Jackie's Journey "Courage on Fire!"

GOD HONORS US MOST WHEN HE PUTS US WHERE WE WILL TRUST HIM MOST

 The closer we get to the fire, the more purified we will become.  God wants to draw us close to Himself.  We tend to fight and resist the very thing God uses with divine purpose to purify us…the inconvenience, turmoil, fears, trouble,  discomfort, distress and trials of many kinds.  The goal is “so that the tested genuineness of our faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to resort in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” I Pet. 1: 7

 ”Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.” Isa. 48: 10

 It really matters what seeds we are planting.  Courageous people find value and gratefulness in each struggle and they grow up! There is certainty found in God; not in their self-reliance.  His courage is manifested in us, as we make Him king and master in our life and not just a subtitle.

 There are 9 Points that mark people who are courageous:

1.     Pray constantly -in harmony with  God; others-focused, not self

2.     Embrace the greatness of God – practicing His presence

3.     Rely on daily bread (Him), not their own ability

4.     Invite accountability for the blind spots and wise counsel

5.     Live expectantly with their hope in God alone and when He says “go” or “do”; there is no delay; instant obedience

6.     Understands the divine purpose in the spiritual stretching Jas. 1: 2

7.     Are radically generous (with their time, giving, service…)

8.     Impart courage by staying in the fight – no excuse or rationalization, just example

9.     Fight fear with continual practice of gratitude

      Courage is fear under God’s protection – walk through that door of fear and it dissipates!

En-courage is helping someone else control their fear and doubt

Dis-courage is  fear controlling me

Despair is fear has conquered me.  Psa. 42: 5-11

 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not,

nor be afraid; for the lord, your god,

he it is that goes before you, he will not fail or forsake you!”

Dueteronomy 31: 6

 Whether life grinds you down or polishes you depends on your courage.   Cynicism is the last resort of the coward. Disparagement or doubt in His faithfulness undermines the character of the courageous soul who confidently puts total trust in God.  Some give Him a place; some give Him prominence; but what Christ wants is pre-eminence…

 Courage is defined as grace under pressure!

Whatever you are facing today, choose Courage!

~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 "Buckle Up for the Ride!"

Do you ever feel like you just can’t go on?  A bit overwhelmed and stressed with the every-day’s demanding responsibilities, eventful family matters, disturbing health issues, wavering and unresolved relationships, weighty decisions that need to be made now, current world events make that global, conditions….?  

 Do you grow faint?  Are you “keeping on keeping on”, stumbling along the way?

 While living in the Darien jungle, we were not aware that for two years there was a plot to kill us!  We lived in a very remote area and the discovery of our bodies would have never been found.  Upon learning of the plan, my head began to spin.  I looked across the room at my two  beautiful little girls and reality came tumbling into my consciousness like a fast-approaching hurricane!  Fight or Flight…there was no escape…

 …Talk about growing faint!

 Jeremiah, “the weeping prophet”, faced a similar conspiracy and he wrote:

 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out,

how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in safe country,

how will you manage in the thickets by Jordan?”

 If we grow faint with lesser trials and feel like quitting, what will we do when the battle gets even harder?  The river Jordan in flood stage overflowed its banks into a plain that grew up into a dense thicket!  Pictured in this verse is their invaders overwhelming the land like a flood. We, like Jeremiah, need to be ready to deal with tougher times.  “If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!”  Prov. 10:24  He makes His strength perfect in our weakness.  We have to get out of the way and let Him take control!  Where is your confidence right now?

 Jeremiah knew the scheme the people of Anathoth had against him to kill him, because God had told him. Like many of us, he wanted to know “why the wicked escape for a time unscathed and appear to prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” Jer. 12: 1

 Do you ever ask yourself that?  Why me?

 God’s answer was simply, “Buckle up, Jeremiah, your life, as a prophet of my truth, has yet to see my nature revealed!  I have the plan…albeit, a longsuffering one…I am forever looking for repentance and a yieldedness to My will, unlike the rebellious and defiant ones.” (Paraphrased)

 Our Challenge:

  “If we falter in times of trouble,

 how small is our strength!”

Prov. 10:24

~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 "When Life Seems Impossible...What Do You Do?"

