Why here, Lord? “A mans heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) This past weekend, Exodus 3 Ministries said goodbye to Jasmine, who headed back to New York City after a two-month stay at Exodus House. When Jasmine called Exodus House in the dead of winter, she was set to begin a nursing job but had no place to stay and limited funds. When Miss Debra received the call from Jasmine, she did not hesitate to open the doors of Exodus House to her. “Exodus House welcomes women in need – no matter what the need,” Debra stated firmly. Originally from Saint Martin, Jasmine moved to New York City to live with her father when she was 16. In her early 20s, she began a career working in a bank – until Sept. 11, 2001. “I got there when the second plane hit the towers. Then, when the building collapsed…,” she shuddered as her voice trailed off, filled with emotion. “It was hard, very hard,” she whispered. “I could not sleep for a month.” Jasmine’s job relocated, but she eventually left the bank to pursue a career in the healthcare industry. Entering the field as a Certified Nursing Assistant, Jasmine went to school and studied hard to become a Registered Nurse. She also married and had two children, Last year, she said she and her children went home to St. Martin to stay with and take care of her mother. “But when I went back, I could not practice as a nurse without more schooling,” she said. Jasmine explained the French system is different and does not honor a bachelor’s degree from the United States. As a result, she found someone to stay at the house with her mom and her 7- and 8-year-old children and made arrangements to come back to New York City to attend school for her master’s degree. “I had asked my uncle if I could live with him and he agreed,” she said. “But my aunt died and the house was in terrible shape. So, I ended up staying at a shelter in New York City. And I didn’t have a job.” Jasmine said the first job opportunity that she could find was a position as a pediatric nurse at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse and she grabbed it. “While still in New York City, I began searching for women’s shelters in Syracuse,” she said. After being turned down from a couple of shelters for various reasons, she was getting anxious as the time neared for her to head to Syracuse to begin her new job. But, in January, without a place lined up, Jasmine bravely took the bus to Syracuse and called a help line upon arrival. “I was told I needed to go to Department of Social Service and while I was there, I called Exodus House and Miss Debra answered the phone, so here I came.” But, Jasmine still needed to attend classes at Columbia University on Monday and Wednesday. So, provided she was not scheduled to work those two days, Jasmine would hop a bus after her 12-hour shift and travel the nearly 250 miles back to NYC for classes. It has been an intense and hard two months for Jasmine and she said at first, she had no idea why God would bring her to a job so far from her education. “It was not until this past week that I knew why I was supposed to come here. At the beginning, when I was called to that job I wondered why I was called to Syracuse. But I got the answer.” Jasmine explained she had an issue in her life that was suppressing and depressing her for the past 12 years. “All that changed in one night spent in prayer with Pastor Marlene,” she said slowly, evidently still in amazement over what had happened. “It all made sense.” Today, Jasmine has rented a room in Brooklyn while attending classes at Columbia University for her master’s degree in business administration for nonprofits, a degree she needs to help her on her way to fulfill a dream she has shared with her brother for more than 10 years – to open a home for challenged children in her home country. But, not only is she getting her education, Jasmine will also be working at Cornell University, which means another one of her dreams is being fulfilled. She said she had applied at Cornell in the past, but had not made it past the phone interview. She is very excited about finally getting the opportunity to work there. “I was in a shelter before and yes, you get a bed and three meals a day, but at Exodus House you get so much more,” Jasmine said. “What I was going through before I came to Exodus House, it was like a plague in my life: it defined my whole core, it was me. Now, I feel like I have a purpose and there are things that are very important, not necessarily to do, but for me as a person, for me as Jasmine. I was going through so much stuff and now it is over, it’s over.”
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:46:24 +0000
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