Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:06.192
Welcome to the Called by God podcast with Adney Godin and myself, Nixon Sylvain.
00:00:06.192 --> 00:00:13.153
This show is about dialogues of biblical characters and testimonies of Christians who submitted to the will of God.
00:00:13.153 --> 00:00:19.373
Each week, we bring on one guest so that they can share their story of how they were called by God.
00:00:19.373 --> 00:00:22.463
I hope this show inspires you.
00:00:22.463 --> 00:00:23.123
Enjoy.
00:00:23.123 --> 00:00:24.225
I hope this show inspires you Enjoy.
00:00:24.225 --> 00:00:31.253
Welcome to the Call by God podcast, where we share personal stories of faith and discuss Bible teachings on salvation.
00:00:31.253 --> 00:00:34.356
I'm your host, Brother Nick, and I'm here with Sister Adni.
00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:38.881
And we are honored to share these powerful stories with you.
00:00:38.881 --> 00:00:46.320
Today we have a special guest, marshawn Jackson, who will be sharing her testimony of how she came to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:51.170
Marshawn will discuss her struggles before finding salvation.
00:00:51.170 --> 00:01:00.557
In addition, she will expound on how coming to Christ has had a positive impact on her faith and her life.
00:01:00.917 --> 00:01:06.825
Sister Jackson will remind us that, no matter our past, god's love and grace are available to all who seek him.
00:01:06.825 --> 00:01:19.864
It will also serve as a reminder that salvation is just not about getting into heaven, but also about the transformation that occurs in our hearts and our lives when we accept Jesus as our Lord and our Savior.
00:01:19.864 --> 00:01:25.715
So join us as we listen to Sister Jackson's powerful, god-given story.
00:01:25.715 --> 00:01:29.546
Sister Jackson, welcome to the Call by God podcast.
00:01:30.266 --> 00:01:31.608
Amen, thank you.
00:01:31.608 --> 00:01:32.712
Thank you both.
00:01:32.712 --> 00:01:33.612
I appreciate it.
00:01:33.612 --> 00:01:34.375
It's an honor.
00:01:34.375 --> 00:01:35.685
I'm humbled to be here.
00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:37.085
Man, it's good to have you.
00:01:37.085 --> 00:01:41.552
So I'm going to let Adni speak before us, because sometimes I don't let Adni speak.
00:01:41.552 --> 00:01:46.231
You know we'd be greeting our guests and I just go on to the first question.
00:01:46.231 --> 00:01:54.840
So I'm going to give Adney the opportunity to say good morning or good afternoon for others, or good evening.
00:01:56.183 --> 00:01:57.406
Good morning, sis.
00:01:57.406 --> 00:01:58.468
You see how he do me.
00:01:58.468 --> 00:02:01.034
Good morning, sis, good morning.
00:02:01.034 --> 00:02:05.311
Thank you so much for saying yes to this discussion.
00:02:05.311 --> 00:02:07.664
Your story.
00:02:07.664 --> 00:02:14.073
It truly touched me, so I know that there are others out there that will definitely be touched by your story.
00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:15.081
Thank you.
00:02:15.383 --> 00:02:17.068
Thank you, I appreciate it.
00:02:17.229 --> 00:02:17.469
I do.
00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:22.812
Amen, as as as always, you know, for me, you know I'm happy to have you on.
00:02:22.812 --> 00:02:28.774
So, sister Jackson, so, as I mentioned online, mentioned offline, this is a virtual fellowship.
00:02:28.774 --> 00:02:34.129
So I'm going to kick back, I'm going to kick back and I'm going to relax, kick back, recline and we're going to get.
00:02:34.129 --> 00:02:47.485
I know that's right, but before we get into your initial question, we're not going to start off with the first question just yet, but can you share with our listeners a little bit about yourself, just 20, 30 seconds?
00:02:47.485 --> 00:02:47.800
What you're?
00:02:47.820 --> 00:02:50.350
about in 20 or 30 seconds.
