Grounded in All Seasons

Susan Hunt: Girls, I’m not sure why I’m here, except that I’m old. (laughter) I guess they needed someone old to talk about being grounded to the finish line. I know you’re probably wondering, How old is she? Well, I’m eighty-one. I’m too old to stand for thirty minutes; I’m not even sure I can talk for thirty minutes! But my biggest concern is, this is my naptime. I don’t know if I can stay awake for thirty minutes! (laughter)

But not to worry. My two daughters and ten spiritual daughters from our Titus 2 group are sitting right over here, as close to the steps as they could get. We have lived life together. We have shared the gospel in our lives with one another for twenty-five years. They know me well, and they care for me well. I can assure you that if I do fall asleep or forget what I’m talking about, they have a plan already in place to get me off the stage! (laughter) I can assure you that there’s at least one of them that will be all too glad to take the mic and tell you what I was going to say. She knows who she is. (laughter) But girls, just settle down. For right now, I’m good, and I want to tell them what I’ve been telling you.

The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which becomes brighter and brighter until full day. (Prov. 4:18) 

Girls, it’s true. My physical eyesight is dimmer and dimmer, but my spiritual eyesight is brighter and more vivid. The opposite, in verse 19, is also true: 

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

We’re grieved and shocked by the cultural chaos, the deep darkness, and people not even knowing what causes such despair and sadness and distress. But for the righteous the path gets brighter and brighter, because God’s Word is the lamp for our feet and the light for our path. God’s Word renews our minds and equips us to think biblically, to think beyond what is seen to the unseen, eternal realities. Then slowly, as our hearts are transformed, we connect the eternal realities to our earthly realities, and our theology becomes our doxology.

J.I. Packer wrote, “The older I get, the more I want to sing my faith and get others singing it with me. Theology is for doxology. The first thing to do with it is to turn it into praise and thus honor the God who is its subject,” which is what Ephesians 1 tells us. We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to praise His glorious grace. This is what we were made for! Our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

I was in my twenties when this profound statement captured my imagination, because it answered the burning question in my heart: “Why am I here?” Then gradually, I began to understand that my purpose is to become a part of the redemptive history, part of putting God’s glorious grace on display in a broken world. It focuses me on the grand reality that the gospel is big enough, good enough, and powerful enough to make every moment of every season of life glorious and significant.

Putting it into practice has been shamefully and painfully slow, because it is a daily battle of dying to self. But being grounded in these truths really does clarify and simplify life, even as the wonder of it reorients me every morning as I wake and pray, “Lord, give me grace to glorify and enjoy You in whatever You ordain for me today.”

Will you turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 92? Psalm 92 gives a poetic picture of the path of the righteous. It shows us how to glorify and enjoy God. It crescendos with the extraordinary promise that the path will get brighter and brighter. 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. . . . They still bear fruit in old age. (Ps. 92:12, 14)

Who flourishes? The righteous ones! 

Jesus walked the path of righteousness all the way to the cross and gave His perfect, sinless life as the substitute and sacrifice for our sins. On the basis of His obedience, God declares us to be justified, just as if we never sinned, and just as righteous as Jesus Christ. We do not stand before Him naked and ashamed. Isaiah 61:10, 

He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

What does it mean to flourish? It doesn’t necessarily mean doing more; it means becoming more like Jesus. As counterintuitive as it sounds, flourishing is the progressive death of self and the growth of the life of Christ in us.

This psalm is very personal for me. I began studying it about three years ago. Then I had been praying and reading it into my life for about a year when my husband went to heaven, and I became a widow. In the grief and fatigue of Gene’s illness and the unfamiliar place of widowhood, the truths of Psalm 92 went from my head to my heart, and I experienced the reality of these truths.

The title of Psalm 92 is “A Song for the Sabbath.” It’s a community song. They sang it together when they gathered for worship. Our salvation is personal, but God adopts us into His family. He does not intend us to walk the path alone. What we see in Psalm 92 happens in community.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High. (Ps. 92:1) 

Note the names of God that are used here, reminding us of the God-centeredness of true worship. “LORD” is the Hebrew Yahweh. God is revealing Himself to us through this name as a personal God who enters into a personal relationship with us, binding Himself to us in covenant love and loyalty, promising, “I will be your God, you will be my people. I will live among you; I will be with you always.”

“Most High” reminds us of His transcendent sovereignty. This song is calling us to remember God’s love and His sovereignty, His presence and His promise, His goodness and His greatness. This is the theology that will ground us to glorify and enjoy God even in the hard places and the hard relationships. His sovereignty assures us that He can keep every promise, and His love assures us that He will keep every promise.

Isn’t this what Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer when He tells us to pray? “Our Father” reminds us of His tender care for us. “Who art in heaven” reminds us of His sovereignty.

