MATTHEW 2:10
WHEN THEY SAW THE STAR, THEY WERE OVERJOYED.
Hi all, long time no see. I been writing just not for this website/ blog LOL, I been working my butt off for my book it should be out around May, if all goes the way I’m hoping than around May 6th . Even though I been busy focusing all my spare energy on my book I did want to get one blog article in before this new year started. Especially since it’s been such an incredibly crazy, insane but yet great year!
I know a lot of people are probably rolling their eyes as they read this because your all probably thinking one of two things. Number one, I’m either blind to the chaos and pain our world and country is enduring, or number two, that I’m being rude, thoughtless and disrespectful by seeming like I don’t care about what everyone’s endured this year, and if I’m right and you are thinking those things, I’d like to set the record straight right now and say you are WRONG! you couldn’t be any more wrong! The thing is, yes I do see everything that is happening, EVERYTHING! Not just the pain and darkness but I see everything, the full picture.
And the full picture is we are far more blessed than we realize. I know there is not one person in this world and especially our country (USA) who hasn’t gone through their own personal version of hell this year. I know we all have felt like we just woke up one day and our worlds just crashed down around us, I get it, I understand it.
I have gotten several letters, especially from woman begging me to pray for them because they have lost their husbands to covid or their sibling or parent. I’m getting messages from people begging me to pray because their loved ones are on ventilators and they can’t be with them, I’ve had people even tell me how heart broken they were to have to watch their loved ones take their last breathes over a stupid smart phone or tablet because they couldn’t physically be with them, which to me, someone who has physically been at deaths door. I don’t know if I could have ever handled that as well as these people have. All I did this year was pray that God held me and that I didn’t end up sick, because I did not want to end up in a position like that. One of the things besides God that has kept me going during times like that is the love and support I’ve had from my family and friends and the fact that they were all physically there and able to surround my bedside with love. Having their love and support and having them to lean on is what gives me peace and I believe God has kept me safe this year because he knew all that.
I have also had people begging me to pray for them because their losing their business/jobs, or homes and people are scared because they can’t even put food on the table to feed their family and especially kids. These are just some of the heart breaking stories people have sent me. People are hurting, I get it, I feel it, but the thing that hurts me most is seeing how angry our world has become, how we’re all wanting to fight one another, and that’s so, so sad because here’s a news flash for you all. BEING THAT ANGRY AND HATING EACH OTHER IS ONLY GOING TO MAKE OUR LIVES THAT MUCH MORE DIFFICULT! Every time I have posted any postings that were joyful or optimistic I have gotten slammed with hateful comments and messages, it was getting so bad that after awhile I just stopped giving my opinion because I knew if I fought back with these type of people than I’d be stooping to their level and I knew God created me to be better than that. So for awhile now I haven’t said much on my pages, I’ve just prayed and loved on people.
This past week I opened my Facebook and seen all kinds of posts about the “Bright Star” On December 21. So I started doing research on what this meant, basically the way I understood it, Saturn and Jupiter align into a beautiful “bright star”, and what’s more incredible is some people believe this is what happened and is the star that shined over Bethlehem and over the exact location that Jesus was born and this star was how the wisemen found Jesus. By the way this phenomenon hasn’t happened and hasn’t been visible in 800 years, 800 YEARS PEOPLE!
Not only that but I don’t know if you all noticed but there has been several rainbow sightings caught on camera this year, much more than I’ve ever seen, and they all have been so beautiful and picture perfect! So by now you might be saying: ok Jackie that’s all sweet but what is your point? What does all my pain and heartache have to do with stars and rainbows?
