Are You a "Yes!" Mom?

Be the “Yes!” Mom!

Halloween 2015 has come and gone.  I have been reflecting on what has changed.  I no longer have much input on their costumes.  They don’t really need me to hold their hands while trick or treating.  They want to invite friends along and tell us we can stay behind and watch the World Series.  Times have changed.

My children aren’t wearing their costumes today – the day after Halloween.  They no longer insist on wearing them to the grocery store, or to church, or to a party at Easter time.  They no longer want to wear them to dinner when we are having spaghetti or outside playing in the rain.  They are folded neatly and put away.  Some of them went back to the costume shop today.

The older my kids get, the more I miss the “littles”.

Now, my youngest is 7 and my oldest is 14, so in some peoples minds, they are still little.  But I am talking about the squishy cheek-weeks, over-managed months and diaper days that go by way too quickly.  People used to say “Enjoy these days with your little ones, they will be gone before you know it”.  I actually think I couldn’t believe it back then because     the.      days.     are.     so.      long.

I was the kind of mom who insisted on wearing costumes only when it was appropriate.  I wish now I hadn’t.  Today, I would love to see Princess Grace at church, Robin Hood at the grocery store and Princess Leah at an Easter party.  I would be happy to wash marinara sauce or mud off any costume now.  But those days have passed.

Are you an uptight mom who wants them to dress just right? 

“Oh honey, that costume is good for Halloween or around the house, but not for church”. Maybe matching perfect clothes for an outing and hair combed just right? “Sweetie, I love that Batman costume, but I just don’t think it is right for Aunt Sharon’s Easter feast”.

I know, me too.

So I am here today to encourage you to let them DO IT!  Crazy, right?  I wish I had let them live out their fairy tales and I wish I could have taken pictures.  I have too many perfectly-dressed, hair-just-right photos.  Let them wear their princess dresses and cowboy outfits because some day they will not want to anymore.

Take it from me.  Your time with them is short and the moments when they want to be adventurers, explorers and royalty for a day will come to an end.

Just say “Yes!”

~Jeanna Young

When Jeanna is not writing, speaking, event planning, or homeschooling, she can be found scrapbooking her life, redecorating her home, loving on her husband, planning fun events for her kids or eating healthy to stay cancer-free!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! 

I know most of you know that.  Pink ribbons are everywhere.  I love the awareness part, but not so much the pink ribbon.  Here is more information why.

Because the statistics say 1 out of 8 women reading this blog will have breast cancer in their lifetime, I feel called to share the things I have learned along the way. 85% of the women diagnosed have no family history of it. Having been a miracle two times now, I'd like to offer some ideas to reduce the risks to our bodies.

Are you at risk?

Are your hormones high?   Have your hormones checked next time you are getting blood work.  I never knew to do this and my hormones were 5 times the acceptable range when I had cancer.

Are you overweight?  I was. Ask yourself if you are more than 60 pounds over the weight you were at 18 years old.  Fatty tissue makes estrogen, so this will put you over your body’s desired amount for estrogen. Maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly minimize your risks. 

Do you have dense breast tissue? A routine mammogram will discover what kind of breast tissue you have.  I recommend thermography instead, but either way, discuss your breast tissue with your doctor. 

Do you watch your environment and lifestyle?  How we eat, what we put on our bodies and how we live does largely affect our risk of breast cancer.   These are the biggest areas we can change. Exposure to solvents, plasticizers and other industrial chemicals in the products we use can increase our vulnerability.  Pesticide residue on the foods we eat is included in this.   

So avoid . . .

• cigarette smoke (even smelling it)
• processed foods (everything on the inside aisles of the grocery store)
• hormone replacement therapy (that includes the pill)
• more than one alcoholic beverage or cup of coffee a day (not my coffee!!!)
• non-organic produce (eat mostly fruits and veggies!)
• chemicals like parabens or BPA that mimic estrogen in products (check your shampoo, make-ups, lotions, etc)
• stress in your life (learn to make margin)

I know it’s a long list, but if only someone had told me! 

