Betty Whitaker Jackson

I’ve just published my twenty-sixth book. This is the third in a series of stories about the area where I grew up, the Hudson Valley of New York. The first, a Christian romance features a young couple, married during their first year of college, together now for ten years. They’ve earned masters and doctorate degrees, seven in all, backpacked through Europe, published books that became best sellers, and built dreams. The second and third books bring them back home to…..

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Presidents’ Day may not mean much this year with all the cancel culture things going on. Do today’s students memorize, much less study, the Gettysburg Address? Do they read Washington’s Farewell Address? They did in my classes when I taught “real” literature for forty years. I suspect few even know today’s significance. Too bad!

The irony of a strange definition of impeachment is our “heritage” lesson today. There are a few tributes to Black History heroes and heroines.  I’ll go…..

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From my book, My Psalms Devotional Guide: Psalm 156:” As in times of old, we pray earnestly for Your protection And Your presence through Your Holy Spirit, Telling us once more, for we are so forgetful, that You are in charge of each cell, Each muscle, each body, You have made. You are the Great Physician. We know Your Name, And You know ours, And that as Our Loving Father, You control all things for Your good. We praise You for…..

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Philippians 3;12-14: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Susie Larson in “Blessings for Every Day” writes: “May you refuse to drag the heavy baggage from your past another step. May you refuse to borrow tomorrow’s trouble when it’s not yours to carry. May you instead grab hold of today’s mercy, today’s grace, and today’s power offered…..

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From My Psalm 155, written for such a day as this: (from my book ‘My Psalms Devotional Guide,”2016) a prayer:

“You, Father God, have promised to be near us, Utterly within us with Your Spirit. I thank you expectantly for the changes in people’s lives Your Divine guidance and blessing, Clear answer to prayer. You are Might, Powerful, Omniscient and Omnipresent. Thank you for governing my waking and sleeping. In the silent recess of nighttime, you wake me to prayer……

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During this COVIC quarantine time, when few daily pleasures occur with regularity, I am thankful for three people who bless me with their photography. One posts pictures of sunrises each morning, perfectly framed with a river dock or palm trees or both; one takes daily walks through the woods and focuses on both the “big” picture and minute details, and my nephew delights in photographing the vast sky and beauty of rural Arizona.  God’s eternal glory is revealed to us…..

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When the world seems to be in chaos, and disappointment and confusion abound, it’s so good to know that God loves us, and that He sent Jesus so we could follow Him through the morass and  wilderness. John 10:27 says: “My sheep listen to My voice. I know them, and they follow Me.”  Susie Larson writes in “Blessings for Every Day” : May God give you Spirit-eyes to see the blessings in your battles. May He givve you Spirit=ears to…..

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Exodus 14:14 reminds us to be still and just listen. It says: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” The last few days have been tense, thinking about my sister’s hospitalization, her COVID treatment, and her delayed physical therapy after her shoulder replacement surgery. Yesterday she was transferred again to Sharon, CT Healthcare, a rehabilitation facility nearer to her home in Pine Plains, New York. There she should receive the attention she needs for her…..

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Jeremiah 32:17 says: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.” Susie Larson writes in “Blessings for Every Day,” “May salvation spring up all around you! May you see lives changed, relationships restored, and bodies healed everywhere you turn. May your expectancy of what God can and wants to do in your midst rise exponentially. He is a star-breathing miracle -working, intimately involved God.”…..

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God is good. I talked with my “Covid” sister and that was a blessing. After her harrowing paramedic encounter, then Covid declaration at one hospital (no symptoms), she was transferred by ambulance (over an hour away in a raging snowstorm) to Danbury, CT hospital for treatment. She has received antibody infusion and Remdisivir and is doing well. Thank you for your prayers. Today’s Ephesians 3:19 verse is true: “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great…..

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