Rooted & Rising: Growth from the Greenhouse
Welcome to the Greenhouse! Join Denise each week as she has conversations with women who have experienced God’s power in their lives. We'll cover everything from relationships and parenting to running a business and building up our communities. We hope these stories inspire and enable you to make an impact in your world.
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Rooted & Rising: Growth from the Greenhouse
About Finding Faith in New Beginnings
Striking out on your own brings a whirlwind of emotions—excitement tangled with nervousness, independence shadowed by loneliness. For Rylee Jackson, her freshman year began with a mountain that seemed impossible to climb: $2,000 in tuition every semester while earning just $300-500 weekly at her grocery store job.
"I climbed it," she says simply, embodying a resilience that defines her journey. Working nearly 40 hours weekly while taking 15 credit hours in criminal justice, Riley demonstrates extraordinary determination. Her 40-minute commute adds another layer of challenge, costing $275 monthly in gas alone. Yet through it all, a profound faith sustains her: "I knew if I failed, I would still have people to back me up."
What makes Riley's story truly remarkable isn't just her work ethic, but her heart for others. Despite her packed schedule, she remains attentive to hurting customers at her checkout line, recognizing God's gentle nudges to offer kindness to strangers. "Sometimes I can just hear Him tell me, tell them about me," Riley explains, describing moments of connection with people society often overlooks. Her perspective on helping those struggling with addiction reflects wisdom beyond her years: "God's never going to quit on them, so we for sure need to be there, willing to help and lift."
If you're facing your own mountains—whether starting college, managing finances, or finding your purpose—Riley's parting wisdom resonates: "Just don't be scared. God's got your back, you're going to be okay." Her journey reminds us that our challenging seasons aren't just obstacles to overcome but opportunities to discover our strength, compassion, and faith. Listen now and be inspired to climb your own mountains with the same determined spirit.
I am so happy that you joined us today for an interview with another one of my amazing granddaughters. I have seven of them. This is Riley Jackson. She just went away to college recently, in July. She moved away from home for the first time like a long way away, first time like a long way away and settled herself in to be ready to work and to go to college. And it's been a little bit of a transition, but God's been there with her and I just wanted her to have the chance to talk to you about it.
Rylee Jackson:Thank you for coming.
Denise Jackson:Riley, I'm so happy you're here today. You're welcome. So, riley, do you remember before you left to go to college, you had some mixed feelings? Right, I did.
Rylee Jackson:Yeah, let's talk about that. At first I was really excited. I was ready to get out of the house and then, as I got closer to graduation, I got nervous, I got sad because I didn't want to leave my family.
Denise Jackson:But it's been good and that's like natural right, you know. Like, have you talked to any of your friends that have gone through the same thing or not?
Rylee Jackson:really, yeah, a lot of like my friends from high school, my group that I graduated with. We talk a lot and they are feeling the same thing.
Denise Jackson:So it seems normal, right, whenever you're gonna leave one thing and start something new, I mean, you're out on your own. Were you afraid to be out on your own? Was that there in fear there, or you were good?
Rylee Jackson:I don't know if there was fear more as like a very nervous person, okay, um, I wasn't't really. I knew that if I failed, yeah, and I knew that if I failed, I would still have people to back me up. So I wasn't really. I didn't have that sense of fear like some people do.
Denise Jackson:So you know, that's a good point you brought up. Like you knew you had people that had your back and I love that, you know that and we all do. We love you so much. But there are a lot of people in the world that don't have. They don't know that somebody has their back Right and that just makes me so sad because God does have their back Right. But but if they don't even know that, yeah it's just really tough on them, yeah.
Rylee Jackson:And, like the people that I know have my back here on earth, always remind me that God's got my back too. So that's what makes it even better.
Denise Jackson:So you were in a position that you moved into a family's members home and it's about 40 minutes from school and you had to earn the money to get ready and go to college. And how did that feel at first?
Rylee Jackson:um, at first it was. It felt like it was um kind of impossible because, like when you're actively working for it and trying to pay for gas to get to and from work and all that, it feels like I get a paycheck every Wednesday and my paychecks are between three and five hundred dollars and that does not feel like a lot when your school bill is two thousand dollars.
Denise Jackson:So it it felt like a lot, but you're two thousand dollars every month, right, for three months every month, three months every semester. Yes, yeah, so yeah and that's not books. Yes, it is so.
Rylee Jackson:Books are all it's called a bearcat bundle for my school but, um, and now I paid my first one completely by myself. Um, and then, I think, once they realized that I was going to be okay and I could do it, my parents started shipping in $500 each. So that's awesome. So now it's only $1,500. So it's a little more doable.
