Jackie's Journey "Imperceptibles!"

There is a group of people that are basically

imperceptible in our culture…

 Do you know who they are?

“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long-life bring understanding?” Job 12: 12

 Regardless of our involvement in the lives of our children and grandchildren, they reach an age of development (if we have done our job) where their need for us lessens.  They now have their own friends and activities that occupy the time that was once ours!  Life is a whirlwind of academics, team sports, community outreach, horses, piano lessons, theater and musical practices and performances, tennis coaches and tournaments, swim practices and meets, church youth group activities, bible studies, revivals, camps, mission  trips, etc.…!

 Finally, one day… they get drivers licenses, go to college and… get married!

 Keeping pace with all of this is a tremendous challenge…for all of us!  I am a grandmother of seven; my mother, at 101, was a great-grandmother of 25 great-grandchildren! She lived on her own, cared for herself and was alert with a memory that would put an elephant to shame!  She gave new meaning to the verse in Job 12.  There are very few topics that have applicability to our everyday life, that if asked, she could not wisely put in perspective, yet she often felt invisible and spoke of her sense of loneliness and need to keep relevant.

Christina, my eldest daughter, Mom (100 years old) and I

 I have thought about her statement and Job’s proclamation and wondered why in our 21st century culture the advanced in age feel they are being set to one side, listened to less and invisible in a large group of the younger generation.  

 These vital soldiers have earned their place among those that should be the most honored, respected and valuable in our culture. Titus 2: 3-5 admonishes “the older women to be reverent in the way they live and to train the younger...”  There is so much to be gleaned from these seasoned veterans that have gone before us, paving the way.  We will quickly step into the print they have left behind!

 Our local churches defer to the younger generation. The young fill the jobs in women’s ministry and teach the even younger.  They no longer turn to the older generation.  They have been replaced with quick and empty answers found in the latest technology, social media and their peers.

 BUT…“Is not wisdom found among THE AGED”?

 While in Panama, our good friends, the Jenkins, a couple with perfect pitch and harmony, put this definition below to music.  I have been humming it for years and sing it out loud when my natural inclination to think “I’m all that!” overrides what Scripture says should be my godly point of view!

 Reverence is acknowledging that God is using in my life,

people and events to produce the character of Christ in me”. (Gothard)

It is wisely looking at life’s situations (all of them!) from God’s point of view, not my own.

 THEN… the warning:

 Soooo… be wise my son (daughter), heed my instruction (instantly placing myself in harmony with Him and His will and directives), leave that road that leads to destruction, hallow my name don’t walk in shame…Proverbs 23: 17,18

 I want to be a wise mom, wife, grandma and whomever else I am purposed to be.  That means I am commissioned to look at all of life’s situations from God’s point of view and get out of His way. There is no way I can produce reverence and wisdom apart from Him.  He uses the people and events in my life to produce His character in me!  My job is to wisely yield all circumstances with a grateful heart, regardless of how it looks, seems or feels to me.  He knows what He is doing…It’s His plan…

The reward is Wisdom!

 Will you join me in applying reverence

to your life this coming year?

 It’s a win…win.

~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 "It's a New Year 2024!"

Time Flys Away Fast!!!

The question I am asking myself, “Is what I am doing currently with my life worth dying for?”

 If I cannot answer the question, then it is not worth living for!

 We are called to live a supernatural life.

We do not have the power in ourselves to live it…we need divine power.

The gift of this power is given in the exchange of our self-life for unconditional surrender.

 How  do  we measure  the effectiveness of the last year of our life?  It has been said the things we have done with the last twelve months must have been reasonably important: we have traded  hours,  days, weeks for them that we will never again  have.  

 Do you have a test that you can apply to discern if 2023 was a triumph or failure?

 Ask yourself:

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

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

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

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

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

 Let’s face this New Year, together, with new determination…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Action Demanded...NOW!"

The holidays can be exhausting!!  It’s already the 1st of January 2024!!  The new year approached us with stomping feet demanding ACTION!  As women, we have ceased to be operational from guests and entertaining, late nights, early mornings, continual activity, meal preparation, decorating – undecorating, gift-giving …you know the drill.

 “Life is easier than we think.  All we have to do is accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.”  The New Year presses us to restate our goals and priorities and take a peek back and measure what we have done by what we could have done!  Weary and recuperating we ask ourselves:

 Have we achieved the full potential of what God had planned for us?

