Everything I Needed to Learn in Life I Learned in Ballet Class Day 3: Never Give Up!

Today we are finishing up with my fourteen year old daughter’s inspirational speech she gave at a competition.  We are closing with her final point.  I can still remember her, just a tiny little girl, only three years old, slipping on her first pair of pink shoes.  I never knew the blessing she would be today and how she has grown and matured.  I feel blessed to be her mommy and grateful we found Ms. Kelly to train her not only in the things of ballet, but also in righteousness.  Here is what Danika writes:

Never Give Up

I want to encourage you to dance with me in this life. I don’t expect you to put on ballet shoes, but I encourage you to see dancing as an analogy for living.  Because all we really need to know about how to live for Jesus, we can learn in ballet class.

One of the most important sayings that I hear in my sleep is “Don’t ever give up!”  That means even though you are tired and worn out with nothing left to give, you still hold the position and SMILE!  Remember when I am on pointe the pain is invisible to you, but not to me.  I have lost a toenail, gained a bunion and have endure excruciating blisters and bruises.  But my love for dance has helped me endure through challenges! 

Described as a ballerina who defies the odds and never gave up, Misty Copeland is black.  She has the wrong body type, the wrong feet and too big a bust.  She was too old at 13 to start training for ballet.  Yet Misty never let the criticism get in her way, because she too loved ballet.  She kept on and today she is one of the most famous ballerinas and the first black principal dancer.  She never gave up! 

In the Bible, Paul encourages us to never give up either.  In 2 Peter 1:3, he says “God has given us everything we need for this life.”  How much of everything is everything?  EVERYTHING!   As Christians, we too must never give up and lose heart but rather keep trusting in Jesus and doing good.  Even if it hurts or is painful, we are encouraged to do this because we love Jesus.  I point out if I can stand on my toes with the joy of ballet. I know God gives me extra strength to endure, how much more we as Christian with the promise of glory to come and eternal life in heaven.  Stand with me and don’t give up!

Don’t forget while you are dancing that some day we will be standing at the foot of Jesus.  He will ask us “How did you live for me through your life? How did you show me through all you did?”  He will have seen your “spotting”, “your shine for him” and your “determination to never quit”.

In the words of Mercy Me,

“Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still

Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing Hallelujah will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine!” 

How do you “never give up” as you are dancing through your life?

Danika Young is fourteen years old and is the daughter of Bruce and Jeanna Young.  She is homeschooled and lives in Southern California. Not only is she a ballerina and a speech and debate enthusiast, she loves art, fashion and baking.  She placed in the finals and semi-finals in STOA speech competitions this year and hopes to continue competing next year.

Everything I Needed to Learn in Life I Learned in Ballet Class Day 2: "Shine Your Light"

We are continuing today with the thoughts of my fourteen year old daughter.  She wrote this speech for a competitive tournament, where she was able to wear her pointe shoes as the “prop” in her motivational speech category.  I love sharing this with all of you moms because where there are princesses, there inevitably are ballerinas.  They just seem to go hand in hand. So enjoy the perspective of this ballerina who has learned everything she needs to in this life in her ballet class! 

Shining through it all

All my life, I have heard “Point your feet! “Stay off your heels” “Get your eyes off the floor” “Smile” and “Dance beyond your bubble” and many more sayings my dance teachers drill in our heads.  In each saying, I see an analogy for life and living for Jesus.

Ms. Kelly, my dance instructor, says “Dance to the tips of your fingers and toes”.  What she means by this is to shine your light through your fingers and toes.  In other words, show your energy and shine your light to the world. 

As Christians, Jesus tells us to “Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works and glorify you Father which is in heaven”.  There was no better example of this than Amy Carmichael, missionary and poet.  In 1895, Amy Carmichael traveled to India to be a light to people there.  She preached the gospel and many girls came to the Lord.   She then saved the girls from the Hindu community by taking them in and making an orphanage. 

Have you ever read any of her books?   Well, in her latter years, she became bedridden for over twenty years, but that did not put out her light.  Here is a quote from one of her books: 

“If when I am able to discover something which has baffled others, I forget Him who revealeth the deep and secret things, and knoweth what is in the darkness and showeth it to us; if I forget that it was He who granted that ray of light to His most unworthy servant, then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

She wrote 16 of the most influential and inspiring books of her time, influencing many to shine their lights – including Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, who were missionaries that sacrificed their lives in the jungles of Panama to spread the gospel of Christ. Both Amy Carmichael and the Elliots motivate me to shine my light in this world for God by “Dancing to the tips of my fingers and toes”!