Verse 1 also shows us how to sing our theology. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” I began praying that the grace of gratitude would go deep into my heart, and in the hard place of Gene’s illness and death the Lord answered that prayer as my fear was replaced with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for God’s presence with us.

It is good to declare His steadfast love and faithfulness morning and evening. (Ps. 92:2)

“Steadfast love” is the Hebrew word hesed, a rich word full of meaning. It means God’s covenant commitment of love and loyalty to keep every promise, no matter what it cost Him. We see the full expression of hesed at the cross. Talking about God’s steadfast love and faithfulness is good for our souls, and it’s good for others.

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by Your work; at the works of Your hands I sing for joy (Ps. 92:4).

As I prayed, “Make me glad by Your work,” I began to meditate on the work of His hands as they were nailed to the cross for my salvation, His saving and sanctifying work in my life and in the lives of those around me, especially in Gene. He was so weak he could barely speak, but every single time someone came into his room, whether they came to draw blood or to mop the floor, he opened his eyes and he said, “Thank you for coming.” Instead of seeing his physical weakness, I saw the beauty and the power of the gospel, and it made me so glad.

Grief is real, and it’s hard. But we grieve in the context of the hope and the power and the joy of the gospel.

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.” Girls, we should not keep this secret to ourselves. Yet I heard my friend Pastor George Grant say, “Too many Christians look and act as if they were baptized in vinegar.” (laughter)

Think about it. The redemption story, our story, is a story of joy! At the birth of our Savior the angels said to the shepherds on the hillside, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you—” what? “Good news of great joy.” Gospel joy is beyond our ability to understand or to produce. It is a spiritual reality.

In John 15 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, that your joy may be full” (v. 11). It’s His joy in us; it’s a gift. He is the source. People, circumstances, the pursuit of my own happiness, will never bring gospel joy. Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “The only means to real joy and contentment is to make His glory the supreme objective of my life.”

Philippians 4 makes an outrageous statement, telling us, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (v. 4). Is this even possible? Only if we think big, if we think long, and if we think biblically. Paul was in prison, but he knew the bigger story. He knew that more was going on than his imprisonment, so he assured the Philippians in verse 12, “I want you to know that this has happened to advance the gospel.”

You see, we’re in the middle of the story at any given moment. We can’t see how everything is going to turn out, but we can rejoice, because our sovereign God will use it to advance the gospel in our lives and maybe even in the lives of others. We can rejoice in all things because He is with us in all things. Nothing can separate us from His love (see Rom. 8:35 ). Only a sovereign God can make such large promises, and only a loving God would make such large promises.

Joy is not the absence of pain and sorrow, it’s the presence and purpose of Christ in our sorrow and suffering. So let us do as our Savior did—1 Peter 2:23—”when he suffered . . . he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” 

Dear sisters, let us entrust ourselves to our Father, because He is trustworthy, and then “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus looked beyond the present reality to the eternal reality.

We can’t produce this joy, but we can pray for it. Psalm 21:6 is my constant prayer. I walk around my house praying it: “Make me glad with the joy of your presence.” And He does.

Then Psalm 92:5–7 reminds us of the compelling contrast between the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked. This Sabbath song does not blur these two worldviews, and neither should we blur them in our lives. These verses clearly show the destiny and the destination of those who know and worship God and those who do not.

How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this; that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. (Ps. 92:5–7)

Verse 6 is not talking about our mental capacity but our spiritual capacity. The word translated “stupid” is from the Hebrew word for “brutish.” Dr. James Boice wrote, 

It is our calling to look up to God and become like God, in whose image we are made; but if we will not look up, the only place we will be able to look is down, and we will begin to behave like an animal.

The question is, am I becoming beautiful like Christ, or am I becoming brutish?

We cannot change ourselves, but Jesus made provision for us to choose beauty, and His prayer for His people in John 17—Jesus said to the Father, “The glory that You have given to me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, and you in me” (vv. 22–23).

Think about that! His glory is in us now. His glory is the essence of who He is. It’s His Holy Spirit who produces in us His life-giving fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is an exquisite summary of the character of Christ! The destiny of God’s righteous ones is to become like Christ and to reflect Christ. Our union with Him is transformative. Our circumstances and relationships do not necessarily change, but there is a radical change in our attitudes and our actions when we entrust ourselves to our faithful Father.

Then verses eight to eleven quickly take us to Jesus, reminding us that it is the power of the gospel that we’re gradually transformed from beast to beauty. 

But you, O LORD, are on high forever. For behold your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies, my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

The horn of an animal is a symbol of power, it’s a weapon. Scripture refers to Jesus as the horn of salvation. Remember, they sang this song in Sabbath worship, continually reminding them and us of another Sabbath, when His horn was exalted, when God poured fresh oil on His anointed, and He rose victoriously from the grave and ascended on high forever, scattering His and our enemies and securing our destiny to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, and our destination, the home Jesus is preparing for us.

