Listener Letters: Saying Yes to God

Dannah Gresh: Today is a day to remember and celebrate what God has done through Revive Our Hearts.

Clare: Listening to Revive Our Hearts on my way to and from work helps me to keep my mind stayed on the Lord. And for that, I’m really very, very grateful.

The Lord has been doing an incredible work in my life, especially over the last two or three years. And Revive Our Hearts has helped me to stay grounded in this season with my eyes fixed on Jesus.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude, for May 14, 2021. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Well, today we want to take a break from our regular studies to share what God’s been doing in the lives of our listeners. In fact, speaking of that, Nancy, today’s a very special day of celebration in your life.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: It is, Dannah. It’s May 14, and fifty-eight years ago today, if my math is correct—I think that’s right—at the age of four, I knelt by my bed and trusted Jesus as my Savior and the Lord of my life. And, boy, I was a little girl. I didn’t know a lot of theological terms, but I knew that I was a sinner, that He was a Savior, and that I needed Him. And wow, what a major turning point in my life and the start of a whole new life.

So each year I probably celebrate my spiritual birthday with as much or more gusto as I do my physical birthday, because that is really when life began for me. I could not be more grateful for God’s incredible faithfulness and mercy in my life, keeping me, preserving me, walking with me, and drawing me to Himself over all these years. I just could not be more thankful.

Dannah: Well, today we are all celebrating with you, my friend. And what a sweet memory. I can just picture you, that sweet little four-year old, bending your heart to Jesus for the first time.

Sweet memories like that are great opportunities for us to remember how faithful God is. And He’s been faithful to build and expand Revive Our Hearts beyond what, at least I could ever have imagined, I don’t know about you, Nancy. He’s calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ so beautifully.

Nancy: Yes, Dannah. What God has done truly has been over and above anything we could have imagined. In fact, not long ago we had a Revive Our Hearts’ board meeting, and our executive director, Martin Jones, wrote up a report to update our board on what had taken place during 2020. I want to read to you just the opening paragraph of that report.

He said, 

We see so many evidences of God’s faithfulness and His provision. We saw this at every turn throughout 2020. Revive Our Hearts continued to grow in both outreach and provision [in an unprecedented year that included everything Covid related, Robert’s ongoing cancer journey, and so much more.

The Lord has brought new quality people to our team and sustained us through the adjustments of working as a fully remote staff, connecting almost entirely by a Zoom and other digital platforms.

We take courage from the knowledge that heaven rules. And we take heart as we work together within Revive Our Hearts. We see the words of the psalmist playing out before us: “This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.””

Well, Dannah, Revive Our Hearts is in our twentieth year of ministry. It’s really hard to imagine that it’s been that long.

Dannah: Oh, it’s so beautiful, and you’ve been so faithful, and the team has been so faithful, and God has been so faithful.

Nancy: And that’s what we want to put the emphasis on—the faithfulness of God. And twenty years of ministry means twenty years of helping women say, “Yes, Lord.” We’ve had the privilege of watching God transform women’s lives so that they long to say yes to Him.

There’s such a joy that comes after we step into the pathway of obedience, and we say, “Yes, Lord.” Regardless of what we feel, what we think, what we want, we just say, “Lord, be Lord in my life.”

Dannah: Amen. We’ve received some beautiful testimonies from women who’ve answered that call, “Yes, Lord.”

Nancy: We want to share several of those today. First we want to hear from Clare. The Lord captured her heart with the message she heard on Revive Our Hearts. She’s one woman who’s especially grateful for the international outreach of this ministry. Here’s Clare.

Clare: I was introduced to Revive Our Hearts in 2006 by my then boyfriend’s mom who’s been my mother-in-law for eleven years now. I’ve been listening to your faithful teaching of the Word ever since, and it’s difficult to explain how grateful I am for the ministry

I’m currently in a really busy season of life. My husband is the senior pastor of a small inner-city church in the U.K. We’ve got three young children, and I also work as an emergency medicine physician in the N.H.S.

Listening to Revive Our Hearts on my way to and from work helps me to keep my mind stayed on the Lord. And for that, I’m really very, very grateful.

The Lord has been doing an incredible work in my life, especially over the last two or three years. Revive Our Hearts has helped me to stay grounded in this season with my eyes fixed on Jesus.

I’ve had the blessing of leading the ladies in my church through many of the Revive Our Hearts’ resources, including True Woman101 and 201. More recently, over the last 12 months, we’ve been going through Seeking Him. My constant prayer is that we would all have our hearts continually revived by Jesus.