So as you can see we all need a Ms. Kelly in our lives to teach us and inspire us to push through daily life to excel in the gifts that God has given us.  I want you to dance with me in this world.  I don’t expect you to really dance ballet with me, but I want to you to see dancing as an analogy for how we can live our lives for Christ.  

Danika Young is fourteen years old and is the daughter of Bruce and Jeanna Young.  She is homeschooled and lives in Southern California. Not only is she a ballerina and a speech and debate enthusiast, she loves art, fashion and baking.  She placed in the finals and semi-finals in STOA speech competitions this year and hopes to continue competing next year.

Everything I Needed to Learn in Life I Learned in Ballet Class Day 1: Spinning

As we enjoy spring, dance recitals approach and our princesses enjoy performing for all of us.  From young to old, tutus and tightly braided buns bring a smile to our face. Watching our girls glide across the stage with grace and poise is the result of months of practice.

I want to share with you a speech my daughter gave this year about dance.  How everything she needed to learn about living for Jesus, she learned in ballet class.  She is fourteen and an on pointe ballerina. I have taken her speech that she placed in the semi-finals in competition and broken it up over three days. I hope you enjoy her take on the art of dance and maybe think more about those ballet classes. Just imagine what they could be teaching your daughter. She challenged me and I hope you will be encouraged, too!

Keeping your Spot

Standing in the side wings, the butterflies fluttered in my stomach.  I was warmed up. I was nervous. I was excited.  As the curtain rose and the lights found their spot, I chasséd into position.  The familiar music set in motion the Party Scene and I was front and center on Pointe ready to perform.  I took a deep breath and placed a smile on my face.  The moment I had dreamed of began.  

Because you see, ladies and gentlemen, I had worked every weekend from dawn until dusk preparing for this moment. The voice of my ballet instructor etched sayings into my head.  Since I was two years old standing at the barre, I’ve heard the same sayings from my teachers.

One saying that I have heard over and over in my dance class is to “Spot!”. 

Spotting is when you pirouette, turn, or soutenu, you have find a spot on the wall and lock your eyes on it.  Even though your body is turning your head is the last to go around.  This keeps your focus; otherwise you will lose your balance and fall.  Spotting is a great analogy for life. 

Spotting reminds me of “Keeping my eyes on Jesus”.  Heb. 12:1, 2 “Let us . . . . fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith”. This is one of the most important life lessons.

Spinning or turning is like trials, changes or pain in life, but if we can find our spot on Jesus then we can complete the turn with ease.  However, if we take our eyes off Jesus, we will lose our control.  Our balance will be dizzy and we will fall.  Keeping our eyes on Jesus keeps us focused in this life.   

Peter is a great example of this.  When he was walking on the water in the Bible, he took his eyes off Jesus and quickly lost his center. He fell into the water because he lost his “spot”.   Just as I am learning to keep my “spot” in dance, I want practice keeping my “spot” on Jesus.

So will you dance with me?  Will we live for Him?  Will we bring Him glory in all we do?

How will you keep your “spot” on Jesus this week?

Danika Young is fourteen years old and is the daughter of Bruce and Jeanna Young.  She is homeschooled and lives in Southern California. Not only is she a ballerina and a speech and debate enthusiast, she loves art, fashion and baking.  She placed in the finals and semi-finals in STOA speech competitions this year and hopes to continue competing next year.

Jackie's Journey: The Command Zone!

“Good men (women) are never idle, they are not hurried, worried, or flurried.  They keep the even tenor of their way, walking steadily towards heaven.

The Law of the Lord is not irksome to them, its commands are not grievous and its restrictions are not slavish in their esteem.

They are rather a chart for their daily course, a map of the road for their life’s journey.  The path of obedience has no regret.  The Lord is their testimony.”

 C. Spurgeon

Just the word “command” raises a red flag in our heart of hearts, doesn’t it?

We live in a day and age where we are not subservient and not held responsible or accountable for anything we are asked to do.  We can question and decide if we feel like doing it or if, we even want to do it at all!  Western culture has taken a huge swing into massive confusion and our homes have followed suit.  We make decisions on a whim, usually independent of our authority with no consequence considered. Often our decisions are made without biblical consideration. 

