Walking His Call

This is a tough one for us in the western world - especially America.  I was raised in the Deep South where God and Country went hand-in-hand. The teaching from early on was, "Stand up for your rights because if you don't they will be stripped away!".  There is truth in that, but are God and country supposed to go hand in hand? Are my rights supposed to be as important to me as following Jesus. I don't think so. (I can already hear the groans, but please stick with me.) As a Christ-follower, I'm supposed to look like Him. Jesus didn't "stand up for His rights" He stood up for the kingdom - that involved laying everything down. My husband and I had a conversation on this recently, and it rings in my head every time my rights demand a say in what is going on. The nutshell version of the conversation went something like this, "If you are going to follow Christ, sometimes you are going to be a doormat."  I know, I know... being a doormat is

Friends, It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing this today. I usually wait until I'm on the other side of things to write about them, but in this case I feel I need to write now. My momma's heart is sore.  I've known for a very long time that God gifted me with a very sensitive heart. I have to guard it well, because things impact it that don't impact other people. In guarding it though, I also have to keep it from repelling the pain that comes with sensitivity.  No easy task.  I have to make myself feel all of the things so I don't become hard-hearted. Having a sensitive heart IS a gift, but it is also a burden sometimes. I feel all of the joy and happiness and sorrow and pain - deeply. Over the years I have learned how to steward my heart well, but it can still be a bit of a challenge sometimes.  So why is my heart so sore right now?  My oldest is getting ready for his 3rd deployment, and that is always a challenge for my heart. This time when you

Friends - this world's gone crazy. I stopped watching the news a while ago because it's almost never good, and, with my oldest in the military, it's just best I don't know. There are wars and threats of wars, there are wildfires and floods and earthquakes, there is violence everywhere. Yep!  This world has gone crazy. "Well thanks for the downer, Jacqui!"  I can hear you saying that now, and it makes me smile. There is a lot of bad in this world BUT there is also HOPE! Matthew 24 talks a lot about things like this, but it also says:  Such things must happen... All these are the beginning of birth pains... Matthew 24 is a bit of a downer of a chapter, but I would challenge that it is also full of the hope we all desperately want and need today. Yes, things are bad today, but today we are one step closer to our eternity with Him - Jesus - if we walk in relationship with Him. We are so much closer to all of the wars and famines and natural disasters and