Someone recently asked me, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?”  “Prayer is the preface to the book of Christian living, the text of new life testimony, the girding of the armor for battle, the pilgrim’s preparation for his journey, and it must be supplemented by action or it amounts to nothing!”  The fact that Satan laughs at our striving, but trembles when he sees the weakest believer on his knees, should tell us how important prayer is!

 “We know that nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.”  To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. One of the functions of prayer is to set God at the center of our attention.   Prayer is, then,the world in tune.  It is the gymnasium of the soul. 

 How active is your prayer life?

 “Whoever only speaks OF God, but never or seldom TO God, easily yields body and soul to idols.  The Christian, thus places his whole future in jeopardy by a stunted prayer life”.  Talking to men for God  is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. If we are too busy to pray, we are too busy!

 When life seems impossible, what do we do?  We pray!  We know that prayer does not influence God’s purposes, but it does influence His action:

 I asked for strength that I might achieve;

HE made me weak that I might obey.

 I asked for health that I might do great things;

I was given grace that I might do better things.

 I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wiser.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I received nothing I asked for, yet, more than all that I hoped for.

My prayer was answered!

~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 "Inspiring Imprints!"

Christina and Kim, my daughters, asleep in our jungle hammock

As a young missionary mother reading to these two little ones sitting next to me in a hammock in the middle of the Darien jungle, my heart yearned for books that would introduce my girls to bible-based, character-emphasized prince and princesses that they could aspire to become.  I would take every book I picked up and purpose to impose these two principles into the pages in terms they could understand that had eternal values targeted. 

These girls are grown and have given me seven grandchildren!  Christina encouraged me for years to sit down and put on paper what I did to the stories I read in those early years.  Her cry for these books for her four little ones was my primary motivation in writing The Princess Parable Series.

The opportunities are unlimited when it comes to God building His character in us, and then, into those we love.  Understanding the need and exercising the steps of action required to see them implemented is our challenge. 

When you look at your children where do you see their primary need?  Taking into consideration their age and temperament…maybe the need for them to be more alert or to respond more quickly in obedience?  Maybe rebellion is the issue or selfishness? 

Where would you begin to help

 the little prince or princess in your home?

 Values are based on the changing opinions of what people or groups of people practice in their principles or ideals.  Character is based on universal standards that are time-tested and recognized as being ethically correct.  Character is written in every person’s heart and conscience (Romans 2:15).  Even though the basic truth of a character quality is understood, there is a need for further clarification on how to apply the truth in our daily circumstances. 

I have collected positive character quality definitions for years because they describe pieces of the Godhead and assist in my personal spiritual exercise and transformation.  They equipped me to pragmatically instruct my girls as we walked through daily activities living in a culture very different than our own. The qualities of kindness and compassion wereright up there at the top!

 In the village where we lived, the Kuna practice of polygamy and early marriages combined with witchcraft and a village witchdoctor opened up interesting teaching opportunities.

It brought to mind a time not too many years ago when my two granddaughters accomplished an extraordinary act of compassion in just a few days.   I was asked to wrap a collection of gifts, gift cards and get-well cards with money that Catherine and Alexandra had gathered to give to Alexandra’s teacher at school.

Catherrine and Alexandra,

my granddaughters

Alexandra’s heart had been challenged to encourage this young single woman, who had recently left her parents and siblings on the East Coast to answer a call to serve at her school in our community here on the West Coast.

 This teacher had taken a daily six-hour cancer treatment three months earlier and had quietly gone alone for treatment here the last six weeks, not wanting to burden or inconvenience anyone else.  During her follow-up appointment, the doctors found the cancer had returned…aggressively!  

Alexandra tearfully shared with her sister, Catherine, the sadness she felt.  Catherine, who was the school’s “Kindness Club” director, immediately joined hearts and hands with her sister, their mother (Christina), and many who heard of the need. Within just a few days they had rallied friends, families, neighbors and they handed me a huge box-full of “gifts” to be wrapped!

We respond to life according to our character, good or bad.  Our wrong responses indicate our need.  Our correct responses validate our victories.  For me, this was a victory of a life-lesson well-taught and learned. The blessing of three generations clasping hands to compassionately encourage a hurting heart!

Compassion is doing whatever is necessary to heal the hurts and meet the need of another.  Christ is the greatest teacher that ever lived and our example. His compassion for us carried Him to the cross!  Living outside our own self-life, being alert to another’s pain and not walking by without lifting a hand is our “call to action”. 