The question is, which path are you on? Are you trusting the obedience of Jesus for your salvation? Then you’re clothed with His righteousness, and He has set your feet upon the good path. Are you walking in the brightness and joy of the righteous path, or do you feel stuck? Are your circumstances and relationships, the messages and the mess of this fallen world, confusing and defeating you?

We make progress on the righteous path by using the outward means of grace that God has given us: His Word, prayer, Sabbath worship, the sacraments, and fellowship. As we continue, day after day, year after year, decade after decade, developing and practicing these holy habits, sometimes it feels like we’re just going through the motions, that we’re in a rut. But oh sisters, it’s a righteous rut that gets brighter and brighter as we ask the Lord to use these outward means to “strengthen us with power through Your Spirit in our inner being, that we might be rooted and grounded in love, that we might have strength to comprehend the greatness of Your love, which surpasses knowledge, that we might be filled with the fullness of You” (Eph. 3:16–19 paraphrased). 

When the Holy Spirit uses the outward means of grace that we’re using to strengthen our inner being, the result is Psalm 92:12, 

The righteous flourish like a palm tree, they grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD: they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green. (vv. 12–14)

In Leslie Bennett’s heart preparation devotion last week, she explained that the palm tree’s flexibility and root system enable it to endure the violent winds of a hurricane. This is what she wrote: 

The child of God is shaped to remain upright in any disaster through the infinite resources of His Spirit, His Word, and His Church. The fruit of the date palms which grow in Israel grow sweeter and more abundant as the tree gets older. 

I like that. The huge cedar of Lebanon grows and grows. Their branches spread out and intertwine. What a sweet picture of the interdependence and unity of God’s Church! A tree does not plant itself. God sovereignly plants us in the time in history and the place on the planet and the family and the local church where He wants us to flourish and to help one another flourish. We flourish in community as we declare verse 15:

The LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 

If there was even a hint of unrighteousness in Jesus, He could not be our righteousness. This is a declaration of confidence, not self-confidence, but Christ-confidence.

The little church where God placed me is less than a hundred people, as insignificant in the eyes of the world as those shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem. But Jesus loves the church, and He gave Himself for her (see Ephesians 5). 

He said that He is building His Church, and even the “gates of hell cannot prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The church is not perfect, but we have a perfect Savior who has declared us righteous in His sight and who is using His Word, His Spirit, and His Church to gradually make us righteous in practice.

My friend Judy flourished in our little church. She was part of our Titus group. She would have been here with us, but she had cancer and went to heaven in July. This is Judy’s daughter Sarah, who is here with us, and she’s going to help me tell Judy’s story.

Judy was one of our storytellers in the book Aging with Grace. She begins her story by explaining that her husband left her after forty-three years of marriage. Sarah, will you read part of what your mama wrote?

Sarah: Here’s what Mom wrote. 

Could I recover from the shock of divorce and moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar? I took refuge in the Lord and in the sanctuary of His presence. He ministered to me through His Word, slowly breathing life, hope, and joy to my soul. Eventually He provided a new home and a loving church family who welcomed me. I asked Him to let me proclaim His power to this new generation (see Ps. 71:18). I want my children and my grandchildren to know that in this broken world we will have troubles, but in Christ we can have joy, peace, contentment, and hope, if we keep our eyes on Him, surrender our will to His will, and flourish in His perfect plan for us.

Susan: As Judy became weaker, the fruit of righteousness became sweeter, and one morning she sent me a text. Will you read your mama’s text?

Sarah: Yes. “He has given me such peace, rest, hope. I’m just held in His hands. It’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but He does. He has brought me to this valley, He is in this valley with me, and He will decide when we come out of this valley. The biggest lesson so far has been, don’t try to get out of the valley on my own, but wait for Him.”

Susan: Judy waited, and when she and her children were told that the doctors could do nothing else for her, they sent someone from the chaplain’s office into her hospital room who said, “We’re just here to comfort our patients and their families. We believe whatever you believe.”

Sarah, what did your feisty mama say?(laughter)

Sarah: She said, “Well, I believe my only hope in life and in death in Jesus Christ.”

Susan: A couple of days before she went to heaven, as I sat by her bedside, something about seeing her in that hospital gown just overwhelmed me with grief. My beautiful friend always had the perfect outfit for every occasion. Then I remembered our theology; I remembered the eternal reality. I said, “Judy, you are going on the ultimate trip, and you don’t have to shop or pack! (laughter) You are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus, the garments purchased for you by our Savior!” (applause)

We flourish in the courts of the Lord as we share the gospel and our lives with one another. Friendships are formed as we keep the nursery together or plan an event together or take a meal to a grieving family. Over time, friendships flourish, and we’re privileged to make the sacred journey to the edges of heaven with a gospel friend.

