Jill Miller: Devoted to Serving

Dannah Gresh: What does a life devoted to serving others look like? 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Hospitality is using what God has given us to demonstrate His love to others.

It’s one thing to sit in church and talk about how we love each other, but how do we show that we love each other.

I want to suggest to you based on the New Testament Scriptures that hospitality is one of the most practical, concrete expressions of true Christian love.

 

Here’s what the Lord has been challenging me: if my love were measured by my hospitality, how big would my love be?

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free, for Monday, April 22, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh.

We are in a series called You’re Welcome Here. Nancy has been showing us what the Bible says about showing hospitality to others. She gave us a list about some of the people who need hospitality. Let’s review some of what we heard.

Nancy (from a podcast): This is a world where people tend to put up high walls around themselves. I think of the words: lonely, fearful, suspicious, when I think of this culture. So many people are wounded, detached, because they have been hurt in relationships. It’s a world of broken relationships.

The ministry of hospitality is a powerful weapon for breaking down walls. And, it’s a weapon for penetrating our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ—a culture that is so wounded and hurt.

God is a God who welcomes the poor and the needy. He welcomes the outcast. He welcomes the downtrodden. He welcomes the homeless. He says, “Come and find a home. Come and find rest. Come and find refuge in Me.”

The incredible thing about our God is that He has invited us to come home with Him and live with Him forever!

Dannah: We’d like to help you see what it looks like to meet the hospitality needs of others. To do that, my friend Erin Davis is going to tell you the story of a woman who has devoted her life to serving other people. In fact, if you’re a listener to Revive Our Hearts, this guest serves you!

Erin Davis: Thanks, Dannah. Our guest’s name is Jill Miller.

Jill Miller has a lot to talk to us about hospitality, but before we get there, we need to talk about giving, saving, and that thing our culture calls retirement.

Do you have a plan to use your retirement in a way that is meaningful? Jill started asking that question in her early twenties, when she got her first full-time job in the corporate world.

This is not my area of expertise, but she did something like this . . .

Jill Miller: Working with data, slicing, dicing, analyzing, looking for patterns and trends, and then putting it into meaningful format so that people who were not data geeks could understand it and make some decisions from it.

Erin: Before getting this job, Jill had volunteered a lot of time at church, so entering corporate America was a big adjustment for Jill.

Jill: I really wasn’t prepared for how much energy and time it would take to do that, even though I worked in an office. There’s travel time, there’s back-and-forth, and you really don’t have the ability to take a week off to help in Bible school, for instance.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t continue at the level that I had been doing service for God or ministry for God. I really even questioned, to some degree, “Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Was I not supposed to be in corporate America?”

Erin: But God impressed a plan on Jill’s heart: “Stay where you are and save all you can, then retire early and volunteer in ministry full time!”

Jill: So after I really felt God leading me in this direction, I pretty much started my day-to-day life just going to work and being obedient in saving money and being generous. I did that throughout my life, nothing really special, just following in steps of obedience.

Erin: Actually, sometimes it was special! God didn’t just call Jill to save for the future, He also wanted her to give generously. In fact, He called her to give very early on in the process, before she’d even bought any furniture!

Jill: The company I started working for only paid once a month. I started working in the middle of the month, so I didn’t get paid for six weeks, so it was a challenge. That’s why I had the lawn chair and the card table as my dining room for a bit!

I was at a singles’ group Bible study, and the leader was at Dallas Theological Seminary. His wife mentioned that her great aunt had just passed away and she lived in the state of Washington.

You could tell this lady must have really meant a lot to her, but she wasn’t going to be able to go to the funeral. You could tell that bothered her. I was driving home from that Bible study, and really felt God drop in my heart that, “She probably really can’t afford the plane ticket.”

Erin: She didn’t articulate that in the group?

Jill: No, she just said she wasn’t going to be able to go, and for all I knew it was because she couldn’t get off work or something I could do nothing about.

But I think God really is the One who showed me that I needed to put that offer out, that I would buy the airplane ticket if that was what was holding her back. So I left a voicemail saying that.

I had no idea how much an “emergency” plane ticket to the state of Washington from Texas would be. I was basically confident that God wouldn’t ask me to do it if I didn’t have enough money to pay for that, because I didn’t really have a whole lot in my savings.

I didn’t hear anything that night, and I’m waiting and waiting. The next day she finally called and said, “I’m going to take you up on that offer.” 

I said, “Okay, go ahead and buy the ticket and just let me know how much I owe you.”

It took almost all my savings, but when she came back, what a story! What a testimony she had from that trip—from being able to share the gospel on the plane to ministering to people at the funeral. What she was able to do because I paid for a plane ticket was amazing!

Erin: I have goosebumps, truly!