We are easily persuaded by every “wind and doctrine”.   Hence the continual “church hopping”, the high divorce rate among believers, the on-line dating for the increasing singles population, the struggling marriages with unruly children, the media mayhem, the unprecedented division in national, state, local and church leaderships.  We see it all around us…chaos.  

Sound familiar?

There is a day coming when we will all be held accountable for our part of the chaos!  Accountable for every thought, word, deed and motive.  God has a plan that gives us moms a key for ourselves and for our children that will allow them to develop into mature adults that will be equipped to make a change in the next generation.

How can we be assured of success?

It begins with obedience to what He asks of us. 

…What, exactly, does the Lord our God ask of us?

1. to fear Him
2. to walk in all his ways
3. to love him
4. to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul (mind, will and emotions!)
5.  to observe His commands and decrees…”  Deuteronomy 10: 12

Asking too much? 

The truth is, it is our reasonable service in the light of His sacrifice for us!   Instant obedience to the initial promptings of God’s Spirit should be our response with no hesitation, no rationalization and no doubt…just a simple immediate compliance.  Having will power over our actions is empowering!  Self-constraint breeds dignity and strength of character and a sense of self-possession and assurance. 

When God asks us to respond to Him, He expects it to be immediate because He has sent His Spirit ahead to convince us of His truth.  He enables us to hear His voice and He anticipates our instant obedience.  When we fail to respond to Him we face the consequence of our disobedience and miss the joy of His fellowship and the reward.      

Chaos ensues and our peace is disrupted! 

Why do we hesitate to instantly yield? 

While in training for the mission field, a seasoned instructor, who had served years in the jungles of Brazil, told me after sensing my hesitation to respond to a truth in the Word, “The choices you make will blight or bless, Jackie.  If you aren’t a missionary, you are a mission field”.

Procrastination when God gave clear instruction made me a mission field!  The responsibility to live a life of obedience to His Word was solely mine.  I was responsible for me and accountable to God for every decision!  The only way my choices would line up with His would be if I knew what His Word said and did what God asked of me!

What was it, again, that God requires of me?

It is not complicated…

• To fear Him is to fear the consequence of sin.
• To walk in “all His ways” is to maintain a moment-by-moment walk of God- consciousness:
• with no unconfessed sin and no unresolved relationship
• with an acceptance of trials as teachers and opportunity
• with no hypocrisy
• To Love Him is to hate evil (all unrighteousness)
• no double-mindedness
• no disloyalty
• To serve Him is to stay dead to my self-life, so I stay out of His way and He can work through me for the benefit of others
• To observe His commands is to get into His Word and let His truth encourage, admonish and instruct me.

Sound interesting?   

The reward and blessing of responding to God with instant obedience is overwhelmingly inspiring… especially if you are comparing it to the disobedient alternative.                            

Which will you choose?

Acceptance of God’s commands and map for your life’s journey

or

Rebellion, Procrastination and Regret at the end of the line? 

We will be held accountable!

So will those little princes and princesses following us!

~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. 

Spring Cleaning: My House...My Soul

“I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.”  ~Nancie J. Carmody

Spring is here!  I see it all around me.  My favorite tree, the Jacaranda, is blooming gorgeous purple flowers on every street here in Southern California.  My roses are budding in every color and the nights are getting longer.  I just love spring!

It’s been a few years since I have done a thorough cleaning of our home. This last week a girlfriend helped me clean out cupboards and closets. Some items untouched from the day we moved in 13 years ago! Within my soul, a cleansing began.

At the same time, we began a body detox to rid our bodies of toxins. Since fighting cancer a second time, I attempt to clean my body every four to six weeks to hopefully stop it from making these evil little cells again.  Within my soul, a cleansing began.

Experiencing an overload over a few months, I have found myself too busy heading out to conventions, homeschooling the kids, traveling on many airplanes and living just day-to-day with four kids and husband. Funny, no matter what is going on they still want to eat, have clean clothes and a mom/wife to depend on.  I was desperately needing a refocus!

