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Women World Leaders' Podcast


Jun 27, 2022

"Even when I walk through the darkest valley,  I will not be afraid." (Psalm 23:4 NLT) Today's guest, Amanda Jackman, walked through one of the darkest valleys of a lifetime that anyone can face. 
 
God's presence as she walked in the moments of death, fear, and fighting for life is why Amanda is now able to testify of victory in such a way that encourages others.
 
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Kimberly Hobbs  
Welcome to empowering lives with purpose. And I'm your host, Kimberly Hobbs. I'm the founder of Women world leaders. Ladies, we are happy that you have joined with us today. And I would love to welcome our guests who is also joined with us. Amanda Jackman, from Michigan. Welcome, Amanda.

Amanda Jackman  
Hello, ladies. And Kimberly, thank you so much for having me.

Kimberly Hobbs  
I'm so happy that you decided to join with us today. And we're just excited with the content of today's podcast is going to be intense. But we pray that you feel God's presence in this podcast because that was one of the words that we prayed over today was presence, not not the presence that you're getting as a gift at Christmas, but the presence of our Lord. And Amanda's story is quite remarkable. And she has so willingly come on to share this miraculous story with you in hopes that it's going to help encourage you to add the words as they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony. That's revelation 1211. And home My goodness, by sharing the story in what God has done in Amanda's life through her story is a powerful God has worked exceedingly abundantly beyond I think what she has even ever imagined. So we are excited to share that with you ladies. And our hope and purpose is that through sharing these stories, that it helps you to overcome the enemy when you know other people are going through similar situations, trials, tragedies, that they need to overcome that you can relate that to your own life. And just understand that God never leaves us or forsakes us and He gives us each other so that we can encourage each other and empower each other to run after him during some of these times in our life that we just shouldn't be going through alone. So before I start into interviewing Amanda, I just want to tell you a little bit about this precious woman of God. She is a lifetime resident of a small town in MLA City, Michigan. Her and her husband have four children. And she is a proud mom of these four children. She is a paralegal and enjoys reading and writing.

And today we're going to talk about God's presence, God's presence that he gave to Amanda at a time when she needed him the most. One of Amanda's favorite scriptures is Psalm 23. And that is even though it's Psalm 23, four, even though I walk through the darkest valleys, I will not be afraid of evil. You are always with me, your rod and staff, they comfort me. The scriptures means so much to you, Amanda and it is a reminder of God's presence when you needed him most. So today, I'm just going to ask if you can begin by sharing the tragedy that came upon you, yourself and the darkest valley of your life.

Amanda Jackman  
Well, thank you again, so much for allowing me to share. It was Labor Day weekend, this past Labor Day. So September 5 2021. We were at a family get together at my father in law's there were 10 children, including my four. And there were 11 adults. So there was a ton of people there. We had people inside the house outside the house. We had gone swimming, and then we stopped swimming. We ate dinner and had dessert together. And it was a really special day with our family. And I was inside with my my youngest, my baby and I was talking with my two sister in laws. And God told me to find Walter, my son. He said, Where's Walter? And I stood up mid conversation. And I walked outside and I looked at my husband I said babe, where's Walter? He's like, he's not in there with you. And I said, No, where is he? My my My Sorry, there was a scream. And everybody knew what that scream meant. My father in law's house has a pool. And so my son was at the bottom of the pool. My husband immediately dove in, pulled him out. And he, he was not there, and I will spare details. But he wasn't, he was no longer living at that point. Um, so my husband passed him off to Cindy. And she played them on the deck, and my brother and sister in law started CPR. And I'm CPR certified. But that was my baby. And I just stood there screaming, my husband said, You need to leave, walk away, please, please walk away. Don't, don't watch, just go. So I went to the end of the driveway, and I cried out and I prayed, I said, God, you can't do this. That's my baby like you, you don't get to take him from me. And I pray to the boldest prayer that I've ever prayed. And I said, Lord, You are bringing him back to me, you are restoring him fully, he will have no brain damage. And you're going to perform this miracle for us. And I'm going to tell the world about it, I'm going to get people to pray for him that have never prayed in their life, I'm going to get people to pray for him down on their knees, who haven't prayed in months or years. And I'm going to do that because you're bringing him back. And so it was it was totally unlike anything. I'm, I've been a Christian for many years. But this was very outside of the box, and very bold. And so the officer arrived, the paramedics arrived, and we loaded them up. My brother and sister in law had him breathing before the ambulance arrived, which was huge in his recovery. But then we were in the ambulance. And the paramedic, I asked him if there was anything I could do. And he said, No, Your presence is enough for your son. And I told them, I need to petition prayer, I need to call upon the people in my life who are going to pray fervently for my baby. And so that's that's what I did. I took a moment and I started texting people. And I said, I need you. This is what happened. And I I let go of the shame of the accident. And I just begged for prayer from people I knew were incredible Christ followers.