Jill: That was kind of my first “biggie” gift of that sort . . . and I was hooked! I didn’t go anywhere; I didn’t leave my house, but I was part of a ministry in other places.

God did not make me adventurous. I know you are adventurous and like to travel, Erin, but that is not me. I wanted to do more, because so many people are asking for money.

One of the principles God showed me early on was that if you have $200 to give, don’t give $20 to ten organizations. Pick one or two and give them $200, or whatever.

Erin: Maximum impact.

Jill: Really find out where God wants you to give and then give there. So, I put money aside so that when a need arose, I was prepared, not just to give $20, but I could give a larger amount. It is the way God had me to do it.

Not everybody’s finances are set up such that they can do that, but me being single, I had control.

Erin: That’s beautiful! All followers of Jesus are very clearly called in Scripture to generosity. 

Jill: Yes, in whatever way. 

Erin: I think it’s a mercy that it doesn’t give us a dollar and cents amount in Scripture, because we don’t all have the same amount of dollars and cents in our bank account . . . or even the same ability to earn the same amount.

Jill: True. Right.

Erin: The dollar amount doesn’t matter as much as the heart behind it.

Jill: Absolutely!

Erin: Jill continued giving and saving and working with all her heart.

Jill: I had prayed that I would be able to retire early, and in my mind that meant sixty-two.

Erin: But when Jill was just fifty-six years old, she met a financial planner who took a look at Jill’s savings and investments.

Jill: And she said, “Hey! This is one of those meetings I can tell you, ‘You can retire right now!’” 

I said, “Are you sure!?” 

They repeated, “Yep, you could retire right now!”

And I was like, “God, I mean that’s ridiculous!” I couldn’t believe that He was not only blessing me, but blessing me so much!

Erin: Jill wondered if it was time to do what she wanted to do for so lo-o-ong—to serve the Lord full time!

Jill: I spent some time just praying and asking, “God, are you really leading me to do this?” And the answer was, “Yes!” I spent the next, pretty much, nine months documenting what I did at my job because I wanted to leave well, and I had so much in my head. 

I had finished out the calendar year and then retired. It was just like turning a page in a book to get to: “Here’s my next chapter. I’m ready! What are we going to do?”

Nancy (from a podcast): I sign birthday cards . . . no matter what the age the person is, the verse I use is Proverbs 4:18, which says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”

Erin: Jill got to know the ministry of Revive Our Hearts in 2013 when Nancy DeMoss Wolgemjuth recorded a series of programs on the road.

Nancy (from a podcast): My goal, whatever age I am, and I hope your goal is that as a righteous daughter of God that the path of your life will be getting brighter and brighter.

Jill: Getting to see the inner workings of recordings has been eye-opening to me! You know, Nancy speaking, Erin speaking, those kinds of recordings, and seeing how much work, and how much focus there is on excellence. 

Nancy (from a podcast): That there will be a greater demonstration of the heart of Jesus and the willingness as God opens the doors to maybe tackle new things than what you may be able to do in a different season of life.

Erin: Jill Miller joined the Revive Our Hearts Ambassador program, serving women near her home in Pennsylvania.When she visited the Revive Our Hearts offices, she discovered that the ministry used the same kind of database that she’d been using for years in the insurance industry!

Jill was uniquely suited to fill a specific need at Revive Our Hearts!

Jill: I couldn’t have orchestrated this even if I’d tried! So it’s all of God working! It always is all God, but this one’s easy to see—maybe that’s the way to say it.

Erin: So, Jill made a big commitment and moved to Michigan to be a full-time volunteer!

Jill: If you look at Moses’ life, it has three—we don’t call them trimesters. But he had his growing up years, his sort of shepherding years, and then his final years leading the Israelites.

Most of our lives are broken up into those three chunks: schooling years, productive years, if you will, and then retirement. It’s the same kind of thing.

Most people (and not just what I’ll call “the world” but even Christians) that middle section, their productive years, having kids or a job or whatever they’re doing (that’s like the key), and then you rest.

That was not true for Moses. His pinnacle was leading the Israellites, the third section of his life. And not to put myself anywhere on par with Moses, but my life is like that as well. 

This third of my life is the end-game. What might have seemed like the productive years, saving money and all of that, that was just prep so that I could be financially stable enough to do this for free, and also intellectually learning to do it so I could just step into it and be useful. 

Erin: I don’t know what comes to mind when you hear “data analyst,” but with Jill, don’t think “cold” or “calculating.” Right away she brought a lot of warmth and human connection to the role.