I began Spring Cleaning of my own heart and mind!  I took a break from the areas of my life that created too much busyness along with burdens.  Obviously, I could not cancel everything on my schedule, but I wanted a clean slate (as best I could).  Here within a season of stopping to ask the Lord what He desires me to do, where He wants me to spend my time and who He created me to invest my time in. 

I scrubbed my soul and swept my journal, just as we scoured and tidied up my house.  Looking to scripture for guidance and praying for direction, I brought every thought to the Lord.  Providentially, detoxing requires a good deal of fasting and meditating so I continued my quest during this time.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew right spirit in me.” Psalm 51:10

What did God reveal during my Spring Cleaning?  I am still a work in progress with still so far to go.  Many areas brought to my attention are clearly “blind spots” for me. So I am focusing on three character qualities I am working on. I am spending more time with my family and keeping my health in check.

I let my soul fill up with junk, exactly like my cupboards.  Just as I allowed dust, moths and unwanted items to waste my space, I permitted anger, sadness and pride to seep into the corners of my mind and heart.  I hadn’t guarded against the hidden attacks, and my soul felt burdened and heavy because of my careless season.

Spring Cleaning continues on in my inner sanctuary.  Clearly, I need a deep clean like my oven and sofas.  The end is nowhere in sight, but I am committed to cleaning, not only the rest of my house, but the recesses of my heart too.

How have you been doing your spring cleaning this year?

~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: Cruel Companion

After major emergency surgery in Panama my recovery was slow.  While my husband returned to our village in the jungle, I was taken in by dear friends who cared for me and our two daughters until his return and a doctor’s release to re-enter jungle work.  Christina attended the mission school during those months and I attempted to care for a very active three year old, Kim.  To say that she was lively would be an understatement.  Her boundless energy was an extreme contrast to my very slow and weak frame and keeping up with her was daunting.

Kim, to this day, can walk into a room and the whole room lights up, full of energy.  Her middle name is Joy and she certainly brings that into our lives!  Her willful defiance to correction in those early days brought me to an impasse…we would continually lock horns or I would just count my blessings and give in! 

Ever been there?

I have one of those faces that can’t hide anything.  I wear my emotions on my face, not my sleeve.  I consider myself to be a fairly even-tempered woman with a clear understanding of what it means to be angry.   I know the functional definition of anger, the peace I have to sacrifice to give into it, the guilt that results, and the pain required to resolve it. 

 One day at our friend’s home, Kim’s “lively activity” drew attention for some needed help. I was asked how I was going to respond to her. I answered the question with a silent non-verbal, …“what...what do you mean…?”  My face must have spoken loudly because I was then asked, “Are you angry, Jackie?”  I responded, “Of course not!”  They replied,  “Jackie, look at your expression in the mirror” (there was a mirror on the wall where I stood).  

I looked…and there was no denying the fact that my face said what my mind clearly denied…I was angry!  Sometimes I pause and glaze over while processing, but this was different!  I slithered off into my temporary bedroom and made an attempt to rationalize my situation!  Don’t they realize how fragile I am?  This can’t be fair…I just had a Laparotomy, forty-four stitches inside and forty-four stitches to close…I was in bad shape…don’t I get a smidge of extra consideration???  My self-pity consumed me…why… I thought I was a victim (the biggest lie from the pit!), well…wasn’t I?? 

Sound familiar?

Anger is a cruel companion.  The emptier the pot the quicker it boils!  Anger does everything to undermine truth and defeat us!  It is nothing more than “someone finding a right that I have not yet yielded to God.”  By that definition no one can make me angry!  I choose it all by myself…I can’t blame anybody!  It is my fault!

"When God wants to bring more power into our lives, He brings more pressure."  (A.B. Simpson)

There was no verbal argument and no laboring the point…just my humbly acknowledging …my guilt!

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.” Prov.21: 19   The last thing I wanted to be was that angry woman!  My children deserved a godly example, not an excuse!  My husband, bless his heart, deserved a wife free from anger to humbly love him unconditionally.  Anger and humility cannot dwell together…one has to go.

Henry Drummond, in The Greatest Thing in the World, wrote:

 “It is the intermittent fever which bespeaks unintermittent disease within; the occasional bubble escaping to the surface which betrays some rottenness underneath; a sample of the most hidden products of the soul dropped involuntarily when off one’s guard; in a word, the lightning form of a hundred hideous and unchristian sins.  For a want of patience, a want of kindness, a want of generosity, a want of courtesy, a want of unselfishness, are all instantaneously symbolized in one flash of…TEMPER.” 

