Mary Jackson's Faith

Mary Jackson founded a ministry in Barrio Logan. She helps women learn job skills.

Mary drives a new Honda Element. “Do you want to hear how I got such a nice car?” she asks. I nod, and she begins, “At the end of last year, I was praying for a friend of mine, and I asked, ‘Lord, what would you have me do for this person, if anything?’ He said, ‘Give them your car.’

“I had been thinking about giving a little money or encouragement. So I said, ‘My car?’ And He said, ‘Yes, like before.’

“About seven years ago I had broken my back and couldn’t drive a stick shift anymore. And I prayed and I asked God whether to put my car in the Reader or the Union-Tribune or the Auto Trader, and He told me to give it to this family I knew.

“I’d never heard anything like that before from Him. So just in case I had misheard Him, I told Him I’d check back in a week. In case He didn’t see the whole picture, that I really needed that money to get a different car and to get my daughter braces, I gave him another week to reevaluate.

“A week went by and then I asked, ‘Okay, God, I’ve given you this week, now what’s it going to be, Auto Trader or Union-Tribune or Reader?’ He said, “Give it to the Pattons.’ So I gave my car to these people. This time it was much easier, because I had done it once and I knew He wouldn’t leave me high and dry.

“I was using an old station wagon that our ministry owned, and someone came up and said they had been praying and they felt that they were supposed to buy me a car. I was really taken back, this was so generous, and I didn’t want them to do it because they felt sorry for me.

“My daughter hears from the Lord too, so that day I went to her and said, ‘There’s a really important decision I need to make, and I need to know if the answer is yes or no, and that’s all I’m going to tell you.’ So my daughter went to the gym and worked out, and she came home, and we talked about something else. Then she said, ‘Oh by the way, God said yes.’

“This person asked me what kind of car I wanted, and I said ‘Idon’t know.’ Later, we went to look at cars, and we looked at a Honda Element, because I have two dogs and it’s just kind of me, a little functional, a little boxy. And it’s a good car.

“This person said, ‘You know this is God’s money, so don’t thank me, thank the Lord.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but God gave you the money and you have the choice of what to do with it.’ And the person said, ‘No, really,it’s between you and God.’ So on the way to this dealership, I said to the Lord, ‘I’m not understanding this.’ It was really hard for me to receive such a huge gift. And the Lord said to me, ‘This is my money, and I want to bless you. So allow me to bless you as you have blessed others.’

“I cried."