God in My Story: Lora Jackson

A testimony from Lora Jackson.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Life Church Podcast, a place where the Word of God comes alive through scripture teaching and real stories of faith. Each episode, we dive deep into the Bible and share what God is doing in and through Life Church Windsboro. And we're going to hear powerful testimonies from people walking daily with Jesus. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, encouragement, or a closer relationship with Christ, you're in the right place. No matter where you are on your journey, our prayer is that this podcast feeds your soul, strengthens your walk with Christ, and draws you closer to the heart of God. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Jamie Foster, and I'm so glad you're joining us for another episode of our God in My Story series. Today I'm sitting down with Laura Jackson to talk about prayer, trust, and how God prepares us for seasons we do not see coming. Laura, thank you so much for being here and for being willing to share your story with us today. I'm so excited. I'm excited too. And like preparing for this, there's just something that it speaks to a very deep place. And so thank you for being willing and um and being here today. So before we get into your story, um I want to start with something personal for me. Um, years ago, when I was working in the children's ministry here at Life Church, you gave me a set of scripture cards as a Christmas gift. Um, and you made these cards. They were printed out, business size cards. They sit in a little business size card holder, and um they're personalized because in the scripture, my name is printed where it speaks of the believer. So it's a very personal thing. Um, I still have them on my bathroom counter. It's funny, they are dusty, they're a little uh like a little uh off-color now from sitting, you know, for all those years. Um, but I've always loved how personal that made God's word feel to me. Even on those moments when I might not have been reading the scripture, it just stands as a testimony when I'm washing my face, brushing my teeth, dealing with whatever whatever struggles are going through my life at that point, that God's word is personal and he is there with me.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

And so um well, you know, to saying that, um, I I make them for myself. So uh it depends on what I'm going through. Like if I'm sick and I really need to just focus on the healing of the Lord, I'll I have healing scriptures and they're they're that and it's personal to me. And and so it just depends on my walk and where I'm at to what I'm reading that day or that week or maybe that month. You know, it depends on how long you go through something. So such a good reminder of it is of making things with God personal.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

We can get caught up in the minutiae of the day's details and forget that it's there for us. Yes. So um, and as I was thinking about our conversation today, it to me that gift for so many years ago reflects what we're really kind of focused on our talk today. When I going through uh your story and preparing for this, um, and even the years that I we've been here at Life Church and seeing your leadership and seeing your work in the church, um, you have a heart for prayer and for ministering to people one-on-one. Right. Um and this might be kind of a silly question, but has prayer always been a central part of your life?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Well, so I was saved as a child, grew up in church, but uh as a young adult, I sort of I quit going to church, sort of got over on the wild side of life. And so, but I can remember during those years that, and and I the Lord brings this up to me a lot because during that time, you know, most people, most people, even if you're not saved or living for the Lord, when something desperately happens in your life, you you pray, you you cry out to the Lord. Well, I can remember a time I I it wasn't something just terrible going on in my life, but it was something that I needed the favor of the Lord on. And I and I prayed this, it to me it's like this silly prayer. I asked the Lord for a certain thing. And I'm not serving the Lord. I'm and I was just uh and I didn't even pray every day. But I I I prayed and asked God specifically for details on this particular thing. And do you know the Lord answered exactly like I had prayed? And the Lord reminds me of that throughout the years, how I wasn't even serving him, but just God's grace and his mercy and how he answered me because he loved me. You know, not strictly because I deserved it or I earned it or any of those things. So I think it's say, was it has it always been a central part? I think, of course, now that I've served the Lord for 25, 30 years, yes, it has. But even in those times, it probably was out of desperation, maybe yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Yeah, that's it. That's great. I love that. And um I think it gives us a glimpse um into who you are. Uh, but just a quick backup for a minute. Uh, for those who might may not know you, just give us a quick introduction to who to yourself.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Okay, I'm Laura Jackson, like they said, and I live in Mangum. Uh I have two kids. I have a daughter that lives in Houston, and she has a daughter, and I have a son, um, BJ, probably most people around here know him. He lives in Mangum, and he has four sons. So, um, of course, Bruce has moved on to heaven. So, anyway, so that's that's my life right now.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

So, and what a beautiful full life. Yes, it is. That's great. So um, you and Bruce have been a part of Life Church almost from the very beginning. You started attending the year after Life Church started or with someone.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

So Life Church started in May of 2002, and we came in January of 2002. Okay, three.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

So you have been here through Yes. All that so tell us um tell us about what those early years at Life Church meant for.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Well, so when we came, so Bruce got saved in 2001. So he was like a just a really uh, and and when I say saved, y'all, I am talking total transformation life. So when that happens, it totally transforms your family. Right. And so uh he was on fire for the Lord, even all these years on fire for the Lord. I mean, the fire never ever went out in him. And um, so we went, we he had been saved about a year and a half when we first started. It was a very small church at the time, 15, 20 people, but it was family, and you got to know each other. I think you lose that a lot of times as a bigger church, but as that small group, you you did life with each other. You knew what their kids and grandkids were doing, and you know, you just did life. So it was uh it's why I'm here today. It is. It's why I'm here. Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

