Betty Whitaker Jackson

Blessings unnumbered. Yesterday was the 35th birthday of my firstborn, Paul Loren Jackson, who has become a young man who dedicates himself to his Lord, his family, his students, his colleagues, his profession, his many friends, and to blessing others. Last night his orchestra hosted a group of 60 students from Lafayette High School in St. Louis, who played a concert with his kids at Astronaut High School. All this on his birthday!

Blessing #2. The salvation and love of…..

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Uncanny the way this works. I was awake much of the very early morning, like 2:30 on, thinking about things I need to get done since Wednesdays are pretty much consumed by childcare. Here’s what Sarah Young says today in Jesus Calling: “Rest in my presence, allowing Me to take charge of this day. Do not bolt into the day like a racehorse suddenly released. Instead, walk purposefully with Me, letting Me direct your course one step at a time……

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In my soon to be released book, From Embers to Whispering Woods, I have built an imaginary Christian resort-retreat center. For those of you suffering with the cold, I thought I’d show you one of the cozy rooms, one of my favorites, the Willow Room. I love watching renovation shows on TV where the ugly becomes beautiful. It’s the transformation which is so interesting to me. The cleaning out of the junk and the replacement of the new. That’s what…..

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I’d rather not think that we can celebrate love only once a year, at the behest of Hallmark and other commercial entities who would harp otherwise. Ev and I have been guilty of standing before a card counter and reading some of the offerings, and saying, “If I were buying one, it would be this one!” Often it would be a silly one, or one committing such purple prose nonsense that it makes us laugh. We don’t buy valentine’s day…..

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From my favorite hymn: “Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him, for He is they health and salvation!”

Finally feeling better after my bouts of bronchitis, stomach bug, intestinal bug, another cold, and major back wrench–this morning I’m able to say, “Thank You, Lord, perhaps I’m healing and can get on with life!”

I am quite sure there is noting quite so humbling as being so sick that one cannot lift head…..

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I am currently reading Anne Graham Lotz’s book Wounded by God’s People and am challenged by it. Do we propel our own little versions of Christianity, our own opinions, our own agendas instead of trusting God’s sovereignty and His words to guide us?

There is a whole group out there of ex-church Christians, those who have been hurt by church policies, undue criticism, self-centered attitudes, and stubborn prideful traditionalism that offends seekers who are checking out Christianity in our churches…..

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Does a date make a difference? This one did. I married Everett V. Jackson on December 28, 1968.

That seems like, and is, a lifetime from 2014. Years of adjustment, years of joint decisions, years of laughs, experiences, days and nights together. Where did it all go?

I don’t remember not being married. 46 years can do that. I do remember the longing times before marriage. Will I ever marry? Who will it be? Will he love me for being…..

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Got to watch one of my childhood favorite productions last night. I bought a DVD of the 1955 TV Christmas special, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. I had the entire thing memorized .  It tells the story of the wise men on the way to meet the Christ child. They stop at the home of a poor widow and her crippled son. When the little boy offers to send a gift to the Christ Child, he offers the…..

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Let us never forget what it cost Jesus to come to earth to save us. While the humble birth, scratchy straw, and unhygienic setting for labor and delivery are part of this week’s story, when we look at the agony of the cross, we see something Paul E. Miller in Love Walked Among Us tells so eloquently: “But Jesus had never known the silence of his Father. …Jesus has never been separated from his Father–until the cross. The thought of…..

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