MTM - Interview with Carlotta Jackson..What is a Strong Woman Part Two

The world keeps selling women a noisy kind of strength, but what if real strength is quiet, steady, and surrendered? Carlotta Jackson joins me to finish her message on the question “What is a strong woman?” and we take it straight to Scripture with seven unforgettable portraits that challenge modern definitions of power, identity, and success.

We start with Ruth and the first decision every believer has to make: who am I, and who do I belong to? From there, we talk about gratitude and forgiveness through the woman in Luke 7, and why bitterness from unmet expectations can quietly poison a heart, a home, and even a marriage. Anna shows us what long obedience looks like, and Esther shows us Spirit-empowered courage and self-control when fear feels loud and consequences feel real.

Then we get practical about spiritual warfare and discernment. Eve reminds us the enemy is not the people around us, and Jael reminds us that being feminine is not the same as being passive when truth is under attack. Mary, the mother of Jesus, brings us to the clearest definition we can offer: a strong woman can say “Thy will be done,” and mean it. We also share a personal story from a painful financial season where surrender broke the weight of fear and restored peace.

If you’ve been asking what biblical womanhood looks like in a confused culture, press play. Subscribe to More Than Medicine, share this with a friend who needs steady hope, and leave a review telling us: which of the seven women do you want to learn from most?

Transcript

Welcome And Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the hills, the plague of our culture. Hosted by authoring physician Dr. Robert Jackson and his wife Carlotta and daughter Annabella. So listen up because the doctor is dead.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, Dr. Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctor's Rusty Dusty Scrapbook. Well, again, this week I'm delighted to have as my guest my lovely bride, Miss Carlotta Jackson. She's going to finish up what she started last week when she was sharing with us the answer to the question, What is a strong woman? Miss Carlotta, welcome to More Than Medicine.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Hello, everyone.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

All right, now, if you remember from last week, she was sharing at a local church at a women's retreat, a women's tea, uh, where the women were all dressed up wearing fancy hats and gloves and pretty dresses, and they had a luncheon, and they asked her to address the question, What is a strong woman?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Well, they didn't ask me to address it.

Ruth And Identity In Christ

SPEAKER_03 1:25

All right. Well, anyway, that was the topic, and so we started last week addressing that particular issue, and so today we're gonna finish up and she's gonna talk about seven women in the scripture who she identifies as strong women.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Yeah, last week uh was probably what you would call my introduction. All right. And talking about what is a woman and why is there con mainly why is there controversy over that, and then I discuss some cultural stuff around what is a strong woman and what does the cultural general think that a strong woman is. And then I go to the scriptures to talk about what I think a strong woman is, and look at seven women's lives in scripture very briefly, not in depth. And I I'm very careful here today because I know that my husband has some men in his audience, and I don't um as a woman, I don't generally teach men. I just want to say that right up front, give that caveat. But my husband asked me to do this today, and so I'm going to present my thoughts on from my message last week. So the seven Ds and Seven Women, I sat down and to write down what I thought a strong woman is like, coming from a biblical perspective, and ended up writing down seven women and seven Ds. I thought, well, that that's complete, isn't it? That sounded good. And so the first woman that I wrote down was to be a strong woman, let's be like Ruth of Moab. Moab was a pagan nation, often in conflict with Israel. And my D was decide who you are and to whom you belong. Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi, declared in Ruth 116, Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you, for where you go I will go, and where you sleep I will sleep. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. What a woman.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

If you have believed on the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you are a child of God, and if you're not, then I ask you not to put it off. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, and in parentheses, and daughters, by which we cry out, Abba Father, Romans 8.15. You women are the daughters of the king of all kings, the daughter of the one who reigns on high, the daughter of the God of all the ages. And as his child, nothing can separate you from his love. You and I can be totally convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And as his child, nothing can pluck or snatch you and me out of his hand. We are eternally secure in who we are, and our ultimate destination is permanent and irrevocable. And as his child, nothing can stop you and me from going boldly before the strong of throne of grace. You can straighten that crown. One of my favorite pictures on the internet is this little girl holding this crown on her head, and she's straightening it. And I just love it. We can sit on his knee where he will listen to our every concern, and he will strongly support us because we are completely his. One of my favorite verses, 2 Chronicles 16, 9. The Lord looks to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Amen. What a great verse.

