Jackie's Journey "Why is This Happening?"

When was the last time someone found fault

 in something you said or did?

What was your response?

Were you offended?

“Great peace have they that love HIS law

 and nothing will offend them.” 

Psalm 119:165

 Life is full of criticisms, comparisons and judgements. We live in an insecure world of increasing unknowns and the plight to be the best, have the best, have the most knowledgeable and educated kids, and be a person of position and authority is the central exercise… whatever the sacrifice. How do we measure up to everyone else??

Whether we are functioning out of right or wrong motives, the goal of learning to respond correctly to life’s situations is often neglected in our teaching.  Taking up offense for someone else or being personally offended is more common place.

 If you are a mom, Pilates instructor, Pastors wife, or… the temptation to follow the crowd (the podcasters, the pundits, the newsmongers) and its opinion is always hounding our path.  Being discerning enough to recognize the difference between the worldly and spiritual perspective regarding offenses is forever the challenge. They have become so synchronized!  

One offers peace, the other chaos!

 As discerning moms, which means we are taking the time to see through the surface problem (when offended, insulted, or slighted), to a possible root cause, enables us to understand the why things happen from the decisions being made by us and the choices our children are electing. 

 “Discernment is the power to interpret what we see and hear.” 

Oswald Chambers

 When teaching our little prince and princesses to avoid being hurt when affronted and instructing them not to be afraid to stand alone and respond correctly, we use the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands , mind and heart to increase their ability to make right choices…which gives us lots of teaching moments! Focusing on building good character and meeting our child’s deeper needs brings peace, instead of conflict.

Let’s commit ourselves this week to ask more questions,

to not judge too harshly and to look for understanding

the deeper reason why things are happening around 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 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 "Hero Influencer!"

As moms, we look for ways to encourage our little prince and princesses to be wise in the decisions they are making.  Wisdom is learning to see life’s situations from God’s point of view and then, acting in harmony with Him.  The world is teaching them from a road with an  opposing point  of view that leads to defeat and destruction. We desire our little one’s success, not failure.

 They imitate us, initially,  and then, their peers or some hero they admire.  As believing women, we are called into a very exclusive club called “Mighty in Spirit” Club!  It can hold the heart of a child and call them into the same walk we walk…one that has surrendered its control to be led and strengthened by His Spirit.

 God wants every woman to be mighty in spirit….

To be strengthened with might by HIS Spirit in the inner woman (man)”.  (Eph. 3: 16)

To be strong in God’s Spirit means:

§  Sensing God’s presence at all times and developing the fear of the consequence of sin. (Eph. 3: 16)

§  Recognizing the promptings of the Holy Spirit and being alert to spiritual danger. (Heb. 5: 13-14)

§  Understanding the deeper things in God’s Word. (Eph. 3:18-19)

§  Discerning the wrong kinds of attitudes and ideas in others and knowing how to respond to them. (Heb. 10: 14)

§  Comprehending the height and depth of God’s love. (Proverbs 10: 1)

§  Motivating others to grow in the Lord and apply Scripture to daily living. (Luke 1: 80)

§  Building our life around basic Scriptural principles and convictions.

§  Knowing how to “bind Satan” and rescue members of our family from his power.

In the New Testament, writing about John the Baptist,  we are told, “…And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit…”  So we know the calling is viable and accomplishable. 

 Let’s look for the opportunity to develop into the hero

we are purposed to be to our children…

~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 "Stumbling-Block or Stepping-Stone!"

Every spring my garden squirrel arrives with a new baby!

 As moms, we learn deference early.  Self takes a back seat to dedicated loving service!  We exchange our right to eat and sleep for the permanent joy of our child’s well-being. Refusing to show deference is saying, “My momentary interests are more important than your eternal welfare!”  We quickly discover the conflict with time on our phone, social media and any other interruption.  All are secondary to the immediate needs of our impatient baby or waiting child.

This spring (this week!), I received exciting news that my beautiful granddaughter, Catherine, is having my first great-grandchild.  I am going to be a Great-Grandma!  My grandchildren are magic, so I cannot imagine the adventure coming in this new, approaching joy.  For sure, I can anticipate newborn opportunities to deepen my understanding of deference living. 

