Jackie's Journey "Watch Your Tongue!"

Thanksgiving is this week and families will be gathering together to celebrate.  In 2008, a sweet South Carolina friend sent me this reminder to not get so busy with my life that I forget to control my often-frazzled thoughts, not realizing the tremendous impact words have on others.  As women, we often have the idea that God should control our thoughts and we go on auto-pilot, disregarding the sharpest weapon we have in our arsenal.…our tongue!

 “The power of life and death are in the tongue”! Proverbs 18:21

Your words, your dreams, and your thoughts have power to create conditions in your life.   What you speak about, you can bring about. 
If you keep saying you can't stand your job, you might lose your job. 
If you keep saying you can't stand your body, your body can become sick. 
If you keep saying you can't stand your car, your car could be stolen or just stop operating. 
If you keep saying you're broke, guess what? You'll always be broke. 
If you keep saying you can't trust a man or trust a woman, you will always find someone in your life to hurt and betray you. 
If you keep saying you can't find a job, you will remain unemployed. 
If you keep saying you can't find someone to love you or believe in you, your very thought will attract more experiences to confirm your beliefs. 
If you keep talking about a divorce or break up in a relationship, then you might end up with it. 

Turn your thoughts and conversations around to be more positive and power packed with faith, hope, love and action. “Guard your hearts and minds, rejoicing always.  Don’t be fearful or anxious about anything, but let the gentle control and peace of God rule your life.” Philippians 4: 4-9  “Even a fool is thought to be wise when she keeps silent (shuts her mouth)…” Proverbs 17: 28  “The woman who guardsher mouth, protects her life and the woman that opens her lips invites her own ruin.” Pro. 13:3

Watch your Thoughts, they become words. 
Watch your Words, they become actions. 
Watch your Actions, they become habits. 
Watch your Habits, they become character. 
Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny.

 Thank you, Angela Ramsey for bringing to mind

our responsibility, regardless of our harried circumstances!

We will all be held accountable one day…

~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 "Run for Your Life!"

“Lasting spiritual results are destroyed by failing to

deal with the weights and sins that so easily dog our feet”. (Heb. 12: 1)

 As women we are bent on counting the cost, whatever that entails and we make all kinds of sacrifices for the benefit and success of our family.  We have our eye on the prize and nurture our spiritual opportunities as they present themselves daily, looking ahead for the promise of lasting spiritual results. Part of the “cost” is dealing with what… so easily “besets” us! “The tragic destruction of these “weights and sins” is vividly illustrated in the life of the zebra.  He is stalked by brutal packs of cape hunting dogs.  One cape dog is not large enough or strong enough to bring down a zebra, hence the need to run in packs of twelve to twenty.

 The hunt begins with each pack member following the lead dog in single file.  They move slowly at first, but as their victim is separated from the rest of the herd, the dogs begin to pick up speed.  A pack of cape dogs can maintain a steady pace of up to thirty miles an hour!

 As the lead dog catches up to its tiring prey, it locks its jaws into any flesh it can reach and tenaciously hangs on.  The clinging predator slows down the zebra and further weakens him.  Other dogs soon catch up and find vulnerable spots on which to clamp their jaws.  Eventually the whole pack converges on the struggling zebra and pulls him to the ground.

 The cape dogs begin to feed immediately, often before the zebra is dead.  Once down, a complete zebra may be devoured by a pack of cap dogs in less than thirty minutes!” Bill Gothard

 As women, we are faced with the “Cape Dogs” in our lives.  Feelings of inferiority, guilt for past failures, bitterness and anger for past hurt or pain, rationalized addictive habits, a sense of lack of purpose and direction in life…etc.  Are there things in the past that you wish had never happened or you could change and every time you remember them, they bring guilt and shame?   How many battlefields are you fighting in your moral life: impure thoughts, questionable actions or an enslaving habit?  Have you been deeply hurt by others and you cannot forgive them?  Can you answer life’s three BIG questions (Where did I come from? Why am I here? And… Where am I going?) …

 The race is on with the cape dogs of temptation and sin weakening us, as they nip at our feet!  The challenge is to clear our conscience continually and maintain our “walk” with Him so the mouth-watering cape dogs, don’t have an opportunity to capture and destroy us and our heritage.  Children, and husbands, are eagerly counting on us to keep pace and deal with anything that would easily hinder and defeat us by our “failing to take care of the weights and sin that dog us” so routinely.