There is really so much more to say, but thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the incredible work you do as a ministry that reaches all across the world. Becoming a Ministry Partner a couple of years ago has helped me feel like I can contribute even a tiny part of the Lord’s work through you.

The Lord has used you for His kingdom, and I pray the Lord will continue fruitfully until He comes again.

Nancy: Amen. Did you catch what Clare said was her constant prayer? “That all of our hearts would be continually revived by Jesus.” And to that we say, “Amen! And Amen!”

Dannah: Amen, and thank you, Clare.

If you’re using Revive Our Hearts’ resources in your church, we want to thank you for letting us know how Revive Our Hearts has grounded and reminded you to fix your eyes on Jesus.

Nancy: Yes. I love it when we hear from women who are using Revive Our Hearts’ teaching as a launching-off point for their own study of God’s Word.

Now, Revive Our Hearts is primarily a ministry to women. But we do know there are some men who listen. Here’s one of those men that we heard from recently.

Glen: You know Revive Our Hearts is not only for women, but men can listen in, too. When my wife is tuned in to the broadcast, she gets all uplifted and stuff. Well, I wanted to be a part of that. So I got hooked on just the great, sound biblical teaching that is offered in this ministry. It has allowed me to draw closer to God while I pray with my wife and become inspired as well.

So let me encourage you, Revive Our Hearts, to keep laboring for these women because you may never know that you just might be a blessing to some of the men in their lives, too.

Dannah: Wow, I love hearing that! What an encouragement!

Nancy: Yes, it really is, Dannah, to see the Lord working in the hearts of marriages and families, to encourage them in their walk with the Lord.

Now, before we share the next story, here’s a little bit of background information: We’ve talked many times on this broadcast about Elisabeth Elliot, who was a missionary to Ecuador, whose husband was martyred, along with four other missionaries, back in the 1950s. In later years, God gave Elisabeth an effective speaking and writing ministry and the radio program Gateway To Joy, which is the ministry that preceded Revive Our Hearts.

Dannah: Ellen Vaughn has written a biography on the early years of Elisabeth’s life, and here’s a bit of Nancy’s interview with Ellen from last fall when they were talking about loss and pain.

Ellen Vaughn (from Remembering Elisabeth Elliot): And so for me as her biographer, watching these stories unfold in the pages of her journals and reading her letters, I mourn. You get involved. You think, Oh, how can I help? But at any rate, you mourn these losses, and yet you see, is it not the same in our own lives?

During the period of writing this book, I was going through very difficult times. And one of the great benefits for me of being immersed in Elisabeth’s life, even as my own life was pretty heavy, was that sense of: None of us is alone. Even in times of quarantine, even in times of isolation, we are not alone. And that’s where I think, and where I would hope that this book could be used to encourage people.

Books are a reminder that we’re all on this journey together. That God is good, even when we can’t figure out what’s going on. And we’re not the first people to run into inexplicable challenges.

Nancy: And I think about how much of Elisabeth’s later life and ministry—her books, they have blessed untold numbers of people, ourselves included; her public speaking ministry; her Gateway To Joy ministry . . . I mean, this was such a rich fountain of grace and truth we received from this woman. And you look at that, and you think, Wow, isn’t that beautiful!? It impacted our lives.

So the truth, the grace she received and the things she taught us . . . I think we forget sometimes the price she paid for that message, that pure walk, the sweet ministry of the Word to be part of who she was. But the determination to cling to God when His ways were something she could not fathom, she couldn’t understand, when there was no visible evidence of why God might have done this.

Elisabeth Elliot (from a past recording): There really are only two choices: You either trust God, or you don’t trust God. And when we’ve made a lifetime commitment to trust God, then He tests us again and again and again. He says, “You trusted me back here. Okay, how about now?” All right, you might pass that test, then He says, “And what about now?”

And the lessons never end, do they? Not as long as we’re here in this flesh, because we are always tempted to doubt. Doubt becomes a habit and a luxury, a habit that we must kick as Christians.

Ellen: I think that is why Elisabeth Elliot is very appealing to me, and I think will be appealing, perhaps, to Millennials who aren’t familiar with her story. She was very impatient, if you will, with the evangelical subculture that always wanted to tie a bow on things or to have a pat Christian answers and these glorious and victorious results.

Nancy: The story of Elisabeth Elliot’s life has impacted so many people now for generations. When we aired that conversation with Ellen Vaughn, there was a listener named Jody who wrote and shared with us how she could identify with some of Elisabeth’s losses and pain.

Dannah: Yes. Here’s what she wrote to us:

I’ve lived a life of hard trials, tremendous loss.

