Neta Jackson Answers The Faithful Fifteen
September 2006
Writing
FaithfulReader.com: Could you give a brief summary of your latest book?
Neta Jackson: Brief? YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP GETS CAUGHT is the longest novel in the series yet! (smile) But in Book 5, getting caught up in troubles isn't the problem; it's how to get free. Ruth and Ben are caught in an unplanned pregnancy --- in their 50s! --- bringing to the surface private fears. Chanda is deluded by the glitter of her lottery dream come true. Florida wants to move her family, hoping to leave trouble behind, but it catches up to her anyway. Avis is torn between honoring her new husband and helping her abused adult daughter, who keeps running home to Mama. Jodi discovers that "good ideas and good intentions" aren't enough when she rides roughshod over her husband to get there. All these ordinary troubles reveal the subtle lies the Yada Yadas believe about God, themselves, each other, and life. Their best hope is to catch on to what God is doing --- and catch on quick! --- before the enemy can take any prisoners. That'd be a freedom worth celebrating, and celebrating is what the Yada Yada prayer group does best!
FR: What role does faith have in the book? What inspired you to write it?
NJ: All the Yada Yada sisters are at different places in their faith journeys. But as the Bible says, "Iron sharpens iron," and they all have something to contribute to the group, even those "newbies" to the walk of faith.
The fiction series was inspired by my real-life women's Bible study, a group of ordinary, diverse, feisty women whom God has used to "turn my life upside down and rightside up." Writing the novels has been my way of sharing the faith journey (or faith roller-coaster!) God put me on.
FR: What do you feel your calling is as a writer?
NJ: To glorify God in everything I do, everything I write. To bring my talents to God (like the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus) and let God use them in His own miraculous way. As Eugene Peterson says, we shouldn't use the word "Christian" as an adjective ("Christian" art, "Christian" novels, etc.). Rather, I see myself as a Christian who is a writer, so of course my world view, my perspective, my experience bleeds through everything I write.
FR: Who are your favorite authors and mentors? How have they influenced your work?
NJ: Well, of course, C. S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle. What I love about their work is that they wrote big themes on a level understood by children. When I write for children, I don't want to write down to them. And when I write for adults, I don't want to pontificate, but to share truth simply.
Other authors I'd like to shout from the rooftop are Ernest Gaines (A GATHERING OF OLD MEN) and Mildred Taylor (ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR ME CRY) --- both excellent African American novelists whose books pull me in and pull me upward. But I'm also excited to discover some awesome contemporary novelists, who write compelling books from a Christian worldview: Athol Dickson (RIVER RISING), Angela Hunt (UNSPOKEN), Francine Rivers (REDEEMING LOVE), Patricia Hickman, Lisa Samson (TIGER LILLIE), Tracie Peterson (A SLENDER THREAD), W. Dale Cramer (LEVI'S WILL) --- to name just a few! I learn something from all these authors --- can't help it. READING is the best foundation a writer can do!
FR: Do you have any favorite stories of encounters with readers?
NJ: The most amazing thing to grow out of the Yada Yada novels are all the prayer groups that are springing up around the country, formed by readers who say, "I want what the Yada Yadas have, a deeper relationship with God and my sisters in Christ." The July-Aug '06 issue of Today's Christian Woman magazine has an article about these groups, and it blesses my socks off! Also, I have been getting speaking requests growing out of these novels --- women who are hungry to go deeper in prayer and higher in their worship --- so I team-speak with one of the sisters in my own Bible study group, and we get to meet lots of Yada Yada readers up close and personal. I feel like God has been giving me SISTERS all over the U.S.! (Canada, Australia, Jamaica, too!) Many of them send me prayer requests, which I share with my praying sisters. Only GOD could knit us together in this way.
One little story: a Jamaican young woman, a very new Christian, read the first Yada Yada novel and wrote to me. It just so happened that my husband and I were heading for Jamaica that same month to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary! So we made plans to meet in Negril --- which was so much fun.
Spirituality
FR: Tell us about your personal faith journey.
NJ: Oh my. To be brief is to barely skim the surface, but I'll try. I grew up in a solid evangelical home, where both my parents were involved in secondary Christian education (schools), so I had a good biblical foundation. I made a decision to be a Christ-follower at an early age…and for that I'm thankful. But it also meant I've had to deal with a lot of self-righteousness to get to a place where I truly understood that "I'm just a sinner, saved by God's grace." I've been helped along in this journey by brothers and sisters from other cultural and ethnic groups, from other church backgrounds and worship styles, who have taught me how truly wide and deep is the love of God for ALL who call on His name.
The passage about the diversity of the Body of Christ in I Corinthians 12 has become very precious to me, as I have learned how much I NEED the other members of the Body of Christ --- especially those who are least like me! That passage says, "The hand can't say to the eye, I don't need you…" And it's true. We NEED each other --- across denominational lines, cultural lines, ethnic lines, generational lines --- all those "lines" that keep the various parts of God's Body apart from each other. But…it's a journey!
FR: Who are your spiritual mentors?