 Let’s learn from the ensnared Zebra and the tenacious Cape Dogs…

~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 "A New School Prayer!"

I recently ran across this prayer, again, after 19 years tucked in a file and thought it is still as on point today, as it was in May, 2000. It was written by a teenager in Bagdad, Arizona. See if you don’t agree…

The New School Prayer

“Now I sit me down in school

Where praying is against the rule

For this great nation under God

Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites

It violates the Bill of Rights.

And anytime my head I bow

Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green

That’s no offense; it’s a freedom scene.

The law is specific; the law is precise.

Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall 

Might offend someone with no faith at all.

In silence we must meditate

God’s name is prohibited by the state.

We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,

And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.

They’ve outlawed guns, but FIRST, the Bible

To quote the Good Book makes me liable!

We can elect a pregnant senior Queen

And the ‘unwed daddy’ our senior King

It’s ‘inappropriate’ to teach right from wrong

We’re taught that such ‘judgements’ do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth control

Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles,

But the Ten Commandments are not allowed

It’s scary here I must confess.

When chaos reigns the school’s a mess.

So, Lord, this silent plea I make

Should I be shot, my soul to take!” 

                       AMEN

Princess Prayers is one of the two new books from The Princess Parable Series

~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 "A Perfect Plan!"

 “When we look at life’s generational history of families, we see the many failures spiritually, socially, financially, globally and every other way.   We see a record of pain, discord, dissolved marriages, unprecedented addictions and unnecessary death…to mention a few.    We should conclude that something is not right…even drastically wrong!

 However, there is good news…a world-wide hope

has been placed on one of the many religions.

 What is the common failure that religions face?  Every religion works on the theory that man’s nature is basically good but needs some adjustments.  Each one has a system that promises an outcome that never works!  All of the systems are based on disciplines of varying forms.  Each one has rewards that are attractive to the listeners.  None of them deliver on their assurances.  

 Biblical Christianity gives no credence to a make-over or an improvement plan of hope in the natural self.  Why not??  Because the Bible understands the real problem.  God looked down on mankind and saw that ‘every thought and intent of man was only evil continually’!  (Gen. 6: 5)   We humans are locked into pride and selfishness. These two attributes are poison to our soul and to the souls around us.  The result is we contaminate one another.  Our very tongue is influenced by hell itself. (James 3: 6) We note this most clearly when we are angry and ‘carelessly letting it fly’, only to wonder later why the reaction was so ‘off the charts’ when the rage has passed.

 ‘The heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it’. (Jer. 17: 9)   Who can know its limits!  God gives a summation and states that ‘NO ONE is naturally good, not even one’.  (Rom. 3: 10-12) We need a major change in our souls. But how?  God’s provision is to place the Holy Spirit in the hearts of humbled souls so He can live His life through us for the benefit of others.

 There are three conditions noted: ‘If you want to come to me, you must deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me’. (spoken by Christ in Lu. 9: 23) Denying-self means turning our life over to the controlling design of God and His future He pre-planned for us to fulfill. (Eph. 2: 10) The cross was a murder weapon that is a reminder to continually die to our selfishness and pride.  The final condition is to ‘follow Him’…which is impossible without the leading and control of the Holy Spirit.  He, alone, knows the future reality. 

 Those that fear the Lord walk in darkness (not knowing the future).  Crisis on every level.  God will lead us in the right direction for the right reason and it will be with superlative results.  It will allow us to teach our children and grandchildren to live in blessing.  There is no greater gift than can be given to our families than understanding the path God has prepared for all of us to follow.