Denise Jackson:But you looked at that mountain and what did you do? I climbed it.
Rylee Jackson:You did, you climbed that day.
Denise Jackson:You did not let it stop you because God says that you can. You can do that and you know that, but at the time you just had to take steps of faith right and just see where that would lead you and yeah, especially because over the summer I was supposed to save up money and it didn't really work out that way.
Rylee Jackson:I don't know where the money went, but that was a lesson too, wasn't it?
Denise Jackson:that was a lesson, because you were out there having fun thinking I'm free, I'm a grown woman.
Rylee Jackson:I can do what I want to do like I can do what I want to do. But if I do those things, it's more like now me and my money is holding me accountable, instead of my parents holding me accountable for that stuff so which has worked out so far.
Denise Jackson:Yeah, and it'll continue to work out for you. And so you were saying to me like um, like you went to college, you're majoring in criminal justice, and that's all pretty cool. Also, I just have to say, and that's all pretty cool also.
Denise Jackson:I just have to say she's a welder woman she welds and she welds good, and it really has given her some opportunities to learn, uh, even while she was in high school, because she worked for a trucking company a big semi trailer and and the 18 wheelers trucking company and got to drive the 18 wheelers around the parking lot, which is so cool. She learned some things and you know, I don't take that for granted because in my life god has used so many different little things that I learned along the way and brought them in later to do something that I never imagined. And so with w Wiley, I feel like you're going to he will not waste one thing you learned, so I'm really proud of that. But you're majoring in criminal justice now and then you told me earlier. So, paisley, if you've watched the video about Paisley's life or another granddaughter- this is what Riley was telling me.
Rylee Jackson:I about Paisley, okay, um, well, to start off, nisi and I went on a mission trip to Mexico, an amazing mission trip to Mexico in July, right after I left, and I feel like God has always called me to serve in that way, not necessarily on mission trips, but telling people about him and you know like he does all of us and seeing Paisley do what she does really inspires me, because I feel like that he wants me to do that at some point. Just like seeing that, I feel like every time I I feel like every time I see what Paisley's doing, he's like yeah, just wait, you're going to be doing that soon.
Denise Jackson:That's good and you're listening to his voice. It's still quite a voice that pushes you to reach out to people right in your own place that are in need. You live in an area that has a lot of drug abuse and it's easy to like be just say, oh, those people chose. But that's not how you feel, is it?
Rylee Jackson:No, I see a lot of people. I work at HEB, I'm a checker, and I see a lot of people come through and sometimes God will just put it on my heart and I can just hear him tell me about, tell them about me, and sometimes I'm like God, I can't even understand this person talking like what do you want me to say to them? Yeah, he's like whatever. Just say Jesus loves you or I'll be praying for you. And there's two um instances I've had at work so far. I told you about um. There's a lady that comes through my line every once in a while and she's super frail and you can just tell she's been through a lot and has a rough life.
Denise Jackson:So that's what you, that's your response to people is you see that they're hurting and you want to help.
Rylee Jackson:I do. I wish I could help all the hurting people.
Denise Jackson:But it's not our responsibility. Ultimately, god's putting us in their lives for what we can do right and to show his love. And you're doing that with this lady. That's coming through. You're smiling, you and talking to her. You're making her feel like a human, because I think, as people get addicted to drugs, alcohol, anything like that it steals their humanity at some point and we don't want that. We want them to have hope and we want them to be able to make better choices, right. But I also know that it's like God's got to cut away those things in their heart, the desires for things that are just leading them to hell. He has to cut those out of their heart. They get to choose, but he's the one that does the work, so you can't even like say, well, too bad, they made the wrong choice, because God's never going to quit on them. Yeah, he'll always be there waiting for them to choose. So we for sure need to be there, willing to help and lift.
Rylee Jackson:Welcome.
Denise Jackson:That's what I think, I agree. So I love that, that you want to be out even in a bigger way, like Paisley's doing, but right now you're studying. You're studying criminal justice, your very first semester. But you said I don't know what I'm going to be doing. And listen, I'm a 66-year-old woman and I still don't know what.
Denise Jackson:God's going to do with my life, and I've studied a lot of different things along the way. I got a degree in accounting, which I didn't want, but my husband got me to do that because we had four kids.
Denise Jackson:And he was worried if something happened to him. I couldn't afford to take care of them, but God's used that accounting forever. Then I got a teaching certificate and oh, oh, my gosh, that was such a joy, for most of that teaching experience loved that. And then he took me across the world to do something that really was nothing that I really studied in school, yeah, and so, like we have the ability, this great ability that he's given us to learn, so don't worry about it, study what he's got you studying right now. No, I am?