My answer is, it has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT! the star was in a way our guiding light and we all know rainbows are a sign from God. When Noah built his ark and God flooded the earth and destroyed everything after it was all said and done God promised Noah he’d never allow that to happen again and he showed him a rainbow and said that the rainbow would be our symbol from God that he will never let us endure a flood that big again, he will never let us drown,
It took 800 years for Saturn and Jupiter to align just perfectly enough for the bright star to appear, not only that but the weather also had to be just right for it to become visible for us to see it! Do you not comprehend how amazing that is yet? Do you think it was a coincidence that God allowed that to happen in 2020 of all years! Of all years he chose to have it be visible this year! I believe he purposely set that star to shine this year to give us hope, to prove to us that he’s there guiding us, his star is guiding us. He is walking with us, he is hurting with us.
I know I’m going to get people that will say, well why couldn’t he just take our pain away instead? why couldn’t he just take covid away, or why couldn’t he just save my loved ones, or save my job at least, I’d much rather have that than some star. To all those people, I get it, I get your frustration, I get your anger, I get it, I really and truly do, but some times faith isn’t easy. Relationships in general are not easy, we all have stuff to learn about our friendships, our partners, our loved ones and people forget Jesus is our partner too. He is our friend just like our natural “earthly” friends are our friends and so we still have things to learn and we don’t have all the answers with Christ just like we don’t have all the answers with our natural friends. Relationships are hard, trust me I know lol, and the reality is our relationship with Jesus can be just as hard.
As some of you may remember from reading previous blogs I have many stomach/digestive issues and over the past few years those issues have become more difficult, gradually these issues have basically taken over my social life. When this all first started it took a lot out of me to go out, but I would not accept that I had to give certain things up. I felt if I kept pushing than eventually I’d be fine. I had jesus and so all I had to do was keep fighting and magically it would all get better. I kept going back and fourth to my Doctors crying out to them, begging them to do something, than when I was I want to say around 31-32 maybe (I’m 34 now), I went to a doctors appointment and in a nice way my Doctor basically told me it was time to suck it up and accept what was happening and face that there was nothing more they could do at that time, of course I’m paraphrasing it all and of course he’d never speak to me that rudely, but in his nice, sweet “Doctor” way I knew that’s what he meant, and the second he said it I knew in my heart he was right because the Lord had already started showing me that. So I remember after the Doctor spoke to me I went home and just prayed for days and I begged the Lord to work on my heart and show me what was happening, I remember I told him, I don’t understand this, I know I’m not dying but yet I feel so awful that I also wasn’t able to fully live! And that was starting to make me very angry.
So I asked the Lord, Lord why are you keeping me alive just to basically rot, because that’s what I felt I’d be doing at that moment in time if I couldn’t actually do things and enjoy life, but than the Lord spoke to me and started showing me the most incredible lesson he’s ever taught me and that was to surrender!
Some times as Christians especially we think we’re not being strong “Christians” if we’re not continually fighting, but the thing Gods been teaching me is that some times just surrendering and accepting the battle around us is the way to win the war. I had to learn to accept that I couldn’t do the things I once could. If I’m able to leave my house once every 3-4 months that’s saying a lot, and yes in a way it still does hurt and can still be frustrating but also learning to accept that and not forcing myself to fight so much has been such a blessing and I think it’s actually given me more life than taken it. Because before I was fighting so much and pushing myself so hard that I think I was making my sickness worse, I think because I was continually trying to fight it, it was getting my body so run down that I couldn’t fight anymore and so it was making me go into these vomiting attacks more and more, to the point I was making myself so sick and running my body down so much that I was being rushed to the ER 2-3 times a week! Till finally I just said that’s it I had enough! Eventually I ended up having surgery to clean my stomach out a little bit, which I know some of you probably don’t understand what that means but that’s ok, not important to the story LOL. The point is I had surgery to help relieve some of the discomfort, did the surgery “cure” me? heck no, did it help a little bit? yes, but what really helped is me accepting that I had to stop fighting. I have kept myself out of the hospital for 2 years and I believe it is all because of the fact that I stopped pushing myself so much. Do I miss doing things, at times? yes, but honestly if it’s between doing stuff again and going back to putting myself through that trauma just so I could say I was “doing things”, it’s just not worth it to me anymore, instead I just learned to change my point of view. Find ways to feel like I’m “doing things” without leaving my house. It’s why I do Facebook lives, it’s why my mom and me sell jewelry to earn money for my book, it’s why I diamond paint, it’s why I met people in disabled groups and yes I’m careful on who I meet, but honestly I feel like I’m more fulfilled now and busier and have a better and bigger social life now than I ever did, I’m more content now than I ever was. So what I’m trying to say through my very long winded story, it’s that some times we have to just step out in faith and blindly walk with him and just trust!