Kimberly Hobbs  
AMEN At that moment, and you said that you'd let go of the shame at that moment, which I think if you can just share with the listeners right away, because, again, you think about it, think about it. She's the mom, of course. So people are going to be like, Why weren't you watching your chick, your child? Why weren't you this way? You know, and there is shame involved. People might say What do you mean shame? Why did you have to let go of shame start telling people but can you describe that a little bit?

Amanda Jackman  
Yeah, absolutely. The the enemy likes to work against you. And I think he works the hardest with shame and guilt. And in the moment, he could tell me that I was a bad mom. And he could tell me Oh, my husband or Oh my family. And the reality of the situation is it was a tragic accident. There were a ton of people there. And when everybody's watching the pool, nobody's watching the pool. And it was just it was a lot of commotion. My son is a curious was a curious two year old and he he snuck over that side, he snuck over the side into the pool. I mean, it was not like the gate was open, it was very end even if it were it was an accident, there was no intention and and everybody experiences different trials and struggles and that was that was hard to to be the parent of a tragic accident like this that you feel like could have been prevented. And we you know, we it's not like we were negligent in the situation. We were all there and we were all very present but we all have lapses where we can't fully commit 100% of our time. We all have lapses and some kids right on the wall and and mine snuck into the pool.

Kimberly Hobbs  
Right? And that battle started right away with you Amanda because the enemy is telling you bad mom bad mom and you're hearing that but you're like, I need help. I need prayer I need people to and so you pushed through those voices in your head when you just described that shame and guilt and praise God you did because there's power in prayer there is power when people come in numbers and pray together. So remember that do not isolate the enemy wants to keep us isolated and alone when tragedy hits. And so he can poison our minds with lies in their lives from the pit of hell. So all my good so you push through and that ambulance and thank God you did Amanda and also some other things happened in that ambulance and on the way to the hospital and things that started showing you that God was there. His presence was with you. And I know you shared with me that the paramedic you know, you had gone to school with her. And she was comforting to you. She was putting her arms around you at a time when there was nobody else there to comfort you. God was showing you comfort in that moment. And ladies listening, when things are happening around us, we have to look for God in every situation. So Amanda has comfort she had comfort in the ER when she got to the hospital and I know the first hospital you went to, they intubated Walter there. And then they couldn't help him any further and they had to move him to another hospital or another transport. And more people were showing up that God put in your path that knew you that were substantial people in your life that all of a sudden they're they're helping you. And when your husband was Iraq and he was falling apart, you had some confidence because God wish had shown up there. So let's talk about right now, how you had that confidence. But then all of a sudden, something switched. You told me about that. Can you talk about those two weeks in the hospital?

Amanda Jackman  
Yes. So when we when we arrived to the hospital, actually, it was COVID. So you're only allowed mom and dad. And they actually made an exception and allowed our children's pastor who met us at the hospital because of praying and seeking out that. And he was able to lay his hands on Walter and he was able to pray for him when he was first intubated there, which was huge and so special. And it was a struggle at first the first 24 hours and they husband, he was a mess until they did an EEG I want to say is an EEG, and they determined he did not have any rain damage. And so my husband, okay, and because he felt he felt this huge burden of guilt because he was the one outside with Walter. And that released the guilt from him. And, and so we, we knew we were going to be there for a little while that he was going to be intubated. So he's sedated, fully sedated, there was nurse 24 hours in the room with him. So if we left it was okay. So I actually stopped home, to grab some fresh clothes, because we knew it was going to be a while and to say hi to my other children to let them know things were okay. And I just grabbed my mail, and I grabbed clothes, and I stopped up at the hospital. And we already had blessings pouring on us like gift cards for food, all of that just so I just brought everything with me to the hospital. And I sat down in the room, and I had my voice of Truth magazine. And my dear friend Jessica, she writes a column. She's actually the reason why I have the magazine. And so every day, I honor her every time I get the magazine, I honor her by opening up, and I look in the table of contents. And I find where she's at. And I read her first, because she's the reason that I have this magazine. So I honor her in that way.

