Mary Jackson is a licensed therapist, pastoral counselor and author. She has graduate degrees in educational psychology, counseling, and a post-master’s certificate in advanced study of pastoral counseling. Her book is called PRESENCE Recognizing the Divine in Your Everyday Life.
Ever since Mary was a child, she always had a feeling that she had a companion, that someone or something was with her. She’s been a seeker, looking for what that meant. And mystery that was yet to be uncovered. She was in church on and off, jumping from one church to another. Even though she had a lovely and nice family, they are not religious. She has a lot of questions. She thought that she was sure that someone or something does really exist, but had no knowledge of.
Mary found a real home in Quaker meeting, and she’s been there for the last 30 years. The premise has the individual relationship with you and the divine of your understanding. That is a very individual relationship, not dictated by dogma or an organization per say. Quaker faith in practice is there that of God for everyone. That everyone was a child of God. Quaker meeting is usually silent meditation and sometimes people speak because they are inspired to share.
Mary was inspired to write a book when someone asked in a class how come the God in the Bible especially in the old testament spoke to all those people in there, but doesn’t speak to us now. Then a teacher yelled from the outside of the room saying “God is speaking, you just don’t know how to listen.” The first chapter of the book called Favorite Thing.
Mary explained that we all have our own favorites. And most of the time we loved to share those favorites with the people we love thinking they might want it too. We all get the opportunity to have our favorite thing e.g. color, food, hobby,etc. How lovely is it that we can like something and get to experience it.
The first half of the book basically talks about more kinds of things. Things for example that repeat in your life. We all live in a life of repetition e.g. sun goes up and down, we breathe, we eat over and over again.
If someone is calling you and you’re busy doing something, then the more that person is calling your name with a loud voice, you’ll surely hear and be attentive to that person; the more someone repeating your name, it has more weight, it has more impact.
Second half of the book is kind of built in a different energy. It talks about how our soul’s nature is.
We have a choice of coming from a part of us that is so divinely inspired. It comes from good and it produces good. If God is speaking to me, how do I know how to listen?
That’s what the book wanted to address. And create in us the right questions we should ask.
Key takeaways from the discussion include:
🔹 Recognizing divine inspiration through transformative shifts.
🔹 Embracing the opportunity to find and experience our favorite things.
🔹 Paying attention to repetitive patterns that teach us valuable lessons.
🔹 Uncovering profound teachings in even the smallest events.
🔹 Prioritizing understanding others over seeking to be understood.
Listen to this episode of the Overcomer’s Podcast featuring an interview with Mary Jackson, where she defines the meaning of “Divine” and shares how to connect more with the Divine in everyday life.
To connect with Mary Jackson:
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Timestamps:
1:51 – 4:58: Mary shares what inspired her to write the book.
5:15 – 8:02: Mary talks about a mystery she has yet to uncover and how she became a seeker despite her non-religious family.
8:15 – 9:35: Mary shares her experiences in a Quaker meeting, where she has been attending for 30 years.
12:54 – 16:04: Mary shares the first chapter of her book, titled “Favorite Thing.”
18:43 – 23:36: Mary discusses the first half of her book, highlighting how repeated things call our attention.
24:24 – 29:06: Mary shares the second half of her book.
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