God Is at Work among Portuguese-Speaking Women

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Day after day, we receive emails, letters, and calls from Revive Our Hearts listeners who share with us some kind of personal tragedy or trauma that they’re going through—maybe in their marriage, maybe with their children, maybe with physical health issues.

Dannah Gresh: This is Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, on a Revive Our Hearts series called “Grieving a Loss.”

Nancy (on podcast): In this life grief is inevitable. There’s no way around it. 

Dannah: Earlier this year, a woman was reading the transcript of this series.

Raquel Anderson: My name is Raquel Anderson, and I am from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Dannah: Raquel was getting ready to help record and translate this Revive Our Hearts series into Portuguese.

Raquel: I usually read the transcript before I record because I want to get the heart of the content. And there was a moment when I was reading I had to stop everything and just read.

Dannah: Raquel put her tasks on pause. She just needed this content for herself. She didn’t know why this Revive Our Hearts episode was resonating with her own heart, but it seemed like God was speaking through this program, preparing Raquel for something.

Nancy (on podcast): Everyone is going to experience heartache and sorrow; that’s just part of living in a fallen world. We can’t avoid it, and we need godly, biblical wisdom on how to deal with grief and heartache.

Raquel: And I thought, Lord, what’s going on here? Why do you want me to pay attention to this content? And of course, I didn’t know, but I just let that be part of my heart, my mind.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Heaven Rules, for Thursday, December 26, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh.

We’ll hear more from Raquel in a few minutes. But first, let’s get some backstory. I told you Raquel was helping translate Revive Our Hearts into Portuguese. She was able to do that because, years earlier, several women said “yes” to God’s calling even though they didn’t feel adequate.

And maybe God is calling you to help build His kingdom in some way. On today’s episode of Revive Our Hearts, I think you’ll be encouraged to say your own “yes” to God. That’s what happened to Cindy Rast.

Cindy Rast: My name is Cindy Rast, and I’m from San Paulo, Brazil.

Dannah: She lived in Brazil because her husband taught at Pan-American Christian Academy in San Paulo. 

Cindy: At the beginning of 2012, one of my friends, Prisca said, “Please lead us in another study. It’s been too long. Let’s do a study together.” I was really busy, and I thought, Lord, I really don’t have time for this. What would You want us to do?I think it was right then that True Woman 101 was coming out.

Dannah: True Woman 101 is a workbook written by Mary Kassian and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. Cindy was willing to give the study a try because she had been listening to Nancy’s teaching on Revive Our Hearts for about a year.

Cindy: So the four of us began studying True Woman. After the first week, we'd done our lesson, we'd watched the video. We got onto our knees. No one said a word at the end of the study. We got onto our knees and just started confessing. The Holy Spirit was so present. He showed us, "You've got this all wrong. You have bought into the lies of this world and the culture. You have been deceived. You are women who know the Word. You are women who are serving. But you have been deceived. Confess."

There was such sweet repentance that day. The Lord began to work in our hearts over the next few weeks. I think what the Lord was doing in my life was bringing me to a place of humility. Here I was telling women, "God is good. He is faithful. He provides. Being a godly wife and a godly mother are so important." Yet, I didn't understand exactly all of that meant. So the Lord used the True Woman study to show me that I thought I was a submissive, wife but I was not.

My husband always said, "You know, if someone else wants to make the effort and to do it, I'll just let them." And for sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years of our marriage I led. I was very capable. I could do all these different things. And if he wasn't going to do it . . . He did lead. It wasn't that he was not leading at all, but I was very vocal and very verbal. The Lord used this study to really break me and to show me I was not being a submissive wife. He brought about transformation. That was four years ago. Transformation that's produced amazing fruit. He has humbled us. He has broken us. And then it began replicating. We just saw the Holy Spirit work in ways that I've never seen Him work before. He'd just bring women.

So over the course of the next couple of years, I don't know how many studies I led, but it was quite a few. It was never me going and seeking these women. The Lord brought these women to me. I can say in every situation the woman's life has been transformed and renewed by the power of the Word through this study and through understanding who they were created and designed to be as women.