 As we start this first month of 2024 with the Princess Parable Series, and the preparation of The Knight Series, we take care to define our priorities and use them to pursue the goal we see in each area of our lives filled with purpose and direction. The secret to getting ACTION: “What the mind attends to, it considers.  What it does not attend to, it dismisses.  What the mind attends to continually, it believes and the will is set (when was the last time you read the Bible through?)  And what the mind believes, it eventually does.”  Success is not determined by the intellect, but by the will…set your sights on the goal…

 In the New Year 2015 I had never had a Website, Facebook page, Pinterest, Twitter or a Blog, or even read a blog.  I officially welcomed a new world of technological communication with the opening of all five at once!  With its availability came a huge responsibility to use them wisely…they are consuming! “Our greatest danger in life is in permitting the urgent things to crowd out the important… to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate!” Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.

 Everyone receives an equal supply of time.  The only difference is in the way we spend it.  Each week brings us 168 golden hours.  We spend approximately 56 hours for sleep and recuperation.  We spend approximately 28 hours for eating and personal duties.  We spend 40-50 hours earning a living.  We have 30-40 hours left to spend, just as we wish.  But…how do we spend them?

 How many hours for recreation?

How many hours for family communication?

How many hours for regular worship (devotion, fellowship, Bible-reading)

How many hours for personal service in the name of Christ?

Will we rob God?

 We can and we do!  As women, it is easy to get busy with good things, yet too busy for the best things. What kind of stewards are we of the time God gives us?  “Today is, for all we know, the opportunity and occasion of our lives.  On what we do or say today may depend the success and completeness of our entire life struggle.  It is for us, therefore, to use every moment of today, as if our very eternity were dependent on its words and deeds”. Henry Clay Trumbull

 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 "Personal Preparation!"

While living in the Panamanian jungle I clung to a promise in II Peter that encouraged me to keep on regardless of my sense of failure.  It says, “His power has given me everything I need for life and godliness through my knowledge of Him who called me.”  Running the medical clinic, delivering babies at night, learning to clean and cook strange rodents, fish and meat, washing in the river, dozens of diapers and no dryer, learning a new language, meeting the needs of my husband and two little girls and acclimating to 90-degree heat with 99% humidity, etc., I found my level of spirituality severely challenged.  Exhausted daily I found the verses in II Peter to be a fresh breath of air on my dripping, overheated soul and with it came a promise I intended to claim!

 I wanted to implement that promise He gave.  The provision was there to lead a godly life!  I needed to tap into “His power” and as I kept reading, I realized His very great and precious promises were attached to verse 5.  They were given with clear and present instruction IF I was to participate in His divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires…like giving in to my anger, impatience, frustration, and believing the lies regarding my inability to accomplish the task He had called me to. 

 “For this very reason, I had to make every effort to add to my faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if I possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep me from being ineffective and unproductive in the knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ.” 11 Pet. 1: 5-9 (Personalized)

Always looking for a functional definition to put the “rubber on the road”, I found these marks of Virtue:

   “Virtue is the moral excellence and purity of spirit that radiate from my life as I obey God’s Word”.  II Peter 1: 5   It is learning to build personal moral standards that will cause others to desire a godlier life.  It is reproducing Christ’s character in my life first and then in others.

  Virtue is the fruit of grace as we are given light.  There is no excuse not to exemplify God’s character in my life.  I am to be an example, not an excuse!

Virtue is the Godly influence my life has on others regardless of past failures.

 The opposite of virtue is hypocrisy.

·      Hypocrisy is the practice of a person who is willfully living in conflict with their soul (their mind, will, emotions)”.

 Virtue is not made in crisis; it is only exhibited.  Crisis reflects our virtue.

Proverbs 24:10 says that we demonstrate what we really are spiritually in time of adversity, not when things are going smoothly!

 I was teaching a group of college girls in our home and one of the girls asked my daughter if she considered me to be a virtuous woman.  She hesitated…way to long, and I became acutely aware of my need to take another look at the qualities that comprise the virtuous woman in Scripture!

 Do I consider myself a woman of virtue…of Godly character?

 DO YOU?

~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 "Broken...What!?"

Throughout the Word, we see God doing mighty works through ordinary people.  Imperfect people…weak individuals…slow to action…reticent to respond initially, because there is always someone more qualified, eloquent or skilled than you or me.  Then, too, there is always the battle to walk through that door of fear that often stymies us.

 While on the mission field, Sue Gunsteens (pictured below) and I ran a medical clinic.  Sue was qualified and skilled and did the job well.  On the other hand, I was just a simple “bush nurse” with basic training and understanding of the human body.  Yet, on every occasion that Jay and Sue and their family were NOT in the village, there would be some catastrophic event that I was called upon to “fill in”.

For example, the 8-year-old girl that fell out of the mango tree and the entire village came screaming through my front door holding her arm with the sharp bone protruding through the skin!!  In my panic, I could hear my husband, Ralph, saying behind me, “God could use a stick, Jackie, but He’s chosen you!” Taking a quick glance, I realized no X-rays were needed to see if it was broken!  And in the jungle, of course, none was available! 