00:02:50.531 --> 00:02:52.780
Yeah, yeah, where you from what you're about.
00:02:53.401 --> 00:03:00.266
Well, sister in Christ, woman of God, that was a lesson in itself.
00:03:00.266 --> 00:03:04.531
An elder years ago taught me the difference between that.
00:03:04.531 --> 00:03:10.561
I'm a mother of two sons.
00:03:10.561 --> 00:03:29.955
I am a daughter of a woman who just saw 90 years around the sun this past December, and I would say at this point what has shaped my faith and made a huge impact is that I'm a domestic violence survivor.
00:03:32.140 --> 00:03:34.308
Amen, I like it.
00:03:34.308 --> 00:03:40.813
Well, so we in for a treat then, because if you say you're a domestic violence survivor, I know that we are in for a treat.
00:03:40.813 --> 00:03:51.104
I'm surprised, Sister Jackson, that you didn't tell the folk that you from Detroit, Michigan, you know I like basketball, I like basketball, so you know I'm a Miami Heat fan.
00:03:51.104 --> 00:03:53.176
And they be saying Detroit basketball.
00:03:54.181 --> 00:03:56.449
You know I didn't want to brag.
00:03:56.449 --> 00:03:58.431
I'm not supposed to do that.
00:03:58.472 --> 00:04:00.459
Oh, okay, I got it, I got it.
00:04:00.459 --> 00:04:09.323
I'm from D-Town, motown Motor City you know city of, you know those Pistons, you know three years in a row.
00:04:09.323 --> 00:04:11.027
That's where the Stonebirds are right.
00:04:10.805 --> 00:04:35.309
Champions, yeah, but yes, I am from Detroit, michigan, just a city full of flavor, city full of flavor, but it was definitely the beginning for me just being influenced by family members who were members of the body.
00:04:35.329 --> 00:04:35.911
Amen, amen, I like it.
00:04:35.911 --> 00:04:47.966
So you know how to put that out there, because when in the back in the day, when Detroit used to play the Heat, when y'all had the team, when y'all won the championship man, y'all defense was like clamp, y'all used to lock people down.
00:04:47.966 --> 00:04:49.725
I just thought I'd add that in there.
00:04:49.725 --> 00:04:52.545
But you know again, thank you for coming on to the show.
00:04:52.545 --> 00:04:56.048
But you know you said you were a domestic violence survivor.
00:04:56.048 --> 00:05:08.095
But before all of that, you know we want you to kind of like tell us a little bit about your upbringing and background before you obeyed the gospel.
00:05:08.095 --> 00:05:14.117
I'm sure our listeners want to know that part of the story before you said yes to Jesus Christ.
00:05:14.117 --> 00:05:15.120
So share that with our listeners.
00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:15.822
Absolutely.
00:05:15.822 --> 00:05:19.372
I am the baby of four.
00:05:19.372 --> 00:05:25.028
I have an older brother who is 18 years older than I am.
00:05:25.028 --> 00:05:36.973
He is a minister of the gospel and there are two sisters between us, 15 years older and 12 years older.
00:05:36.973 --> 00:05:48.079
So there's Belito, my brother, granita, the older sister, and then the sister that's next to me but 12 years apart is Tina.
00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:52.720
So we were born and raised in Detroit, michigan.
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.348
My mother and father.
00:05:55.348 --> 00:06:16.367
He was a six foot two, green eyed Adonis, I say, and my mom just stands at four feet nine inches and she was the just a spiritual powerhouse in our family.
00:06:16.367 --> 00:06:30.761
And so, yeah, just growing up in Detroit for for I would say, part of my childhood.
00:06:30.761 --> 00:06:32.062
And then my father was relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
00:06:32.062 --> 00:06:43.326
He worked for American Airlines and in 1983, we moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and I've been here ever since.
00:06:43.646 --> 00:06:48.113
All right, my sister, it's my turn to ask a question.
00:06:48.113 --> 00:06:49.120
So I have a two part.