Gratitude That Breaks Bitterness

SPEAKER_02 5:24

It's a great verse. And as his child, we are to live differently from the rest of the world. The world is watching, but even if the world wasn't watching, in our bedrooms, in our homes, we're to please the Lord and honor him in all that we say and do. Plus, we are his female child. And of course, I was talking to the women. We're not male male nor are we LGBTQ A B C D E F. Again, we're male and female. And I encourage you, ladies, to embrace your femininity. And I said to not be happy with your femininity is to not be happy with God's creation. Over the last few years of watching the transgender stuff going on, and I just thought that the thing that's missing here is gratefulness. That's right. They're not happy with who they are, and it's a lack of gratefulness. That's yeah. And then I said, What what I I think I'm I was just thinking, what what is the cause that? They don't understand who God is, and they don't understand well, they're not saved, they're not believers. But even we as Christians can b forget that he's created us just as who we are, and that we are his image bearers. And he made me a woman, and I am to be content with that. And then the second woman is be like the nameless woman in Luke 7. She was called a sinner, which means she probably was a woman of the night. She washed Jesus' feet with her oil. She was grateful. She determined, there's my D, determined to be grateful for belonging, for forgiveness, for a new life. And again, we should be thankful for our femininity. She was, and what a woman. Just like she was able to get past sin, we need to get past sin. And remember that we are forgiven, covered by the blood, and we live in his righteousness. When you get past the lies that you are unworthy, that you must do this and this to be worthy. You have and are that you have to have it all to be happy. Contentment lies in knowing who you belong to.

unknown 7:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

That's right.

Anna And A Life Of Worship

SPEAKER_02 7:44

We must get past the bitterness from unmet expectations. Someone has disappointed you. Just get over it. Let it go. It's to your glory to overlook an offense, Proverbs 19:11. And some of you have let little offenses build up to be a huge great wall that separates you from other people. No one will ever meet up to your expectations, especially a husband and children. Psalm 73, 21, 22 was a verse that I ran across back in 1981. I know exactly where I was. I was in the Middle East. I was in Gaza. And my life verse is right after that. And something had happened to me. And I the Lord prompted me to read the verses before it my life before my life verse. And so I read 21 and 22. And it says, When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. And that verse, those two verses have stood me well because life has not been easy. And I have a lot as much to be bitter about as anyone else. But I decided that I did not want to be bitter, that I did not want to be like a beast before my Lord. So I made a choice to let go of the bitterness, to let go of unmet expectations, let go of the disappointments. And then third, be like Anna and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. In Luke 2 37, Anna the prophetess never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying, probably living in quarters there or nearby. She was utterly devoted and was privileged to meet the Messiah there in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to be presented. Oh, to be like Anna, what a woman.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

That's right.

Esther And Self-Control Under Pressure

SPEAKER_02 9:45

When we dwell in his presence, we're privileged to know him, to know his word. We must memorize it, study, read, and listen, and meditate on the word. We must put on spiritual armor with the word of God as our sword. We must understand what the word of God has to say about women, our roles in his kingdom, and what our priorities should be and live accordingly. Then fourth, be like Queen Esther and demonstrate your Holy Spirit power by living out the fruit of the Spirit, including self-control, which is really his control over our lives. Esther allowed the Lord to control her fear of death, leading her to go before the king despite the potentiality of death. What a woman. We need to control our tongues, we need to control our emotions, our responses, our fears, just like Esther, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and react to life in a God-honoring way. And I I gave this illustration. I was at Sam's probably 10 or 15 years ago, and I'd gotten out of my car and walked behind this car. He was not moving when I first stepped in the back of him, and he started backing up. I got his attention and he was apolog he was apologetic. I could see his face in the mirror, and I said, and I motioned, that's okay, it's okay. And then I came out of Sam's an hour later, and I did the exact same thing. I got in my car and someone walked behind my car and I almost didn't see them. I stepped on the brakes, slammed on the brakes, and he, that man who walked behind my car, slapped his hand on my car and cursed a blue streak, as well as did other things with his hands. And I thought, you know, I'm not tooting my horn here. I certainly have not responded to all of life with grace. With grace. But in that moment I thought, what a contrast. It was just a good illustration of a contrast. How do you what do you want to look like to the world? Do you want to look like Jesus or not?

