by Grace Hackett | Mar 25, 2021 | Life Advice |
I’m a procrastinator by nature – my M.O. is to put things off until the last minute possible. I never studied for tests until I absolutely had to (usually, the night before)… and when I was in college I found myself doing the same thing with my faith. I refused to go all-in with Jesus because that meant I had to say no to a lot of the “college experience” that society tells us makes college the “best 4 years of your life.” I remember literally thinking, “once I graduate, I’ll really dive into my faith.” Yet, if you had asked me if I was a Christian, I would have told you yes without hesitation. Looking back, there were seasons where I don’t really feel like I had a right to call myself that.
Imagine a woman telling you that she’s a registered nutritionist and fitness coach. As you get to know her and observe her life, you see that she never exercises, only eats junk food, and her degree is actually in business, not nutrition. You would think that woman is a complete fraud calling herself “a nutritionist and fitness coach.” A Christian, by definition, is someone who follows Jesus. To follow means “to act according to the lead or example of someone.” If I’m not walking with Jesus and striving to imitate Him in the way I live, why would I call myself a Christian?
I think for a lot of us, it’s easy for Christianity to become a safety net. We know deep down that we have to be a Christian to get to heaven, but we think we can put off going all-in with Jesus because there are other things we want in the moment that don’t align with the life He calls us to. We want physical intimacy outside of marriage. We want to wear risqué clothes & feel hot. We don’t want to risk being different and not fitting in. But once we “sow our wild oats” or “get it out of our system,” THEN there’s Jesus on the other side.
Trust me, I’ve been there and I get it. But there are a few problems with this mentality. First, it’s a really risky way to live. In the words of Bieber, “youngblood thinks there’s always tomorrow,” but the reality is that every single one of us is going to die at some point, and none of us know when our time will come. Assuming we have tomorrow is assuming that we have control over our timeline, which is a false sense of control…and by choosing our flesh over life with Jesus, we’re risking eternal life— the greatest risk of all.
Second, the things that the world offers and our flesh longs for lead to emptiness, anxiety, depression, insecurity and shame. College was, in fact, NOT the best 4 years of my life because the things I chased and looked to for fulfillment left me utterly empty.
If you can relate to this, I have good news. There’s no shame in your journey and it’s not too late for you. Quite the opposite, actually! God is waiting for you with open arms. The life He offers and our souls need leads to fulfillment, joy, peace, purpose and confidence. Saying YES to go all-in with Him doesn’t mean you’re going to be perfect. We’re all like babies learning to walk. When a baby falls, his parents don’t shame him or
get angry. They get excited at his attempt and encourage him to get back up and try again. It’s the same with God – He delights in our effort. We just have to choose Him and try! Abundant life is waiting on the other side of our “YES.”
Grace Hackett is a born-and-raised Nashvillian. She works for her family’s nonprofit, Love One International, and she’s passionate about sharing the joy that is found in Jesus. She’s happiest when she’s with her husband and pup or family and friends, and her favorite foods are sushi and ice cream.
Follow Grace on Instagram @gracemhackett
by Grace Hackett | Aug 14, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice
A few weeks ago, our pastor said, “we all receive God’s grace, but receiving His FAVOR is dependent on our obedience.”
Dang. If that feels like a bit of a gut-punch to you, it did to me too. Not necessarily because I’m actively disobeying God, but because true obedience means complete surrender to whatever He calls you to do…and if you think about the kind of things God has historically called people to do, that’s kind of scary.
Take Noah for example… my usual takeaways from this Bible story are the obvious: the unfathomable size of the ark, the fact that Noah corralled and onboarded a pair of every species of animal on earth, God’s intense act of wiping out the world with a flood and starting over again. But I read it again recently and a new thought occurred to me: What did Noah’s friends think when they saw him building that boat? What were the people in his community saying about him? I think we have this conception that “back then” was so different from today when in reality, it wasn’t. People were judgmental back then. People gossiped back then. And dedicating YEARS of your life to build a ginormous boat that God told you will save the human race seemed just as crazy back then as it would today! But Noah obeyed God anyways, and God showed Him great favor.
I also see this truth woven throughout my own story. Since I was in the 4thgrade, I’ve watched as my parents have actively obeyed God’s radical (and sometimes seemingly crazy) callings on their lives. And as a result of their obedience, not much about my life has looked “normal.”
I associate 4thgrade as a turning point because it’s the year that my mom literally heard God say that He had a child for them, and they said yes to pursue our first domestic adoption. That same year, we also took our first mission trip to Guatemala.