These were all English speaking women. We had people from Switzerland and the United States and Brazilians that spoke English and Portuguese. But I thought, The women of Brazil, they need to hear this. They don't have this accessible to them. I said to my husband over the course of several months, "Oh, this needs to be in Portuguese." But I thought, Who am I?

Dannah: So at this point Cindy was thinking, We need Revive Our Hearts materials translated into Portuguese! But she wasn’t thinking she was the one who was supposed to do that work!

Cindy: What can I do? My Portuguese isn't even that good. How can I do this?

I just kind of pushed it aside and left it there. But I prayed. And then in December of 2013, it was a typical busy day, and I thought, You know what? I am going to sit down today and eat my lunch. I don't normally sit down to eat my lunch. I'm going to listen to Revive Our Hearts. I'm just going to kind of pamper myself today. I sat down, had my lunch, and I turned it on.

Leslie Basham: It's Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Monday, December 2.

Cindy: It was the women from the Dominican Republic.

Laura Gonzales de Chavez (on radio): When we started this dream, we were thinking the radio programs.

Cindy: And they started to share about what God had done.

Laura (on radio): God had more in mind.

Cindy: . . . in starting the work of Aviva Nuestros Corazones in the Dominican Republic. I was listening, and my heart was just resonating with everything they were saying. I remember putting my fork down and walking back to my room. I have to confess there was just a little bit of frustration there.

I got down onto my knees, and I really cried out to the Lord and I said, "What do You want? What do You want from me?" And I thought, Who am I? What do You want me to do? But I knew that there was such a burning desire. And He said, "I want obedience. I want obedience."

Then I argued with Him. I said, "But who am I? I'm Cindy Rast. I don't speak very well. I don't even speak this language very well. How can I do such a great thing? How can I do this?" And then, it was so interesting. I had a piece of paper there and a pen. He just started bringing to my mind three different publishers that I know personally.

My father-in-law is the CEO, the director of COMEV which is an evangelical film maker—they produce films and audio visuals in Portuguese in Brazil. I have a connection at Trans World Radio. And all of a sudden, as I started to list these things, He said, "Okay!"

So I said, "Okay. Yes, Lord!"

Dannah: God did answer Cindy’s prayers. He connected Cindy with a publisher. He provided the funds. And the Portuguese version of the True Woman 101 workbook became a reality!

Cindy: He has done everything. He asked me to be obedient and to take some steps and to be an instrument for Him. But He has done everything. My faith has grown as I've seen Him be so faithful to His Word. "He who begins a good work in you will be faithful to complete it." As I held that book in my hands, all I could say was, "Thank You, Lord, because You're the one who has done this."

Women are starving for this message. And so my prayer is that we'll be faithful to what God has called us to for this moment. And that is promoting and getting the message of True Woman 101 into the hearts, into the churches, into the seminaries, into the schools. 

It's just kind of like He's putting all these puzzle pieces together. He's preparing the soil of these women's hearts "for such a time as this" to receive this message. I believe with all of my heart that He is going to work first in the hearts of women. 

You know, the message of True Woman and Revive Our Hearts has come to every country in Latin America except Brazil. But it's coming.

Dannah: That interview with Cindy Rast first aired on Revive Our Hearts in 2015. Cindy’s investment in translating True Woman 101 is still bearing fruit, but Cindy wasn’t able to fully see her vision for a True Woman movement in Brazil.

Not long after that interview aired, Cindy was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After a four-year battle with cancer, she went home to be with the Lord in December of 2019.This is Cindy’s daughter, Grace, speaking at Cindy’s memorial service.

Grace: I want to be able to wrap this situation, this tragedy, up in a nice little bow.

Dannah: This is Cindy’s daughter, Grace, speaking at Cindy’s memorial service.

Grace: I want to tuck in all the loose ends and all the things that don’t make sense. I want to wrap it up in a nice little present that’s pretty to look at.

But I don’t have a bow. I can’t say anything that will make sense of this. There’s no way to spin this situation that will make it right. But I do have the cross. I turn to the cross and know that there is no pain, there is no hurt that Jesus hasn’t already known and held on the cross.