Kimberly Hobbs  
And her her column is titled A Beautiful Mess in Voice of Truth in case anybody is wondering. Yeah, go ahead.

Amanda Jackman  
So Jessica's columns, she was her article, she was on the right side of the page. And when you look, we've trained our brains to read left to right. So I looked over to the left page, and there was this incredible drawing of a mama bear with her two cubs on her back. And it was titled carried. And underneath there was the verse that I had been leaning into for four days at that point, Isaiah 43 Two, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. And that's not your everyday Bible verse. It's a very specific verse. And I had been praying that when I was in the end of the driveway, I knew it and my heart was praying it like God, you are with him. He wasn't alone in the water. You were with him. And you're gonna be with us now you're going to be with us through this trial. And there was this picture it right there on the other side of justice column and it was like, Okay, God, I see you. I see you, I feel you're here. You're here with us. And it was cached. It was just such a special moment. And one other really, really powerful moment that we had we had gone outside for the first time. And it was beautiful. It was September it was beautiful day we stand on a picnic table. and all of our pastors were on a retreat together. And they all took turns praying over our son and an over us. And my dear friend, Pastor Steve, he is very into looking up the meaning of words. And Walter means commander of the army. And so he said, we're going to wave this as a banner over Walters life. And I believe that in that moment, I was so full of hope, and understanding that my little two year old boy, he was going to come in armies for Jesus through this. And that if if a baby can flood the gates of heaven, what a remarkable way to use this tragedy. And any dead we had people telling us that they hadn't prayed in months, they showed up and said, we've been on our knees praying and, and, and how special that this little boy in this tragic story could could touch somebody in that way.

Kimberly Hobbs  
Wow, that's so beautiful. That's so beautiful. And the beauty too, is the confirmations that God was giving you in that hospital stay through different ways. And he again was showing his presence, Amanda to you. And, again, ladies, as you listen to what Amanda was just sharing in your may be going through something, it's again, look for God's presence and how he's showing up in your trial and tragedy. And he's always going to let you know in little whispers that he's the hair. And this gave, like Amanda said, the confidence to her heart, she knew there was no coincidence that that scripture and voice of truth was firmly planted there by the Lord Himself. For that moment that Amanda was going to pick it up from the mail, gather her mail, go to the hospital and sit down and read it. He already knew that he already had it planned. And he already has something planned for you, ladies, whatever you're going through that is going to be significant enough to get your attention and let you know that he is there, he will always let us know because he never leaves us or forsakes. Us. So Amanda, we know, you know that God works miracles, Walter is going to Command armies God has told you that he has shown you that. And he has a quip us to know the ways that he moves. And you as a mom are going to be watching this. I know for sure and encouraging him in that way. God works miracles, and we read about so many miracles throughout his word. But do you ladies do you really believe that God wants to work a miracle for you? I know, the Bible tells us God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And Amanda, God started showing you that He is God, and He is important in your life. So please take this time and just pour into how the different ways that he showed the importance of himself his presence in your life?

Amanda Jackman  
Yeah, I think that one of the most important things is that we restore our minds daily. Even if you don't memorize scripture, if you don't sit down and you go word by word, you still have it in your heart. And sitting in a hospital with my husband. And my two year old boy, I knew enough scripture in my heart to combat anything that the enemy came against me with. You know, that verse in Isaiah that I shared with you. The enemy tried to tell me that, that nobody was there with my son in the water, that he was all alone and that he was waiting for me and that is a lie. Because in Isaiah 43 To the Lord says, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. So my son had had Jesus's arms wrapped around him, and what better place for him to be? What better place for him to be right. And the Lord, he shows us in so many different scriptures, his presence, you know, Isaiah 53, by his stripes we are healed. That was one that I leaned into also that that the Lord has the capacity to heal us of anything that we just have to have the power to believe that he can you know cast your worries onto him first Peter five seven, Joshua one nine The Lord is with you wherever you go in that I think the first part of that versus the be strong courageous that everybody talks about. But the second part, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. If you're in the waters if you're in The valley if you're in the hospital, God didn't leave you. He's right there. The Lord is near to those who call on him Psalm 145 18, Psalm 3480, and the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, Psalm 23:4

Kimberly Hobbs  
Amen. Keep going, girl, this is beautiful! All this scripture.