“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother

in need but has no pity on him,

how can the love of God be in him?” 1 John 3:17

~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 Sixty Year Journey!"

My husband’s birthday was yesterday!  Our 60th wedding anniversary was a few weeks ago. A lifetime of memories and markers.  My parents were married 74 years and Ralph’s parents were married 47 years, so… 60 years did not seem inordinately long and I looked forward to many more years…but God had a better plan.

 I met my Prince at Bob Jones University and if you were to ask our college friends, they would be astounded that we are celebrating 60 years!  Most did not give us two years!  Ralph and I were polar opposites in almost every way.  However, we had the one element in marriage that will guarantee longevity…we were both individually committed to “burn out” serving God wherever He led us.  My husband’s godly zeal and spiritual leadership in our home was always preeminent and a constant for the last 60 years!

 I was blessed with a man who loved me unconditionally and when he said, “For better or worse”…he meant it.  We weathered the storms of life with near death experiences more than once and his loyalty to me and to God was unwavering. “Deference living” rather than compromise, was a key to our taking our two wills and finding harmony in God’s will.

 Ralph’s name means “bold counselor” and that he was…a man of daring motion and direction.  He was once told he was “an afflicter of the comfortable and a comfort to the afflicted”.  I could write a book with all his wise one-liners, biblical formulas and scriptural definitions.  His capacity to see things in Scripture and interpret them from “inside out” to give a total new look at a familiar verse was uncanny.

 Christian missionaries are people whose passion is to make the Lord Jesus known to the whole world.  They are completely under the command of King Jesus (my Paratrooper husband would roll out of bed, stand at attention and salute heavenward, committing his day!) and missionaries will go anywhere, under any circumstances, for no pay, with poor living conditions and food, even though no one ever notices.  They know their Sovereign Lord is watching every minute and that is the only reward and joy they seek…a true missionary is someone who will risk everything for the sake of the lost of this world.  This was my husband.

 We have a precious heritage that is a loving reminder of his loyalty to God and his responsibility into the third and fourth generations.

God’s faithfulness…

 If we had these 60 years to do over again, we would like to serve more and better, as we were bought with the price of His blood. Rom. 6: 16-18 says, “We were slaves of sin and now are slaves of righteousness.”  God called my Ralph home in February, so… it’s just me now…and I work daily on being a better slave!

 However impressive or challenging your marriage may be,

 It is the genuine proof of the degree of your loyalty to God.

~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 "Misery Is Optional!"

“When God wants to bring more power

into your life,

HE brings more pressure!”. A.B. Simpson

 Things had calmed down after the drug addict’s break-in, and I stood in the middle of the room…oh, sooo grateful.  Pressure,  by my husband’s definition, is a continuing opportunity for others to observe our true character, “for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.

 Needless to say, we did not go back to bed and as dawn shed its morning light, I was busily packing and “oh, so ready” to keep that Gorgas Lab appointment and head back to our home in the jungles of the Darien.

 Who would have thought that an ordinary family would sense more safety in a jungle house with no lock, a bark frame and surrounded by indigenous people and wild jungle animals…than in a thriving metropolis with all the locks and amenities known to man??

 I learned a lesson that night.  This experience drove home the truth that the promise, “Safety is in the Lord” is an absolute reality given to those who walk with Him, because the promise that “the beloved of the Lord will dwell in safety by Him;  the Lord will cover him all day (and night) long”. II Cor. 4:17   The world is too small a place to afford safety to a man that disobeys God!

 Our appointment at the Center for Disease Control was early and to get into the Lab we were required to walk past a zoo-like structure that caged a number of odiferous monkeys. They were loud and aggressive  and grabbed Ralph’s sunglasses as we made our way down the foyer.

 We were greeted by two of the staff that led us down a long corridor  into a small room with  odd jars of unspeakable contents lining the counters.  After a series of tests and reviewing the hospital report, these research doctors, who had been so kind to us, both had victory smiles of success on their faces!

 “As incredible as this may seem, Ralph”, they started their explanation, “somehow, you have broken into a cycle only seen in animals, specifically horses.  You have Strongyloidiasis, a parasite that burrows into the intestinal wall…and eats it! The reason the Coca-Cola gave you relief is because the parasite would not burrow  its head in those moments because… it feeds on sugar!  So, you were able to sense a temporary relief.  This particular parasite is literally… eating your intestinal wall!”