 We call TEMPER by many socially acceptable names in an attempt to excuse it: impatience, frustration, wrong response, irritation, and annoyance…    We find clever ways to rationalize our anger.  We protect it, guard it, defend it, and yet its ugly head rears up and betrays us.

I am grateful and forever indebted to the family who forced me that day in Panama to face my anger and its subtle and insidious hold on me!  That new light to recognize anger and its deceptions, to call it by name, to ask forgiveness and to walk in the promised victory keeps my Christian life liberated daily, as I continue to learn…

Are you an angry woman?

Is humility your signature attribute?

~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: Calm or Chaos?!

I’m minding my own business…reading through Proverbs… and “quarrelsome wife” keeps popping up on the pages!

“Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife”. Proverbs 21: 9 

Just ten verses later…”Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome or ill-tempered wife.”  And in the next few chapters…”Better to live…” an exact quote of Proverbs 21:9!!

How important is peace to you?

With chaos all around us (wives and mothers), what would it take for us to maintain a calm peace in our homes?  We just celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday. A day set aside to encourage us in our commitment to our families. We are reminded of our role and responsibility to be all God has called us to be.  It takes two to quarrel and whether you live with a good listener or an argumentative person, it requires your participation to induce a “quarrel”.  No great revelation, but a great challenge for those of us who have our own opinion and think that opinion has value enough to be verbalized.

Most attempts at resolving an argument are fought on the battleground of confessing the sin of the other person, rather than acknowledging our own.  No one ever wins an argument!  Our energy, limited as it often is, is spent recklessly.  Our focus is on our need to be right or to have a sense of personal value or to correct a false accusation, rather than the need to know God’s perspective and stepping into the classroom of life and growing-up!  

What value does our argument have in the light of eternity?

 How will it profit His life in us? 

In the heat of the moment the issue seems important, maybe even life-changing.  Our perspective is often clouded by our self-life, personal desires and expectations.  We are held captive by a force (Satan) pushing us to get our way or have the understanding we think we deserve from our husbands to validate our worth.  Self is demanding its rightful position in the relationship.  Satan stands back and just laughs!

God’s design from the beginning has been to use our inability to resolve issues to draw us to a place where we hear His voice alone.  There is no argument worth sacrificing our peace with Him; no right or expectation is as important as pleasing Him in all our thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions.  Our weakness in being able to discern the greater need of identifying the real source of our disagreement and resolving issues more quickly, demonstrates our immaturity. “For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”  Phil 2:21

Laying down our demand at the moment and sensing His quiet voice of peace in the chaos of our situation is what His life in us is programmed to do!  As mothers, it is easy to lose focus temporarily, and none of us is immune to its pull, but the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts (plural) and minds (plural) when we choose to bring Phil. 2:1-3 into focus in that moment of decision before the climatic altercation gets a foothold.  Moms, this promise we can “take to the bank”… every time!

The promise is the “God of Peace will be with us” if we put into practice that which we have learned or received or heard or seen from Him.  Our little ones (and big ones!) are watching and listening to see if we “walk our talk” in the things we say to them to resolve their issues when they are arguing. 

Do they see God at work or hypocrisy with no hope?

Finally, sisters, “if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ or any comfort from His love or any fellowship with the Spirit or tenderness and compassion, then make His joy complete by being like-minded, having the same spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition and conceit but in humility [not self-defense or rationalizations] consider the other person more important than yourself.”

 However difficult this exercise is when in the thick of an argument, this is the admonition and solution to avoid whatever we feel is more important than maintaining our peace with Him!

Our choice:  Peace or Chaos!

Which will you choose?

~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: Earthquakes!

The day started like any other day.  The stark silence of the night was broken by clamoring voices on the path outside our bedroom window that led into the dense jungle floor.  Moms with babies were arriving at our front door to trade eggs for sugar and oil.  The happy and animated chatter of two little girls jumping up and down, hungry for those fresh eggs, motivated me to move into high gear!

It was only daybreak but life was already on a steady fast track.  As moms, we long for stability and a safe place for our children to grow up.   Sometimes we look for it in the comfortable and familiar…our best laid plans.  Dressing was next and it was easy…I owned two Kuna dresses and wore flip-flops…no closet required!  Hot coffee, fresh eggs with rice and beans were on the breakfast menu and then off to the river to wash clothes.