Amanda Jackman  
It's all throughout Scripture, I don't know if there's a book you could open in the Bible that doesn't have God is with you. And his presence, he is for you. He, he will use anything that you go through for good, what the enemy meant for evil, he'll use it for good. And, and I just am blown away with his presence through every area of, of the tragedy that we had occur. And even afterwards, the the remarkable things that he's done in our son's lives and in our lives. Gosh, he still answers prayer, we just have to be bold enough to ask him, we just have to be bold enough to petition the throne, and just say, God, this is, this is your will. And I'm going to believe that it's your will. And even if it's not, you're still good. You know, I I remember sitting in the hospital saying, Lord, even if he doesn't come back, you're still good. Lord, even if he comes back and he has brain damage, you are still good, because he'd still be here. Who cares, you know? And then even if he restored and fully, he's still great. It didn't matter, the way that he worked in the situation for us, because we knew ultimately that he would it would be used for good.

Kimberly Hobbs  
Amen. Yeah. Beautiful. Oh, my gosh. And I just have to ask you, Amanda, you probably weren't knowing I was gonna say this. But just this morning, Amanda was texting back and forth with me and we were praying for each other and it was just so exciting what God was just filling with her but she had a huge prayer, prayer, praise report to share with me that blew me out of the water and brought me to tears. And I sat there reading it like God, you are so good. Even now even as we're preparing this podcast, you are showing your presence there with Amanda and as she steps out and obedience God you did this Amanda shear please with the ladies what he did just today.

Amanda Jackman  
So Walter, my son has been speech delayed for probably eight months prior to the accident was when we first started getting him help. COVID everybody wearing masks, it was hard for him to read lips. It was just a lot. He really struggled with developing speech. And so we've been trying, I've been trying, I should say, I've been trying to get him to say I love you. And I have been trying for a year and a half, maybe a year and three quarters of a year. Pretty much since we started giving him help. I've been going I love you every day, trying to get him to say it and he will not say it and he'll say sing Baa Baa Black Sheep, but he won't say I love you. And then this morning, I got out of the shower. And he looked at me and he said I love you. I love you. And I just stared at him. Like, did you just say that? Oh, yeah. It was amazing.

Kimberly Hobbs  
When you cried happy tears that you had said, you know, you said, God, if he ever tells me I love you, it will be the happiest day of my life. And so ladies, we get to share in this with Amanda today because God again. She kept saying God, I'm gonna serve you God, I'm gonna trust you, God, I'm gonna push through. And sometimes we know ladies, it's hard to serve the Lord. And they're, you know, it takes time to and then Amanda when I asked her would you be willing to do a podcast interview because she right away? She said she would write and voice of truth and share her testimony. That was like, right away. Yes. But so how would you feel about sharing a podcast about this? And she said, Yes, right away. And so again, an act of obedience. Until there's no coincidence today is Amanda stepped out in faith to share on this podcast with you today. She's never done a podcast before and it's like wow, you know, like she said, Yes, God, I'll do whatever you call me to do. And I just think that God is showing he's working. Look at the power of God at work. How long have you waited for your child to say I love you those three words that would be so easy to me. Buddy else right? But God waited for just the right time. Just the right time. That's so beautiful. Are you okay, Hon?

Amanda Jackman  
Yeah, I didn't I didn't prepare for you to say. So you're right.

Kimberly Hobbs  
Oh no, I know. And then when we rejoice with you, we So rejoice with you and how precious is that. And again, ladies, God knows what you're going through, look to Him in every situation, he's going to walk you through it, he's going to be right there with you. And he's giving you blessings along the way, as you honor him, and you are obedient to Him through life's challenges, because they're not easy. They're not easy. So in close, Amanda, you shared with me, a favorite scripture that God gave you, which is James 112, that says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him. And wow, you persevered, honey, even when people were saying you were doing this wrong, or doing that wrong through walking through it, you persevered, and you looked to God for your guidance in what he told you to do. And so now God is using you, Amanda, to speak life and love into others. His presence is ever encompassing us constantly surrounding us, he surrounded you and your family. So please, right now, there's the woman listening, that is struggling, oh, my goodness. And she is going through trial and tragedy right now. And it may be somebody listening to this podcast knows of somebody struggling and in need to just know God's presence is with them. And we pray that you'll share these podcasts ladies, Amanda, can you speak a word of hope to that person?