unknown 11:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

And I pray all the time that God would help me, especially in circum in circumstances that I could fly off the handle, that I would behave well, that I would respond well and respond like Jesus. That's right. And that's when people really are watching. They're watching to see how you're going to respond in that situation.

unknown 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

And fifth, do not be like Eve. Discern who the enemy is. It's not your husband. It's not other men, your children, your in-laws, your pastor, other women, other church members, coworkers. Eve Eve was blinded by Satan in the garden, and so are we. He appealed to her pride and her fleshly desires. He still does the same thing, and we have misplaced our pride in the achievements this world has told us that we should push for, and we are deceived. You and I pray all the time, Robert, that we would not be deceived. Galatians 6 7.

unknown 12:45

That's right.

Mary And Strength Through Humility

Surrender In A Financial Storm

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Sixth, be like Jael and defend the truth. Cecera, the enemy of the Israelites, showed up at her door. She was the wife of Heber, a Midianite, also an enemy of the Israelites, but in a fulfillment of prophecy and with an understanding of the evil of this man, she lured him to sleep with a glass of milk. And then what did she do? She put a peg through his temple. What a woman. And I told the ladies, I said, just because we're female does not mean we sit idly by. It doesn't mean we are weak-minded, helpless little women. When we see evil, use your influence. Use your voices, take action to do what? To gain power or go up the ladder of success, pursue fleshly desires. No, to defend the name of Jesus, the word of God and his church in our circles of influence. We must be Jesus in our circle. We must put a peg through evil and destroy it. One thing we did today was send and call, send emails and call our legislators, a legislator, to promote the pro-life bill. We use our voices. We do what we can in our circles of influence. And seventh, be like Mary, the mother of Jesus. Declare that you are weak and go before him in humility. What a woman. Mary said, Behold, the Lord's bondservant, may it be done to me according to your word. We're never stronger than we are com when we are completely dependent upon him. We're never stronger than when we are on our knees. We're never stronger than when we are weak and needing to rest in the cleft of the rock in the shadow of his wings, panting like a deer at a brook, thirsting for the living water. And here's my life first that I mentioned earlier. Often, Psalm is Psalm 73, 25 through 26. I made this my life first when I was in college in 1976. Often I have had to declare that my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Second Corinthians says, Therefore I delight in weaknesses and insults and distresses and persecutions and difficulties in behalf of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Ladies, we must reject the standards of this world, what this world is telling us about being a strong woman, what it even means to be female, and we must be totally submissive. Whoop, we don't like that word, do we? How about surrender? We must totally surrender to the will of God as revealed to us in his word. So my definition of a strong woman is this. She is a woman who can say Thy will be done. Psalm 138 8. And I shared with them a story that has to do with a financial mess that we got ourselves in in 2001, long time ago, when you were involved in a real estate project with a friend who was your contractor, and you had led him to the Lord. And I think you shared this story before somewhere along the way on your podcast, but this friend, so-called friend, embezzled your money, our money.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

A huge amount of money.