 Deference is leading the way as a “stepping -stone”, showing the true meaning of self-denial for the benefitof this new little part of my legacy.  It is protecting others in situations that would weaken or offend them. We look at our life and responsibility differently, when a baby comes along. We quickly learn that the conscience of a child is incredibly sensitive. They read us like a book and there is no fooling them.

 Compromise is indulging in a pleasure that may bring a moment of enjoyment but a lifetime of damage to others.  We are to lead the way…a stepping-stone…making personal sacrifices to help this new one become successful…putting off words, attitudes, habits, or actions that would cause our child to stumble.  We choose to defer for their benefit where it will benefit them and the cause of Christ.

 We are warned to “be careful that the exercise of our rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak” and in this case, the innocent!  (I Cor. 8: 9) We have a responsibility to look beyond what we know to be right or wrong and examine how the exercise of freedom might influence our “babes-in-arms”.

 Motherhood, grand-motherhood and great grand-motherhood come with great privilege and colossal responsibility.  “Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 18: 7-10)

 Are you, currently, a “stepping-stone” or a “stumbling block”?

~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 "Unthinkable Sacrifice!"

This past Friday was “Good Friday”.  This day is “specifically set aside for us to meditate on all that Jesus suffered, all the pain, the shame, and the curse that characterized his death. My eyes well up with tears when I consider the unthinkable affliction Christ endured.

 Every year around this time—right before Easter—a certain plant comes alive on my patio with bright, red blossoms. It is commonly known as “Crown of Thorns.” 

I always enjoy parking my chair close to it to examine its delicate flowers, so thin, fragile, and brilliant with red color. But then, I take a moment and let my eyes linger on its huge, thick, nail-like thorns, rumored to be those used in the crown placed on my Saviors head.

The pain and humility Jesus physically suffered leading up to his death was a mere warm-up to the real dread he faced.

As he hung on the cross, he began to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during those hours that his body was impaled, an earthly foul odor must have wafted, not around his nose, but in his heart. He felt dirty. Human wickedness began to crawl upon his spotless being—the living excrement from our souls.

The apple of the Father’s eye began to turn brown with the rot of our sin.

I let the thought settle deep, forcing my heart to imagine the rage, the wrath of God being poured out like hot oil on the wounded heart of the Son of Man. God the Father watching as his heart’s treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sank drowning into raw, liquid sin.

There is no room for a casual sentimentality regarding the cross—as an instrument of unspeakable torture, the cross is far too gruesome for any light-hearted fondness”. Written from the heart of Joni Erikson

After reading Joni’s article, my heart began to sing and

I took on a new, magnified, eternal gratefulness

 for all that HE did for me on the cross of Calvary… 

  How about you?

Join me today in carving out quiet time to reflect on the awful weight of Good Friday. And then, breathe a prayer of wonder and thanksgiving to our Savior…

~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 "Idleness vs. Initiative!

Meet my lazy kitty, Duchess…don’t let her fool you, she is the originator of initiated antics!

 Did you know that idleness is the ground in which every form of evil takes root!

My Dad used to say, “Idleness is the devils workshop!”

 Recently, talking to a young mom of three princesses about laziness, I realized that the hour of idleness is the hour of temptation.  We give it an acceptable name such as, procrastination, deferment, apathy or just stalling, but it is clearly a form of laziness or the absence of initiative.

 Initiative is recognizing and doing what needs to be  done before I am asked to do it.  It is expressed in our thoughts, words and deeds.   As a  little princess in my father’s house, I was notorious for taking initiative where I was not called to do so!  It took time for me to understand that I needed to use the energy of God (His grace!) to achieve the will of God, as the Spirit of God directed. Not me, running ahead, doing my thing!

 “Satan is much more earnest than we are…he buys up the opportunity, while we are idly wondering how much it will cost.” Amy Charmichael   “Who can find a  virtuous woman? …She looks well into the ways of her household and eats not the bread of idleness.” (Proverbs 31: 10, 27)  She is a “busy bee” with a lot of targeted initiative for the benefit of others.