 We cannot follow Him without knowing where He is going.  He is involved in activities winning people to Himself or encouraging Christians to do the same. 

 How does the God of the universe live inside people and

not encourage them to follow the His patterns?

 How can a person read the Word of God and be so indifferent?

 No one born of God can continue in sin. If he does, he has not seen God, nor does he know Him’.  He is required to practice righteousness, as a normal way of life. (I John 3)   Herein lies the truth and with it the assignment that we all have in common.  We tell others about His birth, life, death and resurrection.  We are not ashamed of our relationship with Him and His Spirit that lives in us.  We have compassion for the lost and rebellious people who have been blinded by the god of this world, Satan himself.  

 Most Christians are willfully ignorant of how to present the gospel because they fear rejection and are indifferent to the will of God.”  (written by Ralph Johnson for our Family Night dinner and Bible study).

 The challenge in this day and age of confusion,

unruliness, rebellion and unprecedented chaos

is to stand up and be counted among 

the faithful and harmonize with “God’s Perfect Plan”…

~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 "Life is Not What Happens to Us...!"

I am a woman, daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt, American, politically conservative, Christian, an author, teacher, bush-nurse, missionary, pastor’s wife…These are what I call myself in my head; the tags that I attach to myself to describe the person I think I am.  They become the boss of my thoughts.  

 Who are we without a title, right?

 I have sundry labels, but the one that is shouting the loudest these days is that I am a Christian conservative American woman that has sat quietly on the sidelines, too long. I am fighting mad. The Afghanistan fiasco is the last straw and has challenged my tolerance for futility!  I am the mother of two strong woman and most recently, my oldest granddaughter, who have called me up short with their bold personal involvement regarding our country’s current need.  

 As women, we have been harassed and divided. We have experienced betrayal and disloyalty.  We have been silenced and shamed by the blind leading the blind!  Our homes, schools, churches, cities, counties, states and nation are in dire straits.  Our children are being taught, as fact, concepts and ideas regarding history, sex and health that contain terms that are not even in our vocabulary!

 The border crisis, the debacle and humiliation in Afghanistan (that was a result of a disastrous dyslectic plan), coupled with the recent flood of 9/11 memories with 3,000 sacrificed lives and the multitude of young soldiers wounded and lost here and on foreign soil, the abortion issue in the forefront again…are just a few of the many challenging topics of conversation we are hearing everywhere.  Strangers in a grocery store line are discussing the confusion and ineptness all around us.  

 Masks on one day…no masks another day!  The ever-changing vaccine issue! Two vaccines, vaccine cards, then…boosters in 4 months…then 6 months.  Mandates galore!  Businesses closing, ships stalled in port, not enough trucks to get food and goods to us once unloaded off the ships, Americans that don’t want to work, and the defunding of our police! Not to mention…the assumed positions of power and disregard of rule and law that has served us and our country well for over 200 years. We are becoming unrecognizable!

 No one seems to have an answer that resonates truth.  Our focus is lost on the peripheral, sacrificing the permanent on the altar of the immediate, grappling with issues that do not address the core of our ailment, as individuals or as a nation. We are being led by incompetence and directed by worldly philosophies. Whatever your personal beliefs, we all have a voice and we do not need to all agree.  This is America. 

 Let’s bury our fear and step up to the plate…all of us can agree that the families of our young men and women that were put in harm’s way in Kabul, need our support now more than ever.  We agree that all lives matter, including the unborn, and that division and hate will ultimately defeat us! Let’s agree where we can and not back down where we can’t!

 As American women, our time has come to claim yet, another title… “Warrior”!

 We fight for truth, righteousness, and like mama bears, we protect our own…

 Life is not what happens to us, but what we make happen…

 Just saying…

~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 "Life is Not What Happens to Us...!"