God has a plan in all things and I believe, for me, it is my job to help inform you all!  God has given us many resources in this world to combat the evil of breast cancer.  Yes, I think it is evil and reminds me a lot of sin.  He has given us wonderful food to eat – his food that comes from trees and vines.  Not plastic man made food in colorful boxes.  He has given us iodine to rub on our thyroid or iodine pills to help regulate our estrogen.  He has made curcumin, grape seed extract and pomegranate supplements that help to reduce our risks.

I pray you will make the changes you need to so you will not be one of the eight. I believe God has given us everything we need to live this life.  I just wish I had known and changed sooner.  Praying for health for each of you reading this!

2 Peter 1:3 Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

 ~Jeanna Young

When Jeanna is not writing, speaking, event planning, or homeschooling, she can be found scrapbooking her life,  redecorating her home, loving on her husband,  planning fun events for her kids or eating healthy to stay cancer-free!

Jackie's Journey: Dry Bones

If there was ever a day when our families, country and world call for Revival…this is the day!

“Revival is absolutely essential to restrain the righteous anger of God, to restore the conscious awareness of God, and to reveal the gracious activity of God.”

Ezekiel was a prophet, a priest and a servant of God who was sent to give God’s message to a wicked and rebellious nation, not unlike our own.  Chapter 37 speaks of his vision of a “valley of dry bones”.  Verse 11 cries out, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off”!  Spiritual deadness is a frightening position, and the absence of the fear of God reveals itself in our moment-by-moment life practice…

Are we dedicated to comfort and convenience,

claiming personal rights,

doing our own thing?

Or are we dedicated to Cavalry’s road and a God that calls us to holiness?

Our dedication determines how alive we are spiritually or if we are a mass of “dry bones”.  There is a quality of spiritual life that is rarely experienced among believers in the West because we are so busy…living in entitlements. 

Where are you living this moment?

Stephen Olford in Heart Cry wrote, “O that God would teach us that it is just as important to be spiritual as to be sound in our approach to the Bible, just as vital to be obedient as to be orthodox, and that the purpose of revelation is nothing less than transformation of human lives!”

Revival is the power of the Holy Spirit transforming God’s Word in our souls.  While in Bible School a fellow student introduced me to a small paperback book, The Calvary Road by Roy Hession.  Revival’s clear definition and seeing my need for personal application has been a constant reminder of God’s promise to set us free from sin and self…continually!

Revival is the result of:

• A new experience of the conviction of sin
• A new vision of the cross of Jesus and redemption
• A new willingness to walk in brokenness, repentance, confession and restitution
• An understanding of how to maintain a consistent walk in the light
• A joyful experience of the power of the blood of Jesus cleansing us fully from sin and healing all that sin has lost and broken
• The test for knowing you are cleansed…ask yourself

1.     Do I have any un-confessed sin?

2.     Is there anything between another person and me?

• A new entering into the wholeness of the Holy Spirit and His power and His own work in and through us
• A new “gathering-in” of the lost ones to Christ

Revival does not begin with someone else.  It begins with each of us!

Is revival stirring in your soul? 

“The fruit of revival comes only as we come to the cross and acknowledge our emptiness and failure apart from Him.  It is not good Christians becoming better Christians…but rather Christians honestly confessing that their Christian life is a valley of dry bones and by that confession qualifying for the grace that flows from the Cross and makes all things new, dry bones made alive again!”  Roy Hession

Understanding our desperate need initiates this promise:

Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good…

He came to make dead men live!

~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 discipling 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: Sacrifice...What?

We are all living sacrifices…for something or someone…for good or evil!!

Some live life sacrificing for money; some for drugs and alcohol; some for sports; some for self-gratification, etc.  Most dedicated mothers sacrifice for their family.

My husband recently shared a verse with me that put “rubber on the road” in my understanding of sacrificial living! 

II Chronicles 12:14 says, “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord”.

My idea of evil is unlimited in its ability to fill my imagination with what I see, hear and read in our frazzled culture today! 

 In the light of God’s definition of evil, what are we really living for?

Are we shortsighted, committed to doing our own thing?

According to this verse, evil is defined as not setting our hearts on pleasing God and His purpose for our life; not seeking the Lord, first and always.

All other pursuits are considered evil from God’s point of view!

So I asked myself…

In my life quest, I consider my pursuits sacrificial but am I actively setting my heart on seeking Him first in every endeavor?”