00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:51.466
I have a part A and a part B for you.
00:06:51.466 --> 00:06:56.341
How long did it take you to say yes to the gospel of Christ?
00:06:56.341 --> 00:07:05.591
That's part A, and part B says when did you come to know and understand Jesus is your Lord and Savior?
00:07:05.992 --> 00:07:29.382
Well, I came to understand Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior very early, very early, being the baby and having so many years apart from my siblings you know, my brother and my sisters, I was.
00:07:29.382 --> 00:07:31.069
I had that influence early on.
00:07:31.069 --> 00:07:36.732
So you know part B of that question came first.
00:07:36.732 --> 00:08:03.605
I was, you know, three, four, five years old, attended, four or five years old, attended not, it wasn't a Christian school, but it was an elementary school that was actually Lutheran and that was an influence, but attending a church of Christ there in the area.
00:08:03.605 --> 00:08:08.721
It didn't take me long to realize that and be influenced by that.
00:08:10.283 --> 00:08:29.557
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I gave that confession, that was June of 1985.
00:08:29.557 --> 00:08:30.399
And we were here in Texas.
00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:42.495
We were attending the Stop Six Church of Christ in Fort Worth, texas, and it was during a visit by none other than Dr WF Washington.
00:08:42.495 --> 00:09:06.524
Dr WF Washington, and he was just so powerful and so plain in how he preached the gospel and what influenced me was probably something that only a child my age could understand.
00:09:06.524 --> 00:09:16.316
He gave us the perspective of baptism with Noah's Ark, with Noah and the Ark.
00:09:16.316 --> 00:09:19.886
That's where it began.
00:09:21.991 --> 00:09:51.674
One way, the boat, one door, one entry, the flood, which represents the water, and being very specific in what the ark was made of you know how many windows and everything inside of the ark God was very specific.
00:09:51.674 --> 00:10:13.113
And so when Brother Washington just expounded on that in baptism and then brought it all the way to the Christian dispensation and Christ establishing and making that proclamation in Matthew 16, 18.
00:10:13.113 --> 00:10:34.138
At 10 years old, I said, well, I understand that, I have felt that and knew that for so long and I went down front during the invitation and that's when I went to that watery grave of baptism.
00:10:34.138 --> 00:10:34.839
Wow.
00:10:34.999 --> 00:10:36.120
At the age of 10.
00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:44.759
And that's so powerful because I think we've had a brother come on and say he was baptized at the age of eight, I think it was.
00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:56.879
So it's always amazing to hear that young people can understand Jesus, especially if it's taught right.
00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:01.615
So I'm so appreciative that you've shared that with us Now.
00:11:01.615 --> 00:11:11.520
My dear sister, once you said yes to Jesus and you obeyed that gospel, because we know when Jesus got baptized right, there was a wilderness moment.
00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:13.581
There's some stuff that happened right.
00:11:13.581 --> 00:11:15.302
You went to fasting, praying.
00:11:15.302 --> 00:11:18.960
Satan said oh really you hungry, let me try you now.
00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:29.710
So, after saying yes to Jesus, share with us, share with our audience, step by step-step, what started taking place in your life.
00:11:30.634 --> 00:11:36.525
Well, we were already here in Texas Prior to moving to Texas.
00:11:36.525 --> 00:11:47.990
When I was five, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so he went through surgery.
00:11:47.990 --> 00:12:19.663
So he went through surgery Chemotherapy, radiation and I remember being in the hospital and overhearing the doctors talk to my mom and I may have been in the room because, you know, sensitivity wasn't high, a high priority back then but he told my mom, he says we, you know, the surgery was successful, we removed, all of you know, whatever was malignant and part of his stomach.
00:12:19.663 --> 00:12:23.046
But he told my mom, he said it will come back.
00:12:23.046 --> 00:12:26.229
It will come back within five years.
00:12:26.229 --> 00:12:28.171
So just be prepared.