 Looking for a source of entry, one doctor asked to see Ralph’s feet.  Ralph’s heels were deeply cracked and the parasite had entered into his system directly from the contaminated soil in the Choco settlement he had recently visited.  As interested as Ralph was in the entire explanation, all he REALLY wanted to know was…HOW DO I KILL THE CREATURES!

 THE GOOD NEWS…there was a treatment…BUT…it was for horses! 

THE BAD NEWS…the  doctors were not confident that is would work on a human…or, because of its toxicity…kill him!  They carefully instructed that under NO circumstances was he to take more than one teaspoon a day.

 We stayed another week in Panama City for them to run a last test to see if the medicine had worked.  After three days of one teaspoon and still no sleep or relief, Ralph looked at me and our little girls and said, “It’s me or the bugs!”  He, instantly, took the bottle, turned it upside down, emptying its entirety into his mouth!  My heart sunk!!

 Who does that??

 He seemed fine for the first hour or so, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then abruptly, he became  agitated and turned into the HULK!  He grabbed my arm and yelled something unintelligible.  His wild eyes looked like the man that had broken into the house a few days earlier!

 What had he done?!

This strong, gentle man had become forceful and alarming.

 Fortunately, we were still in the city, but it was too late to alert the doctors.  When morning broke, we headed to the Lab.   Had Ralph done something irreparable?  He, however was excited to let the doctors know that the massive dosage of the poisonous drug had made him a crazy man…but it did not KILL HIM! 

 THE REAL QUESTION:  DID IT KiLL THE PARASITES??

 “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has  not decreed it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?  Why should any man complain…” Lam. 3: 37-39

 The doctors were horrified and shocked that he had taken the whole bottle,  but were grateful that he had survived!  They were anxious to run tests, so we waited patiently for the results.  IF the parasites lived through the toxic exposure, there was no other treatment known to help us.

 They quietly re-entered the room…gleaming!  Ralph had lived…the bugs had died!  During those days of excruciating pain, never once did Ralph complain.  He was not suffering…just ask him!  Remember, “Suffering is an option!”  He gave thanks continually and even at his worst, submitted to the  will of God.

 “The fear of the Lord leads to life,

and whoever has it rests satisfied;

he will not be visited by harm.” Psa. 19: 23

 Pressure is the great tester of our spiritual condition…”The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.” (Wm. Booth)

 How do you respond to pressure?

~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 "Inexplicable Agony!"

Ralph and Christina teaching one evening in our rustic jungle living room…

 The word that Americans were living on the Pucuro River among an isolated tribe located near the headwaters was big news to the people in a tiny Choco settlement about a day’s journey downriver by dugout. Ralph and Jay Gunsteens were eager to take some of our new believing Kuna’s on their first missionary trip down river into this community.

 I remember the day they took off in the piragua and wondered how these remote people would receive the message God was bringing to them.  It was rainy season and the mud was deep as they arrived on  the riverbank.   This secluded  group of Indians had a few horses and cows and the ground was thoroughly contaminated.  Ralph, who had his combat boots for just such an occasion, was wearing his flip-flops and sinking deep into the wet ground.

The Choco village a day downriver

Darkness was closing in and the boys were invited to eat and spend the night.  The next day they were given an opportunity to open the Word and share God’s love, plan and provision.  Ralph and Jay were well received and some of the townspeople even returned a visit to Pucuro in the weeks that followed.

 About two weeks after returning to our village, Ralph began to suffer with excruciating abdominal pain.  We committed him to our healing God.  The limited medical resources available to us interior had been exhausted.  Since we were soon due to renew our visas, we decided to take the three-day journey early and leave for Panama City to see if the doctors in the Canal Zone could help us.

 The  medical doctors realized Ralph had picked up something rare and unusual and unable to find the source after a battery of tests, they sent us to Gorgas Laboratory,  the Center for Disease Control for the military in Central America. Ralph was becoming increasingly restless and powerless to cope with the intense pain.  He would walk the floor, day and night and had not slept for days.  His only few moments of relief came when he would drink a bottle of Coca-Cola!

