Jackie's Journey "Christmas Surrender!"

In The Princess Parable Series, “A Royal Christmas to Remember” our five princesses are faced with exercising their loyalty in ways that resonate with us as mom’s during this time of year. Christmas is a wonderful time to put our busy lives back into Scriptural perspective.  We celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…the One who gives us everything we need to live a godly life. (II Peter 1: 3) This year 2024 is closing down…how did you do in your surrender to Him this year?

 Genuine Christianity is an unconditional surrender to His Lordship.

 Years ago, while attending the University of Arizona, I was faced with confronting my true loyalties in one of the most challenging seasons of my life.  I was invited to join a highly respected national sorority.  I had a sense of acceptance and grew to love the girls and the accountability.  After a semester of pledging, we had a night of mild hazing that culminated in stepping, individually, behind a veil for the final step of repeating a “pledge of our loyalty” and unconditional allegiance to the group…

 A few months earlier, over Thanksgiving holiday, I had attended a church service and heard for the first time in my life that I could know the God of the universe in a personal way through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Now, standing behind that veiled curtain, listening to the call to Theta loyalty, I was profoundly struck with the words and realized I had already given my total allegiance to the beloved Savior that we celebrate next week!  When He walked into my life, everything changed…I had no more allegiance to give.

 Time has tested on life’s stage that unconditional surrender

I made to my loving Savior and Sovereign Lord, in those college days.

This time of year calls our attention to the things most important to us.

 Where do our loyalties lie…

Have you surrendered your life to His Lordship?

~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. 

Jackie's Journey "Time Robbers!"

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving week-end?

 These are busy days, are they not?  Friends and family gathered recently for Thanksgiving  and Christmas is just around the corner, lapping at our heels!  Preparation time, tree-decorating,  meal-planning, welcoming guests… is all-consuming.

  There is a thief that is also busy and focuses on robbing us of the best. In “The Royal Christmas to Remember” book, the five princesses are busy in the kitchen preparing for their Christmas celebration, when their activity is abruptly interrupted by circumstances beyond their control. Marauders had envaded their town and the thieves were now bursting into their kitchen! What could they do?

 As busy moms, time in the Word can be lost to the immediate demands of responsibility and the whirlwind of activity around us. The thief is at our front door! Finding a “War Room” where we can read and pray, uninterrupted, is imperative to maintaining our walk.  Little things can begin to bother us and when people “bump” us, we react selfishly or inconvenienced.

 Sound familiar?

 One day away from the Word and I am aware of my desperate need and its crucial impact in my life.  Two days of letting the thief have my private time in the Word and not allowing it to dwell richly in me, and my family is intensely mindful of my desperate need! The princesses were quick to assess their priorities and act accordingly, bringing joy to their father the king. They were tested in the thickest of all that was happening around them and passed the test with flying colors.

 When tested… what is our response when:

·      We are evil spoken of

·      Our loyalty has been betrayed

·      Our will is crossed

·      We are forgotten or neglected

·      Our friends forsake us or

·      We find compromise more inviting than maintaining claimed convictions?

 Our response reveals the REAL us,

as it did our princesses.

When confronted with the “time robber”,

Are we women of conviction or double-minded ones?

(The definition of a “double-minded” person is the practice of one who is willfully in conflict with their soul (mind, will, emotions).

 Which are you?

 Choose carefully this holiday season.

Little prince and princesses are watching and learning…

~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.