In 2021, after nearly 20 years at Life Church, you and Bruce began to sense the Lord leading you in a new direction. Um, and you did not know where God was leading, but you knew He was stirring something. What was that like?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

You know, um so this was in the beginning of the summer of 2021 in like June. So we felt we both felt that the Lord wanted us to leave. Uh, not even knowing where we would go, what are we supposed to do? How do you up and leave after 20 years? I just how, you know, right, but we knew the voice of the Lord and we trusted it. Now it took us six months. We didn't leave till January because you fleeced the Lord. Lord, now are you sure? You know, because I can remember years ago, Brother Kevin preached a message on hell in the hallway. And it was when you step out and that door closes behind you, and there's no door open in front of you, it is hell in the hallway. And so uh those three years we were gone, um it I tell you, I I know how, you know how you read stories in the Bible and you just think, oh, well, that you don't hear the emotion or or the of how somebody really felt because when you read in Genesis 12, where Abraham, God told him, leave your kindred, leave your country, go to a land I'll show you. Uh I I thought he, I know what he must have felt like. And so um I think most of the time we want to say, okay, God, you show me where I'm going and then I'll go, instead of just uh go and and then I'll show you. And so uh I think that first year was sort of like grieving a loss. I think um it was, you know, we missed the people and we missed the church. And I mean, we were going to church, we we were actually going to the assembly in Mangum, and it's wonderful people there, and it's um they just welcomed us. I I don't uh I look back now and probably think we didn't go in it with the right heart because we we were missing this, you know. And so um, but looking back on that, now I know that the Lord was preparing us, preparing me from where I'm at right now in this season in my life. So I think some seasons are just preparation seasons. You don't know it when you're walking through it, but God's preparing you for something for another season you're gonna walk in later. So there is, let me say this. I can remember during those years driving to work and I was crying out to the Lord, what are you doing with my life? Because, you know, we don't have a lot of basements here in Louisiana and houses, but you know, you think of them as just dark, cold, damp, all of that. And I I I can remember telling the Lord I felt like he had put me up on that top shelf back in the corner where all the cobswell were. You know, like just a time of, but what it did during those times of feeling alone uh was you are desperate to hear from the Lord and you're desperate for him, and so you seek God different. When everything's going good in your life, you don't seek him like you do when you need him every single second. And that those years were that we had great times. It wasn't like, oh God, it was just a miserable time, but um it was still a time of seeking God with all your heart. On the your face in the floor, God, what are you doing? And whatever it is, here I am. You know, you just have to totally surrender to whatever God's doing at the time. And even when you don't understand and you don't, you don't know what tomorrow holds, you you still, and so trusting the Lord and all that, uh, it builds something in you. And you don't even know you're you're building something, you still feel weak, you know, until you're walking through something. But there's a scripture that says, before you call, I will answer. So God already knew I would call out to him in desperation on August 14th last year. And he already put in me every single thing that I would need to walk through the journey I'm on right now. So I knew God and I knew his word, and the only thing that's carried me this past year.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

So um, and I guess so in August of 2025, what you're referring to, um Bruce passed away. Yes. Um, and as hard as that has been, you've said these those previous three years helped prepare you for what you did not know what was coming. That you did not know what was coming. Right. Looking back, how can you see God preparing you before you ever knew?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Well, and just like I just said there, so let me let me just say this. So Bruce passed away unexpected, middle of the night, August 14th of 2025. We were married 48 years, and so my whole life was turned upside down that day. Um and I knew my life would never be the same. Um, but I I do want to say I have three spirit-filled friends that have walked with me every step of the way. They've prayed for me, they've challenged me, um, and they've been there on this now journey I'm on now. Um the first one, her name is Melissa Macaluso. Uh uh, she she's a work friend, and I saw her, she would come check on me every single day and just speak God things into me, remind me of what God says. And and so um I another friend is Debbie Johnson, and then of course life church owned Lisa Ashley. So those people, those three ladies have walked with me through this whole journey. And I think there's something beautiful about having godly friends that um, you know, just like if somebody's going through a divorce, you don't you don't want people that divorce. I mean, you really, you really need people that have walked through some things, even though all three of these have had not, but they knew the word. They knew God and they were able to speak into me some things that I needed. So after the night after the funeral, I had read in Isaiah 53 where it says, He borne my griefs and he carried my sorrows. And I told the Lord that night, it's a too heavy of a burden to bear. And you've carried it all and you bore it all. I'm leaving it with you. I can't, I can't carry this, I can't walk this way. And so, but the Lord's carried me through this and everything else I've faced this past year. I've known the Lord in so many different ways. My comforter when I've through all this loss, my joy when I was sad, and I've learned that joy and grief can leave it live in the same heart. You can celebrate what's in front of you while still honoring what you lost. And, you know, I knew if I ever went down that deep dark hole, it would be so hard to come back out of it. And I've just relied on the Lord for every single thing, for everything I've had. And so it reminds me of the Andre Kraus song. I've learned to trust in Jesus and I've learned to depend upon his word. So there's a scripture in Job 42, it's in the very last chapter of that book, and you know, all that Job went through, you know, and uh, but it says, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. And I see God different now. Um only because, you know, we read about God, we hear about him preached or talked about, but to actually experience him, to really be your comforter and really be your peace and really be your joy, you know, you you see diff God different in those times. So that scripture is it's it's so great to me, but now my eyes see you, is what the end of that says. So, yes, I've seen God through all of this. So I would never be able to walk through everything I had this past year if I hadn't learned to trust God with all the unanswered questions. And he's prepared me these past three years from what I'm walking in now. And you know, the Bible says secret things belong to the Lord. Uh some things we will never know why they happen, but we have to trust God through it all, and we have to be okay with not knowing why.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