Titus 2 relationships between older and younger women happen in God’s church, as one generation shows and tells the next generation of women how to be life-givers. It’s in the courts of the Lord that we learn to love one another, pray for one another, repent to one another, and forgive one another. When we walk the righteous path together, we become a joyful community of love and unity where we serve the Lord with gladness and serve one another in love. We become those who give a drink of water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and who will one day hear Jesus say, “When you did it for one of the least of these my brothers, you did it for me” (Matt. 25:40).

It’s in the courts of the Lord that we pray for Christians being persecuted and for prodigal children, and in some mysterious way those prayers are used to draw prodigal children back and to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ who face martyrdom, and they do so with peace and joy, and their theology becomes their doxology. So it’s not surprising that the psalmist in Psalm 48 marvels at the wonder of it all when he exclaims, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth” (v. 1).

In the Old Testament, Jerusalem was the city of God. Now it’s the community of God’s people in heaven and on earth. It’s you and it’s me; it’s us. So let us join Christians down through the ages and around the world and joyfully declare our purpose and our hope by using two of the historic creeds of the church, written to ground us in our most holy faith.

Stand with us. I’ll read the questions, and Sarah will lead you in responding.

Sisters, what is your chief end?

Sarah and audience: My chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Susan: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Sarah and audience: That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation because I belong to Him. Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Susan: What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

Sarah and audience: Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are. Second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery. Third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

Susan: Amen and amen. (applause)

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.

BONUS CONTENT

Dannah: Oh, Susan Hunt! You know, we had you on Grounded, our live videocast, a few months ago. We had also had JoJo Starbuck, an Olympian, as a guest. She is probably one of your biggest fans, if I can use that word. I’m a fan of Susan Hunt! Are you a fan of Susan Hunt? (applause)

I remember JoJo just being overwhelmed with getting to be with you. That’s how I feel right now! How is Dannah Gresh getting to sit here with Susan Hunt?

Susan: Oh my!

Dannah: I am sitting with a giant of the faith! I am so blessed by your life. So blessed.

Susan: I’m so blessed by you!

Dannah: I wonder if I can just ask you a few questions.

Susan: Okay, but can I tell you something first?

Dannah: Yes!

Susan: You know the tree back here?

Dannah: Yes.

Susan: I was there last month! My daughter and I went. That’s the Angel oak tree outside of Charleston. We were there and stood under that tree. Isn’t that amazing?

Dannah: That is amazing!

Susan: I know! It’s even more beautiful in person. Go to South Carolina and see the tree! Okay, go ahead.

Dannah: That’s a magnificent tree, but the Bible tells us that we can grow from tiny acorns into oaks of righteousness, and I believe I’m sitting next to one right now.

Susan: An acorn. (laughter)

Dannah: An acorn!?

Well, I know that you have loved biblical womanhood for a lot of years. You devoted many of your years to serving the Lord in your denomination, leading the women, because you cared so much about biblical womanhood, women living according to what God’s Word teaches. Why is that so important to you? Why’d you devote your life to it?

Susan: Well, it was transformative for me. As I began to talk about it with these girls right here, I began to see it being worked out in their lives and transforming their lives. I was so passionate, and the Lord kept making me more and more and more passionate about it as He continued to show me the wonder and the beauty and the joy of it. I saw marriages transformed and lives transformed, and the Lord rooted it deep in my heart. He put that passion there.

Dannah: Because it’s fruitful.

Susan: It’s truth.

Dannah: You’re a mother of three. Your two daughters are here with you today, beautiful girls sitting down there. We love you. And thirteen grandchildren! That’s a lot. I only have two. Do you have any wisdom? I’m just starting. I don’t know what I’m doing.

Susan: I know. Pray. (laughter)

Dannah: Well, speaking of being a grandmother, I once heard Nancy say she feels like you are the grandmother of the True Woman movement. You heard yesterday about the growth in Latin America, the many nations, and the many translations into multiple languages. This is just a movement of the Lord that can’t be attributed to anything but the Lord, but I believe your prayers seeded the way. What does it feel like to see what God is doing through Revive Our Hearts?

Susan: It’s really difficult to put it into words, because it’s such a supernatural thing. To think someone so insignificant and so small, praying . . . Even though I thought my prayers were big, they were nothing compared to what God has done. In Ephesians 3, where Paul’s prayer tells us that God will do immeasurably more than we can even think or imagine to ask, that’s the story of my life. 