 Setting that arm and casting it was excruciating for both this little girl and myself!  Stepping up to the plate …because there was no one else, and I guessed that I was one step up from no help at all…I proceeded to cry out to God, first, with all my inadequacies… and then, through my fear, took the arm in my hand and pulled it quickly toward me to set the broken bone.  To my amazement the bone snapped right back into place!  That was God!  The astonishment could be read on both of our faces!  Together that little girl and I, repaired the damage and fashioned a cast that would keep that arm immobile for it to heal.

 Years ago, I was given a list of simple people called to do extraordinary things.  It was sent my way to encourage me to “keep on keeping on”.   Consider these:

 Moses stuttered!

Jacob was a liar.

Noah got drunk.

Abraham was too old.

David had an affair.

David was too young.

Solomon was too rich.

Jonah ran from God.

Sampson had long hair.

Elijah was burned out.

Naomi was a widow.

Esther was a hiding Jew.

Gideon and Thomas doubted.

Moses, Peter and Paul had short-tempers.

Lazarus was dead!

Peter was fearful of death.

John Mark was rejected by Paul.

 Because God is God, He does not need to rely on you or me.  Actually, we have nothing to offer God!  His power made perfect in our yieldedness to Him is all we have. I was reading the book of II Corinthians this morning.  In Chapter 12, I read, “My grace is sufficient for you, Jackie, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  I certainly qualify! 

 SOOO, then, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power can rest on me.  That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong”!

 Are you encouraged? I am…

~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 "Thanksgiving is this Week!!"

“Think about the events of your day  today or maybe yesterday.  Consider all the disruptions, disappointments, delays, delights,  diversions, dangers, and more.  No doubt you were thankful for some events and not so thankful for others.  What may surprise you is that  the Bible says you should have been thankful for all those events.

 To be more accurate, Scripture says to be thankful IN everything, not FOR everything!  That means to be thankful IN the midst of a circumstance,  whether pleasant or unpleasant, not necessarily FOR the experience itself.

 God doesn’t expect us to be thankful for an illness, a car accident, or losing a job, BUT it is ‘the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ to be thankful in the midst of those circumstances.”  (David Jerimiah)  REJOICE ALWAYS, pray continually, give thanks in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES…” I Thessalonians 5: 18. We have been a most favored people.  “We ought to be a most grateful people.  We have been a most blessed people.  We ought to be a most thankful people.”  (This was the Thanksgiving Proclamation of Calvin Coolidge).

 Are these same thoughts not ours today?

~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 "Looking for Answers??"

We are in crisis on every level!  We face unknowns and turmoil of every kind imaginable.  Our homes, families, culture, cities, states, and country are in a state of total confusion and chaos. Our streets are unsafe. Our children are unprotected.  Everyone has a solution and nothing gets better.  We are imbalanced and leaning over a cliff with no return…unless, we look to the “Author and Finisher” for help!

 “The widely accepted concept that we can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and that we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as  Lord, as long as we want to…is  heresy!  The truth is that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures.  To urge men and women to believe in a divided Christ is bad teaching. 

 How can we teach  that we can be saved without any thought of obedience to our Sovereign Lord?  It is wrong to look upon Jesus as a divine nurse to whom we can go when sin has made us sick, and after he has helped us, to say good-bye and go our own way. 

Christ will either be Lord of all or He will not be Lord at all!!

  In our time we have overemphasized the psychology of the sinner’s condition.  We  spend  much time describing the woe  of the sinner, the grief of the sinner, and the great burden he carries.  He does have all those, but we forget the principal fact-that the sinner is a rebel against properly constituted authority.   That is what makes sin…sin.  We are rebels, or an independent spirit disloyal to all precepts of a Sovereign God.  The root of sin is rebellion against God…the Lord will not save those whom He cannot command.

 Do we really think that we do not owe Jesus Christ our obedience?  We have owed Him our obedience since the moment we cried out to Him for salvation, and if we do not give Him that obedience, I have reason to wonder if we are really converted.” A. W. Tozer “Why do you call me Lord and not do as I say”. Luke 6:46

 What’s the plan?”

 There is only one place to find answers…

Are we really looking for answers or an excuse?

“It is sin not to pursue Him with all our heart!” II Cor. 12:14

~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 "Truth Don't Lie!"

Truth is a universal topic.  Today, we hear much about each person having “his own truth”.  There is an ideological warfare confronting us, as we face the issues of knowing truth and speaking truth in our day.  Truth has been confused with lies camouflaged in opinions.