I am a woman, daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt, American, politically conservative, Christian, an author, teacher, bush-nurse, missionary, pastor’s wife…These are what I call myself in my head; the tags that I attach to myself to describe the person I think I am.  They become the boss of my thoughts.  

 Who are we without a title, right?

 I have sundry labels, but the one that is shouting the loudest these days is that I am a Christian conservative American woman that has sat quietly on the sidelines, too long. I am fighting mad. The Afghanistan fiasco is the last straw and has challenged my tolerance for futility!  I am the mother of two strong woman and most recently, my oldest granddaughter, who have called me up short with their bold personal involvement regarding our country’s current need.  

 As women, we have been harassed and divided. We have experienced betrayal and disloyalty.  We have been silenced and shamed by the blind leading the blind!  Our homes, schools, churches, cities, counties, states and nation are in dire straits.  Our children are being taught, as fact, concepts and ideas regarding history, sex and health that contain terms that are not even in our vocabulary!

 The border crisis, the debacle and humiliation in Afghanistan (that was a result of a disastrous dyslectic plan), coupled with the recent flood of 9/11 memories with 3,000 sacrificed lives and the multitude of young soldiers wounded and lost here and on foreign soil, the abortion issue in the forefront again…are just a few of the many challenging topics of conversation we are hearing everywhere.  Strangers in a grocery store line are discussing the confusion and ineptness all around us.  

Masks on one day…no masks another day!  The ever-changing vaccine issue! Two vaccines, vaccine cards, then…boosters in 4 months…then 6 months.  Mandates galore!  Businesses closing, ships stalled in port, not enough trucks to get food and goods to us once unloaded off the ships, Americans that don’t want to work, and the defunding of our police! Not to mention…the assumed positions of power and disregard of rule and law that has served us and our country well for over 200 years. We are becoming unrecognizable!

 No one seems to have an answer that resonates truth.  Our focus is lost on the peripheral, sacrificing the permanent on the altar of the immediate, grappling with issues that do not address the core of our ailment, as individuals or as a nation. We are being led by incompetence and directed by worldly philosophies. Whatever your personal beliefs, we all have a voice and we do not need to all agree.  This is America. 

Let’s bury our fear and step up to the plate…all of us can agree that the families of our young men and women that were put in harm’s way in Kabul, need our support now more than ever.  We agree that all lives matter, including the unborn, and that division and hate will ultimately defeat us! Let’s agree where we can and not back down where we can’t!

 As American women, our time has come to claim yet, another title… “Warrior”!

 We fight for truth, righteousness, and like mama bears,

we protect our own…

  Life is not what happens to us, BUT what we make happen…

  Just saying…

~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 "I Am Never Wrong!"

“Our insistence in proving that we are right is mostly always

an indication that there has been some point of disobedience.”

Utmost for His Highest

  My wise Grandmother loved barn owls and when I was small and stomped my feet demanding my own way she would say, “Little Jackie, don’t you know that pretty is, as pretty does!”  The point, of course, was that I was acting “pretty ugly” and I needed to change my attitude.

 As willful as I am in insisting “my own way” and that I am “always” right, God’s simple two-fold purpose for my life has not changed since 1963.  (1) Maintain a right relationship with God and (2) Be rightly related to my fellowman with the intent and purpose of seeing them rightly related to Him!  I’m to be the stepping-stone for another’s success…whatever the cost, personally.

 Pragmatically, to do this, by necessity I need to “choose for myself this day (and every day) whom I will serve.” Joshua 24: 15 This requires that my will is dedicated to only one Master…no divided loyalties…

 The Will has been defined as the whole man active!

 I cannot give up my will.

I must exercise it.

I must will to obey and die to my selfishness.

I must die to the pride that protects it.

I must will to walk in the light.

 When God reveals more light, it is never a question of what He will do, BUT what I will do.  My focus should not be on “where is He leading me, BUT where am I in relation to Him!  I must will to be loyal to Him…

it’s a choice!