 I knew I had been called to this ministry and I knew God was allowing this exercise for our good, it had divine purpose and would benefit others; yet, this was touching one of God’s most faithful servants and I was stymied!

 Have you ever wondered why it is so much more difficult

to watch the pain of someone else ??

 The Lab was our last hope.  We made an immediate appointment and to our surprise…they could take us in early the next morning!  After all, Ralph’s case was intriguing…it came out of the remote jungle! The Lord had opened up a home on the military base for us to use the few days we planned to be in the city and we were grateful for His provision.

 That night, Ralph stopped pacing and laid down sometime after midnight.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  About two hours later, we were jolted by someone breaking the glass on the back door!  Literally… breaking into the house!  The  frantic and hostile man was reaching through the shattered glass and unlocking the latch!

 Ralph was instantly on his feet yelling at the intruder!  As he left our bedroom, he turned and said, “Safety is in the Lord, Jackie!”  As he slammed the door shut, he told me to call the military police and stay with the girls. Panicked and processing, I did as I was told and listened to the scuffle in the hall!  There were loud voices and then silence!  My heart stopped!!

 In a few seconds, Ralph had subdued the man and tapped on our door to tell us we were going to be alright.  The intruder was a cocaine addict and knew someone that lived in this borrowed house.  He needed money and was desperate to get in!

 Have you ever had an intruder violently

invade your place of safety?

 This is Part One of this saga…

And Ralph’s prognosis?  You won’t believe it…

See you next week to find out…

~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 "...Got Purpose?"

So often we think to be successful we need a sense that we are getting more out of life…more me time, vacation time, more quality time with our children, more opportunities to develop a more mature relationship with our husbands, more exercise, less weight…”It’s all about me!” 

 We are blinded by schedules and activities (work, practices, meets, tournaments, tutors, recitals, award ceremonies and more).  We moms live in a maze of taxi driving (pick-ups and drop-offs), carpools, careers, pickle-ball, parties, sleep-overs, play-dates, fears and circumstances that keep us from seeing the clarity of our designed purpose.  We are forever seeking balance…

This is the opposite of what God envisions for us.  We are to live life with a due sense of responsibility…not as(women) who do not know the meaning and purpose of life, but those who do…making the best use of our time, despite all the evil of these days…not being vague but grasping firmly what we know to be the will of God.  Eph. 5: 15-17

 True success in life is measuring what we are by what we could be (always seeking His purpose and meaning in life) and what we have done by what we could have done (by His grace).  “Faithful is He who called you who will also do it (is we get out of the way, relinquish our self will and yield to His!).  It is achieving the full potential God planned for us.  We are destined with His purpose on our life…”It’s not about me!” Col. 1: 28,2

 Are we focused on what God is focused on or are we hastily and thoughtlessly doing our own thing…running through life?  If we have not realized our life purpose and set eternal goals, our present priorities to reach that goal are short-sighted and superfluous!  Our focus is blurred by the demands of the immediate on the altar of the permanent.

 When I was a young Christian, I was challenged by Betty Stams Declaration of Purpose.  She was a missionary to China and was martyred by the Communists in 1949.

“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes and accept Your will for my life.  I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to You, to be yours forever.  Fill me and seal me with Your Holy Spirit.  Use me as You will, send me where You will, work out Your whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.”

 While at Bible School, I stapled that statement inside the flap of my Bible and it is still there today…a reminder of my commitment to my God, who gave His All for me, to die daily.  “If anyone would come after me (Christ), he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9: 23

 Taken from Philippians 1: 21, “For to me to live is Christ and to die (to my will, rights, ambitions, entitlements…) is gain…”  This has carried me through life and has been my comfort while serving in the jungles of Panama until this day…

 Where is your heart?

What is your Declaration of Purpose?

~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 "What Does Your Future Hold?"

Life had become routine in the Darien jungles of Panama. The sounds of Howler monkeys, the screeching of magnificent multicolored parrots and the beauty of the bright colored Toucan had become commonplace.  One morning we woke up to find two little spider monkeys on the front porch crawling on the girls’ bikes!

I still could not reconcile with the colossal hairy spiders, the over-sized scorpions, the copious species of slithering snakes, the blood-sucking vampire bats or the jungle army ants!  Nor would I ever find harmony with the dripping humidity and the ever-present roaches, chiggers and mosquitos!  However, I did learn to appreciate the large Iguanas for their tasty eggs.