Isa. 50:11 promises us needless defeat and suffering when we “light our own torches to do our own thing”.

As busy moms and grandmas, how often do we look for God’s purpose when we are being consumed by a whirlwind of activity all around us?  We are teachers, taxi drivers, counselors and nurses… you fill in the blank!

Isa. 50: 10 states, “All believers walk in darkness”.  This means we are all shortsighted and blind to the immediate future.  We tend to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.  By setting our hearts on pleasing God and having his purpose first in our lives, we find sacrificial living fulfilling, understanding that “all things work together for those who ‘set their heart on seeking God’ and are called according to his purpose”.

Are we too busy in our “life of urgency”

 to look for God’s purpose in our next interruption?

Is it a moot point when we are fractured with wrong attitudes and responses because we are being inconvenienced?

“I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened…” 

Can He listen to you?  What do you set your heart on? 

What do you cherish above all?

~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 discipling 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: A Princess Miracle!

In life there are times when God’s heart stretches across time and space and touches us profoundly. 

Do you know what I mean?

This morning was one of those times.  My 9-year-old, youngest granddaughter walked into our room with her Bible and journal in hand.

Princess Megan Joy

Something seemed different about this little energy-giving princess this bright sunny summer day.  When Megan Joy walks into a room, a ray of light comes in with her…lots of it!  She quietly, even silently, opened her diary and began to read.  After just a few words, tears began to roll down her cheeks and she handed her journal to me to finish.

 “What is it, Love?” I asked, pulling her close to me. 

I began to read her written thoughts and realized I was being given a divine gift.  She had, transparently, recorded in detail, where she had read that morning.   It was in Matt. 24 where God is “going to return on the Day of Judgment”.   He had opened her heart to hear His voice through the verses.  She had been exposed to God’s Word for the last 8 years, but that morning she understood and acknowledged her desperate need to be claimed by the cross of Calvary’s truth and sought His forgiveness and had received the redeeming love of her waiting Savior!

Now both of us had tears streaming down our faces!  She looked up and said, “I want Jesus to be the boss of my life, Grandma.” 

Her concept of His Lordship was so clear to her and my heart was overwhelmed. Her new joy was infectious and her peace surpassed not only her understanding but also mine.  His grace is greater than my finite mind can comprehend.

It has been said that the humpback whale enthusiastically sings tunes that often last 20 minutes and resonate through the water for hundreds of miles!  (Achieving True Success, IACC)

 If I could I would do that this morning!   My heart is overjoyed, enthusiastically expressing with my spirit the joy of my soul!   

“Rejoice, I say rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: REJOICE”!  Phil. 4:4

“You, oh Lord, have made known to me the path of life; you fill me with joy in Your presence.” Psalm 16:11

“It is the rightful heritage of every believer, even the newest in the family of faith, to be absolutely certain that eternal life is his present possession.  To look to self is to tremble.  To look to Calvary’s finished work is to triumph.

Larry McGuill

5 Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Anything!

God made such wonderful food for us to eat!  I found having children they tend to lean toward the processed, colorful and sugary foods not found on trees or in creation. No matter what we eat at home. 

“How do you get all your kids to eat their veggies?” a new mom asked me recently.  I thought about it for a moment and I realized all four of my kids eat whatever is served at the dinner table.

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Gen 1:29

As a cancer survivor (twice now!), I cook pretty healthy.  Sure, my kids still love all the plastic, colorful foods created by man, but I want them to eat what is beneficial for their bodies and love it.  We will always have choices when we leave our home.  My kids go to birthday parties and enjoy the cake and candy, just like yours.  But when we are home, I am in charge of what they eat.  I do the grocery shopping and most of the cooking.

Reflecting over the last fourteen years, here are a couple of things we have done.