And then she goes on to share a truly horrific story. It’s very difficult, actually, for me to read. She writes:

My four-year old daughter was killed as our family enjoyed Sunday brunch on a July sunny day after church. My infant daughter was left brain injured as well. [I’m having a hard time reading this.] A woman drove into the restaurant claiming she was trying to kill herself, but she ended up killing two other people instead. We offered forgiveness to her in court at sentencing.

She goes on to say that she’s prayed for longings that seemed to go unnoticed by Almighty God.

But still, I trust Him over and over and over again. And my prayer each day is, “Oh, for grace to trust Him more,” and I can testify He continues to prove He is who He says He is—faithful, merciful, and good. To God be all the glory, even when we cannot see.

Oh, Jody, you’ve walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and it sounds like He’s now walking you along those streams of living water. But I know it’s day by day to trust Him more. Thank you so much for sharing.

Nancy, I wonder if you’d stop and just pray for Jody right now?

Nancy: Yes. Let’s join our hearts in doing that together. Even though we don’t know Jody personally, the Lord does.

And so, Father, thank You for this precious woman. She’s been through so much, and she’s really choosing day by day to trust You for what she cannot see and to extend forgiveness where there has been such deep loss and pain caused by the failure of others.

So I pray that on those darkest days, and the grief even yet to come, that You would remind her again and again of Your great promises. Give her grace each day to trust You more. And out of her pain and loss, as was the case with Elisabeth Elliot, I pray that You would bring help and healing and hope to many who don’t know Christ.

I pray that You would lift up this sister. Encourage and strengthen her even today, I pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Dannah: Another woman who’s gone through quite a bit of loss is one we find in the pages of the Old Testament—Ruth. And, Nancy, you struck a chord with many women when you taught through the book of Ruth a couple of months ago. So let’s listen to a small part of that.

Nancy (from Ruth: The Transforming Power of Redeeming Love): Most of all, this is a story about redemption and about the Redeemer. It’s a story that, once you get familiar with it, you will see your salvation in a different light perhaps than you’ve ever seen it before. And you will realize what a precious thing it is that Christ has done in redeeming us in a way that overrules the losses and the failures caused by our sins.

Now, that story doesn’t always come to a quick ending. The beauty at the end of the ashes, the joy at the end of the tears doesn’t always happen—as all of us know—it doesn’t happen right away.

In fact, Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that we’re in the process of being redeemed, and that while we’re in that process, there’s groaning that goes on. (And I see some heads nodding because we know about the groaning stages.) He says the whole creation groans and travails in pain. But why? It’s waiting for the redemption that is taking place and that God is bringing about in our world.

So in the meantime, while we’re living out that process of being redeemed, Paul says we trust. We look to the final chapter. We look to the end of the story. And seeing the end, we can rejoice even while we’re groaning and travailing in the pain that life on this planet brings to us.

Dannah: Well, we sure heard from many listeners when the series on Ruth aired. But we wanted you to hear how this teaching on God as our Redeemer impacted the life of a woman named Christy. She wrote:

Thank God He put Ruth on Nancy’s mind to minister to my heart. My husband was the hardest working, kindest, loving man I knew. He was also humble and thankful for what God had brought us through.

My husband went to be with the Lord on October of 2019 at age forty-seven after a three-year battle with cancer. We all miss him dearly.

I always thought of my husband as my kinsman redeemer because I was in a difficult situation when he rescued me at age twenty-one.”

And then Christy goes on to write how difficult it was to let go of her husband because he’d been such a godly force in her life and had rescued her heart over and over again. But she writes this:

Nancy, you reminded me that God is my Redeemer. That’s His place in our lives to save us. So I want you to know that I so appreciate you teaching us about Ruth and how Boaz represents God in our lives; how needy we always are and how gracious and loving our God is.

I really needed this series at this time. Please tell everyone in your ministry that I’m so happy to be a part of it in a small way. Keep up the work of seeking Him and teaching others.”

Nancy: What a sweet story from this woman who’s been through such a great loss but has found Christ to be the one who could meet her need in that place of loss.

And a sweet thing also to know how, because of what God has done in her life, she’s wanting to invest in the lives of others through giving to help make this ministry possible. So, thank you, Christy, for being so honest with us and sharing about your husband and your struggle with losing him. And, like Ruth, like Elisabeth Elliot, and so many others, you’ve responded by surrendering to Christ and saying, “Yes, Lord.”

Dannah: That reminds me, Nancy, of a conversation we had recently with Gretchen Saffles. She talked to us about how we all are prone to look to other people or other things for our fulfillment or to do things that only God should and can do in our lives. She pointed out that the Bible calls those things broken cisterns.