00:12:28.171 --> 00:12:30.873
And I just remember my mom.
00:12:30.873 --> 00:12:34.946
She didn't cry but she was so sad the rest of the day.
00:12:34.946 --> 00:12:39.844
So we had candy stripers back then.
00:12:39.844 --> 00:12:55.500
I don't know if you and Brother Nick remember candy stripers, but a candy striper took me into another room and she sat with me and I remember her telling me you have to be strong for your mommy, you have to be strong for her.
00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:59.802
And I was five I was like, ok, I'm going to be strong.
00:12:59.802 --> 00:13:05.326
Well, five years later, we're here in Texas.
00:13:05.326 --> 00:13:11.245
Cancer did come back and it came back in full force.
00:13:11.245 --> 00:13:16.937
So at that time I was 10.
00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:27.404
I would say my wilderness moment was watching my father suffer, was watching my father suffer.
00:13:27.404 --> 00:13:31.488
He did not want to go through surgery.
00:13:31.488 --> 00:13:35.071
He refused chemo and radiation.
00:13:35.071 --> 00:13:37.091
He said I can't do it anymore.
00:13:37.091 --> 00:13:50.788
I can't Watching my father sit on our couch in our living room and cry with his head on my mom's shoulder.
00:13:50.788 --> 00:14:00.948
Now my dad is 6'2" a voice like Barry White, and my mom is shorter than I am.
00:14:00.948 --> 00:14:01.710
I'm 4'11".
00:14:01.710 --> 00:14:03.498
She's 4'9", very petite.
00:14:03.498 --> 00:14:08.144
But she held my dad and he just sobbed.
00:14:08.144 --> 00:14:09.846
He said I don't want to die.
00:14:09.846 --> 00:14:15.921
And I remember sitting on the couch across from them and I just sat there.
00:14:15.921 --> 00:14:24.539
I didn't cry, I wasn't sad, but I said I have to be strong for my mommy, I have to be strong for her.
00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:32.645
And I remember getting up and I took my dad's hand and I said it's going to be okay, I'll take care of mommy.
00:14:35.514 --> 00:14:43.669
Well, they gave my dad two years without chemo, radiation or any type of surgery.
00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:48.937
Well, his health it declined quickly.
00:14:48.937 --> 00:14:57.366
So from the hospital they had to put him in a nursing facility and he passed within six months.
00:14:57.366 --> 00:15:24.261
So I was 11 at the time and at his funeral my brother was crying.
00:15:24.261 --> 00:15:26.804
My sisters are just there in the casket, just us.
00:15:26.804 --> 00:15:34.399
And I just remember sitting there at the funeral and they just kept coming to me they're like are you OK?
00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:34.880
Is it OK?
00:15:34.880 --> 00:15:38.922
I said, yeah, I'm fine, but I just had that in my head.
00:15:38.922 --> 00:15:40.260
I have to be strong.
00:15:40.260 --> 00:16:00.831
So my wilderness moment, my moment in the valley you know psychologists and counselors for children.
00:16:00.831 --> 00:16:01.475
They call it a happy place.
00:16:01.475 --> 00:16:17.590
But I know it was the Holy Spirit comforting me and dwelling in me and giving me that peace, so at some time my mom could look to me and see that I was strong for her.
00:16:19.495 --> 00:16:20.254
Oh, okay.
00:16:20.254 --> 00:16:36.493
So we go from your dad passing you, seeing him go through cancer At the age of five and you see him go through cancer at the age of 10.
00:16:36.493 --> 00:16:39.508
And then he passes.
00:16:39.508 --> 00:16:45.048
No daddy, just mommy and your siblings.
00:16:45.048 --> 00:16:46.432
What next?
00:16:46.432 --> 00:16:49.287
What happens next?
00:16:51.065 --> 00:16:52.730
Oh, what happens next?
00:16:52.730 --> 00:17:07.556
My two sisters move to Texas because they're actually in Detroit at the time my brother comes to visit, but he's actually still living in the house where we all grew up.