Amanda Jackman  
I, I fully felt even on my heart this morning, that God allows suffering, to radically change our lives for him. That to realize that the comfortable Christianity, that we can't do it without him, we get comfortable, and we, you know, we make moves for our lives, but we really can't do it without him. I think we get comfortable and complacent in that. And, and wow, the valley is the place for you to reach up. And to allow for the most intimate moments for you to petition our Lord, for blessing for requests. In these moments, where you're in the valley, the world slows. And sometimes it stops for us. We were in a hospital for two weeks away from our other three wild children. And it stopped for us so we could just be in prayer with the Lord and petition him and feel the closeness in the presence of him. And I just hope to encourage you that if you just pause in the valley, and in your struggle to just reach up and to just pray and to just pray, the Lord's will be done in your life and and the valley is there for a reason. Even though we don't see it. We know he's working. Even though sometimes we don't feel it. We know that he's working and he's working on things for His glory and for His goodness.

Kimberly Hobbs  
Oh, that is such a good word, sweetheart, such a good word. And I have another scripture and I I just love sharing Scripture. God says ladies call on me when you are in trouble and I will rescue you. And you will give me glory. Psalm 50 Verse five, and wow, Amanda, God rescued you when you were in trouble. And he let you know his presence was ever surrounding you. And you are now giving him glory. And Walter's giving him glory, through his life through how you're raising your children, you and your husband. There's been so much learning through this time. And ladies, our prayers that you will just turn to God's word. It's filled filled with promises for you. There's over 3000 promises in His Word, His Word is truth and you can count on His Word and if he led you to a scripture in His Word, you better be sure that his promises are true. And that you can hold on to that. Okay, so we just encourage you go back to his word and we are just so grateful that you tuned in today and Amanda, I just want to thank you for sharing and encouraging Seeing the listener and thank you for just again, the story that you have been so willing to process and put together. And now I know that God is putting other things on your heart to do, such as writing, and, oh, we're just gonna keep praying that through that God continues to use your life, your testimony of him in your life, to help pour into others. And ladies, we pray that for you to God is working in you, giving you the desire. Do you understand that? That's a scripture verse, ladies, he's working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. That's Philippians 213. So ladies, that's exactly what we do here. We want to encourage you, that we will come alongside of you, to help you to help you help others in the name of Jesus. And that's what we are called to do. All right, we need to show love, we need to show encouragement to one another. We need to come together as women running after Jesus's heart. So if you feel glad we asked you and invite you into women or leaders into this ministry, to be a deeper part of it, and use your gifting where God has placed you. God's using Amanda right where she is in Michigan. He is using other of our leaders in different parts of the world in different countries. But we're all coming together in the name of Jesus in a ministry that we're able to help others. So ladies, one of the ways we do that, and as Amanda and this is how I met her was because she opened the page as a voice of truth. And there is a beautiful, beautiful amount of encouragement for you in this magazine that contains scriptures that contains so much in the way that you can get this you can read it if you're outside of the United States, you can read it digitally for free. And you can go to www dot women world leaders.com. And if you are inside the United States, you can get the beautiful printed version for free mailed to your home to sign up on our website for that. And ladies, we also have other tools of writing. We have books available. And one of the books I thought that might be helpful to you would that women are sharing their stories this one is courageous steps of faith with God, all things are possible. Ladies, take that step of faith read some of these other stories of women that stepped out of their uncomfortable zone. And they stepped into being bold and faithful. Just like Amanda's spoke and prayed those bold prayers. Ladies, we encourage you to do so too. And here's a tool, courageous steps of faith. It's available on Amazon but we would prefer you get it through our women world leaders website as well. So many tools available for you here. So in close again, thank you Amanda for being our guest today. Thank you ladies for joining us. You're welcome on and we hope you come back again. So remember to register Lord ladies up on women moral leaders for our events. So check our website out for daily devotions. And all content today is copyrighted and cannot be used without express written consent. So we say goodbye to each of you. God bless you and have a wonderful week.

Bye everybody.