My youngest daughter, Kim, always told me growing up that her testimony was not interesting because she was not involved in sin, like testimonies she had heard over the years. She was born in Panama and her first years were spent in the jungles of the Darien on the Colombian border. She was full of energy, animation and oh so, fun to be around to the extreme. She definitely kept us entertained and laughing as she marched to her own drummer…and she was sure she needed no help…”she could do it herself!” Of course, that meant her way…her timing…her willfulness…not unlike most of us!
All any of us has to share is our failure and weakness translated into a life message for the benefit of another. That is my position. If God can use my weakness to manifest His strength for your benefit, I will praise His name. Jim Elliot, (husband of Elizabeth Elliot) who was martyred at the hand of the Auca Indians many years ago, once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” His spirit of devotedness was shared in his prayer:
”Father, let me be weak that I might lose my clutch on everything temporal.
My life, my reputation, my possessions. Lord, let me lose the tension of the grasping hand. Even, Father, would I lose the love of fondling.
How often I have released a grasp only to retain what I prized by ‘harmless’ longing,
the fondling touch.
Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary as Christ’s was opened…
that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me now.
He thought heaven, yea, equality with God,
not a thing to be clutched at. So let me release my grasp!”
True Christianity is an all-out commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ…an unconditional surrender to His Lordship…He is Boss! When I was 19 years old and attending the University of Arizona, I had an opportunity to pledge a sorority. After six months of maintaining above average grades, memorizing huge amounts of information and fulfilling the responsibility of a faithful pledge, etc., I faced the ultimate moment of commitment.
I listened intently as each girl quietly slipped into a private room to pledge her total allegiance to Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority. Racing through my mind was the moment a few months before that I had dedicated my life to God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. When God walked into my life, everything changed for me. My total allegiance had already been committed. I had nothing else to give. Allegiance to an organization no longer had any appeal to me. My purpose in life had already been defined by my new Lord, Jesus Christ.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore, I will gladly boast all the more gladly
about my weakness,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses,
in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong”! II Cor. 12: 9-10
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