00:17:07.556 --> 00:17:28.674
So what happens next is probably five years of just watching my mom mourn.
00:17:28.674 --> 00:17:40.079
It was just the two of us for a while, but my sisters, they moved in for a little bit with us, but they didn't stay long, but they weren't too far away.
00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:49.738
It was just my mom and I in the house and just watching her mourn.
00:17:49.738 --> 00:18:03.846
There were nights where she would just cry I mean just wailing because she missed my dad so much and my dad was 13 years older than my mom.
00:18:03.846 --> 00:18:14.065
So it wasn't just, you know, her, her husband, her life partner, but because he was so much older, um, he just kind of took on this, you know, protector role.
00:18:14.065 --> 00:18:25.053
He just kind of took on this protector role just watching her mourn, struggle, not really knowing how she was going to pay the bills.
00:18:25.053 --> 00:18:29.797
My dad didn't have a will, that was just something he just really didn't believe in.
00:18:29.797 --> 00:18:41.728
There was a lump sum of money from his retirement but she just really didn't know what she was going to do.
00:18:41.728 --> 00:18:42.230
I know that now.
00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:52.712
I didn't quite understand that then, but I know that now, when we first moved here, they actually enrolled me in a Christian school.
00:18:52.712 --> 00:19:01.252
I attended fourth Christian uh, and that was predominantly, you know, it was sponsored in uh by the church of Christ, the churches of Christ.
00:19:01.252 --> 00:19:10.954
But a year after that she told me you can't stay at fourth Christian, mommy can't afford it.
00:19:10.954 --> 00:19:35.253
So she had to put me in a public school, and so it was just five years of maintaining that strength for my mom and making that transition from a Christian school to a public school, maintaining my spirituality and being a Christian.
00:19:35.253 --> 00:19:48.041
Because now I'm around a totally it's a culture shock going from a nice little Fort Worth Christian school, uh, you know, into the inner city of, uh, Fort Worth.
00:19:48.041 --> 00:19:58.330
So I'm dealing with some words I'm not really familiar with, um, some character you know, characteristics I'm not really you know familiar with.
00:20:01.361 --> 00:20:25.392
But in addition to the strength I had to show my mom and my sisters at home, I went to a public school and I had to let my light shine in that way, and so that was a really it was bittersweet.
00:20:25.392 --> 00:20:33.932
It was bittersweet because that, I think, was my first lesson where you know that song.
00:20:33.932 --> 00:20:34.673
We used to sing.
00:20:34.673 --> 00:20:36.862
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
00:20:36.862 --> 00:20:50.473
It not only meant, you know, allowing your light to shine amongst your brothers and sisters in the body, but that light shining in the world, that was the most important.
00:20:52.441 --> 00:20:58.292
So that was the beginning of me being known, as you know, the peacemaker or church girl.
00:20:58.292 --> 00:21:02.411
That was my nickname in in public schools.
00:21:02.411 --> 00:21:27.441
So that was just maintaining and I say, you know, over the next five years, because my mother, she did meet someone and remarry, meet someone and remarry, but it was just maintaining that strength and showing my mom, you know I'm not going to fall apart.
00:21:27.441 --> 00:21:29.163
I know I'm going to come home sometime and the lights will be out, which they were.
00:21:29.163 --> 00:21:38.442
She had to take on a second job and work from six to 11 o'clock at night and I had to be at home by myself and, you know, cook my own meals.
00:21:38.442 --> 00:21:48.050
If you know my sisters were working, you know they were, you know, in their, you know twenties and thirties at the time.
00:21:49.193 --> 00:21:58.906
So sometimes I would you know they would come over and bring me something to eat, but it was just giving my mom the reassurance that I understood.
00:21:58.906 --> 00:22:01.311
You know, I couldn't be a little spoiled, brat.
00:22:01.311 --> 00:22:05.608
Yeah, I had to just maintain that strength for.