That is so hard.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

And and it's so hard. I've never been one to just always, God, why'd you let this happen? Or God, I've I've never been one to ask why. And it's not nothing wrong with asking why. That's just not my personality. But um there's a quote that says, we live life looking forward, but we only understand it looking back. And so some things we won't understand until we get on the other side, but but some things, you know, you'll you go through and you say, Thank God that didn't happen. Or you know how you would when you move forward on something and look back. So I think you look back just me on those past three years and say, God, if I had not known you like I knew you during that time, I'd never be able to walk to what I'm walking to now. So, and I and I don't want to to make it out as a sad thing or talking about bad stuff, you know, because there's so much good in my story and in my past and and all of that. So I I don't want to leave this and people get that idea that that it was all sad or bad or whatever. So, but so another thing, uh, you know the quote that says, uh, what's in the well will come up in the bucket? Have you heard that? You've never heard that. Oh my goodness. So it's that's a good one though. It's true, it's still truth in that. So what you feed on daily becomes the well you draw from. Right. So if you meditate on the word daily and that's what you put in you, if you put Netflix or social media and all that, when you go through things, that's what's coming out of you. So I I think you have to put those things in you because we're all gonna go through stuff. There's things gonna happen you are not prepared for, right? But it's depends on what you have inside of you.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Right. So and and I think your life has been such a beautiful testimony of faith and trusting and uh just and finding the God's work in the circumstances you're in the middle of. And so um that's it's a beautiful thing, and I appreciate um so I guess I was gonna uh uh talk a little bit about the the ministry you're you're working on now in Life Church. Is there anything else I guess am I missing? Okay, so um recently God has opened a new door for you here at Life Church uh through the altar ministry, which you know, I guess you think about a church, we have an altar ministry that all like happens, you know, on an ongoing basis. But recently you have stepped into a role to organize that and put some intentionality into responding to the people um who seek time at the altar. And I feel like even in the last couple, since this has been more of an uh an organized response, I have seen our church use our altar differently. And um anyway, so um, I guess if you don't mind, tell me a little bit about where that was that an um a vision that came from you, was that a call that you somebody asked and you responded to?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I think when I came back, um I I told the Lord, I am not signing up for nothing. I am not going to be able to do that. I'm just gonna go sit on the pew. No, I didn't say that, but but I did. I'm like, God, you're gonna have to open a door. I'm not going, because you know, when we were here before, of course, me and Bruce led the prayer team. Right. And now Lisa Ashley does and does a wonderful job with that. And so uh I I knew just based on my personality, which is that type A person, I I couldn't even go back and join her prayer team because I didn't want to go in and take over or or or people look to me for anything. It's hers and she's doing a great job. So, yes, but but so this new altar ministry is more of a partnership with us. She's on the altar ministry team, and you know, uh, the altar will alter you people. I mean, it if you've ever heard that, the altar will. And so I think a lot of times we get away from people coming to the altar. But um, so I I desperately want to help hurting people work through the hardest battles of their lives and speak faith, life into that situation. So when all hope is seems lost, and some people, you just need somebody to come alongside you and help them get their fight back. You know, you your faith gets weak. You don't even have faith for what's next or or tomorrow or whatever you're facing today. So, but I love to just step back and after you've prayed with somebody. Believed with them, spoke into that situation, then just step back and see what the Lord does in it. It's a beautiful thing just to see what God does. And so, you know, the only fight in the Bible that it says for us to fight is a fight of faith. That's the only fight we're supposed to fight. And because the battle belongs to the Lord. So if you lose your faith, you've lost your hope. I mean, you you don't have anything to hold on to. That's what this altar ministry is for. Uh, it's 14 people on the team. Um, it's um, of course, we're on a rotation, so you see different ones up there each Sunday. And um, you know, uh, there's a story about Exodus in Exodus about Moses when I think he was fighting the Amalachites, the Israel, Israelite, Israel was fighting the Malachites. And uh he would hold his arms up in his staff, but then when he would get tired and he would drop his arms, they would be defeated. And so Moses' brothers came and set him on a rock and got on each side of him, and they held his hands up. And um it says, by the end of the day, they won the battle. We need people. We need people of faith. We need people when we feel weak, and we need somebody to come and lift our arms up. That's the the one thing I can say. And uh about the three friends I've had this past year to walk with, they've held me up when I felt like, okay, I I I can't take another step in this. And so um we all need someone. That's what this altar ministry is for. Um and and of course, we all at times need time alone with the Lord. When the the Spirit's moving in that service, and you just need to come and kneel down and get by yourself with the Lord. That the altar's there for that too. But there's people standing there that can agree with you, pray with you. It's totally confidential. They don't even tell me who they've prayed with. It's not about that, it's about having someone to help keep your arms lifted up.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