 As moms with little prince and princesses watching and learning from us, we have a responsibility to demonstrate initiative in our thoughts, words and actions.  They see how we manage our time and deal with the idleness in our lives. Our phones, social media, etc. reveal the truth.

 The power for good and evil is in our thoughts and words.  “For as she(he) thinks in her heart, so is she (he)”.  (Proverbs 23:7)  Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21)

 “With our thoughts and words, we can do the will of God or the work of Satan…” (Matt. 12: 37)

 Let’s aggressively…with energetic initiative…face this week with determination to

“bring into captivity every thought and word

to the obedience of Christ.”

~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 "Pressing Toward the Mark!

Do you ever get discouraged?  Do the anxieties of motherhood, or just life,  have an exhaustive way of beating you down?  Do you find yourself claiming verses like, ”He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength.” (Isa. 40:29)  This defines endurance and endurance is based on hope!

 I am a princess mom and grandmom and I understand a little bit about the lesson of endurance.  If not by virtue, by age and experience!  It comes with great promise, but it takes pronounced fortitude and focus on the goal, regardless of circumstances.  The goal is greater than any distractions along the way.

 Before leaving for the jungles of Panama, I was reminded of a verse given to me by a seasoned missionary that said, “if I had run with the footmen, and they had wearied me, then how would I  contend with the horses, and if in the land of peace, where I trusted, they wearied me, then how would I do in the swelling of Jordan? (the swelling of the Pucuro River!) (Jer. 12:5)

 Would I be able to endure what was ahead of  me?

 When I get  over-whelmed, I remind myself of Elijah, who stood against evil and was hunted down, but he was faithful to the end or John the Baptist who was imprisoned for his stand on divorce and remarriage, yet remained faithful to his death.(I Kings 19 and Matt. 11:11)   Luke endured with Paul until the end. (II Tim. 4:11). Christ endured until the end on the cross…

 As moms, do we live as soldiers who are in the most critical spiritual warfare ever waged,

or as a civilian in a time of peace, prosperity, and pleasure?

 “And let us not be weary in well-doing:

for in due season we will reap, if we faint not.”

(Gal. 6: 9)

“Do not pray for tasks equal to your strength, but for strength equal to your tasks.”

Phillips Brooks

~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 "Courageous Decision"

Hello Spring!  For those  of you that time is moving slowly…Rejoice! For the rest of us…where time appears to be closing in on us… REJOICE, again, I say… REJOICE!  In the story of “Princess Charity’s Courageous Heart”, Charity is challenged with a timely decision that resonates with us as women with daily opportune decisions that affect our relationships, homes and families.

 This little enthusiastic princess is an expert at expressing excitement about lessons learned through her adventures on her pet horse, Daisy. She is diligent in completing her chores in good time with a positive attitude.  She loves her sisters and being the youngest, shows genuine interest in all their activities. 

 Princess Charity turns ordinary actions into extraordinary achievements.  Surveying the kingdom from Monument Hill, she sees a young neighboring boy below, hurriedly racing across the plain in a one-horse carriage .  She could  not imagine why he was in such a hurry…time must be dictating his decision!

 Thinking there must be an emergency, she turns Daisy to follow down the hill, when she hears a blood-curding scream for help and sees the carriage fly through the air, leaving the horse and young rider severely injured and in need of help.

 Time was of the essence…what should she do?  Should she risk her father’s anger and cross the boundary he had set to save another’s life or should she pass by as if she didn’t see it?  Charity’s choice, just like the one we read about in the “Good Samaritan” story, could impact an entire kingdom!

 Overcome with compassion, she whispers,

“How can we help this hurting boy, God?”

 Time is short and the need is great…

Time is no different for us in today’s world. 

Compassion for those in need should drive us enthusiastically

 to be more “other’s” oriented.

What will be our decision be?

Jackie's Journey "A Blink of Time!"

My Birthday is this month (there is no turning back the clock!) and I have stumbled across some verses on age this week, as I’m reading through Psalms.  “Teach us  to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”.  I really want that heart!  (PSA.90: 14) “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet, the best of them is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away...”  (Psa. 90: 10)

 In the next chapter (PSA. 92:14), the fruit of obediently numbering our days is given…”they will STILL bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming,  ‘The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.’” 

