Day 6 - Hope and Jessie

I wasn't planning on writing about Jessica Joy Rees today. I wanted more time to think about my words and to write something worthy. But, as I scanned bible verses and notes, I saw her life and her mission in everything I read.


"Be strong, all of you who put your HOPE in the Lord. NEVER GIVE UP." -Psalm 31:24 (NIRV) 
(Jessie's motto is NEGU, Never Ever Give Up. Her family lived the word hope.)


"Through faith in Jesus we have received God's grace. In that grace we stand. We are full of JOY because we expect to share in God's glory." -Romans 5:2 (NIRV) 
(Jessie was full of faith and joy. She created Joy Jars for children battling cancer. She not only shared God's glory, she was his glory)


"The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring the fullest Light to all the world." -Ann Voskamp from One Thousand Gifts
(Jessie was brave, beautiful, and just a child. She brought the fullest light to the world. She was change.)


Jessie passed away yesterday. She touched more lives than any of us can imagine, and I know she will continue to do so here on earth even though she is in Heaven. She fought two brain tumors and dedicated her sweet life to encouraging other children to fight cancer and to NEGU. Read her Facebook page and you will see the impact her life left on people of all ages and backgrounds.

Jessie's passing is devastating.  How can anyone find hope in something so unfair?


“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived— these things God has prepared for those who love him” -1 Corinthians 2:9 (TNIV) 


We cannot begin to understand what God has prepared for us in Heaven. It is more than we can possibly conceive, did you hear that? Heaven is real and Jessie is in a place more beautiful that what our eyes have ever seen. She has work to do there now. I read in the book In Light of Eternity, by Randy Alcorn, that not only will we be with our loved ones in Heaven, but we will also be with our "friends" in heaven, those whose lives we touched on earth. Jessie will have more friends than anyone I know.

I look at Jessie's short, but amazingly powerful life. If you want to see hope, see it in all that she has accomplished in such a short time. Anything is possible in your life, it's never too late. Go with hope and watch God work in you. And don't forget to NEGU (hope at it's fullest).