So today, somehow we celebrate because even now, my mom is in her Savior’s arms. Just as He is holding her, He promises to hold all of us as well. I hope and pray that I can be half the wife, half the mom, half the example of a true and godly woman as she was! She has left a mighty legacy, and for that I am eternally grateful and humbled!

Dannah: Cindy didn’t just work in the translation of a workbook. She also invested in women through her many Bible studies. In the process she was building a team, and that means that her legacy is still continuing!

Nikki Lorimer: I got connected with Cindy Rast back in 2016, just at the point where she was diagnosed with brain cancer. 

Dannah: Nikki Lorimer was living in Brazil when she listened to Revive Our Hearts and heard Cindy’s passion for theTrue Woman movement. Nikki’s kids went to school with Cindy’s kids. So after hearing that program, Nikki connected with Cindy because she wanted to be part of this ministry.

Nikki: I just wanted to serve her and allow her to do what God was calling her to do. When she passed away in 2019, I thought my job was done. But, I felt that, “No, my job was not done yet.” I found the Lord stirring my heart to just gather all the women who had been connected to her, who wanted to see the ministry continue.

We got together early in 2020 and said, “Let’s just start doing the Seeking Him podcast”—the short, one-minute program which we felt we could handle. Once we made that decision, things just happened really fast.

I spoke to a friend. She knew somebody who could work with audio production. He had been working with events, and because the pandemic had hit, he had no work. So he started doing the audio production. Somebody on our team started recording for Seeking Him.

Dannah: And in January of 2024, the team began translating and producing the daily Revive Our Hearts program.

Nikki: Things have just grown from there! More and more women getting blessed . . . and the testimonies, amazing testimonies, so it’s been an amazing journey!

Dannah: Raquel Anderson has a role just like mine. She serves as the cohost of Revive Our Hearts in Portuguese. One day, she was preparing to record a series called “Grieving a Loss.”

Raquel: I usually read the transcript before I record, because I want to get a heart of that content. There was a moment when I was reading where I just had to stop everything and just read. I thought, Lord, what’s going on here? Why did You want me to pay attention to this content? And, of course, I didn’t know. I just let that be part of my heart, part of my mind. 

Shortly after that, my mom had a fall, and she went to the hospital for three weeks. During those days the Lord kept saying to me, reminding me, “Emmanuel, God with us.” She was in the hospital, and what I read in that content and recorded, was what I needed to be able to go through those three weeks with a sound mind and the peace of the Lord—even not knowing what was going to happen.

And in the not knowing, the Lord kept bringing to my mind, “Remember, Emmanuel, God with us!” She went home to be with the Lord, she died after three weeks. There were several other important things happening in our family, but that truth, “Emmanuel, God with us!” He is faithful to be with us through the grieving, the suffering. That’s what sustained me to go through that.

 

I just thought, What kind of love is that? that even before anything that you know that is going to happen, that the Lord in His kindness and His faithfulness is already giving you hope. That’s what His Word is to us. He gives us hope for our every day, for what we know and what we don’t know. He’s faithful. He does not change. So that’s part of my testimony! 

Nikki: My prayer is for God to do exactly what He did in my life. I’d been a Christian for twenty years. But through listening to the podcast on a daily basis, it just developed a new level of understanding for God’s Word—the depth and the breadth—how amazing it is.

It’s like what I’ve heard Nancy say, “It’s like holding a jewel up to the light and being able to examine every facet of it and appreciating just how it is, what it says it is.” It’s the Living Word! It’s able to transform our lives, and that’s what it did in my life. That’s what I pray that it will do in Brazilian women’s lives, in Portuguese-speaking women’s lives all over the world!

Raquel: My prayer for the Brazilian women is that they will really see the importance and the beauty of spending quality time with the Lord.

Revive Our Hearts, because of its consistency in teaching solid biblical principles through the podcasts, the Bible studies, the books—every resource—there is a consistency that is always pointing women to Christ!

It’s a wonderful ministry with wonderful speakers—godly women! But you never see them bringing attention to themselves, but to point women to Christ. There is a consistency there. I think that’s what gets women’s attention, not only in Brazil, but around the world.