 Daily, the Kuna’s would greet us, early, looking for sugar or oil and a morning visit.  We had become part of the community and they had begun to accept us.  We had brought healing medicine, oil, and sugar after all!

 The Indians had, somewhere along the line, become part of our family and we had become attached to them and their way of life.  We had learned so much from them and were amazed at their physical strength compared to their small stature.  Their ability to take one bullet and return with a deer or two bullets and return with two deer was uncanny.  We, also, learned much from their survival skills in the dense jungle.  But their openness to listen to the truth of God’s Word after a year and a half of total mistrust and resistance was the most astounding of all! 

 Watching the young mothers with their babies and the respect and trust these women had for the older women in the village was heart-warming  We had grown to love these very special people and had developed a mutually fulfilling relationship.  As they came to know Christ, our hearts were full of gratitude for the privilege of serving the King in such a rugged and remote region.

 The women swept the village once a week during dry season and it was an opportunity for Sue Gunsteen and I to listen to the women chatter and hear the community gossip.  You didn’t want to miss the sweeping because you would then become the object of their conversation that day!  

 However, I was consistently on guard because of something my Uncle, an orthopedic surgeon, had told me while he was visiting us at Language School.  He spoke quietly: “Jackie, you carry the TB germ from your mother at birth; it lays dormant now but could activate in the right environment or as you get older”.  I was 25 at the time, so I only had to focus on the environmental issue, I thought to myself!  Then, a year or so later, during a Congreso meeting, we knew we had reached a level of tribal acceptance when they offered us a gourd filled with “Chicha” and everyone drank from that one rustic cup!  Needless to say, I did not want to offend by NOT drinking from it! 

 But for me the sweeping and the common drinking gourd became an act of faith because the sweeping stirred up the tuberculosis germs that blew in the village and of course, the tubercular women would contaminate that cup!

 The Lord had given me a promise while we were in missionary training. 

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,

plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans

to give you a hope and future”.   Jer.29: 11

 The Lord used these powerful words of promise to banish my fear and sustain me as we swept the village, drank the “sugar cane-sweetened platano (cooking banana) drink” and treated the TB patients in their homes and the clinic. 

 HE knew my future and had it planned. There was, therefore, no reason to be troubled.  My focus was not on my fear but the need to keep in harmony with Him, His assignment and His will.

 Are you ever preoccupied with the future

and what it holds for your life?

 In a world full of uncertainties, it is easy to “roll into” the pattern of helping God design your future, rather than simply submitting to Him and His plan that comes with assurance and hope!

~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 "Who's Got the Answer?"

“A while back, the clue on Jeopardy was “Jezebel’s husband.” None of the three contestants knew that the answer was King Ahab. About that same time, I was doing a crossword puzzle, and the clue was Samuel’s teacher. I happened to know that Eli was Samuel’s mentor. But it got me to thinking about how little the average American knows about the Bible.

A Gallup poll in the 90’s concluded that only half of the adults nationwide could name ANY of the four gospels. That same survey found that only 42% could name even 5 of the 10 commandments. The Barna Research Group reports that 12% of American adults believe that Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc. And 75% believe that “God helps those who help themselves” (a quote from Benjamin Franklin, not the bible).

In years past, the American education system was centered on the study of God’s Word. In the early days of our country, a child learned to read from the pages of scripture. Bible stories were commonly known and discussed in polite society. Writers drew inspiration from biblical characters.

Go back a bit further in history and consider how many references there are to the Bible within the pages of Shakespeare’s writing. God is mentioned in 30 of his 37 plays, for a total of over 700 times. Countless references, allusions and paraphrases of scripture can be found in his work. The pages of his work are so saturated with God’s Word that Shakespeare’s writings were referred to as the “Lay Bible.”

So, what has happened? 92% of Americans claim to own a Bible. They may own one, but they do not seem to know what’s in it! Truth is, we are more likely to be able to quote endless lines from a movie or rattle off song lyrics with ease than to know even the most rudimentary things about God’s Word.” (this was too good to not repeat…posted by Sherry Worell)

This is to our great shame!

Could I challenge you to get in God’s Word this week?

It is the heart and mind of God

and what He thinks about everything!

~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.