Jill: You know, it’s hard to imagine a direct connection between data and hospitality. It’s not immediately clear what that would be. But, an example that comes to mind is when I first got to Revive Our Hearts I was trying to learn how the data was set up, and one of the things I almost stumbled across (and I use that term, but we know that God orchestrates everything) was there were so many people who were giving like $10 a month, but they’ve been doing that for ten years, just regularly. 

I was like, “Wow! These people have such a heart for the ministry! What part can I play? Can I thank them for that?” So I was able to get this list through my data, and then ended up writing a bunch of thank-you notes to them—not only to Revive Our Hearts people but our associated ministry Aviva Nuestros Corazones (ANC), which I don’t say very well, but nonetheless, it’s the Spanish arm of Revive Our Hearts.

I wanted to say the same message to them, so I asked one of my coworkers who’s bilingual to translate my message into Spanish. Then I wrote thank you notes by copying word-for-word what she said, just so I could thank people in their heart language.

I did this just on my own time, just because God was really laying it on my heart that it would be good to thank these people for what they had given.

Erin: During this time, the Lord used the Book of Jeremiah to challenge Jill that this might be a lifelong commitment!

Jill: This is Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 4–7: 

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (NIV) 

God has taught me several lessons, even while I’m here. The first one was from Jeremiah when he wrote the letter to the exiles saying, “Settle down, you’re going to be there awhile.”

And that was His message to me: “Settle down, you’re going to be there awhile.” This wasn’t just for six months or whatever. It’s why I sold my house in Pennsylvania and actually moved here. God was calling me here. For whatever reason, I needed to move here.

Some of the people in the exile moved there when they were my age, and they were going to be there for seventy years. Well, guess what? You don’t live that long, so they never went home.

I don’t know if that’s what God has for me or not, but He certainly made me at least do that reality check, “You know, this may be where I end up for the rest of my life.”

Erin: So, Jill had a house built near the Revive Our Hearts ministry center.

Jill: Okay, I’ll take you in through the front door, if you want a description of it. You come in through the great room . . .

Erin: Jill specifically built her house so she would be able to host others from out of town.

Jill: The opposite side from the great room is what I call the “guest wing,” if you will.

Erin: Because along with volunteering her expertise in data, Jill also is using this season of her life to show hospitality.

Jill: Erin Davis is coming for the week, and she is going to be staying with me. I really didn’t have to do too much for my house, because usually once people leave I just wash the sheets and clean up so that it’s ready for the next set up people to come—which is actually happening, another set of people is coming on Sunday. 

Erin: I was coming to town to film a video series called You’re Welcome Here, so I get to experience Jill’s hospitality for myself. I’m still thinking about her chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting!

Jill: I’m trying to think ahead what will make the person feel comfortable. Partially because I’ve stayed at places and you feel, “Can I do this? Can I do that? Can I grab the blanket and lay on the sofa if I want?” I’m saying here, “Yes, you can do that!”

I think about what can I do in the set up of the room. I’ve asked people who stay here, “What’s missing?” My mom said, “Oh, you need a mirror.” I hadn’t thought of that because I had never slept there.” I’m looking for ways to make the person feel like they’ve come home to their vacation home. It’s not the place they stay all the time, but they are comfortable coming to it and would want to come back.

One thing was, I made a little sign that said, “Welcome, Erin!” and had the wi-fi codes. Just being thoughtful of some small stuff that might make her feel welcome here.

And then the other thing I did was, ahead of time I asked her if she had any requests for food, because I don’t know her that well in that arena to know whether or not she had a particular dietary need or avoidance or that kind of thing. What could I have on hand that might be good for her when she arrives after flying and traveling all day? What would that look like for her?

Erin: Jill and I started to prepare a meal for Revive Our Hearts’ staff. Video cameras were rolling. You can see that video starting tomorrow at ReviveOurHearts.com/hospitality.

How about when you are having a group of guests, like tonight, you are having quite a few people from work over, what do you typically do? Do you do your table up fancy? What do you try to do visually?

Jill: Maybe I did a little more, like there are cloth napkins on the table. That shows a step up from my everyday life—rather than a paper towel or napkin. We’re sitting at the table and not the bar.

I should back up . . . I’ve had people over and we have sat at the bar. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s just too many people for the bar for tonight. You have a different kind of conversation when you are sitting at the table rather than sitting in a line.

Erin: You’re even setting the table. You think, Do we put the candle thing back on the table? Will it impede conversation? So, your most important priority was not, “What will they think of my table?” What do you want them to feel?

Jill: Welcome, warm, cozy, safe. I’m mean, not that anyone is in danger. When I say safe, I think there is probably a better word for that, but that they are not on edge. They feel like they can come in and relax.

Erin: I think some people really lean into hospitality as a means to share Jesus with the lost and that’s obviously a very beautiful use of your home and resources.

