Goodbye? No, "See you later, Maria!" by Kim

Maria’s frail arm rose in a weak wave when I left her room last December in Romania. 

It’s the last image I have of her. She died earlier this month.

I’ve loved Maria since the day I met her in July of 2011.  She quickly became the poster girl 

for our Elder Orphan Care brochure.

Her eyes communicated much more than her voice.

She was forever grateful.

She delighted in her Christmas Box of Hope.

She always wanted prayer.

It will be hard to see someone else in Maria’s bed when I return to Romania next month. 

But I’m beyond grateful that she was cared for in her later years 

by servants of God, that she loved Jesus, that I had the privilege of knowing her, and best of all, that I didn’t say “Goodbye” last December.

I said “See you later!” And that is a true and wonderful statement.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up 

together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 

And so we will be with the Lord forever. 

Therefore encourage one another with these words. 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Kim wrote this last month before going on a 6 week ministry trip to Romania (where she is now). Please check out her Elder Orphan Care site and "like" her page on Facebook. And please pray for her ministry.  Gail Purath for Kim Jackson

Ablaze with God's Love

Cheryl planned to kill herself by getting drunk and then setting her house on fire. 

Brought up in a Christian home, she wandered further and further away from her upbringing, and eventually embraced witchcraft. But nothing brought her the love and peace she sought. Her hopelessness grew.  She wrote her goodbye letter on March 6, 2012.

Janna and Cheryl

“If there’s no hope,” she thought, “why go on?” So she planned her death. But that, of course, was not God’s plan. He used the prayers and encouragement of her friend Janna, who for five years had been inviting her to church and other activities, to intersect with Cheryl’s growing despair. In the depth of dark hopelessness, Cheryl cried out to God. 

“Suddenly, it all became real,” she says now. “I finally ‘got it’: God loves me. ME!” 

I have the delight of watching Cheryl jump headfirst into that love. Trust me, hers is not the only life that has been changed. I am greatly impacted by Cheryl’s new life, which she fondly calls “the resurrected me." I thank God for the privilege of sharing some of the ways I see her faith flourishing: 

She devours God’s Word. I love it when she calls me to say, “Listen to this verse! Isn’t that utterly amazing?” 

She shares her faith. Just ask the tellers at her bank, her hairdresser, the cable company customer service rep, and her neighbors. Cheryl can’t keep quiet about the God who rescued her.

Cheryl's baptism: June 13, 2013

She prays. A lot. When it comes to prayer, she is proactive. She made it a point to ask our youth minister how she could pray for him. Last week she visited the youth service so she could experience “his world” and better understand how to pray. 

She’s grateful. I don’t know if this is original to her or not, but she’s says it frequently: “It’s not OK to forget to remember what God has done.” 

She gives. I’ve been blessed by her generosity, as have many others. Her cheerful giving must make God grin.  

She worships. Songs and sermons touch her heart, and she

reaches for tissues often. But sunsets and spring flowers cause her to break into praise, too. 

How grateful I am that God intervened, Satan didn't win, and Cheryl did not carry out her wish to end her life in flames.

But I believe God wanted to redeem even that plan. The Thanksgiving after Cheryl gave her life to Jesus, we had a bonfire. She brought bags and boxes of books from her house: books about spells, sorcery, magic and witchcraft.

It was a scene straight out of Acts. Cheryl tossed the books one by one into the flames. Then Janna, Julia, Cheryl and I prayed and worshiped God… around a roaring fire. 

“Many who had practiced sorcery brought their books and threw them on the fire to burn them publically….in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (Acts 19:19a, 20).

Kim serves as a missionary/advocate for homeless elderly in Romania through Elder Orphan Care. She brags on God at her Wow Dee Wow! blog. Kim prays that her brief stories recounting God's amazing ways will inspire and challenge you to brag on God, too!

To subscribe to Wow Dee Wow! click HERE.

Blind Eyes See by Kim Jackson

“What are you reading?” 

Irina, sitting outside the home for the elderly in Dumbrava, Romania, responded in a language I don’t understand. As an avid reader, I was drawn to this woman with an open book on her lap. But Irina couldn’t see to read her book. She could only make out some of the photographs. 