The answers to prayer have always been bigger and more spectacular than anything I could imagine. And the prayers I’m praying now, I know that that will be the story there, too. I may not see it, but I believe they will be, because that’s what God says He will do. We can’t even imagine the wonder of Him and the wonder of what He does.

When I see all of this, these beautiful women and all that is going on . . . One of them brought me this necklace; isn’t it beautiful?

Dannah: It is beautiful.

Susan: Patricia brought it to me. It’s just so beautiful, and it’s such a picture of what God is doing transforming lives.

Dannah: I love it.

Susan: I can’t even put into words what it means.

Dannah: This biblical womanhood is fruitful. You’ve prayed for it for decades. There are probably some women here for whom this is really new to them. They’re like, “There’s a specific way God wants women to live?” What Scripture would you advise that woman to whom this is new to her, this is her first conference, her first taste. Where should she start studying God’s Word?

Susan: To understand biblical womanhood, specifically?

Dannah: Yes.

Susan: Genesis chapters 1–3. God made us in His image, like Mary talked about so beautifully this morning. He made us male and female. He created the woman to be a helper, and when we examine that word, the beauty of it is that God is our Helper. The ways that God is our Helper is the way that God has wired us and called us to be that kind of a helper in His world. But then, after the man and the woman sinned, God came and gave them the promise. It was the first proclamation of the gospel, the promise of a Savior. Then Adam looked at his wife and he named her Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living. “Eve” sounds like the Hebrew word “life-giver.”

When I saw that, the lights came on for me. Because of sin, we are all wired to be lifetakers, but because of the gospel, because of redemption in Christ, because the life of Christ is in us, we have the potential to be a life-giver in every relationship and every situation, because Jesus is in us. I think if you can get that concept of the potential that we have because of the transforming power of the gospel to be life-givers, that it’s transformative.

These girls call themselves “life-giver wannabes.” (laughter) That’s what we are.

Dannah: I love that. I had one of those lightbulb moments out of that same passage of Scripture, that same section of Scripture. I always thought, Being a helper to my husband? That sounds so subservient! I didn’t know if I liked that. Of course, growing up in a feminist world that sounded really like a bad deal.

But then I understood that that word was the word—is it ezer or eezer? I never know quite how to say it.

Susan: I’ve heard both ways.

Dannah: We’ll just decide between us it’s ezer. Let’s just say that, and it’s probably wrong.

That same word is used for God as my Helper. He’s inviting me to be that strong, that available, that magnificently giving! You’re right, that’s the right Scripture to start in. I agree.

Susan: Good.

Dannah: I have noticed that you have not retired from serving the Lord. At the age of eighty-one, you haven’t quit. You’re still here. You’re ministering to us. You’re still serving these women. Is she a good mentor? 

Ladies: Yes! 

Dannah: I kind of thought maybe so.

But I’ve noticed that there are some women your age, or even 20 years younger. I’m not quite there yet; I’m almost there. They are retiring from using their spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. There’s something unsettling about that for me.

Since I’m not there yet, I can’t speak to it, but what would you say to that woman who’s sitting out there and she’s feeling—I mean, literally, I have bones that don’t work like they used to, so slowing down is a very real reality, right?

Susan: Right.

Dannah: But I’m not sure quitting is. What would you say to that woman who’s being lured into a more complacent experience in the body of Christ as she ages?

Susan: I think the question to ask ourselves, whatever age you are, whatever situation you are in, is, Lord, how do I glorify and enjoy You today? It’s really pretty simple; it’s not rocket science. So when you get to this point, that I cannot physically do things I used to do, it’s just still asking the same question, but knowing that the answer’s going to be tweaked somewhat. Lord, how do I glorify You today and enjoy You today?

There have been some times over the last couple of years when, for various reasons, I was just confined to bed. Lord, how do I glorify You in this place?

Dannah: Yes.

Susan: We glorify Him as we enjoy Him, and as we enjoy Him we glorify Him, and the fruit of righteousness is not limited to what we’re doing, it’s Him growing in us. So let your imagination soar and ask the compelling question, Lord, how do I glorify You in this season of life, whatever it is?

Dannah: Yes. It reminds me of Amy Carmichael, who was that great missionary in India. She was doing human trafficking rescue before it was even a word, rescuing girls from temple prostitution—so strong, so mighty. But then she was infirm in her later years of life, and instead of being in despair, she turned that into a prayer place. In her bed she was interceding for those same children. Many of her greatest works of writing came from those years.

Susan: Yes.

Dannah: Is there anything you’d do differently, as you look back on your life?

Susan: Of course there is—you look back on your mistakes, you look back on things. But you know, the answer is no, because God used it all—my sin, the sin of others against me, the joys, the sorrows, the suffering. He’s used everything to draw me closer and closer to Himself and to show me more of Himself. (applause)

Dannah: I feel like somebody needed to hear that.

