Category Archives: My Journey

Is It Possible To Be A Virgin Till You Get Married?

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Life in Africa, Marriage, My Journey

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Hello to all you awesome young people!

I was 14 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. He washed me clean and I had a new start! Somehow, before Christ, I managed to remain a virgin through that time of drugs, alcohol, skipping school and extreme rebellion to my parents. When I met Jesus, my whole life changed. I even had a beauty that came from the inside out. God’s love began to shine through me to others.

Sometimes I even found that young men were attracted to that light in me, and didn’t even understand that themselves. Do you know what I mean girls? I mean, you are growing in your faith, having the JOY of the Lord, and you seem to attract people to you. Here’s a joke for you, “even bugs have enough sense to come around the light!”

Seriously though, when I got saved, I had a boyfriend. He wanted to get into my pants but I never let him. Then, when I got saved, I prayed and asked the Lord if I was supposed to continue in that relationship? I really felt the Lord saying to me, “I can do MUCH better than this, you just wait and see!”

So, I broke up with the guy, and laid down that part of my life for God to be in control. The very next weekend, at a youth meeting, there was this guy who showed up. He loved Jesus, was tall, well-built, handsome AND played the guitar and sang! Guess what? We hit it off and he asked me to go out with him! It was a sweet little romance. Pure, like God would want. We were friends first and had the goosebumps to go along with it!

That wasn’t long, and it was like the Lord showed me that he CAN in fact, do much better than me. Throughout the rest of my teens and into my 20’s I made a decision that I was going to keep the gift of virginity for my husband. It wasn’t easy and trust me, there were times I could easily have given that gift away with a guy I thought I loved and cared about. I did date, and I always tried to make sure that I didn’t find myself in a compromising situation. God was so faithful to me that, a few times when I could have given it up, the guy was the one who would stop it because he knew my standards and committment. Can you believe it? It’s true. God can even do that!

Any of you who know Pastor Jerry Lackey-knows God did real good for me! He is exactly the ONE I needed in my life for us to fulfill our destinies together! And best of all, I had a precious gift to give him on our wedding night! I am so glad I waited for my one and only!

But be on your toes girls-and guys! Surround yourself with people who will support your decision to be pure. It is a lot of work, and there is a line that you, yourself have to decide NOT to cross.

Take up the challenge. Wherever you are in your life, even if you have already had sex. Do it for yourself. Do it for your mate. God is a God of forgiveness and restoration. It’s not too late. Reach for Life! Abstain, be faithful, and commit to Christ and He will help you all the way!

*This was a video script I wrote today for our youth in Northern Botswana at the Annual Reach4Life Event which promotes abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in marriage. To see the video click here. Visit www.lovebotswana.org for more information.

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Princess Mmapula

13 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Life in Africa, My Journey, Our Family

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I was desperate at the American Embassy in Johannesburg, not knowing whether I would make it to my daddy’s bedside in time. I had our adopted African Angel, Mmapula with me and there was a glitch with her immigration paperwork that set us back a few days. She was to become an American Citizen upon entry in the USA that trip. It was all planned, but not the fast deterioration of my father’s health.

Finally, we found ourselves on the plane.  I was to arrive in time. Daddy hung on a few more weeks after that.  We arrived in the USA and went through Immigration. At last, Mmapula was granted her citizenship as planned, upon entry.  We got through customs and I pulled her aside, put our bags down and told her that we had to take a photo because she is now an official US Citizen! The next thing I know, she is looking at me with that precious pout that only she can give. Tears welled up in her eyes, and with a hint of defiance she said, “But I thought I was going to be a Princess!”

 She just didn’t see the big deal of being a US Citizen!  You see, we were to go to Disneyland on this trip and we had been telling her that her birthday was going to be celebrated and she was going to be a princess.   Everybody knows, if you celebrate your birthday at Disney you are an official Princess! The day at Disney was spent in pomp and circumstance! We had lunch with all the Disney “Princess greats”.

 From the moment we arrived, for the entire day, people would come up to her and say, “Happy birthday Princes Mmapula!” At one point she whispered to me, “Mommy, how do all these people know it’s my birthday?” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the big pin-on sign on her dress told all that it was indeed, her birthday!