We ruled out cataracts, and a caregiver confirmed that Irina had tried, with no success, all the reading glasses I had brought previously. It seemed that Irina simply needed prescription eyeglasses. 

Easier said than done. Even if Irina had the means, there are no optometrists for miles and miles. My word-lover’s heart broke. I was determined to get glasses for Irina so she could read her precious book!

God’s answer came in the form of an I-See Sight Enhancement Kit. We held fundraisers targeting the $950 needed to purchase the kit. Generous donors quickly gave $700. A woman at a church in Virginia was so moved when I told Irina’s story that she gave the remaining $250. 

Four months later I returned to Dumbrava as a part of my work as an advocate/missionary with Elder Orphan Care. Irina was in bed. When she saw me, she pulled the covers back to reveal the same book I had seen in August. 

“Hold on, Irina! You'll have glasses in April! Hold on!” 

On April 8, 2013, exactly eight months to the day I first met Irina, our team used the innovative I-See eye chart (with hand symbols, not letters) and a lens ladder to perform her eye exam. There were smiles and tears as Irina’s new glasses were adjusted to her face.

And then the moment of truth: “Irina, where’s your book? Read to us!” 

I couldn’t believe my ears when her words were translated: “I gave it away.” There was no other reading material in the room. But then I remembered a book in my backpack. My friend Gail, who does mission work in neighboring Hungary, had given it to me the week before I came to Romania. 

“I don’t know if you’d have any use for this,” she said. “It’s in Hungarian. The title translates ‘You are Precious.’” 

“You never know,” I remember saying. 

I pulled the book from my bag, “It’s in Hungarian, but it’s the only book we have.” 

That’s when our Romanian translator spoke the most beautiful words ever: “Irina is Hungarian.” 

And with that, Irina took the book from me, gently touched the cover, opened it, and read the copyright information!

Then she turned to the first page and began reading, reading the truth, the truth that she is precious. So precious that God provided not only eyeglasses, but a book to read in her own language. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and the blind that they can see again” (Luke 4:18).

Kim serves as a missionary/advocate for homeless elderly in Romania through Elder Orphan Care. She brags on God at her Wow Dee Wow! blog. Kim prays that her brief stories recounting God's amazing ways will inspire and challenge you to brag on God, too!

To subscribe to Wow Dee Wow! click HERE.

Spring Always Comes by Kim Jackson

That’s odd. It looks like something is growing outside my bedroom window. I bent down to take a closer look. How strange! Not only is something that I didn’t plant growing there, whatever it is, they’re lined up in as perfect a row as you’re ever going to see. 

Intrigued, I began walking around my house every day when the weather permitted. We’d had a rough winter in Illinois. It started too early for my liking and was hanging on far too long. It didn’t help that my personal life seemed to mirror the season. 

As the mystery plants grew, I realized they were tulips. “I’m sure there’s no such thing as volunteer tulips,” I said to a friend. “But how did a row of tulip bulbs get planted under my nose without me knowing?” 

As the weather warmed up, so did my spirits. I began to believe the icy season in my heart might melt away too. One morning when I opened the curtains, I saw a splash of color. The tulips! I ran out the door and knelt in the dew soaked grass. I traced the graceful lines of the blossom. What artistry! And the color! 

These tulips are amazing. Simply amazing. 

Excited to share my news, I called a friend to meet for coffee. “The mystery tulips bloomed! And they’re the most vivid red I’ve ever seen! I still don’t know how they showed up in my yard, but I’m sure glad they did.” 

Heather laughed. “Finally! Now I can tell you the story.”

“What? You were in on this?”

“Oh yes. It started last November. Remember when you went to the retreat in Indiana?” 

“How could I forget? What a snowstorm we had!” 

“That’s the one. I bought the tulip bulbs after you left on Friday and came to your house with my gardening tools. I dropped each bulb into its cozy winter home, spread dirt over them, and said a prayer. The timing for you being away from home was perfect: if I planted the bulbs then, they would bloom near Easter. The only concern I had was that you might notice someone had been digging in your yard, but God already had a plan in mind.” 