1. Be the best example to your kids.  My kids see me eating lots and lots of veggies.  In fact, if I eat anything that is different from my normal fare, the kids notice and say I am cheating!  By doing this, my kids have oftentimes asked to try my food and experimented with something, just because I am eating it.  Don’t be the mom telling her kids to eat healthy while she stands there with a Frappuccino and a scone in her hand (I used to be this mom!).
2. Be stealth with your ingredients.  I am stunned what my kids will eat if they don’t know what it is or if it is covered up somehow.  Zucchini with cheese, smoothies with kale, and cheeseburger soup loaded with veggies.  I always look for recipes with veggies in them. Even traditional classic dishes have alternative choices now on the internet.  I have also switched my kids to “look alike” snack items with much better ingredient list.  They have no idea because it tastes good.
3. Get your kids involved in cooking.  Some day your little princesses and knights will be old enough to help in the kitchen.  When they are, you will be amazed at what they will eat, if they have a hand in making it.  Even my 14 year-old son prefers to take a salad to school instead of a sandwich.  If he makes it, he is more apt to eat it.  Sometimes it is “kids’ day” and they are in charge of cooking dinner.  I am amazed at how similar they will cook dinner to how I would.  Something is rubbing off!
4. Tell them they have to try everything.  They say it takes 10 to 15 tries before a child will eat – and like – a different food.  Wow! That is a lot of stress to get them to eat one thing, let alone a whole bunch of new foods!  Yes, it is.  Parenting is not for the faint of heart.  As parents it is our job to train them up in many areas.  I believe teaching them how to eat healthy and with good portion control is our job.  So what if they won’t eat it? (see below under ‘drastic measures’)
5. Watch documentaries and internet videos about healthy food choices.  Nothing has a more radical effect on my kids than videos about good food or bad food choices.  Movies like Food Inc, Super Size Me, Forks over Knives, etc. will impact their food choices – and yours.  Last night my husband had the kids watch a YouTube video about “leaky gut” that promoted probiotics.  All my kids got up this morning and took all their vitamins and probiotics without me having to ask.

Our Drastic Measure

When our kids were little (under 4 years old), they all had a day where they refused to eat their food.  Every one of them. Luckily, I had a wiser older woman in my life who suggested we adopt an old principle dealing with food.  We decided to do what folks in the “old days” used to do and I am so glad we did.  Back to the days of no-nonsense parenting, I guess.

So when our little kids put up a fuss about their dinner, we asked them to eat it.  To at least take a bite.  And if they didn’t, then we would let them know they wouldn’t get any other food until they ate their whole dinner.  I realized very quickly this was a power struggle.  It really had more to do with them wanting the power than something different to eat.  So I served the same plate of food for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner.  They were allowed to have water, but no other food. Not one snack.  There was so much whining, so much crying and so much demanding, I wanted to give up.  Obviously, this was a day I had to cancel everything and stay home with them.

Eventually, every single one of them got really hungry and ended up eating the entire dinner – even ice cold.  One of them went hungry for 36 hours!  Only one of them did it two times.  But I can tell you this: after this moment, they all ate their dinner or at least tried it and there was no argument (or power struggle) over “a bite” to try it.

It may sound drastic, but it worked for us and all four of our kids!  I also know it has worked for other friends, too.  Was it painful?  Yes!  Was it an inconvenience?  Yes!  But all my kids are great eaters now.  I just asked them all if they remember those days and we all got a good laugh about it!

What are ways that you have gotten your kids to eat healthy food?

Jackie's Journey: Jungle Monkeys and Tiaras

Princesses Christina and Kim visiting our Kuna neighbors

Village life was becoming normal on our Kuna outpost.  In the early morning, before daybreak and breakfast, the girls would run to the front door to trade packets of oil and sugar for fresh eggs. Ralph would pick up the Bible and begin reading to the girls until it was time for breakfast or the house filled up with people.  These excited little princesses would anticipate the daily trip to the river to swim and help me wash clothes. Moving toward the river we would wave to the small monkeys perched on the bikes on our porch and call out to the parrots shrieking from the mango tree above our heads. Carrying the wash back up the 12’ bank, my two little monkeys would help me hang the clothes on a line that extended from our outhouse to the tin roofline of our home. Later in the morning, Ralph, with all of us in tow, would haul 5-gallon drums of water from the river above the village to drink, wash dishes and brush our teeth.

If there was time before lunch, the girls and I would grab a princess storybook and we would enjoy a few moments of inactivity in the hammock strung across the middle of our living room. 

Dr. Ray Nadeau, visiting from Southern California, enjoying our “story-time” hammock!