 There are only two choices:  God’s way or Satan’s way.  I always thought there was another choice…”MY WAY”!  Spoiler alert…There is no “my way”! The truth is: I choose with my will whom I will serve on any given day. My will submits to God’s will or Satan’s will.  “The right choice manifests a huge dividend in God’s grace and blessing.   The woman “who does not desire the highest state of grace, does not desire any”.  It all hinges on the Master you choose to serve…

 Which master will it be today?

~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 "More Obstacles?"

Meet my backyard squirrel and the obstacle he faces daily!

The world is facing a number of obstacles from which no one is exempt. Wildfires, hurricanes, and health crises (with baffling mandates galore here in California) have forced all of us to face the current challenges. These are big tests, but not bigger than God’s drive to see lives changed. 

 As women, we face the ultimate challenge of practicing our convictions, sharing with those in conflict and comforting those around us who are struggling with how to handle it all.  Abraham’s life demonstrated that even the heathen around him recognized the difference between their lives and his. Gen. 21:22 Abimelech spoke to Abraham saying, “God is with you in all you do”!  God told Gideon, “there is a might in you so powerful it can save Isreal, and that might is MY PRESENCE.”  

 The Isa. 43:1-5 verses confirm that when God’s presence abides on us, we can go through any fire, pass through any waters, through rivers that overflow us (Pucuro, in the jungles of Panama) and know His presence is all we need abiding in us. We are responsible to choose to “practice His presence”.  As we do this, God will guide our steps, open doors of ministry, move obstacles, lift cares, remove fears and abide in us!  “Fear not for I am with you” is the promise and comfort we all need to combat the steady barrage of disorder.  

 God’s abiding presence brings peace and victory.  The presence of the Spirit-controlled life, directed and trusting only God, is the key to laying hold of the power of God. God attaches a condition to having His presence in our lives. It is useless to attempt any endeavor apart from God, which can only be maintained in our lives, as we choose to confess sin and not allow any unresolved relationship to hinder it!

 “God works through holiness, not a dirty cup.”

Roy Heisson, Calvary Road

 When the Isrealites were in the wilderness, God manifested His presence to them in a cloud. This cloud was a pledge.  They never had to figure out their direction or future because their confidence was in that visible cloud of the Lord’s presence.  Today, the cloud of God’s presence hovers over our secret closet of communion with Him through His word and prayer. 

 Peace is the prize and it will lead us, empower us, and keep us in harmony with God in every area of our lives, regardless of the turmoil.  “The continual pursuit of God’s presence will direct us into a revelation of Christ’s glory. ‘God’s presence will go with us and He will give us rest.’” (Moses, Exodus 33:13)  

 Our guide through this perplexing maze is waiting 

to give us that peace and rest.

 Are you finding rest in Him these days?

~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 "Regret's?"

Many years ago, I read “Tortured for Christ” by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand.  It profoundly challenged me to purpose to follow Christ and cheerfully ‘count the cost’.  Over the years of service as a missionary, I was sometimes characterized, as ‘out of sync’ with the world, foolish (by the worlds standards), wasting my time in the jungles, robber of a “normal” upbringing for my two daughters, suffering needlessly with no running water or electricity (the world clamors for comfort and convenience), etc.…

 Yet, to this very day, I hold the awesome privilege of being a part of a very few who have lived without regret, counting the cost, determined to burn out serving and pleasing my God, first and foremost.  The life that comes from a vibrant, functioning God-consciousness in turbulent times is a tribute to the reality of the value of counting the cost, which could and usually does, include…suffering.

 “Suffering may help one to arrive at truth. ‘Tears, tears, bitter hulls but with such a sweet kernel,’ wrote the much-persecuted Romanian Christian poet, Traian Dorz.  Most people have an unjustified phobia against suffering. Unnecessary tragedy should be avoided, but we should also realize that there is much good in suffering.  