Keep Your Eyes On Jesus

SPEAKER_02 16:31

I blamed you, and I I don't know that I was really mad at God. I was made mad with you, and I was just wasn't happy. And that went on for about two years. I I told the ladies I I'm not really tooting my horn here. I ought to be ashamed of my behavior, my unhappiness, and my anger. And we were living under a heavy cloud of financial woes. But I remember very clearly walking out on our front porch and saying, Lord, I can't live like this. I don't want to live like this. And I surrender all I have to you. And if it's none of it is mine anyway, you can have my house, my cars, my money, since it's not mine, and you can take it away at any point. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. And from that moment of surrendering my earthly possessions to him, I was free. That cloud just vanished, and I never concerned myself again with it in deep worry or anything. And bless your heart, you you worked hard during those years to just pay the interest on the loan. And it was a it continued to be a difficult time, and it didn't just go away, but God took away the heaviness, and I just trusted him. And I just submitted to his will and decided that if um you went down, I would go down with you. I was not going to let Satan destroy our marriage and destroy my take away my joy. And in submission to God's will and his sovereignty over that issue, I found comfort and peace and joy. I asked the ladies to be such a woman, strong in their faith, strong in their love for the things that Jesus loved, the church, the family, having a strong desire to be holy, even as he is holy. And I asked him, What's the bottom line? How do you do this? And I summarized it by saying, We need to keep our eyes on Jesus. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water. King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20, he was very much afraid as he faced a huge enemy, three armed armies coming against him, and he concluded his prayer with these words, For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Hebrews 12 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. And then I concluded with a sad passage. From his personal experience, and King Solomon's speaks in Ecclesiastes 7 28, and he said, One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. In his experience Solomon found one man that to his eye was upright, good, kind, wise. He didn't say he was totally righteous because no one is totally righteous, but only one man out of the thousands he knew and employed in his vast kingdom. But I said, Look, ladies, not one upright woman anywhere. And I told him, remember the women Solomon filled his home with. He unwisely married the idolatrous daughter of godless kings around him. Nevertheless, we are living in a time of the march for women in Washington, an ungodly representation of the women of our country. So I encourage them and encourage any lady listening. Now you be the one in a million woman, a strong woman who submits and surrenders, which is a wise thing. You submit your will and your life to Jesus and the instructions of his word, and you be strong because of his power, strong because your eyes are on him, strong because you align your priorities up with the word of God and live accordingly. In my generation, a song was made famous by Helen Reddy called I Am Woman. I am woman, hear me roaring numbers too big to be too big to ignore. In fact, it is probably her signature song and represents the feminist movement of that age. I used to sing it. I remember being uncomfortable by the song and by what I saw in the women of the day, but I liked the tune. But now I understand why I was uncomfortable and I am more uncomfortable than ever. Instead of singing that type of song, ladies, go to the word. This world has no songs to compete with the word and turn your eyes upon him. And we concluded the tea with my daughter, our daughter, Miriam, singing an arrangement of Turn Your Eyes Upon Him.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

I wish I'd have been there to hear all of that. I wish I'd have been there to hear Miss Miriam sing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, because it's an amazing song when she sings it. Well, Miss Carlotta, that that's a powerful message. Thank you. It's a powerful message, and it's it's a message well worth hearing and full of good scripture and full of good illustrations. It's a message that it's timely. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

It's a timely message, even more now than ever.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Yeah. It's a message that women all across our country, Christian women, need to hear. And and it's an evangelistic message that uh even women who are not Christians need to hear that.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah, a strong woman uh is not one who pursues the the things of this world. She is one who submits her will to the Lord.

Closing And How To Connect

SPEAKER_03 22:16

That's right. That's exactly right. Well thank you, daughter. Thank you for sharing that with with our listeners, and I hope that it's uh a benefit and a and a profit to all of my listeners. Now, if you're out there in in our audience and you need a speaker for your church event or your women's event, Miss Carlotta is available. You contact us through Jackson Family Ministry and she and my my daughter Miriam, who's a singer, would be more than delighted to come and and share with your your women's group.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

And Hannah.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

And Miss Hannah. My daughter Hannah's a fiery singer.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Hannah's the one that has the gift of gab, not me.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Hannah was is uh uh part of the Hannah Miller show. She had her own podcast until recently, but she's decided that uh she needs to be more of a mom than a podcaster. Uh but I'm telling you, Miss Hannah has the gift of Gab, and she's a bit of a prophet herself. And she's more than willing to uh speak in women's events. So listen, um, we'll be back again next week. You're listening to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, Dr. Robert Jackson. Please remember, Jesus loves you, your doctor loves you, and until next week, I pray that the Lord will bless you real good.

unknown 23:30

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, Instagram, or webpage at Jackson Family Ministry.com. Also, don't forget to check out Dr. Jackson's books that are available on Amazon.