 Lions don’t lie! They clearly speak their intentions with their ears, the posture of their tails, the shape of their mouth, the sounds of their roars. Their very presence is intimidating.  There is no doubt what their next move will be.  Lions clearly reveal their objectives. Truth of his target and goal is not hidden or disguised.  This massive predator is coming after me, if given a chance!

 “ Does a lion roar  in  the thicket when it has no prey?

Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing?”

Amos, the  prophet who carried the burden on God’s heart

and the plight of God’s people states these words

in the first Chapter, verse 2 …”The Lord roars…Amos 3:4

 Telling  a lie is like pounding a nail in the wall of one’s character.  Telling the truth removes the nail, but leaves the mark.  No man ever puts a stumbling-block in the way of others by telling the truth”. Oswald Chambers  Truth is the foundation upon which anything that stands is built.

 We find unchanging truth as we acquaint ourselves with the mind and heart of God in His Word. For example:  “ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”! Jn. 1:8 or “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Or Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jn. 14:6   In the continuing conflict between good and evil, truth is the weapon that wins the war.

 One of my husband’s favorite verses is John 8:44 which says, “He(Satan) was a murderer from the beginning and not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” In case I was negligent in telling you where lies come from, John 8: 44 very clearly states the truth.

 Do  you exaggerate when talking to others?

Do you lie or tell only part of the truth to escape the consequence of your actions?

Do you misrepresent the Lord with inconsistent or negative attitudes?

Do you give damaging reports of others?

We lie in many culturally “acceptable” ways.

Let’s take a stand against dishonesty and deception on every level this week…

Only truth sets us free.

~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's Under the Hood?"

The deer mouse demonstrates contentment in its ability to make its home almost anywhere, making itself comfortable with whatever is available. We know this firsthand, as one rainy winter, they decided to make their nest under the hood of my car!  Hungry little creatures that they are, they proceeded to eat through my cable lines and brought my transportation to an abrupt “out of commission”!  He must have traveled miles with me over the course of a few months while he ate what was available, while resting in his warm nest! 

 Oh, I forgot to mention…at the same time,

his friends did the same thing under the hood of my husband’s car!

 The alternative to contentment is boredom.  This little mouse and his little family were content because they weren’t under a bush in the rain, but cozy, dry and had plenty of cable lines and food I set out for more domestic animals to eat!  They maximized what was available to them.  They felt welcome because all summer I kept the bird feeders full of food and planters with vegetables ready for all of them. “They no doubt invited the whole community for a feast” my husband would say.  I was content watching the birds, squirrels, rabbits and racoons come to entertain me every morning while I drank my coffee.

 Little did I know they were moving in!   Not just a morning visit, but sly interlopers.  I learned that as content as they were, I was a little dismayed!  Contentment is understanding God has provided everything I need for my PRESENT happiness. Why was I complaining…I brought this on myself!  Contentment is contrary to human nature and must be learned.

 Adam and Eve had the perfect environment and they were not content in it.    They had perfect health, a perfect marriage, a perfect garden, and walked in that garden with God, yet they soon believed the lie that God had not provided everything they needed to be content!  What hope is there for me?

 “Not that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned,

in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”

Philippians 4:11

 God’s purpose was to teach me to distinguish between my needs and wants and to lean in on Him. Contentment is a decision we make as He uses these interruptions to  remind us to focus and recognize our daily need for Him regardless of our circumstances. Hence, the “cozy car destroyers” are  not my irritation… but my best friends!

~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 "Life's Relentless Shifting!"

From the look of my neighbor’s yards, my front doors, our Malls and craft stores, the holiday season is in full swing!  Fall is one of my favorite times of year and this one is going to be distinctive with a lot of changes and variables.  We live in a world in which the only constant factor is change…

 “Have you ever thought about change and the collapse of time?  From the days of the Lord Jesus Christ until about 1830, man could not travel any faster than a horse.  In 1960 a man went into outer space and traveled at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour.  Look how far we have come in so short a time(and even more so, the changing world to date)!  Sometimes when I read the papers (or open social media), I think we are trying to run the Space Age (or this day and age)with horse-and-buggy moral and spiritual equipment.

 Technology, you see, has no morals, and with no moral compass man will destroy himself ecologically, militarily, spiritually, or in some other way.  Only God can give a person moral restraints and spiritual strength.  While our world is shaking and crumbling, we need to realize one thing will never change… and that is God. He is the same today as He was ten million years ago, and He will be the same ten million years from today.  We are like grasshoppers; we appear and hop around a bit on earth and then we are gone.” Billy Graham

 The truth is…when we are through changing, we are through!  Bernard Baruch said  “During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions.  But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or ability to think”.   SOOO, this holiday season, I choose to embrace change and welcome new adventures…new ways of doing things…but mostly, I choose a new appreciation of my God who never changes…

~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.