The Psalmist, David, wrote about God’s incredible love for us, his children.  How wonderful that God counts us as his very own, every day. We are citizens of heaven, if we have accepted Jesus as our Personal Savior and been washed clean from our sins. We have an earthly passport and are citizens of somewhere. But no matter where we are from, we share the promise of Heaven! Like Mmapula, which means ‘one who brings blessing’, we can know what it is to belong to the Creator of heaven and earth!

Psalms 139:1-6

O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

The day my life changed, part 3

09 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Growing Pains, Inspirational Thoughts, My Journey

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photo copy 3Week two of my “punishment”

Like I said in my last post, the Principal of my Christian school assigned a scripture a week as punishment for my crime of bringing weed to my Christian School. He would pray and seek God’s guidance on which verse to pick. Every one he chose for me had something to do with where I needed to change or grow. I had to study it, apply the truths to my life and share with my classmates that truth. It had to be 150 words minimum. In the beginning I counted every word, but after a while, the scriptures started to come alive on the inside of me! This so called punishment was changing my life, one day at a time.

The second week’s scripture was this one:

Ephesians 4:29 (NLV)  ”Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

I had a pretty foul mouth back then, at 14. My heart was changing but the outside was a process-and still is, because we never stop growing. I was brand new in my spirit, but the soul, which is my mind, emotions, and my will had some growing to do. Who would have ever thought that my punishment was going to be something that would shape my future and get me into the bible? It was starting to feel like God’s love letter to me! My classmates were a little confused about what this was all about. What was a punishment for me was actually changing me.

When I presented this to my class I had to start lining up with what I was saying. I started to choose my words more carefully. I became more conscious that my words could really help people. Imagine if we had a gong or a buzzer, like the game shows on TV that sounds when you give the wrong answer? The Holy Spirit, who comes when we accept Jesus lives inside of a believer, is there for just that! To direct us in all we do and say. Something wonderful began to happen. I started looking forward to the next scripture because the exercise of studying them was like being given a powerful flash light to help me get out of the dark place I had gotten myself into. One week at a time, one day at a time.

God doesn’t want us to be robots. He created us all different and unique. The more we walk with Him and talk with him, the more light we have to do this thing called life.

Thanks for reading along, and for going with me on this journey back in time. It only gets better from here. To think that I was so close to being sent off to reform school, which is basically school in jail for troubled kids. But someone had mercy on me and gave me another chance.

Let’s not be so quick to write people off. You never know what a little grace can do in someone’s life.

I’ll share one more “punishment” tomorrow and wrap up the story.  If you ever wanted to quit smoking, or know someone who does, this story will be for you!

http//janalackey.com/2014/01/08/the-day-my-life-changed-part-2/

Day 9-my500words http://goinswriter.com/my500words/

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The Day My Life Changed, Part 2

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Growing Pains, Inspirational Thoughts, My Journey

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A few days were spent in utter suspense, awaiting the school board’s decision-to kick me out for good or not.  To my mother’s great relief, and mine, the vote of the school board was in my favor to give me ONE LAST CHANCE.

The sentence, punishment, was nothing short of brilliant. Mr. Grimes, Pioneer Principal of our school, called me in to his office to tell me what needed to happen if I was to stay at the Christian School where I was caught with Marijuana.

My assignment was as follows. Mr. Grimes, would assign a bible verse to me each week. On Wednesday of that week, 30 minutes before the lunch break, I was to present a written speech to my classmates on the scripture and how it applies to our lives.  It had to be at least 150 words and I had to read it during our class devotions. Now they would all see if this was for real or not!

I had such a radical conversion that all my friends who I hung out with and got in trouble with didn’t want me because of my newfound faith. The church kids, at first, didn’t want anything to do with me because I was such a troublemaker! I was the talk of the town and bets were probably out on the outcome of this wild child.