Its funny because my best friend always tells me I have rose colored glasses on and I just need to take those off and realize the reality of the times were in and every time he says it I just laugh and he hates when I do that, but the things is the reason why I laugh is because, my what he calls “rose” colored glasses are my guiding light, they are what gives me peace, because it’s not that I’m wearing, what he calls “rose” colored glasses, but instead I’m wearing “love” glasses baby, and there is nothing better than that.
I will continue to be guided by love, his love hasn’t failed me yet so I will wait on my father, because I know he has a plan and a purpose and I know his ways are higher than mine. The JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND I PRAY IT IS YOUR STRENGTH TOO.
Ok all that’s it for today. Thanks for reading and please have a very blessed Christmas and New Years and please be safe,and remember to keep focusing on love, joy and faith because I promise you, that’s all you will need to get through this pandemic and Year…
One last thing, if you all could please be praying for my friend and fellow “OIER” (Osteogenesis Imperfecta friend). This friend of mines name is Michaela Davert and right now she’s going through one of the hardest battles she will probably ever go through. She’s having a spinal fusion, (I think that’s what it is called, I apologize if I’m wrong) but it’s a very intense and major surgery. This woman walked around with like 10+ nails, large nails sticking out of her head, it looked like a crown of thorns like what they stuck in Jesus head, she had these giant nails sticking in her head for over 3 months and that was the easy part of the process she says. The dangerous part is what she did today, so dangerous that there was a chance she could die on the table! She and us all are believing for a complete and perfect recovery process. We’re praying surgery goes perfectly. She believes she had to have this surgery to extend her life expectancy. Without the surgery she was losing lung capacity so she felt she had to have it to extend her Life, and she has many dreams and desires, she’s young yet and has so many things she desires to do with her life and I believe she will accomplish every one of her dreams as long as she keeps fighting and believing not only in herself, but also in the Doctors and most importantly in Christ. So please be praying for my friend because as she says, life is worth fighting for😁
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I THINK THATS IT FOR TODAY. THANKS FOR READING AND SUPPORTING ME AND THE-BOOK-OF-ROO. GOD BLESS AND PLEASE REMEMBER KEEP SHINING FOR CHRIST. BECAUSE HE NOT ONLY LOVES YOU, BUT ADORES YOU. ALSO PLEASE REMEMBER IF YOU NEED PRAYER I AND THE-BOOK-OF-ROO READERS ARE HERE TO PRAY. JUST STOP BY OUR PRAYER PAGE AND POST YOUR PRAYER REQUEST AND I PROMISE WE WILL PRAY 😇 ALSO PLEASE REMEMBER AS I SAID EARLIER, RUNNING THIS WEBSITE AND WRITING/PUBLISHING A BOOK DOES ALL COST MONEY. SO IF YOUR FEELING LED PLEASE DONATE TO MY SITE. ITS VERY EASY TO DO. WE HAVE MANY OPTIONS NOW BUT THE EASIEST OPTION IS JUST TO CLICK THE “DONATE” BUTTON AND FILL OUT THE FORM. PLEASE KNOW I AM GRATEFUL FOR EACH AND EVERY DONATION THAT COMES IN NO MATTER IF ITS THROUGH THE PATREON PAGE, PO BOX OR PAYPAL. GOD BLESS, I LOVE YOU ALL AND MORE IMPORTANTLY JESUS LOVES YOU. KEEP ON SHINING FOR CHRIST ❤️
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