Posts tagged #god's grace

Jackie's Journey "Grateful and So Blessed!"

Meet my niece, Olivia celebrating God’s gift of Fall!

Were you wondering what we did when the doctors would not release me to return to our village? We were desperate to return to the only “home” we knew in Panama…

BUT God had another plan…

Gratefulness is recognizing the benefits, which God and others have provided.

From the pilot risking his life to save mine to the missionary families who sacrificially opened their hearts and homes to us to see me recover, my heart overflows with inexpressible thanksgiving for their generosity toward our family during this conflicting time in our lives.

Gratitude is the memory of the heart!

It is said to be the parent of all the other virtues.

My gratitude for those members of the field

that picked up the slack and totally covered

for me is overpowering.

Norman and Barbara Slaymaker were the “little dorm” parents at the time of my emergency flight and surgery and they took the loving responsibility of my babies for six weeks after our pilot, Scotty, and his wife, Mary, filled the gap in those first few days in Panama City. After leaving the hospital, John and Ruth Jenkins, our very busy field leaders, “adopted us” for another six weeks (!) until the doctors would release us to return interior to our post! What a tremendous weight we must have been…a family of 4 for months!!!

My memories are scattered and few. I isolated myself into a survival mode. I really thought I was going to die. I had no time for tears and cannot remember even wanting to cry during those weeks, although I am sure I must have and those whose care I was under would readily attest that I did! My heart cannot express the genuine gratitude that is flooding my eyes and consciousness as I write this! I am mentally rehearsing the personal cost of the missionary families that encouraged me during those days and blanketed me with prayer and hands of intervention!

Why this flood of overwhelming gratefulness? Why now? What is it about life that at unexpected moments God opens our awareness to the magnitude of His Sovereignty, Majesty, Grace and Mercy on our behalf?

I am sitting here with a keen sense of:

Ø My Unworthiness…and His Holiness!

Ø My Pretense of thinking I have any kind of control in this life (other than to choose to walk with Him)…and His complete and encompassing Rule and Protection!

Ø My Powerlessness…and His Omnipotent Presence, faithfully accomplishing His purpose with my blindness to His silent footsteps all around me!

Ø My Desperate Need to express my gratefulness and indebtedness to God and others!

Do you make it a habit of thanking God and others

for the many things in life that others take for granted?

I would like to express my gratitude to you for joining me each Monday morning and for your encouraging words. I am like Olivia…so blessed!

Will you take time today to reflect glory back to Him

for His faithfulness to you…

the Author of every blessing?

Let’s take today’s opportunity to acknowledge those

who have and are benefiting our lives!

~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.

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Jacqueline Johnson and filed under Motherhood, spiritual growth, Character and Virtue and tagged Olivia god's grace thanksgiving thanks for the memories.

Jackie's Journey: A Treasure Found!

This little dolly is the granddaughter of a dear friend. She is reading her Princess Parable Grace book and clutching her Princess Grace Doll. I was reminded of the message of the parable in this book and challenged again to live in the blessing of God’s pursuing love, understanding that grace “is the will and power to do what God desires.” Phil. 2: 3 Not my desires with my will in my power!

What is it that God desires? What is His will? Do we care?

I certainly know what my will is! I am tempted daily, multiple times to give in to the cry of what my will wants! We live in an age where entitlement and personal demands are rampant. We see it in our homes, relationships, schools, churches and communities. We saw it in the jungles of Panama. The human heart is wicked and deceived. Deception believes a lie that begins when our mind and emotions agree on an error and it is fulfilled when we will to do it. The world is screaming for personal rights…we hear it every day when one of us is complaining! Contentment is elusive and unattainable by the ungrateful heart. Whining and “woe is me” has become an acceptable sin!

As moms, God’s desire is for us to learn to walk in His way and to teach our little ones His way. They learn our way by watching and listening to us! We will be held accountable for the spiritual teaching our children receive from us. Seeing that they are nourished from God’s Word and given godly instruction is within our sphere of responsibility.

Many years ago, I sat in a hammock deep in the middle of the Panamanian jungle with my two little princesses, reading to them. Each book I picked up presented a unique challenge. It told a story but did not introduce my girls to a biblical worldview or a character quality they could incorporate into their young lives. I would purpose to impose these two principles into the pages of every book I picked up in terms they could understand that had eternal values targeted. My heart was burdened for just such a book, not just for myself but also for other young mothers who needed a tool that would give their little princesses both of these elements with a clear application and a pragmatic understanding of the Word of God.

My friend’s little granddaughter is being given the opportunity at a very young age to fall in love with a biblical parable. She will be challenged to respond to God’s pursuing love in the diary of Princess Grace at the end of the book. Her heart will be inspired to live outside herself and to adopt attitudes that will bring blessing on her life. This is the book I dreamed of as a young mom living on the Colombian border! Jeanna, my co-author, and I are blessed to be able to make The Princess Parable Series, plus our newest release, “A Royal Easter Story” available to you and your little princesses.