So that brings us back to kind of the thought we started on: your heart for prayer and ministering to people one-on-one and bringing scripture, bringing uh faith, bringing that community to where people meeting them where they are. Um so just I know kind of wrap it up for us. Why do you love praying with people one-on-one, especially when they need that hope, that strength?

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Well, you know, there is a scripture in Matthew 18, 19. It says, if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for you by my Father in heaven. You need somebody sometimes just to agree with you on what the Lord says about it. And we need a support system, we need a godly support system. And so, like I say, we have this great team. They're prayed over every Sunday. Uh, they they prepare their hearts at week ministering before they're gonna minister to somebody. I mean, they know when they're on, and we're all praying for those that'll be on. Y'all is such a great thing at this church. And uh a lot of times in uh other churches, you see maybe just the pastor stay standing up there, you know. And yeah, that's I mean, of course you want your pastor praying for you, and he does. But I'm saying these are people called to this ministry. And so um I'm so thankful for Brother Kevin to just uh let this be here. It's an awesome thing, and I think it's not, it's just gonna grow. It's just gonna grow from here. So you get discouraged at times. I mean, some of them will. I mean, they'll they'll text me, discouraged that nobody came this Sunday. Nobody did, you know, and I'm like, okay, were you called? Did you think the Lord called you? And they'll say, yeah. Well, then you know what? You show up, you be prepared, you're ready, but because you keep showing up. And then one day, when it's God's timing on all of it, we're gonna all be ready, and it's gonna happen when the Lord does. You know, we may pray for one or two people every Sunday, but there's gonna be times and then not altar's full, and you, but you're ready. You're ready. Right. So God's timing. I I do want to encourage people though, don't walk in church, don't leave church with the same struggles, all of that that you walked in with. You know, let somebody pray with you. Just walk out of there free of that.

SPEAKER_04 27:18

Oh that's yes, thank you for that. So um we'll kind of we'll we'll wrap it up on this. What would you say to someone walking through grief, uncertainty, or unanswered prayers?

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Trust the Lord every step of the way. Put every bit of your trust in him.

unknown 27:37

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

You have to. Thank you. And I think that is something that you have walked and lived out yourself.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

So the the scripture in Proverbs 3:5, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, and in all your ways acknowledge him. So it we're not gonna understand everything, but we have to trust him in everything.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

I think that's the bottom line. Thank you for that. Um, Laura, thank you so much for being here today, for sharing your story, for being open with us and letting us see what God has done and is still doing in and through you. Um, would you mind closing for us in prayer? I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Father, I thank you for Jamie and Jason and this new ministry you've given them. Continue to bless them and for everyone that listens, that they may find in every testimony to help them to know that if you will do it for one, Lord, you will do it for them. And God, I pray for all those listening today that just like that scripture I quoted earlier, God, you said, before we call, you will answer. Father, help us to know that you know what our tomorrow's hold. And you've already supplied the answer, and we trust you with our future. God, you're faithful. You've always been faithful, Father. So today we look to the heels from where our help comes from, because we know that our help comes from you. We love you, we thank you, and we give you all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Thank you for listening to the Life Church Podcast. We pray today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, and brought you closer to Jesus. If you enjoyed the podcast, consider sharing it with someone so that they might be encouraged as well. To learn more about Life Church Windsboro, get connected, or find spiritual guidance, you can find us online at the c.us or follow us on Facebook. But the best option is for you to join us in person each Sunday at 10 30 a.m. at 23 30 Highway 15, Windsboro, Louisiana. Jesus said, the one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. So until next time, continue walking with Jesus, allowing yourself to be fed from his word.