“He did?” 

“The storm. God delivered an early winter storm so all traces of my digging in your yard were covered by snow.

“Wow…that’s quite a story. I feel loved!” 

“That was the idea. You’ve been so discouraged. I knew the tulips would remind you that spring always comes, Kim. Spring always comes.” 

Spring always comes. Her words resonated in my weary soul. 

Heather interrupted my thoughtful silence. “There’s one more thing. There are dozens and dozens of tulip varieties. But I chose yours with special care. Yours are called Kingsblood. Happy Easter, Kim.”



"But now, because of Jesus the Anointed and His sacrifice, all of that has changed. God gathered you who were so far away and brought you near to Him by the royal blood of the Anointed, our Liberating King" (Ephesians 2:13, The Voice).

Kim serves as a missionary/advocate for homeless elderly in Romania through Elder Orphan Care. She brags on God at her Wow Dee Wow! blog. Kim prays that her brief stories recounting God's amazing ways will inspire and challenge you to brag on God, too!

To subscribe to Wow Dee Wow! click HERE.

Scripture Bee by Kim Jackson

"Do what?"

Our translator in Kherson, Ukraine, was trying to communicate the conference leader's wishes to our mission team. The best we could decipher was that she wanted to hold the Scripture equivalent of a spelling bee.

And so we did. Twenty Ukrainian women lined the front of the church and began to quote Scripture verses from memory. When one of the ladies could not recite another verse, or repeated one already spoken, she had to sit down. On and on it went. And on and on and on it went…and went and went. One woman was flagged down by the others when it seemed she was going to recite Psalm 1…. through 150! Finally a tie was declared because the two women still standing apparently had nearly the entire Bible memorized.

When our mission team debriefed that evening we sadly agreed that if we competed in a Scripture Bee, it would be a brief contest. 

One reason our Ukrainian friends consider God’s Word to be precious is because when their country was under communist rule it was not unusual for an entire village to share a single copy of the Bible. So they hid the Word of God in their hearts and now it flows naturally from both their lips and their lives. 

Surely that’s what God has in mind for all of us. Deuteronomy 6:6-8 says, These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

How might those verses be "translated" today? Here are a few ideas: 

• Use Scripture references as computer passwords. Each time you type Romans828, for example, you’ll be reminded that God is working all things together for your good. 
• Text Scripture verses. 
• Post a “Word of the Day” from the Bible on your facebook page. 
• Stuck in traffic? See how many Scriptures you can quote alphabetically: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ...
• Personalize Scripture by inserting your name: “For God so loved Sherry that he gave….” 
• Host a Pizza and Parables Party. Gather in groups and come up with creative ways to express the truths of a parable. Discuss what you learned while munching pizza. 
• Sing God’s Word. 
• Learn Scripture by beat. Follow this link to view an example: Proverbs 3:5, 6
• What are your ideas? Share your favorite in the comments section below.

If you'd like to see some of the Scripture Bee described in this post, click here.

Kim serves as a missionary/advocate for homeless elderly in Romania through Elder Orphan Care. She brags on God each week at her Wow Dee Wow! blog. Kim prays that her brief stories recounting God's amazing ways will inspire and challenge you to brag on God, too!

To subscribe to Wow Dee Wow! click HERE.

Asked for Information, Got an Invitation by Kim Jackson

Lydia opened the refrigerator door and took out a jar. 

“Here,” she said, handing it to me, “I want you to have this too.” 

It was a fitting, and not surprising, conclusion to a wonderful day with my Romanian friends, Lydia and Peter, and her parents Ioan and Floare. I’m grateful to our common friend who knows about my work with homeless elderly in Romania and thought I’d want to meet Lydia, who also lives in North Carolina, just 30 minutes away. At first Lydia and I just exchanged emails and she read my Elder Orphan Care blog. But even before we met face to face, she and her husband began making donations to EOC. Eventually we scheduled time for coffee and Lydia asked about other ways she could help. During my next visit she filled my car so full of needed items for the elderly I could barely see to drive. 

