Jackie's Journey "What happened...?"

How do we measure the effectiveness of the last year of our lives?  It has been said the things we have done with the last twelve months must have been reasonably important: we have traded hours, days, weeks for them that we will never again have. Have you thought about what we are trading our lives for, day-by-day?

 What tests do you apply to figure out if 2021 was a triumph or failure?

Ask yourself…

1.     Do you know God better today than you did a year ago? (This can only be a result of time spent with HIM, in HIS word and in prayer).  

2.     Are you more effective today as a Christian (woman, mom, mother, grandmother…), both in your living a practical Christian life, and in your ability to communicate your faith to others? (This comes as a result of a disciplined life, doing those things that do not come naturally). 

3.     Are there people who have been brought closer to God because of your influence in their life? (This generally demands open involvement with people, not “undercover Christianity”).  

4.     Will the course of eternity be any different because of this past year of life God gave you to invest? (This is the continual test of good stewardship!)  “Life is simple, a stewardship and not an ownership; a trust and not a gift.  With a gift you may do as you please, but with a trust you must give an account.”

 This uncomplicated test taken periodically through the year will keep us focused on our eternal-journey, which will one-day be called into account with a God who is trusting us to walk humbly and make right choices.

 Let’s face this new year, together, with new determination…

~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 "Don't Waste Your Life!"

Two days ago, we celebrated the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ…”a Name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12 “But indeed, all the earth was filled with the glory of the Lord, for the earth was full of the knowledge of our God…” Num.14: 21; Isa. 11:9   This Lord will be “king over all the earth and on that day there will be one Lord, and his Name the only Name.” Zecharaih 14: 9

The best part of Christmas is the promise that “everyone who calls on that Name will be saved…” Rom. 10: 13-15  The climax of the ages with its ultimate victory is encompassed in our taking the Christmas message, as the cross-bearing family of God, and making the Name of Jesus known by word and deed.  

In 200 A.D, Tertullian said, “Go on, rack, torture, grind us to powder; our numbers increase in proportion, as you mow us down.  The blood of Christians is their harvest seed.”  “The Calvary road is where all the riches of the glory of God in Christ are found. All the sweetest fellowship with Jesus is there.  All the treasures of assurance.  All the ecstasies of joy.  All the clearest sightings of eternity.  All the humblest affections.  All the noblest camaraderie.  All the most earnest prayers.  These are all on the Calvary road where Jesus walks with His people.  

 Take up your cross and follow Jesus.  On this road and this road alone, life is Christ and death is gain!  We don’t make the name of Christ famous by our strength, our financial success, our outward glamour.  No, His strength is made perfect in our weakness!” John Piper

How will they hear without a preacher?  The lack of denying self and an unwillingness to bear the shame of His name hinders the Christmas promise from becoming reality in someone’s life.  Most of us are not satisfied with the permanent output of our lives.  “Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within His followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world He came to redeem.  Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of His eternal plans.

Those who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.” J. Campbell White

 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 

‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ 

 Then I said: ‘Here I am, send me.’”

Isaiah 6: 8

~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 "The Significance of Christmas Past!"

Christmas is nearly upon us.  There will be parties to attend…food to prepare, guests to entertain, gifts to purchase and greetings to send…all wrapped in a whirlwind of activity.  During this busy time of tree trimming and family gatherings, we have an opportunity to rehearse and learn the lessons from the birth of Christ.

 Let’s look at Mary’s Willingness…  “And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and you will call his name JESUS.” Luke 1:30-31 On that very first Christmas Mary, the mother of Jesus, exemplified how WE should live our lives!  Always willing to trust God first… no disbelief, no fear, no panic.  Always willing to be used of God, no matter what He asks us to do!

 Then there was the Star’s Brightness! “There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, ‘where is he that is born King of the Jews, for we have seen HIS star in the east and have come to worship Him.’” With everything going on around us, we are instructed to “let our light so shine (sparkle with the hope, love and peace of Jesus Christ) before men, that they will see our good works, and glorify our Father, which is in heaven”, regardless of our “hustle and bustle” and harried circumstances.

 Of course, we can’t forget the Hastiness of the Shepherd’s, “as it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, ‘Let us NOW go even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.  And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.” Luke 2: 15,16   How quickly do you follow HIM?  Are you consistently God-conscience or consumed with the chaos of the day?  Have you paused long enough to know if your will is in harmony with HIS?

 Lastly, the lesson of The Wise Men’s Unselfishness.  “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matt. 2: 11 The wise men found Him, fell before Him, worshipped Him and gave Him the very best that they had to show their love, devotion and adoration.  This is exactly what we should do! 

