you will suffer but it will be for your good at the end.

Yeah. Without him, you're just suffering. I want to ask you one last question before we end. You are an incredible, beautiful woman who is in full-time ministry to people at your core, full-time ministry with your family. You're a mom, you're a wife. How do you balance? How do you juggle everything and remain healthy?

Oh, that is a great question, Ashley. How do I balance? Honestly, I, I really feel like I don't balance. I kind of ebb and flow and it's like a rhythm.

Yeah. And I have moments where I feel like, yeah, I'm crushing it. Through God, I'm doing, this is a great week. And then I have days where I'm crying in the car. If I'm being real, there are days where it's all going wrong and I'm literally crying in self pity. Yeah. And I take those days as they come. Like it's a part of life.

It's going to happen. Yeah. And it's really trusting in Jesus and resting in His strength and knowing that I cannot do it all and trusting Jesus with my expectations and rooting them in reality.

Yeah. Thank you so much for being here, sharing your story. And we just appreciate you for being real open and honest in you, which is what we want. And we hope that somebody resonates with your story and it hits home for them. So thank you so much.

Thank you. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support. And we'd love to hear from you. Call 1-800-229-9965 or visit salvationarmyradio.org to connect.

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