Gretchen Saffles (from The Well-Watered Woman): I think the gift of the home can become a broken cistern. We can use it in a way that is stewarding it to bless others, to be hospitable, to care for our family. Or it can so quickly become something that we’re on Pinterest all the time—trying to find the perfect pillow and make it into something that will make us feel maybe more comfortable or more successful in life.

It’s amazing how quickly my heart can flip from being grateful for something that God has given me to putting it on a pedestal above where God should be.

I remember when my husband and I first bought a house. I was, like, “This is it! I finally get to decorate a house!” I found myself in that rabbit hole, drinking from that broken cistern, on Pinterest.

I was comparing myself to so many other people. I would see something, and I would go, “Oh, but this doesn’t look like my house.” Then I started to not be grateful for what God has provided for us.

Dannah: Well, a listener named Courtney heard that testimony from Gretchen Saffles, and she shared this with us:

Courtney: I grew up very poor by earthly standards, raised by a single mother who worked three jobs. As an adult, my husband provides for our family very well. Our house isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful, and God has blessed us. When we bought the house, I prayed that God would allow us to use it for His ministry, and He has.

Last week, a new house went on the market 7/10of a mile from where I grew up. This house is on 110 acres and is listed for $19.5 million dollars. Suddenly, my blessings felt small. I started researching everything about the house and watching videos about houses in the same price range. I even took a trip home and drove by the mansion. I know my husband was tired of hearing about the house.

Then I listened to the podcast that said that houses have the potential to be a broken cistern. I laughed because it felt like God was calling me out directly. I ran to my husband and told him about the topic. Before I could finish, he raised a knowing eyebrow. I was going to explain the importance, and he interrupted with, “I know.”

It’s amazing how timely the message was in calling out the broken cistern that I thought would quench my thirst. Thank you for your ministry.

Dannah: I wonder, Can you relate to Courtney? I know I sure can.

Nancy: I know all of us can in different ways as we think about those things and people that we look to here in this world to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.

Here at Revive Our Hearts, what we’re trying to do constantly is point ourselves and each other to Christ, who is the only well of water that springs up and gives us life without any disappointment.

Well, Dannah, our time here today has been sweet for my soul. What a joy it is to hear from so many listeners day after day about how God is using this ministry to deepen their knowledge, their understanding, and their trust in Him.

Dannah: Yes. The women and the one man whose testimonies we heard today have said, “Yes, Lord.” They heard His truth on Revive Our Hearts. They were listening to Him as they did, and surrendering their lives to Jesus and longing to do His will.

I’m hearing that recurring theme of, “Yes, Lord,” in their testimony.

From Jody, “Yes, Lord.”

From Christy, “Yes, Lord.”

From Clare, “Yes, Lord.”

And Courtney, “Yes, Lord.”

Nancy: Countless other friends we hear from are saying the same thing. In fact, for twenty years Revive Our Hearts has been asking women to say, “Yes, Lord.” And as a result, there are women all around the world today who are experiencing greater freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

Now, we have not carried on this ministry on our own, not by a long stretch. There are so many listeners, so many friends who’ve answered the call, “Yes, Lord,” by financially supporting Revive Our Hearts and standing with us.

If you’re one of those people, I just want to say thank you. If you’re a member of our Monthly Partner Team, thank you. If you’ve supported the ministry occasionally or once or twice, thank you.

Your generosity is making a difference in the lives of women just like Jody, Christy, Clare, and Courtney. Thank you so much.

Dannah: And if the Lord is stirring your heart right now to support Revive Our Hearts with your prayers or with your donation, I want to say this in advance, “Thank you!”

We’re listener supported, and it just means so much to hear from you, especially at this time, because right now we are trusting the Lord for some significant funds to end this month and begin our new fiscal year healthy and ready to set more women free to walk in the fullness and truth of Jesus Christ—more women to say, “Yes, Lord.”

If you’d like to make a donation right now, just visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1–800–569–5959.

Now, how would you respond if you were in constant pain 24/7? Katie Laitkep knows exactly what that’s like.

Katie Laitkep: I would sit on a metal stool for about eight hours a day in this room that felt a lot like an aquarium. You would just sit there, and about every ten–fifteen minutes or so you’d walk to the front of the room, and I would get an injection in my arm. And then I would go back, and I would sit, and I would wait. Then I’d go back, and every ten–fifteen minutes. I would do that for about eight hours a day, just day after day after day, for weeks.

Dannah: She’ll share her story on Monday, here on Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is grateful for you. This podcast is brought to you in part by our Monthly Partner Team members. It’s an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.