remain kind

 

Sometimes the oppression covering our land is so thick you can almost see it with the human eye.  We can certainly feel it in our hearts and minds.

Listen to these amazing words written in Ephesians 6

"Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."

Everyday, we as "brethren" have opportunity to live in love and grace with faith from God.  The only prerequisite is to love Jesus in sincerity.

There is a battle raging right now, for the attention, energy, and thought life of every believer and to discourage or distract us.  

In this very same chapter in Ephesians just a few verses before,  Paul tells us God supplies the amor for this, we only need put it on.

Listen to what our amor consists of:

truth, righteousness (which is not ours but Christ's),  peace, faith, our salvation, and The Word of God, because Satan uses people to attack us and God loves people.

It never ceases to amaze me that God's answer to every situation, even war, can be resolved through love, faith, and grace.  May we at joy continue to use the amor provided for us, learn and immerse ourselves in our sincerity of love for Christ.

~love jackie

happy 40th anniversary my wonderful

40th anniversary trip pictures. 

A trip of a lifetime. 

Time spent just enjoying each others company.

He saved my life.......

Being born a woman....

I was born into a family of 11 surviving children. 

We were taught to be respectful  and be quiet. I never remember being held and told I was loved. I was one among many needy.... 

When something traumatic happened, whether it was to me or someone else in the family,  

it was NOT talked about. 

I came to you today in this blog, 

To say, we must stop suppressing conversations about hard topics.

I was raped when I was sixteen, and had absolutely no one to talk to about it.

Not understanding what that did to my heart combined with no one to talk to began a long cycle of self loathing.

I felt like a dime store toy.

Cheap and tossed aside only to be picked up every so often and then tossed aside again. 

LISTEN TO ME A SECOND....

Every woman I know has some similar kind of trauma.

Now, as an adult,  left to figure out who we really are and to fight for ourselves to be authentic.

What I am about to tell you is how I began to be healed. 

Alone, just me and Jesus, I began searching His Word to find peace. Just enough peace to make it through another day....

Not peace for tomorrow,  just for that day.

I took my time reading passages I had in the past read through and not understood. 

Slowly......and I do mean Slowly, God became my confidant.

The One who always heard my cries and understood my pain.

He had been with me during all those traumatic moments. 

He is a personal  God. 

He doesn't mind listening to our whinning and complaining. 

HE is our Savior in every sense of the word.

When I say He saved my life.....

I mean HE saved my life and He can save yours.

~love jackie 

because of you....God

God has moved in my life in such a way that leaves little guessing to His will (that doesn't mean I didn't try do my own thing, or buck sometimes)!

I have no doubt He will do the same for anyone searching for it....

He doesn't lay it out as some grand plan,

No, one day at a time He urges you forward in a particular direction. 

Thank you God for caring enough to give  direction. 

Help me receive it with thanksgiving and count the many blessings you've shared with us. 

I love you Lord

Psalm 145:8-10

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!

Is it real or is it cake?

 

The difference between what is real and what is fake...

People have become very good at making themselves look good....some of these transformations I see on Youtube are amazing😲👀

But what about us?  Have we become so good at making ourselves look good to the world, lying about who we are that we deceive ourselves?...... resulting in NO LOVE, no depth, no desire to help?  

God sees who we really are.  YIKES!  Repentance brings us back to that place of honesty and fellowship with God.  

Dwell on the Word of God

Monitor your thoughts

Be real with God

~jackie  

Romans 12:2,3

"And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God........think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

 

Submission is terrifying 😳

Letting your husband lead.....and follow Jesus, takes submission. Not necessarily a fun word to hear or do.

That doesn't mean you don't have a "say" in life.....

It does mean believing God's plan for mankind is correct, and aqueiesce to it.

It's ultimately relenquishing your will to God's and believing He loves you so much,  He has your best life in His plan.

Listen.....

I get it.

It sounds terrifying.  Actually,  it is.

God's Word is clear. If I am reading and following His Word, He will direct my path.

Resting In Him is where we need to be.

Trusting in the Lord with all your heart......

21] Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. [22] Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Preaching to myself,  

With love, Jackie

so smart

Well, 2023 is almost half over.  We have seen knowledge increase,  innovation and information more accessible,  and yet we also see more anger, anxiety,  and depression. 

What do you  think the problem is?

Maybe we are as a "people of God" not in the Word as much as we need to be......

Maybe we aren't listening to preaching as much as we need to be.....

Some people are unstable in their Christian lives because they do not have a core of biblical principles in their souls. They constantly vacillate from one experience to another. 

When principles of the Word of God become our way of life, we stabilize our souls.

Moral of the story....

Read your Bible

Go to church

~Love jackie

It's all hard

It's all hard.

From trying to keep our dishes under control so we can eliminate our obvious ant infestation, to mounds of laundry, going to work and getting everything back in working order week after week, dealing with grief and family, AND all of my obligations at church.......which are numerous.

Trying to be sensitive to everyone's needs and feelings and keeping control of my own, not being harsh or cruel by telling people what I really think.....It's all hard.

So how do we possibly do it all AND have a good attitude.

Give yourself some grace. To get it all right every time isn't going to happen.

To get it right even some of the time is a blessing.....

Soooooooooo,

Have the coffee, listen to your favorite song, fall in love with Jesus everyday.

Take a bath, floss your teeth, put on your wig and try your best.😀

That's it.

Everyday. 

I love you.

jackie



interruptions, repeated statements, and lots of listening

Having children in your home, no matter what age they are or for that matter,  you are....is one of life's biggest challenges,  also one of the most important. 

YOU are writing on the heart of that child with every word spoken,  every minute spent, every action taken.

Yes. It's that important.  Many times you will have to repeat instructions and admonitions,  

it's hardly ever convenient,  it's almost always an interruption....

It's worth every minute. 

Enjoy your children,  help them grow in the Lord.Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Love jackie 

Boundaries?

Having boundaries doesn't mean you dislike someone. It simply means you deny access to your heart when someone in your life creates confusion, chaos, or constant criticism. 

It doesn't mean you don't love them, it means you are confident your God is working on your behalf to work out a situation that is beyond your control. 

You give space and time for God to work. 

We can't fix or change people, or make them behave a certain way.

It's ok.

When Adam and Eve broke the law that had been established. God moved them out of the garden and he placed angels there to keep them out!

He didn't stop loving them.

God IS big enough to handle your problems. 

Let Him.

Love Jackie 

out of control

 but let your moderation be known to all men....

Why in the world would we want to be known as "the one who freaks out"?  LOL, still somehow that often seems to be our first reaction!

Can't you just hear Jesus as we meet Him at the pearly gates...."man you really  needed to chill out a little bit."  

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ for you!  

Hey, let's define moderation:  restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperate.

I don't know, maybe that just doesn't sound exciting enough for some.   I tend to think life has enough excitement without me adding to the chaos.  

Let's try this.... breathe.  Let God have his perfect work as we continue to do our work.  

It will all be ok.  He promised us it would!

Love jackie

Christmas inspired

Christmas Season for me, is all about highlighting the things of Jesus I love the most.  Trying to bring to life the very story of Christ in His birth, burial and resurrection.

One of the ways we can do that is to bring the different scents and lights of Christmas right into the story, take the time and allow your children to experience the different scents and enjoy the lights they will always remember. 

*the Legend of the Candy Cane 

*the Gifts of the Wise men

*The woman with the alabaster jar....

Talk to your children about how we are lights in an ever darkening world. 

How each child has their own fragrance and light they are meant to share.

I love you so much,

Enjoy the Holiday Season.

Jackie

 

it's all hard

 

goodness of God Bethel