Last fall my friend Janna decided she wanted to treat our mission-trip team to a Romanian meal, so she asked me to contact Lydia to see if there’s a grocery store in Charlotte that carries Romanian food. Lydia responded with the requested information, but then she did what I have come to expect from my Romanian friends, both there and here. She invited us to her home. She said her mother could teach us how to make sarmali (cabbage rolls). She insisted they would buy the ingredients, we’d fix the rolls, then share a meal together. 

And so it went. Floare smiled and motioned “this much” of each ingredient. Lydia translated as needed. Amazing aromas began to fill the kitchen. When the rolls were ready to boil, Lydia said we had time to visit the grocery store we’d asked about initially. In the European aisle at the International Mart, Lydia pointed to a large sausage and said it was especially delicious. She suggested we buy it to serve with our team meal. I looked at the price tag and determined it was out of my budget. But after I checked out with the few items I bought, Lydia handed the sausage to me. She had purchased it as a gift for our team. 

Back at her home we feasted on the cabbage rolls. Hours after we arrived, we left smiling, stomachs and souls full.  

Because Lydia and her family are so generous and hospitable, our mission team enjoyed a delicious Romanian meal. It would have been far easier for Lydia to simply give me the address to the grocery store. Instead, all our lives were made richer because when I asked for information, I received an invitation. 

“Always be eager to practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13b NLT).

Don’t Miss the Dolphins by Kim Jackson

or How to Listen to a Sermon

A lone dolphin fin rises above the churning water of the Atlantic Ocean. It reappears, followed by the arch of the dolphin’s body as he gracefully glides through the waves. A second dolphin leaps into view, then another, another and then a fifth! I am in awe of the ocean, but add a line of soaring seagulls, a few pelicans dive-bombing for their breakfast, plus five dolphins performing a synchronized swimming routine, and I am in bliss. 

Other vacationers don’t share my excitement. In fact, they aren’t even paying attention. They are positioning umbrellas, slathering suntan lotion, reading novels. They are oblivious to the glorious sight in plain view. 

Travel with me from the Atlantic coast to the church you attend. We arrive just in time for the service to begin. The Lord’s messenger has stepped up to speak. He opens his Bible, then his mouth. But wait—the people around us seem otherwise occupied. Few seem to be in the moment and ready to receive as the glory of God’s Word comes into our spiritual view. So I wonder: how can those of us who routinely sit in church hearing message after message, keep from “missing the dolphins”? 

• Pray. Ask God, “Lord, what have you got for me today? Speak to me. I’m listening.” The Holy Spirit will deliver a personalized message if we are open to receiving it. 
• Be All There. Don’t just show up. Arrive on time and resist the temptation to constantly check incoming communication on technology gadgets. 
• Don’t Focus. On the speaker, that is. No matter if he needs a haircut, has attended a few too many potlucks, or has imperfect elocution. God’s Word, proclaimed through the ages by some unlikely characters, is to be our focus. 
• Put Your Ears On. As I was having my driver’s license photo taken, the DMV employee said “Smile if you care to.” Life is made up of choices! Listening is a choice. 
• Expect To Be Changed. God’s Word is alive. Encountering His living revelation should be a life-changing experience. Romans 10:17 assures us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. 
• Anticipate that your faith will be enlarged. Be Aware. Satan is our enemy. The last thing he wants is for our faith to increase. He will eagerly snatch away any unclaimed seeds sown from God’s Word. 
•  Ask “Now What? Hearing God’s Word without “putting legs on it” is simply collecting spiritual data. Pray about what you’ve heard, then take action. 
•  Chew On It. The message is not over at “Amen.” Continue to pray over what you’ve heard. Review your notes throughout the week. Share your discoveries with a friend or family member. 
•  Ask God to reveal deeper meanings and more specific applications. 

If we put these tips into practice we will be more awake and aware, focused and expectant. And we won’t miss the dolphins! 

Read about Kim and her exciting ministry to homeless elderly on our Lead Writers' Page.

And check out our latest book review: Kisses for Kate, reviewed by Erin Dorr.