It’s the unshakeable truth, it’s the incomparable truth, it’s the incomparable love—this consistency that God offers us. I know that’s what women realize, “They are telling the same truth! The only truth . . . again and again and again! And that’s what’s equipping them, and engaging them with the ministry!”

Dannah: Wow, the Lord used so many women over so many years to come together so Portuguese-speaking women could now hear this every weekday.

[Clip from Portuguese program]

If you’ve prayed for the ministry and if you’ve given to help meet our financial needs, do you realize that you’re helping Portuguese-speaking women to ground themselves in God’s Word.

This month, you have a special opportunity to help Revive Our Hearts share biblical teaching with women in multiple languages. Some friends of this ministry are doubling every gift, up to a matching challenge amount of two million dollars! We are praying that God will put it on the hearts of listeners like you to give so that we can meet and exceed this challenge amount. 

Nancy is planning to teach through the entire Bible in 2027. Tomorrow you will get a preview of some of that teaching. I know 2027 may seem like a long way off, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then. Translators are getting ready to bring that teaching into their language starting next month. But we need your support to keep the process moving.

Would you pray that God meets our year-end needs? And would you ask the Lord if He’s calling you to help meet those needs through your gift? Make sure to contact us by December 31. 

You can visit ReviveOurHearts.com to give online. Or the mailing address:

Revive Our Hearts Ministries
PO Box 2000
Niles, MI 49120

Or call us at 1-800-569-5959.

Earlier in the program, we heard a portion of Cindy Rast’s memorial service. Nancy spoke at that service, and we are going to end our time hearing some of Nancy’s call to invest our lives in God’s kingdom, just as Cindy Rast did. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy (Cindy’s funeral): A verse came to mind as I was thinking about the things we’ve been hearing today, and the picture that has emerged as I’ve heard so many stories about Cindy’s life. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 1: It says that, “A good name is better than fine perfume.”

Well, I love that part of the verse, but then the second part of the verse and the one that follows it are the ones that I find maybe not so easy. 

A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
It is better to go to a house of mourning,
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living [that’s us] should take this to heart. (Eccl. 7:1–2 NIV) 

Death is not what God intended. It’s not what He designed, it’s not what He created. It actually is an enemy, and that’s why we grieve. Even as believers in Jesus we grieve the loss of this precious sister. 

The story that God has written for Cindy’s life is not the story any of us would have written: fifty-one years old. All of this seems wrong, untimely. It’s not the script we would have written for her! And isn’t it true, often, that God’s story for our lives and the lives of those we love is not the script, not the story, that we would have written?

 At times in this broken, fallen, prodigal earth, we experience heartache and loss and disappointment and pain and unfulfilled longings! But I love the reminders in Scripture that God is not indifferent to our sufferings.

In fact, I’ve been listening to the Bible on a Bible app—just a little bit each day, listening through the Bible—and this morning the passage came from Exodus chapter 3. I was getting ready, over in Michigan, doing my hair and makeup, and I heard this passage in light of the purpose of this service today. God says to His people:

“I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out . . . I know about their sufferings.” (Ex. 3:7)

He was saying, “I have paid close attention to you and to what has happened to you!” There is a God who knows! But He doesn’t just know, He cares! And He doesn’t just care, He acts and moves to bring about our deliverance! God in heaven has come down knowing our misery, our pain, our hurt. He says, “I have come down to rescue them and to deliver them fromand to bring them from that land of slavery and mourning and grief, to bring them to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey! 

You see, all that Old Testament stuff in the book of Exodus was a foreshadowing, a foretelling of a much more momentous moment in human history, when God Himself would come down to enter our pain and our sorrow . . . and even our dying . . . when He would come to this earth to take on the enemy of death!

So, until that day when faith becomes sight and prayer becomes praise, we say, “Lord, we trust You! We trust You to write our story, we trust You to write the stories of those that we love. We trust that You are good. We trust that You are faithful. We trust that Your great redemptive story is one that will, one day, be of such glory and wonder that we will fall in worship and say, “Oh, Lord, You have done all things well!”

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan. Calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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