During this time in my life, I had a pretty bad self-image. My hair was long and I tried to cover as much of my face as I could with it. I wore heavy makeup and lots of jewelry. I guess you could say I was hiding behind it all. Don’t get me wrong. I thank God for makeup! Like our Pastor, John Osteen used to say, “if the barn needs paining, paint it!” But I was a 14-year-old girl and I needed more than paint to fix what was broken inside. Change doesn’t happen overnight. The miracle of Salvation is that the inside is brand new! But the outside can take a bit of time to catch up! I still smoked, had a bad habit of cursing and overall needed some work!

The words of the bible are transformational when ingested by the whole person: spirit, soul and body. My first assignment was on the subject of women:

1 Peter 3:3,4 (kjv)“ Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Busted! How was I going to continue to look like I did and talk to my classmates about this scripture and how it applies to our lives? No one likes a hypocrite. I didn’t want to be one!

ImageSomething really cool about that verse is not that you can’t wear clothes and fix your hair and wear jewelry. It is saying to focus on the inside person. When I gave my life over to the Lord, to let him be in the driver’s seat of my life, it was like I was driving a dirty ‘ol dump truck full of dirt and baggage at the back, driving down the road of life. When I saw a man on the side of the road waving at me to stop. He asked if he could take over the wheel now. When I looked in his eyes, I knew I could trust him. I slid over to the passenger seat and the first thing he did was press a button and the back raised up and all the dirt slid out. He pushed another button and the whole truck became sparkling clean and new! He put in in gear and we started off. Along the way, I noticed things getting put in the back, these were gifts he had given me and people, and provision for the road ahead.

Even my personality started to be transformed. People didn’t even recognize me after a while. The scripture above says to have a “meek and quiet spirit”. It didn’t say I had to have a meek and quiet PERSONALITY! God didn’t ask me to be a robot. I get to be me!

I was in a whole new world. The passenger of the truck (me), has tried to take over the wheel at times and say, “hey, let’s go this way-my way.” The results were not always good on that one. I came to know and understand that if I follow the Lord close, my dreams, desires, gifts and all, will be discovered and developed along the way.Image

Little by little, every day, Jesus is changing me! The next 2 weeks of my assignment were crazy! You won’t believe it. I’ll tell you more tomorrow on day 9 of

 

 

http://goinswriter.com/my500words/ challenge.

Thanks for following my challenge-Today is Day 8

The Day My Life Changed

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Growing Pains, Inspirational Thoughts, My Journey

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Day 7/500 word challenge
Image‘’Some people never change”.  How many times have you heard someone say that? If you read my blog Kicked out of School then you already know that I was a mess at 14 years old.   It was March 3, 1976, the day I said, “God, if you are real, then come and change me from the inside out.” It was also the day I got busted for having weed at school. It was in that order. Gave my life to God, and got busted. I had pulled a lot of stunts up to that point. Authority figures in my life didn’t really trust me-to put it mildly. As far as they knew, it was all a stunt to get out of trouble. As I sat in the principal’s office, with the weed on his desk, guilty as charged, I said to him, “You can do what you need to do and I will understand. One thing I know, that God has forgiven me.”

Only a couple of people believed something real had taken place that day. By the time I got home the news had reached my mom. She was waiting for me when I walked in the kitchen excited to share the news. But it was not the good news she heard, but the bad news. Her daughter already kicked out of public school, now on the last chance at Christian School too! All she could say through her tears was, “GO TO YOUR ROOM!” My mom is a saint by the way. It would be a little while before she would see the change in me and be convinced it was not all just a ploy to get out of the trouble I was in.

No one had told her that I had made a life altering decision to let God take over the wheel in my life. Change takes time. Sometimes it is impossible. But the “G” factor is the exception! God, Father, Daddy, Creator, Mother, Maker, is all that and more. I didn’t change overnight on the outside, but the awesome thing is that the moment I prayed that prayer and asked for His help, the lights came on. I had peace and joy that was indescribable!

At the Church we Pastor in Africa, we tell people that if you sit under the Word of God long enough, He will begin to change us from the inside –out. No one is a worse “sinner” than the other! Not even close. We should all have a sign on our forehead that says “Under Construction”. Because we all are-under construction.

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The school board had their meeting about “Jana Baker” and they almost had a deadlock vote whether to keep me in the school or not.  There was only one option left for me. REFORM SCHOOL. Check back tomorrow for the rest of the story!

photos from google photo images