Humming and comfortable that the day was programmed from start to finish and clipping along as planned…I proceeded back up the bank to hang the clean clothes, get started on homeschool, then some language study before lunch.  I love it when a good plan comes together….

The house was full of Kunas when we returned from the river.  My husband, Ralph, was seated…Bible open.  The hammock was stretched across the center of the room welcoming us… but no time!  It was almost 11:00 a.m.  It really was a day just like every other day… until the unthinkable happened…

“Suddenly, in an instant, the Lord Almighty came with thunder and earthquake and great noise…” Isa.29: 6 

The ground began to shake; an abrupt jerk, a rumbling sound and then a LONG roll.  Our lantern, hanging from the 10’ ceiling, began to swing 2’ in each direction.  The floorboards began to buckle and the entire house began to sway!  I looked down and Kim’s high chair was rocking from side to side.  I grabbed her and reached for Christina who was already moving toward me.  She wrapped her arms around my leg. Stumbling toward Ralph, I was having difficulty standing; I was bobbing like a boat in a storm!

When everything is moving, what does one grab for safety?  Ralph, immediately on his feet, saw my dilemma and reached for us across the room.  With one hand he grasped Kim and me and set us securely in the swinging hammock in the middle of the room.  With his other hand he lifted Christina up into his arms and tucked her in against us. 

Turning to look outside, we all watched the ground heave and fall in surges.  The dogs were struggling to stay on their feet.  Every house in the village was moving.  The bark walls and thatch roofs were unstable and the tremors were continual.  We lived on a riverbank and the river was turbulent and threatening.  I am a California girl and I have experienced my share of earthquakes, but this one was in a class all its own!   It was longer, stronger and more forceful than any I had ever known.

This, definitely, was NOT a day like any other day!

In the jungle interruptions are expected.  The Darien is full of them…creepy crawlers…poisonous spiders, frogs, snakes, ants and caterpillars… Drug runners or sick or injured Indians from other villages from Colombia passing through… These were predictable and probable challenges, but an 8.3 epicenter earthquake?  NO…NOT!!

I was reminded that God honors us most when He puts us where we will trust Him most.

Safety was NOT in our house in the Darien jungle!

I was excited when weeks later someone offered us a third story apartment in Panama City for a few days to renew our visas.  Secretly, my hope was that half a country away in the city the tremors would not be felt!   Our arrival was after dark so we settled in and headed for bed.  As my head hit the pillow, to my utter astonishment, the earth began to shake and the entire three-story building began to sway!  Again, I was reminded that our true character is what we are in the dark!  

Safety was NOT in Panama City!

In those first few moments in the Darien with everything rattling around us, the Kunas in our house stood up totteringly and began to sing and pray!  We had found our safety in those first few moments…found only in a Sovereign and Almighty God who gives direction to the elements on earth.  For the weeks that followed the initial earthquake we had tremors of varying degrees every hour on the hour!  

Safety isn’t in a place or our best laid plans…
Safety IS in the Lord!

“…Then you will go on your way in safety and your foot will not stumble.”  Proverbs 3:23

~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: Jungle Fire!

Fires can be devastating!  In the jungle there is no 911, no

Fire Department, Fire Fighters or fire hoses and trucks… 

One afternoon the entire village stood on the riverbank and watched across the swift moving waters as a raging fire approached our settlement.  Like a tornado it swept across the forest floor consuming everything in its path.  The entire area was a patchwork quilt of gardens planted with bananas, rice, yucca, corn, and sugarcane…

Many of the new believers had fields laden with produce, as did their unbelieving neighbors.  Shocked at what we were watching, the believers began to pray.  Could that fire jump across the river?  The blaze began to pick its fields to blister as it “zigzagged” toward us.

 To our utter astonishment the fire leapt over the believers’ fields and consumed the others.  Not one field of a believer was touched!  God’s demonstration of Sovereign control over the elements of that wildfire was undeniable. 

God was in that fire!

“And I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord,

and I will be its glory within.” Zechariah 2:5

Since time and memorial the Darien jungle and its unpredictability had ruled!  Whether it was the fluctuating weather, the epicenter earthquake, the remote isolation, the absence of communication to the outside world, the challenge of transportation or the miscellany of wild animals, poisonous insects, army ants, snakes and vampire bats…we were captive to the jungle around us. This was one of those days when my mind concurred with the reality. 