NJ: An older woman in my church named Hilda was the one who said, "Neta, I don't think you've ever accepted the fact that you're just a sinner, saved by grace." SHEESH! She bent my nose out of shape big time. But she was right and I bless her for it. Since then, my spiritual mentors have been the sisters in my women's Bible study group --- a drawer full of mismatched socks if there ever was one! They have taught me to be honest with myself and with others, and they have challenged me to trust God "no matter what." (I also have to add that Stormie Omartian and Beth Moore's books on prayer have been a HUGE blessing to me.)
FR: What is your current church community involvement?
NJ: My husband and I are members of The Chicago Tabernacle, a daughter church of The Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. Dave and I are ushers, which is a great way to meet and greet people.
FR: What are your Scripture reading habits? Prayer habits?
NJ: I've generally had a daily "quiet time" most of my life, but now that our kids have flown the coop, I love getting up early for a whole hour of reading and prayer. But, I'm learning that it doesn't have to be "quiet" either! I'm learning to incorporate worship and praise into my personal prayer time, rather than just a laundry list of my requests. (It's hard to whisper, "Shout to the Lord!" and hard to keep still when I read the psalms about praising God with dancing and the tambourine!).
I keep a prayer journal, which includes different areas of prayers for different days (family, church, neighbors, world events, etc.). But even more, I've been learning what it means to "pray without ceasing"--- like breathing, a running conversation with God. And when someone asks me to pray about something, I've been learning to do it on the spot --- on the telephone, on the street, after church, wherever. There's so much to learn about prayer that I still feel like I'm in prayer kindergarten!
FR: If you had one message for Christians today, what would it be?
NJ: Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole being --- and love your neighbor (including your children) with as much love and grace and mercy as God has loved you.
Life
FR: Tell us about your family. Spouse? Kids?
NJ: I've been married to the same wonderful guy for FORTY years this year! Dave and I are still loving and laughing and holding hands, and I thank God every day for the gift he is to me. We have two natural kids (Julian and Rachel) and one foster daughter from Cambodia (Samen) and they're all grown with families of their own. We have SIX grandkids (four are foster grandkids) and another on the way, wahoo! After our kids left home and left us with all their pets, we are now down to two cats, who graciously allow us to live with them.
FR: Do you and your family have any special traditions?
NJ: Sure. At Christmas, we put the empty stable under the Christmas tree, with Wise Men in another room, shepherds watching their sheep on a windowsill nearby, and let the kids (or grandkids now) move Mary and Joseph and donkey (sans Jesus) closer to the stable each day. They arrive Christmas Eve, and when the kids wake up Christmas morning, Baby Jesus is in the manger. We also light an Advent wreath each Sunday before Christmas with Scriptures and songs about the Promise Who is to come.
Also, beginning with the first Christmas after we got married, each year we buy a tree ornament to represent the past year. It's not always easy finding something that highlights the past year! So now we have 40 ornaments on the tree! That and tree lights pretty much fill it up. But decorating the tree is like a walk down memory lane.
As our kids were growing up, we used any excuse to celebrate --- birthdays, school's out, whatever. The year our foster daughter came to live with us, she'd been skipping school (long story), so we took her out to a restaurant to celebrate at the end of the year when she had perfect attendance. (Working on the grades came later!)
On birthdays, we always woke up the birthday child (sometimes birthday adult) with a lighted candle and everyone crowded in his or her room singing "Happy Birthday" to start the day. At Birthday Dinner time, we always ask the birthday person (a) what was the most significant event of the last year, and (b) what hopes or dreams they have for the coming year. Birthday person gets to choose what we have for their special dinner and, of course, is excused from any chores that day!
We've also celebrated a Christian Seder (Passover), which is an awesome remembrance of God's faithfulness to His people, inviting other families to join us. The Jewish festivals are rich in prophetic imagery.
Well, that's for starters…
FR: What are some of your favorite hobbies and activities?
NJ: I love taking family photos on my digital camera, editing them myself and filling albums! I also have no curtains in my house, only plants hanging from the windows or on window shelves. Every spring, I plant four huge flower boxes on our front porch (Dave is the real gardener in the family, growing HUGE vegetables in the back yard). As for activities, I love horseback riding (don't get to do it much any more), hiking or walking, and camping. And, okay, okay, I LOVE going out for coffee or breakfast with my girlfriends!
FR: What are your media habits? Television? Movies? Music? Etc.?
NJ: We rarely watch any television except the news (in fact, we have to roll our TV out from around a corner where it's hidden out of sight; I don't enjoy a living room dominated by the TV!), but we do love to watch video and DVD movies (at home; only occasionally do we actually go to a movie!). We also read a lot of novels --- we each take a book to bed, and on car trips we listen to books-on-tape. We love gospel music, folk music, praise and worship music. One of the best experiences of our lives was the five years Dave and I sang in a racially mixed gospel choir. What absolute joy that was!
FR: What excites you about life?
NJ: What a gift it is. I never want to take anything for granted, but thank God for EVERYTHING! And it's so awesome to know that God made men and women (Me! You!) IN HIS IMAGE!!!! It makes me so sad that people treat each other so abominably. If they could only see with God's eyes, how special each person is…something I'm still learning.
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THE YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP GETS CAUGHT