 Numbering our days is making every day count for the cross of Christ!  Our Creator, Owner, Leader, Sustainer, Savior and Successor is actively pursuing us with ministry and opportunity to reflect glory back to Him.  We are called and commissioned…”For my days vanish like smoke.  (James 4: 14) says ‘life is but a vapor!’”

 No time to lose!  Make it count!

 “We do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away”!  Living, knowing that your life is just a vapor is different than just living.  Things here are passing away.  You’ve got to hold to what will stand.  Savor what matters.

 Finding our delight in the eternal with a heart-longing for HIS presence is permanent.  Life is short.  Eternity is Long.  We need to be living like it matters!  We will exist forever.  You and God are both in the universe to stay…either as friends on HIS terms or enemies on your terms.  Two seconds and we will be  gone.” (John Piper)

 Time is precious.  We are fragile.  Life is short.  Eternity is long.  Eternity lives outside of time. Every minute counts!   Let’s be busy…”redeeming the time”.  (Eph. 5:16)

 Never sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate.

~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 Four 'D's'"

It is Winter, but it feels like Spring. The rains have brought blankets of blooming flowers on the hillsides and an early garden is in the offing.  From my upstairs  window,  I recently observed what I thought was an injured bird but realized it was a little chubby gopher being chased by his identical twin.  Round and round they went, scurrying through the flowers and planting boxes of my garden!

 The pair of squirrels that return each spring also made their first appearance and I watched them run across the deck, “be-lining it”, to check out the hole they had made in the garden mesh last year that gave them total access to everything yummy and nutritious.

 Sooo…I started thinking about the dogged commitment these little fluffy mammals have.  There is no double-mindedness here…there dedication is 100% all in!  They have David Livingstone’s mind-set when he said,  ”I am determined never to stop until I come to the end and achieve my purpose.”

 Life is a continuous series of exchanges based on wise or unwise decisions.

Decisiveness is focusing on our destination, rather than focusing on distractions. And there are always distractions!  Double-mindedness is the opposite of being decisive.  James says, “… a double-minded man(mom) is unstable in all her ways and cannot receive from God. 

 We build decisiveness when we refuse to reconsider a decision that we know is right. Difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to harmonize with God’s will…over our own! 

 Daniel, a captured slave in Babylon, predetermined that he would choose to do what was right in God’s eyes…whatever the cost.  Have you decided who you will serve?  God has set before us “life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore,  choose life, that both you and your seed (children) may live”.

 Here’s a suggestion when at the point of decision:

 1.    DON’T – If it is the responsibility of others, let them do it.

2.    DELAY – If it should be done at a better time, wait.

3.    DELEGATE -If others can do it better, let them.

4.    DO IT – If none of the above apply, do it!

                                      Dr. Glen Heck

 Have a great week!

~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 Heart Matter"

This Saturday is Valentine’s Day!  It seems appropriate to address things of the “heart”…the “seed of our emotions”. Reading in Psalms 90 this morning, I crossed the verse that tells us to “number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom”.

 John Eldredge in the Journey of Desire wrote: “We are at war, and the bloody battle is over our hearts.  I am astounded how few Christians see this…how little they protect their hearts.  We act as though we live in a sleepy little township during peacetime.  We don’t.  We live in the spiritual equivalent of a war-torn country.  Act like it.  Watch over your heart.  Don’t let just anything in; don’t let it go just anywhere.  What’s this going to do to my heart? Is the question that I ask in every situation.”

 As we celebrate a day dedicated to the heart, let’s be alert to the fact that we are being stalked by a deadly enemy. Do you remind yourself that you are in a spiritual battle?  That the decisions you make today effect your future? Do you guard your daily time with the Lord in His Word?

 Are you intentional with your daily use of time or do you carelessly let it “slip by” with the lost opportunities? We are in the cross hairs and at a continual crossroads of decisions and our days are numbered…let’s determine to make those days count and “gain a heart of wisdom”.

 What is this decision going to do to my heart?

HAPPY VALENTINES 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.