Transitions and Finishing Well

Today's program contains portions from the following episodes:

"You Can Finish the Race"

"Trusting God for the Future"

"Facing Life's Final Season: Remembering Evelyn Christenson"

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Dannah Gresh: Do you ever wonder if your life has purpose? Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now whether your vocation is working in an office, teaching in a school, serving your family, being a mom, being a student, being retired—whatever your season of life or vocation may be, your calling and mine is still to testify by our lives and by our witness to the gospel of the grace of God. That’s why God’s left you here.

Dannah: Today, we’ll talk about living intentionally in every transition and stage of life.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh.

Here we are, at the end of a year, flipping our calendars to the next. Do you have new goals for the coming year? Habits you hope to create? I always try to write some goals, but I'm never very successful at them. So the one and only that I do year after year since I figured out that I'm not good at setting New Year's resolutions is just pushing the reset button on getting into God's Word every day. That's all I try for.

A new year is a natural transition—a natural time to push reset on lots of things, which is why we hear all the talk of New Year’s resolutions. There’s something significant about leaving behind the last year and starting a new chapter. 

But this doesn’t only happen at a new year. There are new seasons in the lives of women that are unique, that men don't experience. For example, when we become married and have a home and a husband to care for and help. Then we have children, and suddenly maybe our working outside the home years have shifted and our primary work has shifted inside the home.

There are lots of times that we experience transitions. We all go through transitions. It’s not a matter of if, but when. And when you find yourself there, at the end of one thing and the beginning of the next, what’s your mindset? How do you finish well and move into the next season?

You know, the apostle Paul knew a bit about that—about finishing well and living with purpose. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is going to take us to some of his insight in Scripture. Even in the face of difficulty, Paul moved forward in faith. Here’s Nancy, teaching about Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20.

Nancy: Verse 24: I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Let me sum it up this way: Paul says, “There is one thing that matters not at all to me. One thing that does not matter in the least to me.” What is that? “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself.”

Now that flies in the face of our whole self-esteem movement. “You are great; you are wonderful; you are special; you are dear; you are sweet; you are cute; you are pretty; you are beautifully—you, you, you, you—me, me, me, me.” Paul has a philosophy that is exactly the opposite to that. “My life does not matter.”

Now, it matters in the sense that you’re created in the image of God and life matters, and we are valuable to God. He does love us. But he’s saying, “In terms of my willingness to face difficulties and trying circumstances, I cannot make decisions based on how it affects me.”

Then he says, “There is one thing that does matter supremely to me.” What is that? “If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Paul says, “I want to finish my course." A few of your translations say, "finish my race." It's the same word—with joy—finishing well—the race that God has laid out for me.

That word finish is interesting. It doesn’t mean to just come to an end, like, you live your life, and then you die. You’re finished. It’s ended. That’s not the meaning of this word. The word finish means "to complete, to perfect, to accomplish what you set out to do." Paul says, “I want to end well. I want to finish well. I want to not just fall over the finish line. I want to burst through the finish line by God’s grace.”

It was true of Paul. We read in 2 Timothy, chapter 4:

"I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race,” says he as he’s coming close to the end of his life. “I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Paul said to these Ephesian elders, “All I want to do is finish my race with joy,” and at the end of his life, he says, “I have finished my race. Now I’m about to enter into the presence of Jesus Christ, and there’s laid up for me—there’s waiting for me—this crown of righteousness. I have loved His appearing. I’ve lived for His appearing. I’ve given my life, for not this earthly life, but for the kingdom to come, for the hereafter. I’ve run well. I’ve finished. I’ve kept the faith, and there’s a crown, there’s a reward awaiting me, and best of all there is Jesus waiting for me.”

That’s how you can finish the race well.

Paul says, “I want to finish my course, my race.” That’s a word that means "a career, a course of occupation or a course of life." Paul says, “I’ve got this course of life. This is not just a sporting event; this is not just a side thing that I’m involved in.” Some people like to run; some people, like me, don’t like to run. It’s not that. It’s a course of life that God has laid out for us. Paul says, “All that matters to me is that I finish well—bring to completion—accomplish the course of life God has set out for me—the occupation He has called me to.” By that, I don’t mean vocation, but I mean whatever it is that God has called you to do and to be finishing it well.

I can still remember when Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine from FamilyLife Ministries contacted me about starting a radio program for women. They said, “We believe we need a woman teaching the Word to women. Is this something that you would pray about?” I remember laughing inside and thinking, “That is a great idea, but I think you’ve got the wrong person for that.”