00:22:06.380 --> 00:22:08.888
I'm going to ask you this question because it's coming into my spirit.
00:22:08.888 --> 00:22:12.864
When did you grieve and mourn the loss of your dad?
00:22:13.125 --> 00:22:21.415
I grieved and mourned the loss of my dad when I became engaged to be married.
00:22:21.415 --> 00:22:29.832
I remember I was single.
00:22:29.832 --> 00:22:41.571
I just graduated from college I guess I graduated for I guess I've been about two years and you know met who is now my ex-husband.
00:22:41.571 --> 00:22:44.445
But I remember sitting in my apartment by myself.
00:22:44.445 --> 00:23:09.605
Planning broke down because I came to the moment where my daddy wasn't here to walk me down the aisle and I was his baby girl.
00:23:09.605 --> 00:23:09.924
Oh, I was.
00:23:09.924 --> 00:23:11.547
I was baby girl.
00:23:11.547 --> 00:23:13.508
I was his little princess.
00:23:15.509 --> 00:23:27.377
So that was when that strength was overtaken by sorrow and grief.
00:23:27.377 --> 00:23:36.070
My dad wasn't able to see me make these little milestones.
00:23:36.070 --> 00:23:39.321
You know I went back and I did that reflection.
00:23:39.321 --> 00:23:42.251
You know he wasn't at my high school graduation.
00:23:42.251 --> 00:23:49.484
He couldn't watch me play soccer because, you know, he played baseball.
00:23:49.484 --> 00:23:54.912
So sports was just something that was he loved, was just something that was he loved.
00:23:54.912 --> 00:23:58.395
He couldn't be at my college graduation.
00:23:58.395 --> 00:24:10.962
And now I'm getting married and he's missing all these things.
00:24:10.962 --> 00:24:13.047
And that night, yeah, I cried myself to sleep and I woke up crying.
00:24:13.047 --> 00:24:16.692
But it wasn't until then that I was by myself and I woke up crying, but it was.
00:24:16.692 --> 00:24:29.075
It wasn't until then that I was by myself and I, just I was able to be vulnerable with God in that moment because no one else was around to see me.
00:24:29.075 --> 00:24:30.663
See me break down.
00:24:31.325 --> 00:24:34.211
Oh, thank you for sharing that and the reason I asked you that question.
00:24:34.211 --> 00:24:42.489
It literally was stirring in my spirit, cause I'm like as a little girl, you lose a parent and you're strong.
00:24:42.489 --> 00:24:49.237
So it's like when does the grief overtake you in that strength, right?
00:24:49.237 --> 00:25:07.545
So here it is you are about to get married and you have to go back to when he wasn't there for those different milestones, to now, as you're preparing to be someone's wife.
00:25:07.545 --> 00:25:10.127
So your dad wasn't even there to vet the person that you're about to marry.
00:25:10.127 --> 00:25:22.827
Your dad wasn't even there to say, hey, I don't think this is a right decision for you, right?
00:25:22.827 --> 00:25:24.917
So you know where we're going now.
00:25:24.917 --> 00:25:31.422
Right, you're about to get married.
00:25:31.422 --> 00:25:43.204
When you met this person because I know the story I want you to share, from when you met your ex-husband to when you married your husband, to when it led to divorce.
00:25:43.204 --> 00:25:56.394
So you're giving us the meeting point, everything that happened, who was in your ears, getting engaged to yeah, we can't be together, no more type situation.
00:25:57.161 --> 00:26:02.412
That's it for now, but before we go, please continue to listen, subscribe and share our podcast.
00:26:02.412 --> 00:26:09.848
Also, if you want to support our show, please scroll down to the bottom of the show notes and click on the link that says buy me a coffee.
00:26:09.848 --> 00:26:11.992
We would greatly appreciate it.
00:26:11.992 --> 00:26:22.020
Thank you for listening and remember God is good all the time, and all the time God is good and also Jesus Christ loves you.
00:26:22.020 --> 00:26:22.800
Thank you.