 Milton wrote his finest poetry after he became blind.  Beethoven composed his most beautiful music only after he became deaf.  The German philosopher Kant, who suffered from an incurable sickness wrote, ‘I have become master of its influence on my thoughts and actions by turning my attention away from this feeling altogether, just as if it did not at all concern me…’

 Solzhenitsyn wrote, ‘Blessed be thou, prison.’ The seven years in a Soviet prison made him the most powerful opponent of communism.  Richard Wurmbrand said about himself, ‘My 14 years in communist prisons were the most fruitful of my life.’ He knew of no great character formed apart from suffering. 

 A world without suffering would consist of weaklings.  What kind of love endures without painful sacrifice?  He who counts the sufferings involved will never be a daring hero.  Jesus made himself perfect through suffering. (Heb. 2:10) When Pope Alexander VI criticized by Savonarola for his unworthy life, offered him the position of cardinal in order to keep him silent, Savonarola answered, ‘May God keep me from being unfaithful to Him.  I do not desire any other red cape than the crown of a martyr colored with my own blood.’

 The highest state of a Christian is to be Christ-like.  Christ was called a ‘Man of Sorrows’ (Isa. 53: 3) and ‘the lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13: 8) To be a Christian means to become a co-sufferer with Christ.  The more of His pain we are ready to share, the more truth we will receive.

 Someday we will sit with Jesus Christ and the Father on the heavenly throne from which universes are administered. (Rev. 3: 21) Our merciful God ‘will wipe away every tear’ from the eyes of His saints, and all will be able to rejoice whole-heartedly (Rev. 7:17; 21:4)” written by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001) 

~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 "Having a Bad Day?"

“I believe that every right implies a responsibility;

every opportunity, an obligation;

every possession, a duty.”  John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

 As women, we are forever being confronted with a sense of our worth and usefulness or a lack of it, are we not?  If someone asked you what your treasures were, how would you answer?  

Our usefulness is generally wrapped in the package of what we do with what we value.  What would your list look like?  Would you list…Parents, husband, kids, faithful friends, life-lessons, influence, experiences, relationships, personality, money, salvation…?  

 What have you done with what you have been given?  Invested it?  Buried it?  Lost focus?  Been too busy for it? Counted on others? Made excuses? Procrastinated?  Been fearful of failure?

The value of a life is measured by how much is given away with eternal purpose.

 “After a long time, a man returned from his trip and called his workers to him to give an account of how they had used the money he had left with them.  The servant who had been entrusted with five bags of silver came forward with five more and the man said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now, I will give you many more responsibilities.  Let’s celebrate together!”  Matt. 25: 19-21

 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said,” Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.  I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth.  Look, here is your money back.”  But the Master replied, You wicked and lazy servant.”  Matthew 25: 24-26

 God has given each of us exactly what we need to equip us (women) to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ (starting with our nuclear family).  We will be mature…no longer undeveloped and useless.  We won’t be tossed and blown about.  We will not be influenced when other’s around us try to trick us with the lies of this world and our current culture.  Instead, we will speak God’s truth in love (because the Word has been read and implanted in us!), growing in every way more and more like Christ.  As each part does its own unique work, it helps other parts (our husband and children) grow, so that the whole body (beginning with our own family) is healthy and growing and full of love.”  Eph. 4: 11-16

 How am I to use my treasure to build my family and the body of Christ; to cause other’s to speak well of God because of us; to invest in relationships that will multiply; to translate life-lessons into tools to benefit others; to influence my children to seek the heart of God above all else…etc.…? 

My children are grown and I have seven grandchildren.  They carry the truth of those verses in Ephesians…or they don’t! Being responsible to build a healthy, growing family is an intentional challenge and it is never over until they are throwing dirt on our coffins!

BUT GOD has given us everything we need to do the job He has called us to and HE will do it, if we get out of HIS way, stay dead to our selfishness and pride and allow HIM to live through us…. Phil. 4: 13

 We, then, become valuable tools in HIS hands

With a huge sense of worth…

 HAVE A GREAT DAY!

~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.