I had many reasons why I didn’t think that was something I could or should do, and over the next 18 months, I sought the Lord earnestly. I asked questions. I listened. I talked about what it might look like. But one thing was clear to me: I had to make sure it wasn’t Dennis Rainey or Bob Lepine calling me to do this ministry. I had to make sure it was something I was receiving from the Lord Jesus. I knew if I just did it in response to some human suggestion or invitation that my energy would not hold up. I would not be able to survive in this long-distance race. But I knew if God called me to it, if it’s the ministry I received from Him, then He would give me the grace and the endurance to be faithful in the ministry.

Somebody asked me recently, “In that first year of ministry, hard as it was, did you ever think that you’d made the wrong decision?”

I said, “It’s interesting. I really didn’t because I knew that this was a ministry I’d received from the Lord Jesus.” Now, there were days when I thought I might not live through that first year, but I had no doubt in my heart that it was a ministry I had received from the Lord Jesus.

That’s why, before you step into ministry, before you step into different aspects of calling in life, make sure it’s the Lord who’s sending you there. Make sure He’s the one putting it on you. When He does, then it’s got to be your lifelong obsession and fixation to do what God has called you to do.

Paul says, “I want to finish the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

You and I have received a ministry, a calling, from the Lord Jesus as much as the apostle Paul did. This isn’t just for apostles and pastors and leaders and elders. This is for us. And in some senses, our calling, our mission, our ministry is the same as Paul’s. What is that? “To testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Now whether your vocation is working in an office, teaching in a school, serving your family, being a mom, being a student, being retired—whatever your season of life or vocation may be, your calling and mine is still to testify by our lives and by our witness to the gospel of the grace of God. That’s why God’s left you here.

If there weren’t a mission for your life, then why doesn’t God just get . . . We should just get people saved and baptized and shoot them—put them out of their misery. How many Christians are just hanging on for the Rapture, just existing, just surviving? God put you here for a purpose. He’s got a mission for you, and the mission of all our lives is to make a big deal about God, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

The bottom line for Paul is this: “My life, my happiness, my comfort, my convenience, my safety, my fulfillment, my whatever mean nothing—zero, nada—to me; it means nothing to me. Fulfilling His calling in my life, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, that means everything to me.”

When you get that settled, it will help you make a whole lot of other decisions. It will help you endure a lot when you’ve settled your purpose for living. Settle the issue of why you’re here and realize that we’re dispensable. All that matters is that God is glorified and the gospel goes out.

Dannah: Perspective makes all the difference. Let me just repeat that last line from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: “All that matters is that God is glorified and the gospel goes out.”

Is that how you approach every transition in life? Really, every day, for that matter? While that mindset certainly is motivational, it’s more than that. It’s a calling God has given to you and me. Now, the specifics of that calling vary. Glorifying God and sharing the gospel can look different depending on your season of life, your talents, your gifts, your interests.

For Nancy, she experienced a pretty big transition in life when she married Robert Wolgemuth. The day before they married, she shared this message about the transition from singleness to marriage, and how God was working through that transition.

Nancy: There's so many promises from God's Word, promises to give us a future, to give us a hope.

Isaiah 56, God says, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, [those who have foregone marriage for the sake of the kingdom of God, these single people, single for a long time, those who keep my Sabbaths] who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls [God says] a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off" (vv. 4–5).

I've watched so many single women get to that "about forty stage." They know the biological time clock is ticking. When they realize that they're probably not going to be able to have children, because God hasn't provided a husband, there's something that's really hard in a lot of women's lives, and a lot of you have been there.

God's Word says, to those who choose to accept "My calling in their lives, I will give a name, a home, a place, a family that is better than biological sons and daughters."

You say, "What could be better?"

Whatever God gives you is better. How thankful I am for the children God has given me—the spiritual grandchildren—for the relationships, for the ministry, for the fruitfulness in a single, in a way, during my decades of singleness that would have been very different had I been married during those years. Robert will be the first to tell you I have so many rich, sweet, deep, meaningful, helpful, huge, close, intimate relationships with people that I've poured my life into. They've poured their life into me. We're connected. We're family.

So Robert is going to be connected to my life in a whole different way than any of those people, but what a healthy thing for us to be getting married at a time when he has a family. He is a widower with two grown daughters, five teenage grandkids, lots of friends, lots of family, lots of relationships that he has established over the years as a married man.