Susan: Let me add one thing to it. One of the girls down here told me, “Be sure to tell them this,” and I almost forgot, Laura! She emailed me the other day and told me that when I told them after Gene died that I thought grief was easier because I had no regrets and no guilt, she said, “People need to hear that.” 

The reason I can say that is because we were very intentional. Gene and I talked about, “One of us the Lord will take before the other one. Let’s be sure that we’re not missing anything, that we’re living every day treasuring Him and each other, that if we need to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ we’ll say, ‘I’m sorry’; that we’ll forgive each other, we’ll repent to each other.”

We did, and I really don’t have regrets, and it makes grief much easier. So carry that through your life. Short accounts. Repent and forgive. Even if the other person doesn’t repent, forgive. Live a life of repentance and forgiveness. (applause)

Dannah: Well, I hope we’re not remembering you soon, but when we do, how would you like to be remembered?

Susan: As somebody who loved Jesus and loved His people, loved His Church, and loved my girls, and lived life with them. I mean, this is wonderful, and it’s amazing, but my life is with them.

Dannah: That’s a good reminder. It’s a good reminder for us, mamas and grandmas who get busy, right? Thank you.

One final question. Let’s talk about the young ones in the room. I don’t know how young Sarah is, but she sure is cute! She’s not that young, she says. But we have girls as young as twelve in here. I have a high-five friend that we’ve been high-fiving all weekend. Where are you? There you are! Hey, sweet girl! High-five! She’s twelve. We have teenagers in here, we have college-age women in here, we have women in their twenties, living in a world that is very opposed to many of the things we’ve been teaching this weekend. I’d like you to speak to them. I’d like you to talk to them about how they stand strong for truth in a world that is telling lies. They may even wonder, Are they all lies? It’s very confusing. It’s a confusing time to live in.

What would you say those young women in this room?

Susan: Seek Jesus and search out godly women whose lives are real. I hope your mother is a spiritual mother, and if so, mothers, I encourage you to encourage your daughters to seek out other women in addition to you. Judy shared Sarah with us from—always. We were just one anothers. 

Seek out godly women, and just get to know them. Talk to older women. Ask them questions. Ask them what they wish they had known when they were your age. Listen to their wisdom. Be involved in your church, in your church family, and stay close to them. They are a source of strength for you that you cannot even imagine.

My good friend’s son died of COVID two or three weeks ago, and her grandchildren, his children I think are thirteen and nine. She was talking with them just before their dad died about, “What are you thinking about the greatness of God?” The son said, “He is so great because He has provided me a family and a church who will stick by us no matter what. They will not leave us.”

You young girls, don’t drift away from your church. Stay close, listen to God’s Word, and love God’s people, and let them pray over you and love you.

Dannah: Amen. Don’t drift away. Let us love you.

Susan: Yes.

Dannah: Okay, I do have one more question. (laughter) Did I say the last one was my last question? I have one more. You’ve been to several Revive Our Hearts events, you’ve been watching the ministry. Do you have a favorite moment or memory about Revive Our Hearts?

Susan: This one—every one! (laughter) My memory’s not very good. (laughter) Oh my goodness, Dannah, it’s all of them! Every single thing; whatever’s happening at that moment. That last session this morning . . .

Dannah: They really needed to bring us tissues and cucumber slices for afterwards. (laughter)

Well, her book is Aging with Grace: Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture. I read it a few months ago. I don’t think it’s just for those who are aging. Your coauthor, Sharon Betters, started loving the idea of growing old in her twenties. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard it, but Nancy, when she was young, she just wanted to be a godly older woman. So, no matter what age you are, this is a wonderful book.

I asked you that question about if you have a favorite moment about Revive Our Hearts because we have some, and they involve you. So we created a little video montage of some of our favorite Susan Hunt memories.

Susan: Oh my!

Dannah: Let’s watch the screen. Here we go.

Susan [video]: Whatever your age, grow up and step up. Share the gospel and your life with another woman, and be a part of extending God’s Kingdom.

I began to think, Lord, how do I live under the authority of Your Word in old age, and how do I glorify You in old age? I can do so little. But as I dug down into Scripture, it’s not just about what we do, it’s about who we’re becoming.

When Titus 2 discipleship begins, it is unstoppable. It will not be confined to assigned groups; it becomes a way of life. It changes the culture of a church. It makes church feel more like family.

So how does it feel to be an old lady? It feels like a tired, very dependent, very happy little girl being carried in the arms of her Father, and she’s calling to her friends, “Look how good and strong my Daddy is!” She knows that when she falls asleep in His arms she’ll wake up at home.

Nancy: Susan, thank you for pouring into us today. You can just sit there a second. Why don’t you come join me in my living room here. Would you do that?