Rylee Jackson:I just went. I went into school thinking I was like I had a plan and I was like, yes, this is what he wants me to do. And then I was like, or is it because now he's opened the door to, or like, train of trains of thought not really doors yet but he's like, well, look at all these opportunities I could give you so your, your aunt, jenna.
Denise Jackson:She went to college to be a dancer, and before her first year was over, she changed to journalism and that changed her life, right, uh, and now she's a criminal justice, in that case, and she never studied criminal justice I say that laughingly, but she is she. She she's interested in criminal justice, in changing the world for to make it better through helping people who have become part of the criminal justice system, and, and so that could be your path. You know, it could be something that you're, um, you're going to follow, but it also could be something totally different than he has for you. So, like um, you you have two sisters, two older sisters, but y'all are super close to an age, one year apart each. So, um, you had them for a lot of years of your life not all of the years of your life, because you have another story, maybe we'll save that for another day and tell that story but for many years of your life, the three of you that were together, and so has that been hard being away from your sisters.
Rylee Jackson:At times it is, and you're the youngest. Yes, For me. I think I know that they love me and I don't need the constant affirmations and communication that they do. I know they need that, so I give that to them, need that, so I give that to them. But it has been hard because sometimes they're not just like the next room away anymore. So it is hard when I need advice or I just need somebody to talk to and that's who I used to turn to. They're not there anymore, so that is hard.
Denise Jackson:I think it's kind of good too, because you're having to seek other places for that advice that God's leading you to. Yeah, but it has been hard. You haven't had a lot of friends in the place that you've been.
Rylee Jackson:That's been hard, lonely it's been hard and it's lonely at times. But I don't know, I really haven't felt lonely I. There hasn't been a time yet where I'm like man, I'm lonely Like I just wish I could go home and have friends, I don't know.
Denise Jackson:Well, that's good, I keep myself busy. Well, you're super busy. You're working almost 40 hours a week and you're taking 15, 14 hours in college. Yeah, so you go Monday, wednesday and Friday to school and then you work the rest of the time. It's really tough, I mean, it's not easy. So you don't have a lot of time. But I know that loneliness is a problem when you first go away because, like, you just leave everything behind. So I'm glad that you feel and you're with family too.
Denise Jackson:It makes it a lot easier to talk to family. Yeah, yeah, that's good too. So it makes it a lot easier to talk family. Yeah, yeah, that's good. But your hope is to get away and be on your own soon and or be with a friend and, uh, living closer to the school.
Rylee Jackson:Yeah, that's the main part of it. If I was closer to school, I'd probably stay with the family for longer periods of time. But it is the commute is. It can be rough sometimes, yeah.
Denise Jackson:I, you know we.
Rylee Jackson:They spent like $275 on gas last month.
Denise Jackson:Well, and it's the driving. You know, papa and I both have had to drive a lot for work in the past, and so you might too one day. But it's really hard. That's like another lesson of that you're getting right now, and we were talking about that one. You know we look at things as why am I in such a hard season? But they're really gifts. Like Riley, earning the money for her tuition has taught her she can do that, having to work so hard and go to school. She knows she can do that and you know, I know God will use it in her life, and so it's pretty cool that I get to see you just bloom and do so well, is there anything else that you'd like to tell girls your age who are maybe going away to school?
Denise Jackson:Maybe they're in high school, going to school, college, or they're in their first year of college? Just any pearls of wisdom, because you have a lot. But if you can think of any now, just let me know.
Rylee Jackson:Share. Just don't be scared. God's got your back, you're going to be okay. What's your verse? Where God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind? Yay, nisi's favorite part of that is power. That's right, because I accidentally used to always leave it out when I would write it, and, and it was it was because I didn't think I had power, and I know now I do.
Rylee Jackson:And you just have to be confident in the fact that God does give you power and wisdom and don't let on the wisdom part. Don't let people tell you just because you're young you don't have wisdom. You just have a different kind of wisdom. You have wisdom that your life gave you and that God gave you. But don't be afraid to take wisdom from other people either, like Denise, You're such a rock star.
Denise Jackson:I'm so proud of you. I feel that you're going to see my Riley Rain Jackson more in the future, along with Paisley, because they do have good wisdom to share with you guys and we believe it's going to help you. And I'm just going to pray for you, Riley, that God will continue to order your path as he's promised so I know he will and that he will continue to provide all you need and even more to give to every good work and that he'll give you clarity in what he speaks to you, so that it's just real clear you know it's him.
Denise Jackson:You don't listen to the voice of the stranger, but you only listen to the good shepherd, and I'm just looking forward to what he's going to do in the rest of your days, as long as I'm here to share them in Jesus name.