And now, him as a widower, me as a woman who's been single all these years, to be bringing those lives and families together. We often say to each other, "Your people will be my people." And for the glory of God, and for some kind of fruitfulness that God anticipates that we could never have anticipated.

I wouldn't have written the script this way. I'm telling you, I wouldn't have. It never entered my mind to think that this might be what God has for me in this season. But it entered His mind. And, "Eyes have not seen; ears have never heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9 KJV paraphrased).

So love Him first, and then know whether your view of God is being drawn from the Scripture, that God is good, and you can trust Him to write your story.

I think about the seasons of life, the seasons God has had me in, the season He's taking me into. I just want to say how grateful I am, so, so grateful. Not just because I'm getting married tomorrow (I'm really grateful for that), but I'm grateful for a whole lot more than that.

I want to tell you, had I not been grateful for what's come before, I don't think I could experience the same level of grateful for what's coming ahead. I'm thankful for the nearly forty years that the Lord gave me as a single adult. And by His grace, only by His grace, I have really tried to make the most of that season. I'm thankful that, by God's grace, I did not waste those years pining for something that God had not provided.

I'm thankful that I didn't insist on having marriage sooner. Look at what I would have missed! Look at who I would have missed! Remember that verse in the psalms, "God gave them their request [He gave them what they demanded], but He sent leanness into their souls" (Ps. 106:15 KJV). He sent a wasting disease among them.

If you want a mate badly enough, you can get one, but don't settle for something or someone that is less than what and who and when God has that plan for you.

I'm thankful for the amazing relationships He has given me.

I'm thankful that over these years I have not pursued marriage or men. I'm a big champion of marriage, you know that if you've listened to this program. And I believe that in the will of God, there's no higher calling than to be united in marriage and to be spiritually and physically fruitful if that's the season of life where God has you marry. But I'm thankful that over these years, that's not what I was pursuing.

I'm thankful that in God's sweet providence I had parents and other people, from the time I was little, little, little, who spoke into my life, "You pursue Christ. Pursue Him."

I'm thankful that I sought to know God, walk with Him, and to love and serve Him and others faithfully. And in many senses, this next chapter of my life is not something really all that different. It's really a continuation of a way of life and a walk that I have been experiencing and enjoying for decades—not without failures, not without falling. But God has kept bringing me back to that point of enjoying Him, seeking Him (capital "H"), pursuing Him. And that's what I'm going to keep doing as Mrs. Robert Wolgemuth.

There are a lot of girls who pursue marriage or hope so deeply for marriage in and of itself that when they get it, it's hollow, because marriage was never intended to be the end as much as it was intended to be the means to the end. And what's the end? The glory of God and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

So that is what women, single or married, must pursue first and foremost. And if you pursue Christ, the amount of space you have in your bed may change, the way you spend your money may change, the way you make decisions about how to spend your time may change—as it will for me making this transition from singleness into marriage. But what won't change is the core of who you are and the focus on godliness and service and the kingdom of Christ. I'm thankful that I waited for the Lord, not waited for marriage, but waited for the Lord.

So life is short. Eternity is long. We need to set our eyes on Jesus. Fix our eyes on Him. Don't put your life on hold waiting for a man to fulfill your life. If you're single, this is not a time in limbo. Develop skills to serve the Lord. Plug in. Be all there. Open your heart, open your home to others. Singleness is a gift while you have it. Use it for His glory.

And as we think about all that is to come, moor your heart, tether your heart to the promises of God's Word, promises like this:

"Fear not, I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, they will not overwhelm you. . . . You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,[says the Lord] . . . "Fear not, for I am with you." (Isa. 43:1–2, 4–5)

Dannah: That’s one of my favorite passages in Scripture. Just image, God put the words "I love you" right there in Scripture to remind us. What good advice from Nancy. That was Nancy Leigh DeMoss at the time when she first delivered that message, and then God brought that transition from singleness to marriage into her life, and she became Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Well, just like she said, you and I get to choose how we’ll respond to the transitions of life. I like to think of it like this: every transition, every season that ends and every new one that begins, is an invitation. It’s a chance to trust God with what you’re leaving behind, to trust Him in the in-between, and to trust Him with where He’s leading you. 

You know, we’re all facing an inevitable transition—getting older. We’re always aging, but some of us are more aware of it because of life circumstances. 