The Scripture tells us in Hebrews 13, “Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s Word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (v. 7 CSB).

So, in a woman, friend, mentor, encourager like Susan Hunt has been to so many of us, and as we aspire to become, what we’re doing is not having people say, “Oh, isn’t she an amazing woman?” We want people to say, “Isn’t He an amazing Savior?” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The Scripture tells us that we are to honor those who have poured the Word into us, and we’d like to take a few moments to do that, Susan. We’ve invited some of your friends and our friends to come join us in our living room here. Your daughters are coming, and all of us would like to be sitting in this living room—every woman in this room would like to be sitting with you. But we’ve invited several to represent us as the Revive Our Hearts ministry and team. We want to take a few minutes here to thank you, to thank the Lord for the investment of your life in us. We’ll let everybody get situated, and let Susan get the surprise out of her eyes.

We have asked the Lord how we could bless you, how could we let you know what you have meant to us? So we have a couple little things we want to present to you.

Two of them are sitting on this table. Dannah, if you can help me. You hold the top, I’ll hold the bottom. This is a tree of life, flourishing like the Scripture talks about in Psalm 92. On the base, here’s what’s written: 

To our dear friend Susan Hunt [we all feel like you’re our friend] thank you for exemplifying the beauty of true womanhood, and for always pointing us to Christ and His grace. ‘The righteous flourish; they still bear fruit’ (Ps. 92:13–14). Revive Our Hearts, October 9, 2021, Indianapolis.

This is a little thank-you from our hearts. And then there’s a matching box. I hope you brought a big piece of carry-on luggage, because . . . we’ll get these to you. Here’s a box with that same tree on the top, and in it there are lots of notes and letters from different ones of us who want to say thank you.

I want to take the privilege, just in case she doesn’t get to mine—it’s in there somewhere—but I want to read just a portion of what I wrote in that note, expressing what many others have written.

Thank you for being faithful over the long haul and for inspiring your younger sisters in the faith to do the same. Thank you for leaning hard on Jesus when life has been hard, for finding His strength in your weakness, and for seeking always to magnify Him above all. Thank you for loving so well and for leading us to the heart and feet of Jesus. As you get closer to that full day in His presence when faith will become sight and prayer will become praise, I pray you will experience the sweetness and the richness of this promise.

Then I chose this, not knowing that you were going to use it, Proverbs 4:18. 

“The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day." With heartfelt admiration, love, and gratitude for you, my dear sister.

That’s one heart saying that, but I’m going to give three of the women here a chance to just say a very brief word of thanks and expression of appreciation, starting with our Grounded Erin. We have known you in different paths and places, so we want to say thank you, and then we want to pray over you. Erin?

Erin: Susan, I love you. There are a lot of us in this room and a lot of us on the livestream and a lot of us in the Church whose own mothers cannot or will not point us to Jesus, but God gives us women like you. I’m so grateful.

As I was thinking about what I wanted to say (keeping in mind that I had a time limit), I thought of that little Grounded clip we played just briefly, when you were in the pink shirt. We played that on Grounded last week. So I found that clip when I was preparing for Grounded, and I watched it, and I bawled. Then we rehearse every week, and I watched it, and I bawled. We played it live, and I watched it, and I bawled. I’ve thought of it—I’m not a crier! 

You know, I’m a tough farm girl! But I’ve thought about it many times since, and I think this is what touched me, is that who you are doesn’t come from talent, though you are very talented. It just comes from a woman committed to being in the presence of Jesus. So I’m so grateful for your example.

You sent me an email—I don’t know, I’m not good with time—months ago, and you called me a “gifted Bible teacher.” I’m having a billboard put up in my town. (laughter) “Erin Davis is a gifted Bible teacher. ~Susan Hunt.” (laughter)

But I am so prone to despair and discouragement and confusion, and what you did for me in that email was just remind me who I am in Christ, and that’s what you do. You’re a handmaiden in the Kingdom, and I want to be a handmaiden in the Kingdom. So I’m so grateful for your life.

Nancy: Thank you, Erin. (applause)

JoJo Starbuck is a long-time friend of my family, but she connected with Revive Our Hearts—in a kind of roundabout way. I started seeing her name on the Grounded comments, and we reconnected. We asked JoJo if she would just say an expression of appreciation.

JoJo: Thank you, Nancy. I know so many of you would like to be up here doing the same thing, but I’ll share my story. I woke up one day; I was sixty-three years old and full of despair. I felt useless. I’d had a wonderful youth as a competitive figure skater, a professional career that was so exciting as a skater, coach, choreographer, producer. I was happily married, I have wonderful twin boys that are healthy and strong. I had been a Christian for decades, and so many people had poured themselves into me and blessed me with love and advice along the way.