Beth Moore, in Living Beyond Yourself, shared “Every little girl has something in them that wants someone to say ‘You are Special!’  It is in me to believe, ‘I am supposed to be special’…could that be eternity set in the hearts of men?  A piece of eternity…something set in the hearts of little ones that says, ‘I am destined for royalty’…A real live King.  A real live Kingdom is coming.  Somehow a little child has that in them to know…little knights and little princesses—for the kingdom belongs to such as these…and children believe in Kingdoms.”  

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.  Ephesians 2:10

Even in the remotest of jungles my little girls knew they were special, with or without a tiara.  God had made them that way.  As Christian parents, we want to encourage the belief that God created our little ones unique with destiny because He has given them the innate belief that they are one of a kind.  This opens the door to present the provision made for each of them to understand their need and become a child of God for eternity.  We encouraged this belief, knowing our girls were created to do God’s will and to find His purpose for their lives. 

As time goes on, little princesses search for other princesses in their world.  Soon they are introduced to the six plus princesses of Disney (that’s the book we had!).  They are swept into a world of romance, fantasy, and magic with the all to predictable evil and scary villain.  Most of us search for an alternative to give our daughters…I did!  I longed for a series of books that introduced my girls to bible-based, character-emphasized princesses that they could aspire to become. It was important that the books spoke to them in terms that they could understand and that targeted eternal values.  So I began to super-impose these principles into every book I picked up!

Christina was three when we arrived in Panama and learned Spanish quickly in the few months we lived in Chepo, a Spanish-speaking community near the New Tribes Mission School about a 40-minute drive outside Panama City.  We had the privilege of living in Chepo while her Daddy made trips into the jungle to prepare our house for us.  We were, also, waiting for Princess Kimberly to be born and had many opportunities to become friends with the Spanish-speaking Panamanians; mostly, thanks to our blond, long-haired princess, Christina, who has never met a stranger!  Our nearest neighbors, Carlon and Angela, adopted us.  I learned to cook rice from Angela, and Carlon became Ralph’s most loyal friend.  Both came to know Christ in our brief time there.   

Shortly after Kim was born we moved into our Kuna village on the river Pucuro.  Christina learned Kuna faster than all of us because the children came daily to play with her toys on the front porch and they chattered like “Loritos”(little birds), continually.  As young as she was, she carried a burden for the hearts of her playmates and often engaged in conversations involving the reason why we had come and the need for knowing the true God.  

Our screened-in front porch…the girls’ playroom!

While living interior, we home-schooled daily and both girls were reading at four and able to do their required school work, days and weeks ahead of schedule.  It is amazing what can be accomplished when there is no electricity, T.V., cell phones, computers, iPads, instagram, pinterest, etc.  Eventually, the Panamanian government sent a teacher to our village and a small school was built.  Christina could not wait to go with her friends and to be taught in Spanish.  She attended every morning!

Home-schooling a delightful and diligent student

For us, jungle living had become home.  We had won the hearts of the majority of the Kuna community and had established a rhythm with them, their way of life and our family paradigm.  We had been blessed beyond measure…

Two little princesses with Tinker, our puppy, taking our daily river trek!

Are you at peace knowing you are where God has called you to be, doing what He has purposed for your life?

What about your children? 

Have you considered asking God for His divine direction in the life of each of your princes and princesses?

 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.

Ephesians 2:10

Finding the Silver Lining

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” James 1:2-4

How easy is it for you to find joy or the “silver lining” in every situation?

What exactly is a silver lining? 

Looking up into the sky right before a storm, I can often see dark clouds passing overhead. As they get into position and do their job of creating rain, they also block the sun. When I look closely at the edges of those ominous clouds, I can see the sun shining around the edges, like a silver lining.

Difficult times come to each of us.  As someone once said, “It is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ they will come”.  When the dismal clouds cover over your life, what do you do?

I continue to learn when trials come there is ALWAYS a silver lining.

Every time. 

I can find something to be grateful for.  During this difficult time of finding cancer again, I find it is easier to be less stressed than the first time.  We have done this before and we will do it again.  I find I am less hesitant to let people help me and I am more able to take the rest God is providing in the midst.