 We celebrate this time of year because of the incredible gift

God gave us in the birth, life, death and resurrection of His Son!

 Will you join me in celebrating the TRUE meaning of Christmas?

~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 "Dry Bones!"

If there was ever a day when our families, country,

and world call for Revival…this is the day!

My grandsons are in college, but they call me every week to fill me in on their busy lives.  This past week, as I am reading through Ezekiel, I asked them both to read Chapter 33 and be prepared to share with me next week.  Ezekiel was a prophet, a priest, and a faithful servant of God who was sent to give God’s message to a wicked and rebellious nation,not unlike our own! 

In Chapter 37, he speaks of his vision of a “valley of dry bones” and in verse 11 cries out,” Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off”!  Spiritual deadness is a frightening position to be in and falling into the hands of an angry God is a dreadful thought. 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 Calvary’s road 

and a God that calls us into holiness!

Jesus says: Putting anything before me reveals spiritual deadness.

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. The anger and rage seen all over America is the mark of 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 does not begin with our nation or someone else. 

 It begins with me…and you.

Understanding our desperate need initiates the promise that “surely God will cause breath to enter into us and we shall live!”  Christ did not come into this 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 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 "We are Survivors!"

FOR ALL THOSE BORN BEFORE 1945

 WE ARE SURVIVORS!!!...

CONSIDER THE CHALLENGES WE HAVE WITNESSED!

 We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL.  We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens.  Before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes…and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together.  How quaint can you be?  In our time, closets were for clothes, not for “coming out”.  Bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagons.  Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with our cousins.

 We thought fast food was what you ate during lent, and Outer Space was the back of the Riviera Theater.  We were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages.  We were before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homes.  We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electronic typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt and guys wearing earrings.  For us, time-sharing meant togetherness…not computers or condominiums.  A chip meant a piece of wood.  Hardware meant hardware, and software wasn’t even a word.

Back then, “Made in Japan or China” meant junk and the term “making out” referred to how you did on your exam.  Pizzas, McDonalds and instant coffees were unheard of.  We hit the scene where there were 5 and dime stores where you bought things for five and ten cents.  Watson’s and Rite-Aid sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime.  For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a public phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two post cards.  You could buy a new Chevy coupe for $800.00…but who could afford one?  A pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon!

 In our day, GRASS was mowed, COKE was a cold drink and POT was something you cooked in.  Rock Music was Grandma’s lullaby and AIDS were helpers in the Principal’s office. We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change.  We made do with what we had.  And we were the last generation that was dumb enough to think you need a husband to have a baby.

 No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap!

 But…WE SURVIVED… and WE THRIVED!

~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 Minute of Thought...!"

No matter what our circumstances or responsibilities, the most important work we women do is helping and encouraging people…especially by what we say!   “A woman has joy by the answer of her mouth and a word spoken in due season, how good it is.” Proverbs 15:4, 23  Kind words are always the right kind!   A wholesome tongue is a tree of life!

A careless word - may kindle strife

A cruel word – may wreck a life;

A timely word - may lesson stress

A loving word – may heal and bless.

 Years ago, after hearing the need of a family in the hospital, my husband decided to pay the required deductible of their insurance company ($16,000.00!)  This family will never know the personal sacrifice he made (he would never even word it or think of it in that way).  It spoke volumes to me, as he had been to the hospital with prayers and encouraging words for days.

 Actions are living words, the manifestation of our true convictions and beliefs.  Words alone make us hypocrites; actions make us irrefutable examples.  It has been said that we talk when we cease to be at peace with our thoughts!  

 “A minute of thought is worth more than an hour of talk!”

 We have the privilege of using God’s eternal Name, “I AM” to speak truth and life with our tongue.  For example: When I am walking with God…

 I am filled with the HOLY SPIRIT…

I am filled with FAITH.

I am filled with HOPE.

I am filled with LOVE.

I am filled with JOY.

I am filled with PEACE.

I am filled with DIVINE HEALTH.

I am filled with DIVINE ENERGY.

I am filled with DIVINE STRENGTH.

I am filled with DIVINE CREATIVITY.

I am filled with ENTHUSIASM.

I am filled with GRATITUDE.

I am filled with SELF-CONTROL.

I am filled with ENDURANCE.

I am filled with WISDOM.

I am filled with UNDERSTANDING.

I am filled with GENEROSITY.

 The great “I AM” is alive in us.

He is all these attributes.

He and I are one.  Therefore…I AM available to be 

the vessel I am designed to be for His glory…

How encouraging is that!

~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 "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.