But when I was sixty-three my boys went off to college—how dare they? I became an empty nester, and I realized I had no plan and no purpose in my life. Like maybe many of you, I felt hopeless.

I struggled with this for a long time, feeling incredibly inadequate, that I had no skills, nothing to offer the world. It’s a horrible place to live, feeling like that. 

Enter Susan Hunt. About five years later, I was scrolling the Revive Our Hearts video library, and I found a really catchy title: “Aging Gracefully: Don’t Give Up on That Modeling Career!” (laughter) I thought, I have to hear what that’s about!

Susan so gently and wisely, but with great strength, Scripturally-based, poured Titus 2 mandate into her audience that day . . . including me, It changed my life and changed my perspective. It allowed me the hope to go on and to go forward and try to make a difference in the world, which we all want to do so badly.

Susan illuminated to me the fact that at this age I have a storehouse of treasures, of experience, wisdom gained by failures and successes, that I could now pour into younger women in my life. I don’t why I didn’t really focus on that; I was too busy having a pity party. It’s amazing how Satan can come into our lives, even though we’re strong, committed Christians, and turn us upside-down. But you turned me around that day and gave me such hope. 

You’ve given me a career now, a modeling career, of modeling advice and encouragement, carrying burdens with my younger friends. It’s a career I never have to retire from, really, and probably the best career I’ve ever had. Thank you, Susan, so very much. (applause)

Mary Kassian: Susan, you have been our mother, grandmother, and you’re the mother of the True Woman movement. You wrote a book called True Woman long before there was a True Woman movement. You’re a trailblazer—Spiritual Mothering; Women’s Ministry in the Local Church; The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood. You and I wrote together How to Be God’s True Woman While You Still Have a Curfew for young girls.

When I was thinking about that and thinking about what I was going to say, the image that actually came to mind is just what’s happening right now in fall in Canada, where all the birds are rising up to fly. They fly in these amazing formations, where there’s the point bird, and then there’s the V of all the other birds flying behind that one, who’s taking all the wind. That bird that’s working so hard at the front—I learned something new, actually. I was doing a little research on it. That bird that is flying out front, the work of pushing the air down that that bird is doing is actually creating an updraft for all the other birds in line.

Susan, that’s what you’ve done for me. That’s what you’ve done for all of us. We just want to say thank you. We love you. All the women in this room, all the women listening, tens of thousands of women around the world, you’ve been that point bird for us. Your work has created the wind beneath our wings. Thank you. (applause)

Nancy: Well, we’d like to pray a blessing on Susan as she has blessed us, poured out blessing into our lives. Leslie, I’m going to ask you to just close this time by representing us. If you would just touch Susan there, and we’re touching her with our hearts. Right after we pray we’re going to sing together, with Shane and Shane, an affirmation of God’s promises and God’s truth that are what ground us from cradle to grave, from young to older women. We have every season of life represented here, and we’re going to affirm that as we sing together. But first, Leslie, why don’t you lead us in praying.

Leslie Bennett: What a privilege and honor it is to bring Susan Hunt, my dear spiritual mother, to the throne of grace. 

Father, You know that I am the fruit of her prayers, and it’s not just me, because every Wednesday Susan has been faithfully praying for women’s ministry leaders and pastors’ wives around the globe, some of which she doesn’t even know their name and has never even met them or seen their faces. Yet she has prayed faithfully for us. Because of Susan’s undying devotion for the Church, we love the Church more. She has taught us to be life-giving leaders who bring care and compassion and prayer into the churches You plant us in.

Father, there’s so much more that we need to learn from Susan and to be equipped by her. She is going to need more grace as she continues to run her race without her beloved Gene by her side. Father, You’re smiling down right now, because You are the God of infinite grace, and there are riches of grace that Susan has not yet tasted.

Father, this dear woman has taught us how to have joy as we suffer. So I pray over her and ask You to multiply her joy as she walks through life with her beloved Husband, Jesus. Father, I ask that You would crown her with lovingkindness, hesed, and that You would satisfy her with good things and renew her youth like the eagles. Just like the psalmist prayed in Psalm 71, I know this is Susan’s heart: “O Lord, do not forsake me until I declare Your might to another generation and Your power to all those to come!” Father, You are fulfilling that, and You will complete that.

Lord, expand her family album even in these latter years. Give her more spiritual sons and daughters. Father, I pray over the Hunt family, for generations and generations to come, for their dear family, may they be sons and daughters and granddaughters and great-granddaughters who love and serve the Lord. 

Father, may Susan live out her theology, and may it be her doxology until she breathes her final breath, as her Abba Daddy carries this happy little girl in His arms home. Bless this dear woman. I pray these things in the matchless name of Jesus, amen.