Here are a few things that keep me grounded and focusing on the “silver lining” during my times of trial:

1. I journal gratefulness.  Each day, I make myself find 10 things to be grateful for.  They have to be “new every morning”, and I don’t allow myself to pull points from yesterday.  This God-inspired ritual helps me see the goodness in the midst of the pain.  I have had surgery and am recouping, but the silver lining is more time to spend with friends who visit and to rest with no agenda.  I have to eat a very simple fare - which is a challenge at times - but the silver lining is in eating the food God made for us, I am the weight I should be.  There is always something to be thankful for.
2. I remember God’s miraculous power.  I was a miracle not once, but twice now.  As I study God’s word and live out the plan He has chosen for me, I find joy in seeing his miraculous power.  He is able to do anything.  I am grateful for the many answered prayers, but even in the unanswered prayers I am confident that He is God, no matter what.  The silver lining is being able remember who God is – His power, His goodness and His love.
3. I get out in God’s beauty.  Nothing grounds me more than being in nature.  I feel connected to God’s majesty and to the ages past.  Nothing seems as big of a deal when I am sitting on the beach listening to the waves or hiking in the mountains near a waterfall.  Suddenly, my worries slip away, and I am able to focus on who God is and who I am not.  This is the silver lining found in trials.  A truth I often forget is: God never intended for me to take all my burdens on my shoulders.  He has it all under control.
4. I seek out peace and tranquility.  For me, this is Sabbath rest.  To find a shalom in every day allows me to rest in who God is.  The silver lining of trials is that I seek this.  I crave it!  For me, it looks like a quiet house in the morning before I wake up, scrapbooking my family memories or a stolen coffee shop hour to study or write.  Peaceful times to hear what God is saying and hear my own heart’s worries in the light of His goodness.
5. I embrace God’s community.  During difficult times, friends abound and rush to your side.  Nothing brings out the best in people like the “C” word.  In the past, I may have acted like I can do all things myself.  Now I allow myself to take the break when people give it.  To really love and embrace those who are wanting to pray for me.  I have a tendency to feel embarrassed that I always need to be prayed for.  It does get old.  But the silver lining in a trial is the blessing of Jesus’s hands and feet here on earth to help in these times.

These are my silver linings in the midst of cancer battle.  I just have to say this is a battle that the Lord is winning, too.  In my heart and mind, I am being transformed into more of who He wants me to be.  My body is healthy and fit.  I have no idea what the future holds, but, my friends, neither do you.  So take those times of difficulty today – a crying child, a health issue or a financial difficulty, and focus on the “silver lining”.  The evil one doesn’t like it when we do this.

What are ways you focus on the “good” in the midst of the “bad”?

Jackie's Journey: Do You Have Enough Faith to Pray?

If there was ever a time in history that called for us to fall on our knees…this is the time!

 “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin;

pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.

 Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children.”

Lamentations 2:19 

Does your prayer life show the value of your children?

Years ago a godly friend from Nebraska, Ginny Steele, gave me an alphabet of character qualities with scripture that I could consistently and systematically pray into my two little Princesses.

It has now been extended as a prayer into the lives my seven grandchildren.

 It began with:

1. Alert to subtle sin and how to avoid involvement in it.  (Mark 14:36)
2. Bold to live for Christ and share the gospel.  (Acts 4:29)
3. Compassionate to the needs and hurts of others.  (Col. 3:12,13; 1 Jn. 3:7)
4. Dependability even if it involves sacrifice!  (Rom. 14:12; Psa.15:4)
5. Eagerness and Endurance to accomplish God’s best.  (Gal. 6:9)
6. Fruit of the Holy Spirit(Gal. 5: 22,23)
7. Gentle and Generous (Lu. 6:35-38; Pro. 15:1; 2 Cor. 9:6; 1 Thess. 2:7)
8. Humble enough to realize God and others are responsible for whatever achievements are attained(1 Pet. 5:6; Jas. 4:6) and verbally grateful!
9. Initiative to respond without being asked.  (Psa. 87:15, 16; Rom. 12:21)
10. Joyful because of harmony with God and others. (Psa. 97:11, 12; Pro.15:13)
11. Kind heart. (Hab. 3:18; 1 Peter 1:8)
12. Love for God, His Word and others.  (1 Jn. 4:7, 8; 1Cor. 13: 3)
13. Meekness of spirit.  (1 Peter 3: 4; Psa. 62: 5)
14. Never forsake the Lord.  (Joshua 24:16)
15. Obedient to God and other divinely appointed authority.  (Deut. 5:29; Rom. 2:13; 2 Cor. 10: 5)
16. Patience to wait on God.  (Jas. 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3,4)
17. Quality time with God daily and Quiet spirit.  (Psa.46: 10) Quick to confess sin. (1 Jn.1:9; Psa. 46: 10)
18. Repentant heart leading to knowledge of the truth.  (Job 11:14, 15; 2 Tim. 2:25)
19. Self-Control…a Separated Life.  (Titus 2: 11, 12; Gal.5: 24,25)
20. Truthful and Thankful with Transparent motives.   (Eph. 4:25)
21. Unique Ability to live by faith in the Living God.  (Gal.2:20; Eph. 2:8; 2 Cor. 5:7)
22. Virtue (Moral Purity) of spirit and life. (1 Thess. 4:3)
23. Wisdom to see life from God’s point of view. (Ecc. 2: 26; Jas. 1:5; Pro. 9:10)
24. Exalt God in everything. (Ex. 15:2; Psa. 99:5; Isa. 25:1)
25. Yield personal rights to God for victory over Anger. (Matt. 16:24-26; Gal. 5:24; Lu. 2:28; Titus 2:11, 12: Col. 3: 5)
26. Zero in on God’s Will daily.  (Rom. 12:2; 1 Jn. 2:17; Psa. 40:8)

Will you join me in obediently and faithfully

praying daily for our children and grandchildren?

Your prayer life for your children demonstrates their value to you! 

“Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin;

pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.

 Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children.”

Lamentations 2:19

Jackie's Journey: Recalcitrant Priorities!

When I was in missionary Language School, I had a linguistic teacher who had served in Bolivia under the most difficult of circumstances.  Newly married, her husband had been martyred reaching an unreached primitive tribe. She later returned to that village and witnessed her husband’s murderer coming to know Christ!  She had a sense of purpose on her life.  Her name was Jean Dye Johnson. 

She was a continual inspiration to me of God’s wonderful and powerful transformation in a life committed to Him. …  She was a woman who told us that only “God could have changed her selfish heart into a shepherd’s heart”.  She wrote a book called God Planted Five Seeds and the previously untold story of five martyrs…who blazed a trail for Christ in Bolivia, sixteen hundred miles from the spot where five others later laid down their lives in Ecuador.  

She weighed her priorities and recognized the importance of the permanent taking priority over the immediate!  At the University Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. said,

“Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.”

I think most of us have a daily battle with this principle.

How many times have we done that….today?!!

 We are forever making choices that tell us what is most important to us.  The continual interruptions are usually the permanent choices we are being asked to sacrifice!

How are you doing with your priorities?  Will you hit your goal?

There are many good books written that address this very issue.  Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest said, “If God is first, God is Second and God is third… there will be no problem.”

The pragmatic application of learning what is permanent in life (those choices that have eternal value) and the immediate choices that bombard our every busy mom thoughts are forever confronting us, demanding attention. 

Priorities presuppose we have defined our goal (what we hope to do to fulfill our life purpose) and we understand who we are and know where we are going…at least the general direction!  There are two kinds of goals: God’s and The Fools!  Proverbs 17:24

Do you believe God has a purpose for your life?

Jer. 10:23 says, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps!”

If we do not direct our steps…who does??

There are only two choices: 

God or The Destroyer

“A man’s steps are directed by the Lord (or the devil).  How then can anyone understand his own way?”  Pro. 20:24

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me…” Pro.25: 12

God made us each with personal destiny!

 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!” Eph. 2: 10

“Who then is the man who fears the Lord?  God will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”  Psa.128: 8

God definitely has a plan and purpose for each of us!  How, then, can we think apart from His determination for our life?

Since God has a divine purpose for us, don’t you think it would be in our best interest to harmonize with His will and purpose by setting Godly goals and priorities… and working toward them? 

Can you find His purpose or set Godly priorities without making the Bible a major part of your life? 

*God Planted Five Seeds can be ordered from New Tribes Mission Bookstore.