As I’m hearing you talk, you are more intentional about blessing the saints, God’s people. Where do you think that comes from?

Jill: That may go back to my parents wanting to bless missionaries who were in town, interns, and things like that. If I had to find a root, I believe it came from that.

Erin: How have you seen the Lord use you in welcoming His people in their lives, in their ministry. What fruit have you seen?

Jill: Sometimes examples are better. Our ministry services team here at Revive Our Hearts, none of them live in Niles, they live all over the country. But they come into the office once a quarter. You know what it is like to travel; you travel a lot. So to be able . . . Where I’m going with this is I usually offer to feed them a meal while they are here. 

You know what it is like eating in restaurants. That’s fun for a day or two, but when you get to the end of the week you’re like, “Can I just have . . . Do I have to go in booth to get food? Can I just sit down in a home?” They have talked about how nice that is just to relax and come into a home and have a regular meal. They are coming next week and we’re probably doing Mexican.

Erin: Okay, I’ll be here. I love Mexican.

Jill: So noted; I’ll add that to my list.

Erin: I think as someone who has been in ministry for a lot of years, there’s kind of an undercurrent of discouragement. It just comes with the territory. There are real challenges that come with any kind of work, but in ministry there is another layer of challenges. But it’s also easy to get a boost of encouragement. It could as simple as a meal at someone’s table, and just looking across and talking with other people who are in ministry. 

Burden bearing is what the Scripture calls us to do. It can kind of give us a shot in the arm to keep fighting, keep working, keep serving. Scripture tells us not to become weary in well-doing, but sometimes practically, it’s wearying. The harvest is ready, the workers are few. There are lots of things to be done. 

Encouraging the saints, I think, has this multiplicity effect that you couldn’t possibly measure; you could possibly fit it on a spreadsheet. But the Lord when He reveals it all, I think it’s going to be amazing to see how He used a baked potato bar to keep people in the fight, so to speak.

Nancy (from a podcast): I just keep envisioning, what if millions of these boomer women, who are followers of Jesus—or claim to be—would say, “God has given me a gift of a season here.” I think of Elisabeth Elliot starting Gateway to Joy radio program when she was sixty-three years old! What if God has something for me, for you, in terms of investing in other lives?

Can you imagine if in this country there was a host of Christian women—and single women—who would say, “I have the freedom . . . I can move to another country to share Jesus. I can learn another language," or "I can move into this urban neighborhood and get involved in helping this community and sharing Jesus Christ,” or “I can get involved in a crisis pregnancy center," or "I can get involved in this prison ministry, "I can get involved in discipling twelve-year-olds in a class in my church.”

The opportunities are endless. Why should we leave it to the moms who have four kids or more, in a season of life where they’re so stretched, when God gives us a season where there’s some margin. Let’s be sure we’re asking Him how it can be used for His glory, for the advancement of His kingdom.

This is part of the vision of Revive Our Hearts—that there’d be this whole swath of that demographic who would say, “Is there something of eternal significance that you have for my life?” It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be grandiose.

What if millions of us Christian women would say, when God puts us in a season with some time and resources on our hands, “Here am I, Lord. I’m available. Who can I talk to about Jesus? Who can I mentor? Who can I nurture and nourish? How can I serve? Who can I cook meals for? Where do you want me to plug in?”

God will put a passion in your heart; He will put opportunities there. Find out what it is, and let God use you for His glory and for His kingdom. Then it will be said of you, as is said in Proverbs 4, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”

I just pray that we will be available, and we will say “yes.” I believe that in a quiet sort of counter-revolution, we could have huge influence on the selfishness, the worldliness, the lack of interest in the gospel among so many of those who are coming behind us.

I believe God could send revival if we had praying women, serving women, going women, giving women. 

Erin: The Lord is using Jill Miller in so many unsung ways. When she sits in front of a computer analyzing data, or when she is hosting ministry staff from out of town, she’s playing an important role in calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

It all started when she consciously said, “My time belongs to the Lord. My money belongs to the Lord. My future belongs to the Lord. That attitude has led Jill to devoting the rest of her life not to live for herself but to say to others, “You’re welcome here.”

Dannah: That’s Erin Davis with Jill Miller, giving us an example of a life focused on serving others. Has God convicted your heart to live in a similar manner? We’d like to offer you a new resource from Revive Our Hearts that will help you do that. You’re Welcome Here: Embracing the Heart of Hospitality, is available to you for your donation of any amount. 

We encourage you to go through the study with other women. Imagine the impact on your community, as well as your own life! For more information and to give, just visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Tomorrow, Nancy will help us unpack the reasons and excuses we sometimes give for not opening our homes to bless others. We hope you join us again to learn how God can use you, and your home, no matter the size or style, to show the grace of God. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

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.