To give you a little background— we live in Williamson County, where the racial demographic is 85% white, the median household income is over $100K, and the average family size is 3.
Guatemala was my first exposure to really any level of poverty, and when my parents added Joshua, an African American baby boy (who, at the time, were the last children to be adopted in the US), to our family of 6…well, you can imagine that we didn’t exactly blend in. And that didn’t change with time…our family continued to grow and our life looked increasingly different from those around us as we domestically adopted my brother Caleb in 2007. Around the same time, my dad joined the Board of Directors for a non-profit in Uganda and in 2009 (for my 7thgrade spring break), we boarded a plane to Africa for the first time.
Prior to the trip, my mom said we were “done having/adopting kids.” She had co-founded an organization called 147 Million Orphans that raised money for other non-profits, helped adoptive families fundraise, and completed projects for various organizations in Uganda, Haiti and Honduras. At that point, 147 allowed her to continue to serve without bringing in any more kids of her own, but she always said that HYPOTHETICALLY, if they ever adopted again, she “would want to adopt a little girl, name her JosieLove, and put her hair in pom-poms.” Well, wouldn’t you know that we visited a children’s home on that trip, and there sat little Josephine – the only child with a full head of hair (if that’s not God’s sense of humor, I don’t know what is). She sat alone, isolated from all the other children. Her eyes barely opened and at 3 years old, she weighed 12 pounds. Despite her physical conditions, God gave this 7thgrader’s heart a very clear peace that she BELONGED in our family. So, as any determined, slightly stubborn middle schooler would do, I came home and changed all of our computer backgrounds to photos of sweet Josephine and asked my parents every morning before school if they had prayed about her joining our family. In His perfect timing, God gave them the same peace and 8 months later, they traveled to Uganda to bring her home.
I could write a whole post solely about the whirlwind of events that followed, but the plans quickly got flipped upside down when my parents took Josie in for a routine medical exam and she tested positive for tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. When the orphanage directors found out about the diagnosis, they assured my mom and dad that they would get them a “perfectly healthy child” and they could leave Josephine behind. My parents have vivid memories of my response to the news as I asked them, “if she was perfect, would you take her?”
Despite the fears of the unknown, they knew that she was supposed to be a Mayernick so they fought for her and watched as God showed up with undeniable favor, opening door after door for her to come home. Her progress once she arrived was truly remarkable. To say she’s a walking miracle would be an understatement – she blossomed into the most joyful, radiant kid you’ll ever encounter. Not to mention that her HIV is undetectable!
So if you haven’t kept up with the math, JosieLove’s arrival put us at 7 kids. And if you’re thinking “wow, that’s a lot of people under one roof,” the story isn’t finished!
For the next 7 years, our family continued to work with 147 Million Orphans. We built houses in Honduras, a clinic in Haiti, and consistently served alongside our friends with ministries in Uganda. This season of serving brought us the final piece to complete our family puzzle when we met (my now sister) Tuta on a trip to Honduras! She was aging out of her orphanage and it really was an instantaneous, God-ordained heart connection. After supporting her from afar for a couple of years, we were able to get her a US student visa in 2015 and she’s been a part of our family ever since.
Fast forward to 2017, and my mom felt God leading her to really focus on the need in Uganda and dig our roots there. We saw first-hand how the love of a family & quality medical care saved Josie’s life and enabled her to grow and flourish, and the crazy thing is – there are thousands of kids just like her! So, in 2017, we changed our name from 147 Million Orphans to Love One International (named after Josie LOVE) and started a rehabilitation center for children in Uganda.
Now, God isn’t gonna ask you to build a giant ship to save mankind, and He may not tell you to adopt 4 kids and start a rehabilitation center for kids in Africa, but obedience is just as important in the small decisions as it is in the big ones…like saying yes when the Holy Spirit prompts you to give $5 to the man on the side of the road, loving that person that’s difficult to love, or intentionally praying for the people in your life.
Obedience is staying true to the person God calls us to be in the day-to-day so that our hearts are postured to receive and say YES to the big, unknown, intimidating things He calls us to.
One of the best pieces of advice my mom has ever given me is that God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. He will give you the support system, the tools, and the strength. All you have to do is say YES to that initial prompting, then watch as He shows up, opens doors and fills your life with abundance and favor. Take it one day at a time, trust that His plans are better than yours, and just keep saying yes.
Grace Hackett is a born-and-raised Nashvillian. She works full-time for her family’s nonprofit, Love One International, and is passionate about advocating for those without a voice. She’s happiest when she’s with her husband, family and friends, and her favorite foods are sushi and ice cream.
Follow Grace on Instagram @gracemhackett