We all stood amazed at God’s presence in that most obscure place.  He had been there all along.  The boldness of His Sovereignty was magnified in that raging fire. The assurance that regardless of the circumstance we were experiencing, we were “…shielded by God’s power…” (I Pet. 1:5) was our pre-eminent thought as we stood “shaking in our boots”.  The promise that “the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all day long” was as real that day as it ever would be.  We surely sensed that covering as we surveyed His handiwork!

While buried in the jungle, I often sang a song taken from Psalm 32:7.  “You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and you surround me with songs of deliverance, whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You…”   Delivered and protected, standing on the edge of the Pucuro River, I was reminded of the truth “God makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants”! Psa. 104: 4

Ralph, my husband and God’s servant, teaching in our Kuna house.

We are saved to serve, called to be “flames of fire”.  Alive, dancing through life, consumed with the burden on His heart… controlled by His sovereign will.

“HE makes his ministers a flame of fire…” Psalm 104:4

~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. 

3 Ways to Be a Light in Your World!

“Does anything I do matter? I mean, all I do is prepare meals, do dishes, fold laundry and change diapers. Then, I repeat the same thing the next day. I wanted to be a missionary when I was single. Today, I don’t feel like I advance the Kingdom of God at all. Maybe some day, when the kids are grown I will have time . .  .” Anonymous Mom confessions

Have you ever felt this way?  I know I have, especially when the kids were little and I worked.

But I want to encourage you today to think of yourself, like God does in Matthew 14. 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 14:14-16

Your kids ARE your mission.  They are our first God-given priority. YOU are the light of Christ they experience each day. YOU are building into them character and whispering the secrets of the kingdom in their lives.  You are shaping them and creating the next world-changer through every diaper you change and every meal you make.  You are teaching them what it looks like to serve others and how to respond to difficult situations with grace and wisdom. YOU are doing all this! But the days are slow and the work is monotonous.  Yes, it is true!

Beyond our husbands and our kids, I see God giving me opportunities within the framework of my daily life. I have just had to adjust my thinking. In my sphere of influence, there are people who need Jesus.  I have other moms in my life, parents with each sports team my kids are in and neighbors who God has given around me.  I also have people who come into my life for a specific time – a divine moment, I call it. All of these gifts can give me a God-given opportunity to “be a light in this world”.

Here are three different ways God has shown me how to “give light” around my daily activities that require no travel or degree to do, even as a mom.  Just a little bit of preparation and well thought-out plans to make an ordinary moment into a divine appointment.

Wherever I am, people are willing to talk about their lives.  So I take Jesus’ lead and ask questions. Of course, my job is to actively listen to a new friend I have met at the park or a parent at one of my kids’ soccer games.  I have learned everyone has a story. While engaging in this person’s life there are 3 things I can do to “shine light” into the conversation. 

Most of the time, an opening in conversation will happen and gives me an opportunity to do one of three things. 

Share my testimony

Through lots of practice, I have gotten my testimony down to three minutes.  I have the short version or the long version ready to go to share about Jesus when the opportunity arises.  I ask God to show me the best place and almost always the conversation leads easily to share.

Share what God has been Teaching me

Other times I am prompted to share what the Lord is teaching me through my quiet times in the morning—whether it is a verse or an example from life.  I am always looking for a way to carefully insert it into a casual conversation.  Again seeking the Lord for the right timing.

Pray for those who are hurting

Lastly, when speaking with another mom, oftentimes hurts or trials will be the topic we end up on because there is so much hurt and pain in this world.  I find it easy to tell people I will pray for them, but God is stretching me out of my comfort zone to just stop and pray right then and there with them. Most always the person, Christian or not, will accept prayer.   

Singing “This Little Light of Mine” with my kids can really be acted out in our lives with just simple acts.  The hardest part for me has been just keeping focused.  I tend to be lazy and forget that every interaction with another person can be a divine appointment. I get caught up in the story or my own excitement to share things going on in my life, but just a simple bit of pre-planning and focus can bring “light” to every conversation.

I know many of you share and bring light to the world around you.  What are other ways we could be a light to the world around us?

~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!