S4 Episode #15- Jen Pattinson
THE ONE WITH Jen Pattinson
Jennifer Pattinson is the founder of REALL Women's Ministry in Charlotte. REALL stands for Women in Relationships through Encouragement, Accountability with Love and Laughter. This is a place where women come together for monthly meetings, serve our community along with raising awareness for the needs of our Haitian friends through the Mission of Hope. Jen shares, “Our passion is feeding the hungry, we do so by feeding the homeless monthly, delivering blessing bags of food to Urban Promise, filling food pantries in some of our CMS schools and sponsoring TeamHope for meals for the hungry children in Haiti.”
REALL began just before the pandemic shut the world down, but it didn't stop these amazing women from doing what God was calling them to do. Jen explains, “We are so proud of the work we have done and we have so much more work ahead of us. We are thrilled that Jesus just keeps blessing us along the way. We welcome women to join us, please visit our website at www.reallwomen.org to subscribe!”
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Transitions + The Unknown
Jen and her family moved to Charlotte from California 21 years ago. It was through this transition that Jen came to have a close, personal relationship with Jesus. God’s grace blew her away. He loves you, no matter what!
Be open-minded in the midst of transitions. It’s easy to get stuck in how we “think” things should go, and we can miss out on something new God is doing.
REALL Women’s Ministry Charlotte
Five years ago, Jen went on a women’s trip to Haiti through Mission of Hope. They worked in the kitchen alongside Haitian women to provide meals for the teams. Jen was amazed by the joy and community that she discovered among the women. When Haiti shut down a few years later, Jen and her friends started raising awareness about the lack of food in Haiti and directing people to Missing of Hope’s website.
At the same time, she realized how many kids were going hungry right in Charlotte– our own backyard. So if we can feed a child in Haiti, we also need to be able to feed children in Charlotte.
So Jen created REALL Women– a group that meets once a month to fellowship and feed the hungry in our community.
REALL= Relationships, Encouragement, Accountability, Love and Laughter
Women long to be in community. We need each other.
When Jen gave her “yes”, doors started opening up for immense needs in her community. A local school had hundreds of hungry kids during COVID. Throughout the whole first year of COVID, Jen and her team kept the pantry at the school stocked for the families.
God continued to open doors and provide the food and the funds to fill every need!
Partner Organizations:
God goes ahead of us and prepares the way. When we give God our ‘yes’, He already saw it coming and He opens doors that we could never have imagined on our own!
God’s Goodness
Jen shared a story of a random connection that God orchestrated with a stranger at Walmart. The woman saw the food Jen was buying and started asking questions. It turns out the woman had a whole case of lentils in her car that she didn’t need! She gave them to Jen!
No need is too small for God to notice. God cares about your lentils! Whatever your “lentil” is, God cares about it and He will provide for it.
No deed is too small for God to use. Something as small as a smile can be used by God for His Kingdom.
Life Message
It’s so easy to get caught up in seeking and collecting worldly things. We need to get back to basics. We are called to love one another. Nothing else matters. When we love one another, everything else falls to the wayside. All our differences fade away when we focus on loving one another.
Character of God
His attention to detail is incredible. He sees the full plan and He is always working for the good and glory of His Kingdom.
Sometimes the seasons of transitions don’t seem to make sense when we are in them. However, in hindsight we can often see how God used every part of it to get us to a new place with Him.
Thank you, as always, for listening! Please remember that everything we do is funded by those who benefit from our ministry. Our ministry a 501(c)3, so your contribution is tax-deductible.
Our events are centered on worship, restorative creativity, and designated time for reflection, evaluation, and setting intentions.
We help you provide a safe environment for your community to practice low-stakes creative risk-taking that will spur them in their gifting + step further into their calling. Leaders will rise up, ministries and businesses will be born, and all will find a new connection with their true identity.
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know who they are in Christ + understand their purpose as Kingdom cultivators can do!
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The Collected Podcast is a production of Collected Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disciples of Jesus discover and live from their true identity in Christ, recognize and walk in their divine purpose within the Kingdom of God, and experience growth in their capacity for mature, healthy relationships.
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The Collected Podcast is produced by Jes Biondo and edited by Jacob Early. Cover art designed by Ben Biondo.