Nancy sat down to talk with Evelyn Christenson about aging well. Evelyn has been with the Lord since 2011, but she had some practical advice and steps you can take to grow your faith no matter how old you are. 

Evelyn Christenson: Whatever age anybody listening is today, start right now with Romans 8:28 and your faith in God that He’s in control. He never makes a mistake. Get to know Him. Stay in the Scripture to get to know who God really is. That’s why we’re so feeble and so anemic almost because we don’t stay to know who God really is.

You don’t test Him, but you believe Him, and when He says He’s going to do something—on the eagle’s wings—I’m going to wait on the Lord, and wait for the whole story. If you don’t take that literally and live it, how can you expect to look back on an experience and say, “Wasn’t it wonderful?” It depends on what you are doing with today.

Now, you can’t do anything about what you did with yesterday, but anybody at any age can start right now.

Nancy: Evelyn, I have to tell you that since I was a little girl, my goal in life—don’t laugh—has always been to be a godly, old lady. Only God knows which of us will get to heaven first, but I’ve asked the Lord to give me eighty-five years, if it would please Him, of fruitful, strong ministry for Him until the age of eighty-five. He may not give me that many; He may give more, but it’s my goal, my heart’s desire to finish well, to get to the season of life where you are with a strong heart and an unshakeable faith.

I want you to look me in the eyes, and tell me what’s your counsel? What do I need to remember? How do I get from here to where my heart’s desire is to be, and that is an old woman full of faith, full of love for God. What’s going to get me from here to there?

Evelyn: It’s what you do every single day, when you:

• stay in His Word 
• listen 
• apply it 
• be willing 
• be flexible 
• let Him be in control 
• trust in the Lord with all your heart 
• lean not on your own understanding 

It is really step by step by step. Sometimes there will be many steps in one day and some of them are huge big steps. Some of them are little baby steps, but every single day work at. It’s discipline. You have to have discipline. But it isn’t all discipline. Once you get into this routine, it’s joy. It’s exciting. It’s thrilling.

But, Nancy, I have the same goal. You see, I’m eighty. I’m asking the Lord today to keep me this way, to keep me not wavering. 

“Keep me faithful, Lord.” That’s what I’m saying at this age. And the hardest transition, by the way—there are transition points in our lives, of course, rites of passage. The hardest one is when we have to start peeling off, not doing what you want to do because there isn’t enough strength and all that. But to stay faithful in these years, this is what I’m learning now. So I’m never done. I’ll never be done with, “Lord, change me.” Never.

Dannah: Isn't her voice so soothing and comforting? What a beautiful prayer from Evelyn Christenson. That’s something we can all pray: “Lord, change me. Use the seasons of change in my life as opportunities for You to change me, to grow my faith, to make me more like you.” 

Transitions can be tough, as I’m sure you know from experience. But they can also be beautiful as you allow God to work in the midst. 

So as we welcome in a new year, how are you leaving 2022 behind? Are you reflecting back with a grateful heart toward what God did? With what kind of attitude are you stepping into with the new year? 

I want to get to know the Lord even better this year. I want to continue practicing memorizing and meditating on Scripture as I walk. Which . . . if you don't know, I have discovered that the secret to my memorizing Scripture is walking while I do it. I want to encourage you whenever you are diving into Scripture, reading the Bible, memorizing it, meditating on it, can I encourage you to make that one of your New Year's resolutions? Maybe ask God what He wants to do in your life in the coming year, or how He might be working in a transition you have coming up. Then, dive into the Word to see what His answer will be.

And if you’d like some ideas for going deeper in your walk with Christ this year, check out the ReviveOurHearts website. You’ll find a page of resources to help you study your Bible. It’s ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend. Click on today’s program called, "Transitions and Finishing Well."

Okay, I guess I can say it. Break out the confetti. That’s a wrap for Revive Our Hearts Weekend 2022. Happy new year, from all of us here at Revive Our Hearts.

Why is reading our Bibles so important? We’ll get into that more next week. I think you’ll be challenged to not only read your Bible more, but to encourage those around you to get in the Word. 

Thanks for listening today. Thanks to our team. I especially want to thank Michelle Hill, who’s facing some big transition times in upcoming weeks. Thank you, Michelle, for being a wonderful producer for us here at Revive Our Hearts Weekend, and we pray for God’s blessing on you in your new endeavors, including GETTING MARRIED!!! We love you.

For Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh

Revive Our Hearts Weekend, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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